The Cult of the Dragon leads the charge in an unholy crusade to bring Tiamat back to the Realms, and the situation grows more perilous for good people with each passing moment. The battle becomes increasingly political as opportunities to gather allies and gain advantage present themselves. From Waterdeep to the Sea of Moving Ice to Thay, it is a race against Evil. Succeed or succumb to the oppression of draconic tyranny. Win or lose, things will never be the same again.

Award-winning author, Erin M. Evans, continues the riveting tale of her Sundering character, Farideh, as she becomes embroiled in a Forgotten Realms-flavored game of thrones.

In a direct follow-up to the third book in the Sundering series, The Adversary, young warlock Farideh falls into the midst of a battle for the throne of Cormyr. As the war brought on by the Sundering rages across Faerûn, princes and princesses, wizards and rogues scheme to capture the seat of power of the Land of the Purple Dragon—with Farideh and her allies caught squarely in the middle.

Flames Rising is pleased to present a guest post from Erin M. Evans as she tells us a bit about this new Forgotten Realms novel.

Today at PAX Prime in Seattle Wizards of the Coast provided a glimpse of what Dungeons & Dragons will offer in 2015, with new digital offerings set in the Forgotten Realms from partners including Backflip Studios, Beamdog and Cryptic Studios with Perfect World Entertainment.

Throughout 2014, D&D has ignited excitement in the game industry with a celebration of the brand’s 40th anniversary, the launch of new rules for the tabletop RPG, and the exciting and engaging Tyranny of Dragons storyline.

Digital plans for next year were revealed at PAX Prime today during the “2015 Videogames in the Forgotten Realms” panel hosted by Wizards of the Coast and partners.

The biggest and most exciting year for Dungeons & Dragons hits a pivotal moment today as the Tyranny of Dragons storyline kicks-off. This rich new narrative challenges players around the world to rise up against hoards of evil dragons, including Tiamat, the most fearsome dragon in D&D’s history! With a full suite of entertainment offerings already starting to roll-out, and many more exciting launches slated for later this year, Tyranny of Dragons offers action-packed play experiences for digital and tabletop RPG players alike.

In an exciting worldwide exclusive, Wizards of the Coast today announced the release of Magic 2015 – Duels of the Planeswalkers on iPad®. The launch signifies the first in the Magic 2015 product line-up and will be followed by releases on other platforms starting on July 16th.

Magic 2015 – Duels of the Planeswalkers challenges players to “Hunt Bigger Game” and confront the deadliest hunter in the Magic Multiverse – Garruk Wildspeaker. Players must attempt to stop Garruk as he turns his instincts away from beasts of the wild to a new quarry – you, his fellow Planeswalker.

Deep in the forest of Cormanthor lies the hoard of the dracolich Dretchroyaster, the prize of which is a diamond staff rumored to unlock the secrets of an ancient elven kingdom. The sage Imani is seeking dozens of adventurers to launch an all-out assault on the undead dragon’s lair. The dracolich is a powerful foe – too great for even several parties to conquer – so it’s going to take all of the heroes’ courage, cunning, and speed to survive the dracolich’s deadly vault.

Vault of the Dracolich is a Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game adventure designed for the June 2013 D&D Game Day. The challenge draws inspiration from the interactive format used at some gaming conventions.

Vault of the Dracolich is available in PDF format at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!

The most popular setting in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, The Forgotten Realms, is about to be completely reshaped by an epic event announced today by Wizards of the Coast. The Sundering is an extensive story spanning multiple expressions of the contemporary fantasy entertainment franchise that offers fans the opportunity to impact the fate of the world along the way.

Key milestones in the year-long Sundering storyline will take place in iconic locations like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter and Icewind Dale, to name a few. The changes to the Forgotten Realms can be experienced through a series of novels, in-store play experiences, digital offerings, comics, accessories and tabletop RPG adventures. Through these expressions, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fans will be able to engage and impact the fate of the Forgotten Realms forever.

The FORGOTTEN REALMS is the most successful and widely known DUNGEONS & DRAGONS campaign setting ever created, and it owes its existence to creator Ed Greenwood.

This 160-page hardcover book describes the campaign setting as it lives and breathes in the imagination of its creator. Through the alter ego of Elminster, Archmage of Shadowdale, Ed Greenwood presents the Realms as a setting where companies of crazed adventurers are born and have rich lives, and where they get to call the shots. In this book, Ed presents a world where friendships are forged, endless intrigues unfold, and heroes wage war against the monstrous inhabitants of famous dungeons and untamed wildernesses.

Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms is available now at Amazon.com.

Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce that its iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons®, will offer fans the chance to both explore the notorious drow race in the current Rise of the Underdark campaign, as well as glimpse into the future of the game at this year’s Gen Con Indy 2012 (August 16 – 19).

