Flames Rising Reviewer Nancy Greene offers up a brief overview of Halloween. She shares a bit about Samhain and a few links to fiction and zines that are definitely worth checking out!

Halloween is a time for mythological creatures, figures of fantasies and nightmares. They walk the streets; they invade every corner of ordinary life. And over the past few years the popularity of the holiday has risen like a zombie out of a poorly-dug grave.

Here are some popular creatures of the holiday, as well as some brief (probably already well-known) info on the origins:

Just in time for Halloween, FlamesRising.com is pleased to present you with advice on terrifying your players from veteran game designer John Wick. Games that John has designed recently include the Lovecraft-inspired CURSE OF THE YELLOW SIGN and HOUSES OF THE BLOODED. For more about John, visit his website located at John Wick Presents

Play Dirty: Happy Halloween

Every Halloween, I run Call of Cthulhu.

It’s a tradition. Something I’ve rarely broken. Every year, I dress up in my “Man in Black” outfit (black pants, black shirt, black vest, black jacket, black tie, black hat and Yellow Sign pin) and I tell a story of man’s futile attempts to understand the universe.

I’m a fan of most Halloween activities, but there’s one that I hold a little nearer and dearer than the rest.  I love visiting haunted attractions!  When done well they’re fully immersive, interactive, and live action horror stories – the ultimate sensory stimulation and overall inspiration for horror fans and horror artists alike.  My enthusiasm for the haunt manifested at an early age.  I grew up in Beloit, Wisconsin – the quintessential post-industrial Midwestern city.  Not a lot to do, but when October shambled around every year my fellow citizens got outright giddy about celebrating the time of year when everything dies, and frankly, resembled more closely our lovely little city.

FlamesRising.com contributor Eric Pollarine blogs about horror music and horror artists in this colorful post about his top ten Halloween songs, albums and soundtracks.

It’s time for Halloween again, that most special of holidays for nerds, RPG folks, fan boys, Goth kids, and freak shows such as us, where we are able to come out come out from wherever we normally hide and celebrate openly, without fear of persecution, our collective weirdness. From the food court in the mall to the back room of the comic shop, from our mother’s basement to the diner down the street, no-not that one, the other one down the street.

I remember thinking when the Harry Potter series was drawing to a conclusion that Halloween was changed forever. After all, who in their right mind would just be a generic witch anymore? With the wizarding world so well known via J. K. Rowling, being a regular ol’ witch would be so passé — get out those graduation robes and a scarf, and you’re officially a wizard or witch associated with his or her house from the old alma mater, Hogwarts. While working in a bookstore cafe, I wore my Gryffindor colors proudly — not because I would test out as a Gryffindor (nearly every Sorting Hat application on the Internet puts me in Hufflepuff), mind you, but because the colors were easier to find in my own wardrobe. I went with a necktie instead of a scarf, which I wore with a v-neck jumper and black pants. Close enough to a school uniform to pass, I’d say!

But to be perfectly honest, I’ve been dressing up as characters from books and movies for a long time.

Sony Online Entertainment will be summoning the spirits, spooks and skeletons with the upcoming Halloween-themed activities and in-game events taking place in several of its hit online titles including, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms™, EverQuest, EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures: Sith O’Lanterns and Battle Droid Scarecrows have taken over the Jedi Temple! The inaugural Halloween celebration in Clone Wars Adventures adds plenty of creepy-crawlies around the virtual world. Players can participate in the daily Mask Handout to collect a new iconic mask each day, including Yoda, Jar Jar Binks, Padmé and Grievous! Players can also dress up their characters and droids and decorate their houses with festive items available for purchase in the Marketplace. R2-D2’s Rocket Rescue minigame celebrates with a special spooky Halloween-themed level, complete with a ghost costume for R2-D2. Clone Wars Adventures Halloween celebration is scheduled to begin October 22 and run through November 5. Live in-game Halloween “Emissary Events” are scheduled for October 27 and 29 and November 5 at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST.

Can’t wait for Halloween? Love scary movies as much as I do? Here’s a way to watch horror movies for free!

