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Trenchcoats, Cigarettes And Shotguns #1
Publisher: Asylum Press
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/06/2012 11:33:15

I ask myself, just based on this title alone, what is there not to like? Nothing, I like trench coats, cigarettes and shotguns, so how on Earth could this book not entertain me? The artwork by Neudorf is great, and it was all summed up at the very end in a GORE-Geous decapitation scene. Of course I am going to point that out, why wouldn’t I. What I liked most about this art style was that it all seemed to be done on wood, using paint. I really enjoyed his technique. There were some panels where I found things to be a little to jumbled, but if you stare at it, you can figure it out just fine.

The story by Brown is really interesting. There seems to be an influential mix of Hellblazer, the Darkness and (insert a detective comic here) in the concept behind this book. The mix plays out very well as the issue goes on and you can consider me intrigued to be on board for more. There were some scenes though, where I thought that the pacing was a little off. Overall this was a great first issue. There was plenty of story build with some great intense action. I plan on being on board for this whole run, and you should be too. This was a great start.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Trenchcoats, Cigarettes And Shotguns #1
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The Halloween Tree
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/29/2012 11:04:10

The Halloween Tree is the audiobook version of the 1972 publication by Ray Bradbury. The story is a fantastical look at the history of Halloween. Spanning several cultures, the characters experience the customs of people from Ancient Egypt, Rome, Mexico, the British Isles and others.

The story is impeccable and Bradbury does what he does best: social commentary through the guise of a story. Here, he teaches us about our own customs by forcing us to peer into the past without beating us over the head or giving boring explanations. I’m not the only one who thinks The Halloween Tree is spectacular. In fact, the story is so popular the animated version of The Halloween Tree was featured on Cartoon Network and it’s also been incorporated in Disneyland‘s Halloween decorations.

The audio performance of this story is more akin to an audioplay than a reading. A full cast, sound effects, and music bring this story to life. For that, it’s worth the price tag. However, the technical aspects of the files almost made me pass this up because I had no idea how long the files were or if they were compatible with iTunes, which is what I use to listen to my audiobooks.

The files are split up into two parts and don’t have optimal titles. So, it took some work getting them set up into my player. Once I did, I was disappointed that the metadata wasn’t filled out because I would have loved to know who the actors were. Part One of The Halloween Tree is fifty minutes and Part Two is an hour and eleven. Combined, it’s two hours of a really stunning audioplay that I almost overlooked completely. Since this is more than just a simple reading, I feel it’s worth the price tag.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Halloween Tree
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Orbit: Stephen King
Publisher: TidalWave Productions
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/29/2012 11:00:33

Story: This well-drawn and well-written comic tells a condensed version of the life and rise to fame of one of the world’s best writers. Like other comics by the same company, they worked with the author to tell this story. It includes his life with his mother and brother, after his father left them. The situations that sparked his interest in the macabre. His life at college and his love for his family. His battle with drugs and depression and, of course, the terrible accident that almost cost him his life.

Shockers: While many fans of Stephen king are familiar with the details of important moments in his life, it is something of a shock to the system to see his accident in such visual detail. The artist did a great job bringing the pain and the gruesome reality of the situation to the forefront. I believe it would be difficult for anyone reading the comic to not imagine – even almost feel – what it must have been like for him in that unfamiliar situation on such a familiar stretch of road.

Favorite parts: Again, even though the details have been told before, it was very emotional to read about and see his bond with his family, particularly his mother. The encouragement she gave, the way she put everything on the line for her kids, how much young Stephen King wanted to make her happy by writing as much as he could. That sort of connection is priceless.

Recommend: Absolutely! I would recommend this as a collector’s item as well as a gift to any Stephen King fan or any reader unfamiliar with or on the fence about his work. It’s an especially good gift for any child writer told he or she writes too much, or any that have been told to “stop reading[(or writing] that crap,” in reference to genre fiction.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Orbit: Stephen King
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Green Hills
Publisher: Northern Frights Publishing
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 11/18/2011 06:49:38

Story: A desperate pilot takes a shady job from an even shadier employer. Before long, he realizes that there’s a not-too-pleasant future in store for him. It kind of reminded me of a segment out of the original HEAVY METAL movie. A scared pilot and weird locale = an interesting mix.

