Night’s Black Agents brings the GUMSHOE engine to the spy thriller genre, combining the propulsive paranoia of movies like Ronin and The Bourne Identity with supernatural horror straight out of Bram Stoker. Investigation is crucial, but it never slows down the action, which explodes with expanded options for bone-crunching combat, high-tech tradecraft, and adrenaline-fueled chases.

Updating classic Gothic terrors for the postmodern age, Night’s Black Agents presents thoroughly modular monstrosity: GMs can build their own vampires, mashup their own minions, kitbash their own conspiracies to suit their personal sense of style and story. Rules options let you set the level of betrayal, grit, and action in your game. Riff from the worked examples or mix and match vampiric abilities, agendas, and assets for a completely custom sanguinary spy saga.

In Hobby Games: The 100 Best, the top designers, authors, and publishers in the hobby games field write about the most enjoyable and cleverly designed games of the last fifty years. Their essays cover the gamut of the hobby market, from roleplaying games to collectible card games, and miniatures games to wargames to board games, with titles both familiar and esoteric. These are the games that the designers themselves play, the ones that have inspired their most popular creations.

Hobby Games: The 100 Best also features a foreword by board game legend Reiner Knizia and an afterword by SPI founder and wargame legend James F. Dunnigan.

Hobby Games: The 100 Best is available now at the Flames Rising Shop!

Also available now from Green Ronin is Family Games: The 100 Best.

Black Watch Comics and ShadowCatcher Entertainment announce the release of The North End of the World, the historical fiction graphic novel written by Dave Hunsaker and illustrated by Christopher Shy (Soul Stealer, Pathfinder, Dead Space)

Enter the world of Edward S. Curtis, the man who will win immortality photographing and documenting the native peoples of North America…and meet the demons he will face as he travels to the north end of Vancouver Island to make his master work with the Kwakiutl Indians: the groundbreaking motion picture, In the Land of the Headhunters.

The FORGOTTEN REALMS is the most successful and widely known DUNGEONS & DRAGONS campaign setting ever created, and it owes its existence to creator Ed Greenwood.

This 160-page hardcover book describes the campaign setting as it lives and breathes in the imagination of its creator. Through the alter ego of Elminster, Archmage of Shadowdale, Ed Greenwood presents the Realms as a setting where companies of crazed adventurers are born and have rich lives, and where they get to call the shots. In this book, Ed presents a world where friendships are forged, endless intrigues unfold, and heroes wage war against the monstrous inhabitants of famous dungeons and untamed wildernesses.

Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms is available now at Amazon.com.

AVATAR PRESS will be at the NYCC in full force this year – with multiple guests and several panels for comic fans to attend. So, mark your con agenda and get your questions ready! Here, you will get to see your favorite creators and insiders in person, announcing top secret projects and sharing their thoughts you would normally never see in print.

What will be Garth Ennis’ huge announcement?

I guarantee you won’t be expecting this!

Archaia ends its 2012 convention season in grand style at the largest comics and pop culture convention on the East Coast, highlighted by over 100 autograph signing sessions, a slew of convention exclusives, new book debuts, and a special appearance by Brian Froud

Award-winning publisher Archaia Entertainment (Booth #1520) is excited to announce its plans for New York Comic Con, taking place October 11-14, 2012 at the Javits Center in New York City!

A zombie safety & awareness coloring/activity book distributed by C.R.A.Z.E. (Community Resources Against Zombie Epidemic).

STAY ALIVE–NOT UNDEAD: A ZOMBIE SAFETY & AWARENESS COLORING/ACTIVITY BOOK is the “brainchild” of comic book writer (and, former IDW Publishing editor) Dan Taylor, who co-created the fan-favorite Hero Happy Hour, and is currently writing Armarauders for Mecha Workshop.

The artwork for STAY ALIVE–NOT UNDEAD: A ZOMBIE SAFETY & AWARENESS COLORING/ACTIVITY BOOK is being provided by artist Darren M.A. Calvert, who has illustrated many roleplaying game products for publishers such as Green Ronin Publishing, Kobold Quarterly Magazine, White Wolf Games, and more.

Sony Pictures will debut exclusive first looks at the highly anticipated upcoming films Carrie and Evil Dead at New York Comic Con on Saturday, October 13th from the Javits Center.

The panel presentations for Carrie and Evil Dead will take place between 3:45 PM – 4:45 PM on October 13th. The Carrie panel will include the film’s stars, Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, along with producer Kevin Misher and director Kimberly Peirce. Evil Dead’s panel will include the film’s star, Jane Levy (“Suburgatory”), producer (and star of original) Bruce Campbell and director, Fede Alvarez.

Archaia Entertainment and Skelton Crew Studio are excited to announce an exclusive license agreement for the studio to create a line of prop replicas based on the Eisner Award-winning Mouse Guard, written and drawn by David Petersen.

“David is such a huge talent and I’ve been a fan of Mouse Guard for years,” said Israel Skelton, owner of Skelton Crew Studio. “Taking the reins to build a mouse-sized armory? Honestly, it’s hard to get much cooler.”

The studio plans to release pewter collectibles of swords, shields, and other armament from the Mouse Guard universe. Its first release, the Black Axe, is slated for Christmas 2012.

There are certain towns that we all associate with ghost stories and sightings. But creepy encounters happen everyday all throughout this country-in towns that you may never have heard of, to normal people, just like you! With Ghostly Adventures, you can travel to these terrifying towns and share in the scare.

