When the dead return, hungry for brains, smart folk know that the only way to stay alive is to stick together.

This Cortex Plus ACTION ROLEPLAYING hack focuses on the Player Characters as a team of survivors, thrown together by circumstance and working together to make it in a world overrun by zombies of many different varieties. There are only three things they have to do: (1) scrounge for resources, (2) avoid antagonistic survivors that want to steal their stuff, and (3) when they inevitably run into a horde of zombies…go for a HEAD SHOT!

HEAD SHOT! is not a standalone game! It uses the ACTION ROLEPLAYING flavor of Cortex Plus, found on pages 116-154 of the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide.

Margaret Weis Productions has announced a partnership with DriveThruRPG to launch the Cortex Plus Creator Studio this Spring. This will give Cortex Plus fans the opportunity to create and sell Cortex Plus RPG supplements through DriveThruRPG.com. Similar to Wizards of the Coast’s DMsGuild.com (also managed by DriveThruRPG) and Monte Cook Games’ just announced Cypher System Creator program, Margaret Weis Productions will allow publishers and fans to offer Cortex Plus RPG supplements for sale on DriveThruRPG.com.

GHOSTS IN THE BLACK is a full-length adventure campaign supplement designed by veteran game designer Robin Laws for the FIREFLY RPG.

You and your Crew will have to perform some thrillin’ heroics over the course of five, unique Episodes to uncover a legendary Alliance warship’s dangerous secrets.

As you play through “Six Cylinders Make a Right”, “Prisoner 3102Y”, “Tombstone Bullets and a Graveyard Mind”, “Hellhound Trail”, and “The Big Dark” you’ll find out just how mighty powerful the Alliance truly is. The story, which is rooted in the Unification War, will provide you with hours of Firefly fun!

Does your Crew have what it takes to fly the Good Shepherd’s Run?

SMUGGLER’S GUIDE TO THE RIM is a supplement for the FIREFLY RPG that is designed for both players and GMs. The third supplement in the line, the SMUGGLER’S GUIDE TO THE RIM introduces Reputation rules for Crewmembers, 12 new archetypes, the Good Shepherd’s Run, more Chinese translations, more rules, new in game aids, a pair of Episodes, and more!

ECHOES OF WAR: THRILLIN’ HEROICS combines the first four stand-alone adventures in the Echoes of War line released on DriveThruRPG with the SERENITY CREW release into one, easy-to-reference PDF. These Episodes were written by Margaret Weis, Andrew Peregrine, Monica Valentinelli, and Nicole Wakelin. Featured artists include Ben Mund, Beth Sobel, Jennifer Rodgers, Kurt Komoda, and Melissa Gay!

The FIREFLY RPG puts you right in the middle of the action of the wildly popular television series. You and your Crew will trade bullets with fearsome bounty hunters, folk who want what you have, or varmints that try to put out the light of hope you represent. Keep your Browncoat banner flyin’ high and dodge Alliance cruisers. Side with the Alliance and track down riff-raff to haul ‘em in for justice. Explore your ‘Verse to find a crew, find a job, and keep flyin’!

For years, fans have enjoyed games powered by Margaret Weis Productions’ award-winning Cortex Plus system. From the embroiled teenaged drama powered by Smallville to the high-tech heist hijinks of Leverage, and the comic book action of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, the community has embraced these games and made them their own. Many have taken the rules from each licensed game and adapted them to a wide variety of settings, genres, and play styles.

In the spring of 2010, MWP sent out a call to its growing community for the best “hacks” of the Cortex Plus system. They asked creators, amateurs, and professionals alike to share new mechanics, settings, and entirely new games from the bones of existing games. Over 20 different authors contributed their own ideas to the project, which was dubbed the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide.

I believe that many folks judge a product based on their experiences with it filtered through the looking glass of expectation. If we expect X and get Y, we are often upset and our reviews of it tend to reflect that. I think the expectations of the Smallville need to be straight up front else the experience will suffer. This year there are other “Supers” RPGs being released. Smallville is considerably different in favor from the others in focus and vibe.