Characters: Solid. The dialogue reveals a lot about the personalities of each individual, without being tiresome. Descriptions of mannerisms, etc., are vivid but minimal, allowing the story to flow naturally.

Shockers: The full reveal near the end is set up well. It took a while to build to it, and there are hints along the way. Most readers will probably have a few accurate suspicions early on (and the Faustian nature of the story is in the online description anyway) but that’s all part of the fun.

Writing Style/Readability: Controlled, but not boring or obvious. There’s grace and technical precision. You can tell from the first sentence that this is someone who enjoys and has studied the genre and has a good handle on the craft of writing.

Recommend: Yes. It’s a quick read and entertaining.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Green Hills
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Deadlands Dime Novel 01: Perdition's Daughter
Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 11/18/2011 06:45:59

Deadlands, the very name speaks of dark tidings and sinister shenanigans. For those unfamiliar to the setting, Deadlands is an Old West role-playing game that was initially released in the mid-90′s. It met with quite a bit of success and has recently been re-released employing the Savage Worlds system. Both games were written excellently by Shane Lacy Hensley and I was quite happy to see my beloved game in print once more. With Deadlands, Shane transports us to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood where he mixes it liberally with horror. He then throws in dashes of Steampunk and science-fiction to make it one of the best genre spanning settings. It can be dark, irreverent, gritty, and surreal all in the same session without a pause.

While Deadlands was good, Deadlands: Reloaded is better. Shane took a rather fine system, trimmed it, and then sped up the play so enjoyment was exponentially increased. This isn’t a review of Deadlands though, but some knowledge of the setting does help. In the world of Deadlands all is not quite right. It is 1879, evil is lurking, and the United States is still reeling from a Civil War that didn’t quite end. Most people turn a blind eye to the ‘stories’ they hear from travelers to keep their minds safe and secure. But, the stories are true. The dead are walking the earth, it’s just not all of the walking dead are bent on foul deeds. New creatures roam the land and magic is quite real. Science, both natural and unnatural, is making leaps and bounds pushing the imagination of what is possible.

It is here, in this twisted landscape, that Perdition’s Daughter takes us through Shane’s writing. We start off following Ronan Lynch, an officer in the Union Cavalry, during his final battle of the Civil War. We witness a veteran and competent commander that only lost his nerve when faced with overwhelming odds and a terrifying new weapon. He is, of course, deemed a coward and drummed out of the service to humiliating anonymity. Several years pass and Ronan travels the west as a gun-for-hire that harbors deep resentment to all things Southern. He eventually ends up in Denver, a city entirely too Eastern for his taste, and is approached by a mine owner to do a job. Ronan knows that there is only one job anyone would want him for: someone needed someone else dead. He is then introduced to those that will be his associates, both hail from the South. Velvet Van Helter, originally from New Orleans appears to be a dandy more interested in fashion and cards than anything else, while Betty McGrew is a rifle-woman out of Texas. Ronan gets along with them as well one would hope. His surly demeanor and openly hostile attitude towards the pair of them fosters a tension that plays out with entertaining results.

The short story unfolds as the mine owner admits he has a son that has fallen pray to the wiles of a seductive woman, and has been led astray. The woman heads a strange cult and the group left Denver a while ago. The father, quite naturally, wishes for his safe return. He offers them the tidy sum of $250 each for his son to be brought back, and $500 if his son is returned and the woman denounced as a fraud. Ronan inquires about what he might have to face and then doubles his price. He wants $500 for the son and $1000 for the son and denouncement of the woman. Such gall embarrasses Velvet and Betty and the mine owner asks if he is to pay such an amount to the others. Ronan shrugs and replies that he was only negotiating for himself.