Let ghost guru, Christopher Balzano, be your guide through the jaw-dropping true tales that happen all around the U.S., in places like: the Boston hotel where old Mr. Parker returns to check on his guests; the lost village of Dudleytown, Connecticut, where all residents vanished without a trace; the Summerwind Mansion in northeast Wisconsin, whose secret compartment housed a man’s corpse for years.

Ghostly Adventures: Chilling True Stories from America’s Haunted Hot Spots is available now at DriveThruFiction.com!

New York Comic Con (NYCC) officials have confirmed that a high profile panel focusing on season three of AMC’s hit television series The Walking Dead will take place at this year’s pop culture extravaganza. Cast members including Andrew Lincoln will be joined by showrunner and executive producer Glenn Mazzara as well as executive producers Robert Kirkman and Gale Anne Hurd. Moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick, The Walking Dead panel, which will take place in the IGN Theater on Saturday, October 13, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, will include an exclusive clip from the premiere episode of season three.

In addition to Andrew Lincoln, additional cast members participating in the panel include Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, David Morrissey and Michael Rooker.

Being a vampire is inherently trading humanity for power, but most Kindred don’t do it on purpose. Blood sorcery is about wrapping your arms around blood sacrifice or inhuman philosophy and holding it close against your silent heart. As presented in Vampire: The Requiem, sorcery is a series of rituals passed down from hierophant to acolyte, pastor to parishioner. The blood caked on these rituals is dark and dried, and they are ancient and horrible indeed.

That’s what this book is: a gory and grand new exploration of blood sorcery from the powers of the great covenants to the dirty secrets of the street to the figures that lurk in the shadowed history of the Kindred. Blood Sorcery is available now in PDF and Print at DriveThruRPG.com!

Whereas before the player fought against diabolical forces that wished to destroy humanity, in the newly launched DLC levels for ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’, this is reversed as the player now has to end the world. In the six new levels released today, entitled ‘Kaul’s Diary’, the player instead controls the villainous cult leader from the original game, Docktor Kaul. In a series of encounters set before the events of ‘The Wasted Land’ the player controls Kaul and his minions as they attempt to put his genocidal vision into action. To play the new levels, players need a copy of the original game and simply then select ‘Extra Levels’ and purchase Kaul’s Diary there. The DLC costs $2.99/£1.79/€2.39 from the App Store and more platforms are expected to follow soon.

13th Age is a new story-focused, dungeon-crawling, owlbear-fighting roleplaying game co-designed by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet with art by fantasy illustrators Lee Moyer and Aaron McConnell.

Now that the core game is available for pre-order, Rob, Jonathan, Lee and Aaron want nothing more than to keep working together and create the first expansion book for 13th Age. But they they need your help to do it. That’s where the 13 True Ways Kickstarter comes in.

Arc Dream Publishing is proud to present the first-ever ebook edition of the legendary Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia by Dan Harms.

“…some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” –H.P. Lovecraft, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’

That day is here. The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia explains every mind-blasting facet of the Cthulhu Mythos envisioned by H.P. Lovecraft and expanded by countless horror writers and gamers in the decades since the master’s death.

Can a Prince command a Priscus?

Can the Harpies declare a boon null?

These questions and more secret details of the Kindred condition have their answers within the V20 Companion. A complementary sourcebook detailing some of the finer points of being undead, this is the first supplement released in support of the 20th anniversary edition of Vampire: The Masquerade.

The V20 Companion is now available in PDF and Full-Color Hardcover editions at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!

Mindjammer returns! Mindjammer Press, a new roleplaying and fiction imprint, has announced its plans to publish the Mindjammer roleplaying game, the far future transhuman space opera setting, and fiction lines.

“This is a very exciting opportunity,” said Sarah Newton, owner of Mindjammer Press and author of the ENnie Award-winning setting and fiction line. “We’ve taken the decision to bring all the Mindjammer fiction and RPG projects under a single umbrella, to allow us to concentrate on producing the new second edition and its supplements, as well as future novels in the Mindjammer series. We’re looking forwards to a regular release of products to support the Mindjammer setting and community, beginning this week with a re-launch of ‘Mindjammer’, the first novel in the series.”

The Truth Is Finally Revealed

In the aftermath of the mass breakout of superpowered deltas from New Alcatraz, fear and chaos grips the United States. Patriot — the leader of the rebellion known as the Defiance — and his friends Street, Lisa, and Charge work tirelessly to help the people in their organization’s swollen ranks.

When a madman attacks a family of rogue deltas hiding in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, Patriot and his friends rush to their rescue. What they find when they arrive forces them to grab the family and race to Denver, where they wind up in a standoff against Delta Prime, the government agency of superpowered soldiers determined to crush their rising resistance.

Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce that its iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons®, will offer fans the chance to both explore the notorious drow race in the current Rise of the Underdark campaign, as well as glimpse into the future of the game at this year’s Gen Con Indy 2012 (August 16 – 19).

Where and how to submit your novels and short stories for publication.

From the editors at Writer’s Digest, this fantastic resource for horror writers details hundreds of magazine and book publishers who are interested in acquiring and publishing new frightful fiction.

Each market listing provides information on where the publisher is located, what they’re looking for, who to contact, how to reach them, and what their terms are. Each entry also comes with special insider tips for getting their attention. You want to get your horror fiction published? Start by looking here.

The 2012 Horror Writer’s Market is available now in ePub format at DriveThruFiction.com for only $2.99!