“Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green spent four decades opposing the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Stripped of sanction after a disastrous 1969 operation in Cambodia, Delta Green’s leaders made a secret pact: to continue their […]

The Repairer of Reputations is a Trail of Cthulhu scenario by Robin D Laws, based on the story of the same name by Robert W. Chambers. It is one of four short horror stories incorporating Chambers’ mythology of The King In Yellow, a decadent play whose publication brings madness and supernatural presences into the world. His mythology was later subsumed into the Cthulhu canon when H. P. Lovecraft, and his circle and later followers, made reference to it in their tales of the mythos.

Trail of Cthulhu: The Repairer of Reputations is available now at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

CHICAGO COMIC & ENTERTAINMENT EXPO ANNOUNCES DATES FOR 2012 Organizers of Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) have announced that the 2012 edition of the annual pop culture convention will take place April 13 – 15 in the North Hall of McCormick Place Convention Center. While this represents a small move from the West Building […]

An agreement between Call of Cthulhu impresarios, Chaosium and new development studio Red Wasp Design will see the award winning role-playing game (RPG), Call of Cthulhu, coming to a mobile platform near you. The first title, ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ is set in the midst of World War One and pits a team of investigators and soldiers against an ancient enemy, older than humanity itself. This eldritch enemy is using the carnage of the great war to build an undead army amidst the battlefields of Europe. The game will be a 3D turn-based strategy/role playing game and will initially launch on iPhone and Android with more platforms to follow. As the game is still in development, release dates and price points are to be announced after the summer. See here for the game’s summary page.

Save the town of Blackwood, or drain it dry. The choice is yours.

The once quiet small town of Blackwood has become a battleground. A coven of vampires has crept in under the cover of darkness to drain the very life from its helpless citizens. As powerful as these creatures of legend are, they do not prowl the streets unchallenged. A team of skilled vampire hunters with an arsenal of modern weapons has tracked these bloodsuckers down and the battle for the soul of Blackwood is about to begin.

Bloodsuckers is a highly thematic strategy card game for 2 to 4 players ages 13 and up.

Designed By: Justin De Witt and Anne-Marie De Witt (Creators of the Castle Panic Board Game)

GenCon: Indy 2011 has come and gone…already? The first DriveThruRPG partnership with White Wolf Publishing and select games from Malhavoc Press, Open Design, Nocturnal, Eden Studios and Abstract Nova was a lot of hard work but very rewarding.

The booth was located at the back of a very large and very huge hall, but that didn’t stop new and old fans of these games from driving on back to DriveThruRPG. The quality of the new books is really awesome; people were literally saying… “That’s POD?” when pointing to the Exalted Comic and Ptolus.

Dave Martin, founder of the Wrecking Crew Demo Team, is here to tell us a little more about his organization and their role at White Wolf’s Grand Masquerade event next month.

The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew was created by Dave Martin and his gaming group in 1996, and went on to become one of the official demo teams for White Wolf and the World of Darkness table-top games in 2000. Their years of devotion were rewarded in 2009 when White Wolf elevated the Wrecking Crew to the rank of Senior Demo Team. Due to this status, The Wrecking Crew has had the honor of running a number of developer release events including the upcoming Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition. Though the organization began as a local group in Arizona, it has grown into a national association with members in several states.

Brass & Steel is a hybrid live action/tabletop roleplaying game, with rules equally suited to both. It is an alternate 1905, where the mystically-fueled industrial revolution has produced amazing feats of technology and the sun never sets on the mighty British Empire. Clockwork marvels face off against against ancient sorcery. Airships cruise the skies. Lucid dreamers explore the mysteries of the subconscious and pluck secrets from the shadows of others’ imaginations. Mighty elixirs heal shattered bodies. Steam-powered prosthetics return crippled soldiers to the front lines wielding bizarre new weapons and equipment.

Brass & Steel: A Game of Steampunk Adventure is available at the Flames Rising Shop.

August usually means back to school shopping for most Americans. But each year, thousands of children living in homeless shelters and foster care return to school without even the most basic of necessities. Operation Backpack, a program operated by Volunteers of America, helps provided these needed supplies to our country’s most vulnerable students and gives them a chance to continue their education.

In an effort to support this wonderful project, Bards and Sages has partnered with other independent authors and publishers to create a special charity ebook bundle. 100% of our profits from this bundle will be donated to Volunteers of America to support Operation Backpack.?

Operation Backpack August 2011 Fundraiser is available at DriveThruFantasy.com.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE FEARS!

Remember when you were young and you were afraid of all those things that went bump in the night?

Ever wonder where they went?

Well, wonder no more because the old monsters are back!

Featuring the classic rules and setting of the original game, this tenth anniversary edition includes alternate mechanics, author commentary, all-new artwork, and the original online-only supplements—in print for the first time ever!

Little Fears (10th Anniversary Edition) is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

FlamesRising.com is thrilled to present you with an exclusive preview from Steve Jackson Games as part of our publisher theme week. Today, we take a peek at the upcoming GURPS Infinite Worlds: World of Horror supplement that offers new settings to bring terror to your gaming table.

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror will detail six alternate Earths where history has taken a turn for the terrifying. Designed as being light on rules and heavy on atmosphere, Worlds of Horror should prove fascinating for anyone who wonders what might have been . . . more horrific. This preview material has been taken from one of those worlds, called Taft-1. The year is 1962, and Stalin still lives. And he has worse allies than Hitler.

For anyone hoping to visit Taft-1, a ***Spoiler Alert*** is in effect for this whole preview.

