At the Gates is a high fantasy tabletop roleplaying game about burgeoning heroes struggling to survive, fighting for what’s right, exploring dangerous places, and saving the world. Onyx Path Publishing is currently running a crowd-funding campaign over at BackerKit.com. We had a chance to catch up with Danielle Lauzon, creator and lead developer of At the Gates, to talk about the game a bit.

The Dagon Collection is a unique anthology edited by Nate Pedersen that debuts early this year from PS Publishing. The Dagon Collection is a companion book to “The Starry Wisdom Library. Once again, the new anthology is presented as a fake auction catalogue, however this time it is 1929, shortly after the events in “The […]

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a campaign supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition that recently debuted in September 2023. Geared for DMs, the supplement builds off of The Lost Mine of Phandelver included in the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set. That same adventure is reprinted in this supplement as well, and it’s worth nothing that the material has been slightly edited to better fit the campaign. The monsters from Chapters 1 through 4 are not included in the Bestiary, however, so if you require rules for non-named NPCs and creatures along with common magic items, you’ll need a copy of the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Onyx Path Publishing and Pugsteady have just launched a Kickstarter for a new edition of the Realms of Pugmire RPG.

Realms of Pugmire is a fantasy game about evolved pets and other animals with a strong connection to humanity, with dogs as the central characters. These characters live in the ruins of our world, using tools, language, and ingenuity to build a new civilization in their image, with the kingdom of Pugmire acting as a center of dog civilization.

DriveThruComics, a part of DriveThruRPG’s network of online shops that focuses on digital comics, graphic novels, and related content just launched their annual New Year, New Hero Sale. There are 375 digital titles 25% Off for a limited time. The goal is introduce you to new characters and new publishers and try some new comics!

While many of those are focused on superheroes, there are also a number of excellent Horror and Dark Fantasy graphic novels. We’ve made a short list of a few of our favorites here at Flames Rising!

Check them out and let us know what your favorite comics and graphic novels are!

WarGameVault, a part of DriveThruRPG’s network of online shops that focuses on war gaming, miniatures, and related content just launched their annual Winter Offensive Sale. There are more than 12,000 digital titles 25% Off for a limited time.

While many of those are focused on military skirmish style play, such as WWII and Civil War battle scenarios, there are also a number of excellent Horror and Dark Fantasy games. We’ve made a short list of a few of our favorites here at Flames Rising!

Inside Book of the Dead, players will find tools and skills to fight against the undead hordes. Or they can join the other side and turn their character into a ghost, ghoul, lich, mummy, skeleton, vampire, or zombie! They’ll also find new haunts, as well as information about the undead-plagued lands within the Lost Omens campaign setting, perfect for adding undead to their next adventure! A massive bestiary section full of undead creatures brings more threats for GMs and summonable creatures for players, including more versions of classic undead like vampires, skeletons, and zombies. This book also includes “March of the Dead,” a grim and dangerous adventure themed around an undead uprising!

Queen of Swords Press has been publishing outstanding fiction for a number of years now. Featuring an emphasis on stories with LGBTQ representation, they are creating a space for themselves in the publishing world by bringing great stories to the world. I asked Queen of Swords chief Catherine Lundoff – herself a successful author and editor – a few questions about Queen of Swords and how they came to be.

Shotguns & Sorcery is a mix of high fantasy and hardboiled noir. It’s filled with wizards and freelancers who skulk through dungeons and creep through glowglobe-lit streets. They hang out in speakeasies after raiding zombie-infested tombs. They carry pistols as well as wands, and they’re ready to use them both.

Matt Forbeck stopped by to tell us about about the upcoming 5th Edition OGL version of the RPG, currently funding on Kickstarter!

Atlas Games is the publisher of the extensive 3rd Edition Penumbra series, as well as the critically acclaimed Nyambe: African Adventures and Northern Crown: New World Adventures campaign settings. Planegea 5E is the company’s first foray into 5th Edition. “We’ve been waiting for the right IP,” Atlas Games co-owner Michelle Nephew commented. “I knew when I first saw it that Planegea was something special. Who could resist dinos and dragons … together?!” This is Atlas Games’ 11th crowdfunding project. They’ve delivered eight Kickstarter campaigns so far, with two more en route from China and fulfilling by the end of 2021.

Planegea author David Somerville, who also created the hit board game Vast: The Crystal Caverns, says he designed the Planegea setting “out of a love for adventure and the desire to explore new horizons of fantasy at my own gaming table.” He created much of the setting while on a year-long RV trip around the US with his family. Those landscapes and natural wonders inspired the breadth and scale of Planegea.