Wizards of the Coast unleashed Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 on iPad for the first time, along with Xbox LIVE® Arcade, PC/Steam® and PlayStation® Network.* Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is the first major release from Magic: The Gathering this summer, kicking off the Magic 2013 campaign that entices players to “Face A Greater Challenge” against the ultimate evil mastermind of the Multiverse, dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas!

Beginning last week, Duels 2013 players will get the first look at approximately 100 cards that will be featured in the Magic 2013 Core Set launching July 13, 2012. In addition, with the purchase of Duels 2013, players receive a code to redeem an exclusive six-card booster pack – including a platform-specific promo card – at participating Wizards Play Network hobby stores.

Evil has always lurked deep underneath the ground and now Lolth’s children are clawing their way to the surface to consume the realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Few will survive the coming darkness. Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook is the first roleplaying game supplement released by Wizards of the Coast as part of The Rise of the Underdark ongoing event.

Sightings of dark elves on the surface have grown steadily—turning from dismissible rumors into disturbing reports. Brave heroes are needed to discover what plot or purpose is driving the children of Lolth to so boldly intrude upon our realm. Drow-laden encounters and challenges await you in stores everywhere—along with an array of products that will help you in your attempt to survive The Rise of the Underdark.

Wizards of the Coast has released more support product for the tactical play style of Dungeons & Dragons 4E. The Haunted Temples Map Pack is a collection of three full-color, double-sided maps which come in packaging which converts into a convenient envelope to protect the maps in transportation and storage.

Wizards of the Coast’s latest dungeon tile set, Cathedral of Chaos, arrived in the mail today. I am an avid collector of dungeon tiles and I use them quite often at my game table so please keep that in mind when I say Cathedral of Chaos is both the best dungeon tile set I have seen in quite a while as well as the worst.

The set provides quite a few interesting architectural pieces as well as several inspired tiles which made me cheer as I popped them out. Smoke filled tiles, demolished areas, raised daises and ice/fire tiles add a lot of interesting terrain options to a DM’s arsenal.

Wizards of the Coast has announced a new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG:

Charting the Course for D&D: Your Voice, Your Game

As you may have read in the New York Times, it’s an exciting time for Dungeons & Dragons. We are happy to announce today that we are developing the next iteration of D&D, and will be looking to the legions of D&D fans to help shape the future of the game along with us.

One of the cool things about “new” media is a company’s ability to bridge the gap between paper and pencils with technology. Neverwinter Nights on Facebook is a social game you can play.

The first thing you do is roll stats. There’s no character class, but this min/maxer (That’s right.. Me…) rolled a few times until I got… Well… Some decent stats. The game didn’t work on Chrome so off to Firefox I go… That’s where I found out that punctuation doesn’t work in the character name field. I have an elf name I often use (Lazy, I know, I know…) but the apostrophe didn’t take.

Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter enters open beta phase

The first name in roleplaying games is taking another step in its storied pop culture history as Atari brings Dungeons & Dragons to the Facebook platform. Atari, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and producers of interactive entertainment, will release Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter into its “open beta” period on September 15, bringing the ultimate RPG brand to the ultimate social platform.

After a post the other day on Google+, Monica poked me about letting Flames Rising readers know what I’ve been up to while I’m not writing for Flames Rising.

Most of my writing recently has been for Branford Patch, a local online news site, where I do a regular history column about the early days of Branford, Connecticut. It’s great fun, but not typically a cross-over into horror (although perhaps I’ll track down a ghost story one of these days!).

This past week, however, I had my very first Dragon magazine article published!

Wizards of the Coast today announced the forthcoming launch of its new, highly anticipated Dungeons & Dragons board game, Conquest of Nerath, set for retail release on June 21, 2011. The Conquest of Nerath board game provides exciting game play for strategy gamers interested in exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons while offering current RPG players a whole new way to experience D&D. Conquest of Nerath is the third major D&D board game to be released following Castle of Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon.

One of the things I did at C2E2 was sit down and play a demo of Magic: the Gathering. I had the chance to talk to a very knowledge and experienced judge. We have some decks here at home and even though I’ve played a few rounds, with a game like Magic: the Gathering I feel there’s always something new to learn.

For my demo, I chose the Chandra Nalaar or red deck from the Planeswalker set. Immediately, the game designer in me wondered how gameplay might vary between the different colors. The red deck was totally appropriate to my personality and had lots of fiery cards and mountains in it.

Before you grab your shotgun and blast 2010 away, you might want to check out our hot news today. We’ve got fiery new releases, a few announcements and more hot, hot links to usher in the New Year.

Got something you want to throw on the fire next time? Send your dark and delectable links to via our contact the editors at FlamesRising.com page.