They leave in the morning to find cult and while en route they witness Ronans blinding speed as he kills two highwaymen. The group dynamics do not change when they hit the next town and Betty refuses to even sleep in the same building as Ronan after he makes another crass remark. The trio is soon embroiled in the meat of the adventure. They discover truths and secrets, fight side by side, and even ‘bond’ as friends.. ok… they’re sort of friendly. I won’t reveal too much of story other than it was almost a road map of what a Deadlands game should be.. well.. what a game session could be if the party doesn’t try to annihilate one another (as can often happen).

With Perdition’s Daughter, Shane introduces fresh minds to his game. Hucksters, harrowed, the politics of the age, and darker magics are all touched upon with hints of broader wickedness afoot. I found it to be the perfect initiation to Deadlands, and with further installment’s on the way the background information will simply become richer. It was fantastically woven story, and I look forward to the future Dime Novels. The possibilities for future use of this short story is only curtailed by the imagination of the game master.

There was little to not enjoy about Perdition’s Daughter. It was a glorious tale in which the characters were all decently built up with quirks, the story moved at a steady pace building momentum till a climatic battle, and the over-all layout helped reinforce the ‘old west’ feel. Dialogue between characters was natural and avoided being stilted or dull. If future editions of the Dime Novel’s are as good as this one then I am sure they will be a huge success, a success that will catapult the Deadlands setting into the minds and greedy hands of gamers everywhere. My only hope is that in the following Dime Novels, that we discovery the histories of Velvet and Betty as the trio continues to romp through the west.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Deadlands Dime Novel 01: Perdition's Daughter
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Trail of Cthulhu: The Rending Box
Publisher: Pelgrane Press
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 11/07/2011 07:15:11

Graham Walmsley’s The Rending Box is moderate-sized (30 pages with handouts) adventure for Trail of Cthulhu (though it could be modified for Call of Cthulhu with little hassle). While it isn’t an overly challenging adventure, it perhaps puts too much potence into the hands (literally) of the players. Characters will find that Pandora had it easy with her little box.

Huguenin’s artwork is appropriately gruesome for this chapter of the three-scenario Purist adventure. His cover piece is atmospheric while his interior works, such as the lovely Jakob Tulving removing his eyes so that he can see better looks like something from a 1950s pre-code horror comic book cover (that’s a compliment for those who don’t know me). I also love the detailed image of the box itself (a great handout to toss on the table before declaring “this is what will ruin your lives).

The key aspect Walmsley drives home in The Rending Box is the stability and sanity loss characters experience through the course of playing in Lovecraft’s vast sandbox. This adventure is less forgiving than the two before it, but feels most in-line. The scenario provides a slow decent towards an understanding of the Mythos that cannot be undone. One of the beauties of the adventure is how the author twists each drive towards rationalization, which leads towards desolation.

Excellent ideas on running madness are peppered throughout the book, many of which are thick with inspiration.

The biggest hurdle for this game would be the players. Most players familiar with sanity loss hijinks may not play the adventure as true to form. Kudos to the gaming group that holds to character well enough to make this adventure shine (because it will). I’d recommend this for a group less familiar with the material who just want to have a good scare. It’s got all the required elements for a good one:

  1. Insanity? Check.
  2. Cultists? Check.
  3. Something for the Cultists to worship? Check.
  4. Pointlessness, bordering on the absurd? Play the game.

I think what I enjoyed most about this adventure is that it made a tried and true formula an interesting read. With nearly 30 years of RPG adventures on this subject alone, I consider it quite an achievement. My scores for The Rending Box are:

Writing: Five out of Five Dice (a solid story with a familiar formula) Artwork: Five out of Five Dice (Great. Creepy. Perfect.) Overall: Five out of Five Dice

Review by Todd Cash



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Trail of Cthulhu: The Rending Box
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Scenes of the Embrace
Publisher: White Wolf
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 11/07/2011 07:13:04

Preludes. Some of my best memories of Storyteller games circle around Preludes. I could sequester away a player for perhaps an evening and, for a session, really get into that particular character’s head. Dice rarely hit the table. It was about motivations and character. I mention this because this eBook flirts with being a look at preludes. Let me clear that it isn’t, but even the author allows that some Storytellers will use it for exactly that purpose.