Have you checked out The Red Opera: Deck of Endless Possibilities on Kickstarter yet? This deck of 80-plus cards is an All-In-One Tarot; Playing Card; Spell, Magic Item, Character, Location, and Adventure Deck filled with potential. Brought to you by Apotheosis Studios, this Warlock-inspired deck is filled with details from The Red Opera: Last Days […]

Venture into the Realms of Pugmire one more time…

Rats and mice live in the margins of the empires of dogs and cats, with homes that connect to the Underneath — a vast collection of warrens, tunnels, caves, and other hidden places. It is a dangerous place full of unexplained phenomena and terrifying creatures. But it is also full of wonders of ages past and the thrill of discovery. For the rodents believe Man was part of something called Science, a way to learn power through study, observation, and experimentation. Perhaps through the exploration of the Underneath, they can rediscover what Man has left behind. It’s time to listen to the squeaks in the deep.

Squeaks in the Deep is a chronicle sourcebook for both Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau. It’s usable with either game, or as part of a joint experience.

Written by debut author Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary is a book about poisonous endings—some deadly, some not. This London-based story begins by slowly weaving threads narrated by three heroines in their respective time periods. Nella Clavinger is a healer-turned-poisoner who helps women rid themselves of their vile lovers, husbands, and fathers in 1791. Eliza […]

Earlier this month, author Monica Valentinelli announced she’s drawing on her anxiety and personal fears to write poetry every day in February. In her #28DaysofPoetry challenge, she’ll post a poem each day for her patrons on Patreon. Patrons can back this project, dubbed Into Shadow: An Exploration of Personal Fears, for $2. They’ll get exclusive […]

In Caverns of the Wise Minister, you play denizens of the city of Sepulchre, descendants of those plucked from their homes on the surface, trying to forge a new life in the darkness of the Underworld. If you’re clever, quick, and fortunate, and you live long enough to find your niche, you might learn how you got here. Maybe you’ll even set things right.

Once upon a time, there stood an elven city called Silverhome, and an aboleth and a deity vied for power over it. The god Empyrea struck down the aboleth, and in revenge it drowned her favoured city. The survivors set out for the Underworld to beg for mercy from the god of death and reclaim the souls of their beloved dead.

They never reached death’s domain.

Greetings FlamesRising.com readers! We are very excited to sit down with J.M. Lee, novelist and screenplay writer. J.M. Lee is known for his Young Adult series Shadows of the Dark Crystal and his work as a screenwriter for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance series on Netflix. Lee has two new books are coming out in November: Aughra’s Wisdom of Thra and Heroes of the Resistance: A Guide to the Characters of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Available now at DriveThruRPG.com I’ve recently finished my third community content project, and it went live today, Tuesday July 23, 2019. It’s an adventure for D&D 5E in the Scarred Lands setting, and it’s called Desert of Lost Relics. Desert of Lost Relics is suitable for 4-6 characters of levels 4-6. I wrote this adventure […]

Hi all, Matt’s letting me take over the blog today to tell you about my newly released Choice of Games novel 7th Sea: A Pirate’s Pact. I’m Danielle Lauzon, a long-time freelance writer and developer for Onyx Path and a one-time line developer for 7th Sea Second Edition.

If you aren’t familiar with 7th Sea, it’s a game set in an alternate world 17th Century Europe (and the rest of the world as well). It’s a game about romance, high adventure, and sorcery in the vein of Errol Flynn movies, Alexandre Dumas books, The Princess Bride, One Thousand and One Nights…I could go on, but I think you get it. And in all this we feature not quite but just reminiscent characters and situation from a recognizable history in a fantastical world. Magic is real, myths are real, and you play Heroes fighting against evil and corruption.

Get Started in RuneQuest with beautiful full-color PDF!

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is an all-new edition of one of the world’s most influential and acclaimed fantasy roleplaying games. First appearing almost 40 years ago, RuneQuest is as dynamic and vital as ever. This all-new, deluxe edition introduces RuneQuest and its setting of Glorantha to new players everywhere.

Try out a skill-based percentile system that balances experience-based progression with deadly combat!

The core rules of RuneQuest are essential for players and gamemasters, as they contain all the rules for character creation, starting homelands, background history, professions, skills, starting Runes and magic, and the cults and gods whose influence will define your character’s activities. Further, the rules for character advancement are contained here, for the times between adventures.

Long before the Empire, created by the Kalasans after they stormed Rûl and wrested it from the clutches of the dread Witch-King, whose wicked legions had overwhelmed and plunged the continent into darkness, an ancient people known as the Edene ruled over the land. Like the Kalasans so many centuries after them, the Edene were also bold conquerors who arrived on the shores of the continent, fleeing the destruction of their homeland far across the Auroral Ocean, They arrived in Rûl, handily defeating the First People and their faerie allies who had called the continent home for centuries, and founded a new civilization in the ruins of the one that came before. The Edene claimed their empire would last a thousand years, but like so many fledgling empires since the dawn of time who believed the same, the Edene themselves were drowned in the ebbing and flowing tides of history, yet another civilization of grand ambition lost and mostly forgotten.