FlamesRising.com is excited to announce that all this week we are featuring exclusive previews, essays, reviews and more from Steve Jackson Games.

SJ Games Week begins today and ends on Friday, July 29th, 2011.

In addition to its selection of GURPS hobby games, Steve Jackson Games publishes dice, card and board games, too. Titles like Munchkin are heavily inspired by geek culture and often have a comedic tone. In the past, we have offered some coverage by offering a Munchkin Zombies preview, The Stars Are Right review, Munchkin Cthulhu review, Cthulhu Dice review and a Munchkin Bites 2: Pants Macabre review.

Some girls prefer diamonds and roses, but I get more out of things that I can either use or collect. Enter the Dice Goblin dice bags from an independent artist. Handmade and sturdy, I often get compliments on mine.

Available in the U.S. and internationally, the Dice Goblin dice bags are twenty-percent off through Saturday, July 30th.

The world is a dark and dangerous place.

It is filled with enigmas that do not fit neatly into boxes built by scientists or occultists. That doesn’t stop us from trying to find an explanation for everything. It is human nature to compartmentalize, to label and identify the things that frighten them – a thing named is a thing neutered. But some things refuse to be categorized neatly. Some mysteries evade explanation. Some monsters reject the classifications we attempt to brand them with. These are the seeds of fear and wonder, the exceptions whose only proven rule is that there are no rules that cannot be broken. These are the unexpected plots, the stories which pull player and character alike into situations where their wits, skills and strengths will be challenged.

These are glimpses into the true potential of the World of Darkness.

Glimpses of the Unknown is available now at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Avatar Press and Mischief Maker Studios proudly announce that legendary comic book writer Garth Ennis will be premiering his short film, Stitched, at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday evening, July 21, at 8:15pm in the convention’s Room 6DE. Featuring Ennis’s debut as a filmmaker, Stitched blends supernatural horror with a contemporary war story, creating a terrifying landscape which will be explored further in an ongoing monthly comic book series.

The fifteen-minute long film is written and directed by Garth Ennis, best known as the writer of such best-selling comic books as Preacher, The Punisher, The Boys, and Crossed. A Mischief Maker Studios production, Stitched was produced by Brian Pulido, Francisca Pulido, and Ed Polgardy. Adam Goldfine served as Director of Photography, while both Garth Ennis and William Christensen, the founder of Avatar Press, served as Executive Producers.

British author James Herbert has been an international sensation since the publication of his first novel, The Rats, in 1974. His books have sold over forty-two million copies, earning him a comparison to Stephen King in the United Kingdom. Last year, Herbert was presented with the title of Grand Master at the World Horror Convention for his outstanding achievements in the horror genre. Now, he prepares to take the United States by storm with the release of The Secret of Crickley Hall – a blood chilling novel that puts a unique spin on a classic horror theme: the haunted house.

Would you stay in a haunted house for more than one night?

Would you live in a place where ghostly things keep happening? Where a cellar door you know you locked the night before is always open the following morning? Where hushed whimpering is heard? Where white shadows steal through the darkness? Where the presence of evil is all around you?

Gothic horror soundtrack musicians MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE will be releasing their fourteenth studio album, entitled CARNIVAL ARCANE, on August 2nd. “The theme of the new disc surrounds the Lancaster-Rigby Carnival, a shadowy, turn-of-the-century traveling circus with more than a few skeletons in its closet,” said Edward Douglas. “The Victorian and Edwardian eras are a big source of inspiration for us. They also marked the beginning of the heyday for traveling carnivals, so that’s the time period we chose to set the disc in. We spent a lot of time researching early-20th century circuses and carnivals to ensure that the sounds and music work together to really immerse you in this world and the time period. There’s also a big tip of the top hat to Mr. Bradbury whose work inspired many of the more horrific elements that appear in the latter half of the disc.”

Flames Rising is pleased to announce the latest release in the Instant Antagonists line. The Creepy Cottontail author, Monica Valentinelli (and Flames Rising project Manager) shares some notes on the design and writing process that went into this product.

Having conducted a lot of occult research for my writing — both game-and-story-related — there’s a particular concept that always stands out in my mind. Performing a ritual (both real and/or imagined) is work, but the end result of that “job” doesn’t always yield the same results every time. Take a basic love potion for example. Do you have any idea how many different types of love potions there are? In many cases, not only do you have to get the ritual down pat, but you also have to worry about backlash, timing and the integrity of the materials. Even then, there’s no guarantee that magic will function the same way twice because there’s one-too-many factors that you cannot control.

The “cost” of doing magic is something I feel is often overlooked because some view it as an obstacle that gets in the way of a story or a game. I look at it as a characterization of a protagonist or… in this case… Instant Antagonist.

North America’s largest pop-culture tour continues as Wizard World Chicago Comic Con returns to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, August 11-14, with superstar guests Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, Christopher Lloyd, Morena Baccarin, Felicia Day, Academy Award Winner® Lou Gossett Jr. and James Marsters headlining the list of celebrity attendees. The event will bring together thousands of fans of all ages and dozens of celebrities and industry professionals to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more.

For those of you who love Vampire: the Masquerade as much as I do, you’re probably aware that its hitting a twenty year anniversary milestone this year. My old favorites like Gangrels and Toreadors were already on my mind — then I started re-reading Dork Tower.

And I groaned. A lot. Then smiled… Then secretly wished I, too, was headed to The Grand Masquerade.

Before I get to my experience reading Clanbook Perky, here’s the information on the sale:

All Dork Storm Press comics are twenty-five percent off through Friday, July 15th.