2008 ENnie Awards

The ENnies voting server is up and running, and the virtual booth will be open from July 28th until Wednesday, August 6th.

White Wolf encourages everyone to take a few moments and participate in the awards process. Voters are tracked by IP address, and limited to one vote per individual, tracked by IP. To cast your vote, please click on the Ennies link below.

We’ve brought you previews of Hunters, we’ve shown you teasers of the Mages.

Now its time to take a look at what the Changelings are up too.

Equinox Road is a new book for the ENnie Nominated Changeling: the Lost.

The road is dangerous, and you may be torn apart by the Thorns. The destination is a risk of death, or the return to slavery. But there’s much to be gained for those brave and clever enough to dare the return — the return to Faerie.

Here is an exclusive preview of this upcoming book…

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.

Beneath the deserts of Iraq, among the ruins of the ancient Babylonian civilization, lie secrets. The ancient servants of a dead god stir again. Forgotten magic waits to be claimed. Evil spirits yearn for souls to consume. At the heart of it all is a terrible hunger – for power, for servitude, but most of all for blood.

A squad of soldiers escorting an archaeologist is thrown into the maw of these ancient secrets, and its men must fend for themselves against an ancient horror beyond their understanding. But survival is not enough, for deep in the ruins of Ur the very tools of their salvation could cost them their souls.

A story in the Storytelling Adventure System for the World of Darkness, inspired by World of Darkness: Dogs of War.

Look for Ruins of Ur and other Storytelling Adventure System eBooks at the Flames Rising RPGnow Shop.

Earlier we brought you previews of White Wolf‘s upcoming Hunter: the Vigil RPG. Take a look at Professions, Endowments and exclusive quotes From the Authors.

Today we’re switching over to a new book for Mage: the Awakening. The Silver Ladder is a sourcebook that features the history, methodology and ultimate goals of the Silver Ladder as well as new spells, Artifacts, imbued items, Legacies and more.

Today’s preview offers up a sneak peek at this new book:

The Hunt

The Special Cases Unit of the Philadelphia PD was used to handling strange cases, but when a flesh-eating ghoul killed one of their own, they’re thrown into a new world where literal monsters roam the night. Now they’re working for an organization known as Task Force: Valkyrie, or they will be after they finish this hunt….

This quickstart for Hunter: The Vigil contains everything you need to play through a scenario (except for some 10-sided dice). This story is set chronologically before our other quickstart, One Year Later, but no knowledge of Hunter is needed to play this stand-alone product.

The Hunt is available for free at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

War Is Hell

The service trains you to be strong. It teaches you teamwork, how to rely on others and how to rely on yourself. Which is a damn good thing. You need every edge you can get. You’ll see for yourself when you discover what else is out there in the night.

World of Darkness: Dogs of War is available to pre-order at Amazon.com and instant download at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Electronic Coupon for 20% off the following PDF products at RPGNow.com

For one day only – this Friday, the 13th of June, White Wolf is offering a discount on the following, appropriately thematic supplements from the World of Darkness. Naturally, this is a special day in our offices and we thought, why not share with our fans?

Second Sight – Not every entity with supernatural powers is one of a species of creatures that prowl the night. Solitary psychics, crazed sorcerers and doomsaying cultists all share the World of Darkness. This book explores their unique abilities. A character and setting book for all World of Darkness Games

Chuck Wendig has contributed to over sixty books for White Wolf Game Studios. His short fiction has infiltrated Whispers From the Shattered Forum, Not One of Us, and an upcoming Carnifex Press anthology.

In this interview Chuck tells us about how got his start at White Wolf Game Studios. He also tells us a bit about working on the previous World of Darkness, Requiem for Rome and, of course, Hunter: the Vigil.

Previous Hunter: the Vigil teasers have included sample Endowments and Professions as well as the Loyalists of Thule.

I don’t want to distract folks from the teasers that White Wolf has posted recently, namely A Game of Light in Shadows and What Hunter Is. Go read them when you get the chance, interesting stuff.

This week we are going to do something a little different…

I asked the authors of the Hunter: the Vigil core book to tell me a little something about working on the book. A few of them sent me some interesting stories…

UPDATE: White Wolf freelancer, Alex Greene, has sent me some of his thoughts on the new game. I’ve added them to this post.