The PDF’s artwork is mostly good. In fact, there are some pieces within the file that are damned good (no pun intended. Really.). I personally liked Shane Coppage’s art the best (the cover belongs to this artist). The artwork proved a little distracting in that some pieces look like Hollywood was tapped for character inspiration. Is that William H. Macy preparing to get amorous on page 19? Why is Robert Patterson getting fed on by two vampires on page 16? Some is a scratchy piece that has been done in one way or another several times before (page 10).

Valentinelli’s writing, crisp and direct, has a super-specific focus that she mostly stays focused upon throughout the book. Each scene (fourteen in all) takes a look at the Seven Deadlies (two scenes per Vice). Mechanics for these scenes are light, but present. After all, during an Embrace things can go wrong and you might need dice to best arbitrate the outcome.

For such a short book, I’d have to say it isn’t one to start out with. The depth of information contained within is impressive. The author looks at the Covenants while approaching the Vices in order to best see how they would react to each of the fourteen Embraces.

This PDF is 99.99% for Storytellers. From a player’s standpoint, I don’t think I would get very much from the read. A Storyteller could use these scenes directly either as a Prelude, piece of an existing campaign, or simple inspiration as found in Engine Publishing’s Eureka.

Raw unforgiving emotion is a vast playground for monsters to play within; this PDF exploits that. My scores for Scenes of the Embrace are:

Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (The grade would be quite different if I ran artist-by-artist) Writing: Four out of Five Dice (I like the concepts, but wished the mechanics had been fully thrown out . . . even though I understand why they couldn’t be) Overall: Four out of Five Dice (Put on your mining hat; there are some good ideas here)



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Scenes of the Embrace
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Necronomicon
Publisher: Monolith Graphics
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/23/2011 19:23:42

Nox Arcana delves headfirst into the darkness with its musical tribute to the Cthulhu mythos. Creating a haunting festival of sounds to this is a challenging feat—every day that passes Cthulhu transforms into more of an icon than a mere concept of Lovecraft’s imagination. Nox Arcana delivers its tribute in a jarring way; this is not a collection that should be idly played in the background, this is a performance that demands your attention.

It is crystal clear to me, as a listener, that this has a different purpose than other instrumentals—the composition of this collection is not meant to be subtle, it is both bold and artistic. Drums are the heavier brush strokes in many of the songs, like “The Stars Align”. Filling in the details is a symphony of strings, a blend of ghostly voices, and the gentle stroke of well-mixed woodwinds. Pacing and timing varies, to outline the faint footsteps of the summoner arrogant enough to raise “The Great Old Ones.”

The music in Necronomicon tells the story of an arrogant sorcerer acting out his evil designs. Accompanying him are disembodied voices both warning and approving, as well as an orchestration of unseen hands playing various instruments. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear the occasional gong of death tolling. The music is true to Lovecraft; harmonic melodies seem to be inspired from folk music from all over the world. “Cthulhu Rising” borrows notes from eastern Europe as the thing’s tentacles creep from murky, watery depths; thin strings whine of Arabic deserts and northern Egyptian breezes in “Temple of the Black Pharaoh.” Pieces like “Eldritch Rites” and “Nyarlathotep” are more theatrical than they are musical; a twisted sorcerer breathes life into ancient rituals through powerful chants and Lovecraft’s words. The musical talent put forth comes from a variety of sources—however to my trained ear I couldn’t tell if the elements were entirely synthesized or if they were performed in a studio. Translation? No note was off-key, no mistake was made (that I could tell); the performance was flawless, a occult mosaic planned and executed with rhythmic precision.