Get a head start on celebrating all things spooky by checking out the broad selection of free horror movies for Halloween at Crackle.com. Every year this legal, free movie site hand-picks a special Halloween collection of horror flicks for you to enjoy.

In addition to their broad selection of free horror films, this year Crackle.com’s Halloween movie collection includes over twenty-five movies.

To help you get into the spirit of Halloween, FlamesRising.com project manager talks about making a costume — for her dice. In this article, find out how Monica made her dice coffin and where she got the inspiration to add black tulle, a mask, and red roses to the coffin lid.

Here’s a sneak peek at what she has to say: Victorian-inspired Halloween decor is one of the hot themes this year; you can find black lace and dead roses almost everywhere you look. Birds like ravens and owls are pretty popular, too. Now, I went a little crazy nutso with the scenery because I wanted it to look three dimensional. I used black tulle, which you can find in any wedding aisle. The flat, red roses were from the scrapbooking section of our local craft store and the owl, mask and bat were die cut stickers from a Halloween display.

Find out more in this fun post about Monica’s quest to make a dice coffin costume.

Last year, we released a horror plot generator that you continue to enjoy. White Wolf Publishing, who recently announced that the World of Darkness MMO will be based on Vampire: the Masquerade, offered you a scene to be used in your World of Darkness game. Dubbed The Devil’s Night SAS, you’ll need to figure out how to stop the fires from burning in your own city. In addition to those two big surprises, we also featured Crackle.com‘s Zombiefest and other timely events that were related to Halloween.

For Halloween 2009 at FlamesRising.com, thirty-one different creatures reared their monstrous heads each day. Those horrifying creatures are still lingering around, so if you want to have some fun, be sure to drop by our 2009 wrap-up and check them out. For that year, one of your favorite guest posts was written by Jess Hartled. 13 Halloween Etiquette Tips From One Geek to Another continues to be a fan favorite so be sure to check it out.

In Random, Illinois, not much has changed in the last century. Things there move more slowly than they do in the city. At times, history seems to be moving in reverse. That’s how it seems; some folks would say that’s how it is.

For Jason, Frank, Ronnie and Lizzy, there are bits and pieces of the past that won’t go away. Not in the daylight world, and not in their dreams. They shared a secret, a bond of silence and guilt. They shared the memory of an old woman’s dry, crackling voice, the heat and sizzling terror of flames beyond their control, and the mesmerizing image of a handful of bones.

Roll Them Bones is now available in audio format at DriveThruFantasy.com.

Halloween is our favorite holiday here at Flames Rising headquarters. We wound up with an orange and a black cat, our house is often decorated in September, and we enjoy coming up with new concoctions year after year. Although we really enjoy the holiday, it wouldn’t be as much fun without all of you.

Last year Flames Rising celebrated Halloween with you by offering 31 days of Monster Madness. For this year, we started with the horror plot generator to help you get those creative juices flowing. Since we offered flash fiction (in the form of mini-monsters) last year, we decided to take a more gaming-related approach for Halloween.

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year over at “One Geek to Another”, and so I was thrilled when the great folks at Flames Rising asked me to do a guest blog on etiquette for the spooky holiday this month! From my desk to yours, here’s 13 ways to have an awesome (and polite!) Halloween!

1. Be a Good Ghoul-guest! – If you’re invited to a Halloween party, regardless of the age group, bring a little something for the host. Flowers in a Halloween arrangement are always appropriate, as are small gift baskets (especially things the host can save for after the party!) Bringing something to share at the party can also be fun!

Tired of your rights as a member of the living dead being violated? Sick of people putting you down or worse, screaming and trying to smash your head with a cricket bat? We don’t deserve to be treated like this! We will no longer stand for being viewed as lesser citizens. We need to fight for our rights and demand equal treatment.

The Coalition Of the Living Dead (COLD) will gather on Saturday October 24th at 2:00 pm at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, and lurch for our rights as zombies. COLD encourages zombies and zombie supporters to come equipped with signs and slogans to make our point. We will raise our voices and we will not be ignored. We will lurch from the capitol down State Street to the Memorial Union.