Death has never looked so good

Love them or hate them, the Daeva are the ones you die for. Tempters and priests, madonnas and horrors, these vampires feed on the blood and vices of the World of Darkness — and feed well. From the best parties to the worst parts of town, be seduced by the beautiful among the Damned. For the Succubi, a good-looking corpse is only the first step in the Danse Macabre.

Previous Hunter topics include Light in Shadows, Professions and Endowments. Each of them explored just a bit more of the setting of the upcoming game.

We’ve talked briefly about the daily lives of the Hunters, made a small mention of compacts and conspiracies once or twice already. There has been a lot of speculation about each of these words (and their possible meaning) on forums and blogs.

Just to recap some of that text:

Hunter society is small and secretive, even in large cities like London or New York, but it is also vibrant and constantly in flux. Individual hunters band together to form cells, pooling their skills and resources to take on solitary monsters that threaten their communities. Sometimes these hunters become aware of other cells in their area and they form broader ties that grow into larger compacts, creating a network that spans entire cities or regions. In rare cases, hunter compacts grow so large that their resources and influence span entire countries.

We’ve talked about Light in Shadows as the theme of Hunter: the Vigil and we’ve looked at one of the Professions featured in the upcoming game.

Yet the question remains…how do they hunt the monsters of the World of Darkness?

Anyone can grab a gun and start blasting away, but is that enough to destroy a vampire or werewolf? What good are bullets against a ghost?

Last week I talked a bit about the theme of Hunter: the Vigil. The theme of the game is Light in Shadows and I talked about how Hunters team up to fight against the things that lurk in the shadows of the world.

I also mentioned that most Hunters have “day jobs” since nobody really gets paid to stake or shoot supernatural creatures. This week we’re going to take a closer look at the “day job” element of Hunter: the Vigil.

In Hunter: the Vigil these “day jobs” are called Professions. They seem to be the everyday “real” careers that “normal” people have in the world. The trick for a Hunter is balancing the demands of the hunt with the realities of the job.

Suddenly, there’s a new kid at school today. No one has lived in the Mayfair House for as long as you can remember, maybe even as long as you’ve been alive. Like a big gray toad nestled into the woods, it gazes down on the corner, eyes empty and soulless. But that’s all changed. You […]

The World of Darkness Through Innocent Eyes

Monsters don’t just lurk in remote forests, nightclubs, slums and the rooftops of the city. They’re in your neighborhood, watching you as you walk to school. They’re waiting for you in the woods behind your house as you and your friends build your fort. They’re under your bed.

Adults have learned to live in the World of Darkness by ignoring the supernatural, by pretending it isn’t there and going about the lives they have made for themselves. You don’t have that luxury. You see the world through a child’s eyes, and that means you haven’t learned to look away.

The folks at White Wolf may be at GTS (GAMA Trade Show) but they still have a few surprises in store for the fans this week… The first one is the new logo for Hunter: The Vigil. Check it out -here-. While the logo is certainly interesting it was the flavor text that got me […]

Chicago Workings is a World of Darkness adventure released under the Storytelling Adventure System from White Wolf Publishing. Written by Will Hindmarch (with a little help from Ken Hite and Bill Bridges) this adventure puts the player characters in the middle of an ongoing conflict between rival architects. At first that doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but what if these two designers had access to mystical writings? These writings allowed them to build geometric grids of power within the city, forever altering the flow of magic and power.

If you go to your bookshelf and pick up your favorite gaming book, whether it’s from Apophis Consortium or Evil Hat Productions, reread the fiction or flavor text that’s used as chapter breaks or to enhance the setting. Now, check out your other books and see how many World of Warcraft-inspired novels or Forgotten Realms stories you have.

Do you remember what you liked about them? Disliked?

They Win. They Always Win.

The Ventrue — ancient kings and cutting-edge moguls — have a simple reputation. They win. They always win. They are known as Lords, and across all the World of Darkness, wherever you find vampires, you’ll find Ventrue behind them, pulling the strings.

Ventrue: Lords over the Damned is a clanbook for Vampire: The Requiem.

White Wolf Publishing has recently put together a new Storytelling Adventure System website to feature the “Playable Stories for all White Wolf Publishing Games” series of products that we’ve been raving about here on Flames Rising (including a Mini-Reviews of Fear-Maker’s Promise and Criminal Intent). Check out the new website: www.white-wolf.com/sas for a look recent […]