One of the unique things about Nox Arcana is the way they tie in an artistic vision to their products. Necronomicon is a shining example of this. The cover is a picture of a bony, wooden face that reaches out to its viewer with swirling tentacles—a subtle play on the concept of “the green man”, perhaps? I took the liberty of picking up some of Monolith Graphics’ other products, like the Dark Realms magazine. The art, created by Joseph Vargo, is gothic in a way that leaves more to the shadowy imagination through its simplicity than any photograph or pen and ink etch. The style is clean, simple and consistent; shades of a color with subtle accents. These are pieces you’d hang on your wall—images that you’d swear were looking at you in the dead of night.

Nox Arcana’s Necronomicon is a masterful blend of dark desires and the Cthulhu mythos. This collection is an impressive tribute; to appreciate the sum of its parts it should be played as a stand-alone piece replete with candles, cobwebs, and musty books.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Necronomicon
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Grants Pass
Publisher: Morrigan Books
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/23/2011 07:02:14

In two introductions from the editors, which might have actually been better as afterwords (so as not to prepare the readers so thoroughly for the journey on which they’re about to embark), the concept of Grants Pass is explained: Jennifer once wrote a blog post as a mental exercise that’s much like the one included in the anthology. If the world ends, what would your plan be? What would you take with you? Above all, meet in Grants Pass, Oregon, where other like-minded spirits will be waiting. Written from the voice of Kayley, the blog post starts out the anthology with the premise, and each story refers back to Kayley and her promise for a place where people can find a new home if the apocalypse should happen.

A series of news articles and radio broadcasts describe just that: three terrorist-developed viruses sweep through the world, alongside several natural disasters that are consequences of global warming and other factors. The majority of the people in the world are dead. This section is the one that brought chills: news reports are featured in several languages, and eventually, the speakers break down, from a newscaster on the BBC giving up hope on air to a radio announcement in Spanish declaring that everyone is dead — but calling people to believe in a place called Grants Pass, if there is anyone out there, listening (which the speaker doubts, but pleads is true).

The stories that follow take place all over the world. Some are, understandably, bleak. The strongest selections mix despair and hope, humor and questionable ethics. “Animal Husbandry” by Seanan McGuire is a stand-out: a veterinarian, traveling with an entourage of animals, is held at gun point until she promises to help a little girl who has one of the plagues.

As with most anthologies, some of the stories are stronger than others, some more to one reader’s taste than another’s. The middle of the anthology includes several stories where the narrators have little hope — or little enough sanity that whether or not they can realize their hope is doubtful — that the return to the successes of the characters in “Remembrance” is a breath of relief after so many things have gone wrong for other characters. But despite that weight in the middle, all of the stories have power — whether making the reader question what they might do at the end of the world, or whether the sacrifices of the characters make the reader’s breath catch in the throat, or gulp around the lump forming there. It’s a remarkable collection, and while occasionally the connection to Kayley’s original entry and the hope of Grants Pass seem tangential to the story, the anthology hangs well together as a whole. I highly recommend the book to readers who enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction in general, and to those who find the complex morality of human decision making in the face of everything falling apart in particular.

Review by Alana Abbott

Read the extended at Flames Rising:

http://www.flamesrising.com/grants-pass-review/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Grants Pass
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Witchblade Origins Volume 1 Trade
Publisher: Top Cow
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/17/2011 20:37:23

Back in the mid-1990s, Top Cow launched a daring new series about an artifact that could be wielded only by women — and the man who tried to take possession of it. In Witchblade: Origin, the first eight issues of Witchblade are brought to an audience who missed them the first time around. It’s a great origin story: Sara Pezzini, the tough cop who becomes the bearer of the Wicthblade, is far more vulnerable here than we see her at the current point in the series. She’s largely alone in the world: she has an irresponsible sister, a neighbor whose murder leaves her with a teen girl seeking her advice, and a partner who dies in the first issue. Her parents have been dead for some time, but she still thinks of them, often, talking to them in the box text. While she knows she has her boss — who is much like a father to her — and coworkers who care about her, she hesitates to share herself with them, especially when she is feeling weak. Not to mention she isn’t sure how to explain the Witchblade — or the deaths she inadvertently causes when she first dons it — to anyone she trusts. She has to be strong, and in steeling herself against her emotions, she falls into the trap laid by the villain who wants the Witchblade for himself.