My experience watching Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 was similar to how I imagine it must have been when George Foreman discovered he was as adept at selling grills as he was putting people to sleep with his fists. In other words, it was not what I expected. In fact I expected to hate it. I was so disgusted with Zombie’s unfortunate stab at remaking, re-imagining, and regurgitating John Carpenter’s 1978 seminal slasher that for a while I became the elderly curmudgeon of horror movie journalism. I may have even yelled at some kids to stay the hell off my lawn.

However, this time it wasn’t long before I came to the slightly confusing realization that I wasn’t hating this dreaded sequel, an emotion I felt specifically entitled to given the majority of films I’ve suffered through lately, but rather I was riveted by Rob Zombie’s brutal, gritty, and most importantly, original chapter in one of horror’s most important and longest running series.

What do a deep sea beast, a lizardman and a flying cat have in common? Well, if you say they are all monsters you’d be right!

Dubbed the “Monsters Magnetic Action Figures,” this set of over forty magnets and four background scenes is perfect for the monster lover in you. Illustrated by Justin Parpan, these Monsters magnets come in a decorated tin with two, reversible backgrounds. I really enjoy the artwork of these magnets because it’s a nice blend of traditional Halloween monsters with new, more imaginative beasties like the two-horned, one-eyed furry redhead. The technique used is pretty interesting because the Monsters body language is very cheery, but there’s just enough creepy to make it work without appearing overly “campy.”

Today’s new monster in the Halloween Horror series is brought to us by author and game designer Matt Forbeck (Mutant Chronicles, Ghost Stories). Matt knows a thing or two about little “trick-or-treaters” and adds a twist to a common Halloween night activity. Artist Aaron Acevedo adds a bit of gruesome horror to this entry in his own style.

Just what kind of horror is under the cute little costume?

The Hollow Wee ’Un

Created By Matt Forbeck

“Trick or treat!”

“Oh! Don’t you just look incredible! What a wonderful costume!”

“Trick or treat!”

“Hold a moment, honey. I don’t see your parents. Aren’t you a little young to be wandering around out here on your own?”

“Trick or treat!”

Flames Rising got a sneak peak at an upcoming Halloween surprise release from one of our small press publisher fiends, but we’re not going to tell you what the game is…yet. We have uncovered a few teaser images from artist extraordinaire Jeff Preston hinting at this new, spooky RPG product just in time to scare your friends.

In the true spirit of trick-or-treating, this small press publisher has a copy of this brand new horror RPG sitting on their desk for one of you, our loyal fans and followers of Flames Rising to celebrate the product’s release.

Update! – Its seems she just couldn’t wait for Halloween, The Death-Mother has emerged from the Shroud to spread a little more evil into the world…

The Contest has ended and the winner has been sent a free copy of the Horrors of the Shroud: The Death-Mother from the folks at One Bad Egg.

Halloween is upon us. Are you ready?

We’ve got you covered for Halloween. Four respected names in RPG digital publishing have teamed up to offer the Horror Helper Bundle. This set of downloadable products includes everything you need to add a little spice to your horror gaming and make it easier to cook up Halloween adventures. It’s available only until the end of October, so muster the courage to try one now.

The Horror Helper Bundle is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Freelance writer and reviewer Bill Bodden has taken a classic Halloween entity and given a new twisted presence in our Halloween Horror series. Artist Jeff Preston helped bring this creature to life with some of his darkest art.

Scarecrows are a staple image of Halloween, but when was the last time you found a scarecrow even slightly scary?

Scarecrows

Created by Bill Bodden

Scarecrows are merely discarded clothing stuffed with straw and stuck on a pole to simulate a human presence in farm fields to keep larger pests, like deer and crows, away from food crops. Ancient ritual demands that the scarecrows be ceremonially burned just after the harvest — around the time of Samhain, or Halloween – and added to celebratory bonfires as an offering to traditions we no longer remember. If the scarecrows aren’t burned, wandering spirits might decide to move into one, animating it and causing all sorts of mischief. Some spirits just like to play pranks, while others have a less well-developed sense of humor….