To get an idea of what the Smallville RPG is about consider the tele-drama it is based upon: young adults and all the weird social issues young people have. Add to these a variety of secrets and plots surrounding exceptional people and you almost have it. Make those exceptional people super-human…and it hits the mark.

While super heroes and super powers are a factor, I think it’s safe to say that they are flavor and useful as tools to deal with social issues and complications rather than the fix-all. This isn’t Mutants and Masterminds, Champions or DC Adventures.

Flames Rising recently had the chance to talk to Editor & Developer Cam Banks from Margaret Weis Productions about the Supernatural RPG, as well as upcoming games like Leverage and Smallville. Cam told us about some of the recent products like Supernatural’s Guide to the Hunted and we talked a little about some of the more interested elements of working on licensed properties as RPGs.

It’s a big year for Supernatural. The tv show has been renewed for an unexpected sixth season (the original story arc only called for five), they are flirting with the GhostFacers webisode series, novel tie-ins are seeing print, and the rpg license remains strong. The newest addition to the line, Supernatural: Guide to the Hunted, is one of those supplements players need to complete their series. The corebook possesses plenty of material for game masters; however, this book adds flavor for those wanting to run something straight from the television series. I’ll get back to this later in the review.

The layout and artwork to this book understandably follows the format of the corebook, which is a clever look matching John Winchester’s monster bible. The fake Post-It notes, sketches, photos, and scribbled notes make for an eye-catching read.

Know Just Enough To Be Dangerous

Everybody knows rock salt keeps out ghosts and silver kills werewolves. That’s just Folklore 101. But when you need to get rid of a crocotta, banish a tulpa, or deal with an Angel of the Lord, you’re going to need a really good guide.

Each monster is fully detailed with Cortex System game statistics and plenty of lore, ready to drop into any campaign. With extra material on how to play monsters as hunters and create your own supernatural threats, the Guide to the Hunted is an indispensable resource.

The Guide to the Hunted is available now at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

If you are already a fan of the Supernatural TV show and want to play out the kind of adventures that happen to its protagonists, this book will come as a real treat. If you don’t know the show, or are just looking for a game in which present-day heroes deal with supernatural menaces, this probably is not the game for you.

Written throughout in a casual style (almost as if written by Dean Winchester) and laid out in full colour with lots of (uncaptioned, alas, and rather dark) shots from the show as well as evocative collections of items that might rest on a hunter’s desk, the work begins with an Introduction by Sara Gamble, one of the show’s writers. Clearly, she’d quite like to join in, and it ought to get you into the right mood for this game from the outset.

The television show Supernatural may not be a holy experience for me; however, I hold it in high regards. While critics may pan its “model factor,” I hold that it’s one of television’s brightest shows about darkness. Being one of my favorite shows, I was ecstatic when the corebook was released. While it took awhile for that to happen, Supernatural Adventures followed in a timely fashion. A book of adventures proves to be a tall order for me. I like running my games, not the games somebody else created. Also, I love the series and find myself inspired by it regularly. These two factors play a huge role in my review for this book.

Let’s start with Digger Hayes graphic design. I think Hayes approach to the Supernatural line is the only approach to it. Just about all the hunters we see from the show seem to be a disorganized, messy lot.

Demon Hunters, published by Margaret Weiss Productions in conjunction with Dead Gentlemen Productions, is a comedy-meets-demon-hunting experience unlike any other. Integrated with video, the Demon Hunters RPG is billed as a “field training manual” instead of a game, where you train to be part of the Brotherhood by taking part in Tabletop Combat Simulations.

Take a look at this introductory video:

Do you want to add meaning or purpose to your life?

How does a really cool tattoo sound?

You just might be the kind of person we’re looking for. Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch (better known as Demon Hunters)!

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. has reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics to produce role playing game products based on the hit television series, Supernatural.

“We like role playing games that feature a great mix of character, action, and story,” says Margaret Weis, New York Times best-selling author and game publisher. “Supernatural delivers on all three, and the show’s premise is perfect for games. The show is like a new horror movie each week, and now we’ll be bringing that experience to the game table.”