Ken Irons is the archetypal billionaire bad guy — he’s got an empire built, and he donates to all the right causes, keeping himself squeaky clean in the public eye while getting into all sorts of bad business through back doors. His right hand man is Ian Nottingham, an assassin of tremendous skill. Through a ritual, Nottingham and Irons intend to harness the power of the Witchblade, allowing Irons to become the bearer. To work, Irons has to undermine Sara’s confidence — making her unworthy of the Witchblade — and has to be prepared for the Witchblade to transfer over to him. But Nottingham is no tame dog, and the tensions between the pair, along with mysterious dreams Nottingham has that make him sympathetic to Sara, complicate Iron’s intricate plan.

There’s much that isn’t explained in this first arc: Sara’s sister Julie and teen neighbor Lisa get involved with a very bizarre modeling community that looks more like a kinky version of the Playboy mansion than any sort of legal business realm. Irons is revealed to be at least 90 years old — and we never learn his true nature or how he extended his lifespan. Sara is assigned to a case (before she is put on leave after the death of her partner) that features a microwave killer — a serial killer who burns his victims from the inside out, and then poses them as supplicants. Those threads aren’t tied up at the end, leaving the curious reader to wait for Top Cow to release other old issues of Witchblade in graphic novel form.

I’m not sure how I’d think this story arc would stand up on its own without knowing how Witchblade has grown from its origins. If this were all of Witchblade that existed, would I pick up more? I’m not sure. But knowing the depth the series has gained since these early years, it’s nice to see how it all began.

  • Alana Abbott, read the full review at Flames Rising:

http://www.flamesrising.com/witchblade-origins-1-review/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Witchblade Origins Volume 1 Trade
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The Blackness Within: Stories of the Pagan God Moccus
Publisher: Apex Book Company
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/17/2011 20:28:08

The mythology of the British Isles fascinates me. Long before Christianity reached their shores, the people of England, Scotland and Ireland had their own fascinating, rich and complex religions. Sadly, their gods and monsters were given the short straw– devolving into leprechauns and pixies if they survived in our social conscious at all. But if you dig deep, you can usually find them still, primal and brutal, beautiful and mystic. And that’s where The Blackness Within shines.

The Blackness Within is Apex Publication’s collection of stories on the Celtic god Moccus, a god traditionally associated with boars. While both pigs and boars were held as sacred by the Celts, the boar was specifically revered for its ferocity and the strength one would require to bring it down. Little is known about Moccus– he may have been a fertility God, or one of the Hunt, or even a psychopomp, but little can be said for certain. The Blackness Within sets out to answer these questions with another: what would happen if the savage, earthen god returned today?

The collection opens with a rather powerful introduction by the editor, Gil Ainsworth. Titled “The New God, the New Order”, the introduction eerily asserts that the tales to follow are not mere fiction, but truth– warnings to be heeded. The tone is so dire and serious that one begins to question whether they believe they’re about to read works of fiction or accounts of true supernatural events, giving the anthology the feeling of a dark Bible, “The Gospels of Moccus” if you will.

Overall, The Blackness Within is a mixed bag of horror stories with the good far outweighing the bad. This anthology contains some great gems, including “Abattoir Blues”, “For They Are as Beasts”, “Daughter of God” and “Dreaming”, and overall leaves very little left to be desired. In the end it makes good on the promise made in “The New God, The New Order”, and becomes its own Bible. It truly is the tale of the rise of the Lord Moccus, a God powerful enough to plunge the world into two wars before taking his place as the one supreme Being. His rise to power is engrossing and fascinating, at times both horrifying and surreal, and this collection of His stories is well worth a look for any fans of mythology, horror or, of course, obscure Celtic gods.

Read the full review at Flames Rising:

http://www.flamesrising.com/the-blackness-within-review/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Blackness Within: Stories of the Pagan God Moccus
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Zombacalypse - Savage Worlds
Publisher: Silver Gryphon Games
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/17/2011 20:22:51

You can go many ways with a zombie. Desperate horror is just as likely as Romantic comedy anymore. They are seriously everywhere, which is probably why they are such a threat.

I’m not going to overanalyze them. People much smarter than me have already done that. What I will do is say I ran a super hero zombie one-shot for some friends once and enjoyed the Hell out of it. I also played a convention game where zombies were the main attraction (liked that too). For the most part (and this isn’t fair really), zombie games have a one-shot feel to them. Some games like Zombie Run (an excellent Savage Worlds adventure) and the zillion plus supplements for All Flesh Must Be Eaten suggest ways to make longer campaigns, but I always felt like zombie games were filler (like a blockbuster summer flick) than a campaign (like Walking Dead). I’m hardheaded and wrong, which this book quickly points out.

The artwork in the book all comes from Tony Guaraldi-Brown and this consistency gives it some bite. Overall, I like the artwork and layout. It has a feel similar to the Nightbane artwork. Some, like the piece on page 13, are a little garbled, but still works to capture the feel for this book. I don’t mind art leaving things to the imagination as long as it doesn’t look shoddy. Mostly, the pieces are good, not great. One last mention . . . zombie baby scares me.

The book is broken up into five chapter, an appendix, and a scenario. Each chapter fixates on an aspect of the zombie game and works to detail it. The appendix offers stats on everything from zombie animals to zombie zookeepers (use the cop template and I’m right). The final “chapter” is an American Civil War scenario with zombies! You think you’re cocky with a semi-automatic against the undead masses? How would you do with single shots or six-shooters?

Overall, this is a useful supplement for fans of the genre and Savage Worlds. It has a great deal of material to mine if not use whole cloth. Accessible and fun, it can be useful in a gaming pinch when you need that excellent convention game (especially a late night one when the attendees start resembling the subject material).

Read the full review at Flames Rising:

http://www.flamesrising.com/zombacalypse-sw-review/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Zombacalypse - Savage Worlds
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Mage Chronicler's Guide
Publisher: White Wolf
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/17/2011 20:18:48

Rather than rehash decades old thoughts on gaming, the focus instead turns to new ground. This book tweaks the core principles–setting, magic mechanics, and character–before setting loose some ideas on actual Mage chronicles. I’ll try to go chapter-by-chapter once I get the artwork out of the way. Before I do, one pointer: there is never a reason to quote Ayn Rand. Ever. Seriously.

For me, the book’s artwork isn’t very special. I do like the cover art by Imaginary Friends Studio; however, the interior art wasn’t engaging. It did tie directly to the fiction, which earned it a step up.

Chapter One offers seven different takes on the setting/feel of Mage. Do you want to make your magi more like the badasses of Feng Shui or maybe capture the feel of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Various rule tweaks can make that happen. This is a meaty chapter that looks at the entire process to make sense of the changes. There are character creation changes, combat twists, and more so that each world fits as easily as possible. Also, seeds of story ideas are scattered out, ready for Storytellers to snatch right up.

Chapter Two asks this question: what if magic doesn’t work like players think it does? What if weird science, psychic powers, or something else is the root of all power? I like these questions and where the authors went to find answers. It almost felt like they worked off assumptions that some of the original line’s traditions were wholly in the right. Here is what I mean. The Virtual Adepts are basically weird science meets magic (one could say the Technocracy is too). The Cult of Ecstasy, while not originally designed to say drugs equals magic, does not rule out the inherent power drugs offer some Willworkers. Of the magical source variations, I enjoyed the ideas behind the drug-fueled magi the most (probably because some people would be pissed off to find a game suggesting drug-fueled magi running around).

They do suggest a little Unknown Armies option to counter this: any vice will do. Maybe Wrath or Lust are your poison. I’m just not sure how dangerous a Mage of the Sloth vice will be. The ideas of being consumed by your obsessions is rich for gaming. It just may not be for everyone’s liking.

Chapter Three’s character creation variations look at two distinct aspects of the process, the story and the system. The first ten or so pages of this chapter sound familiar to me. Cooperative character creation. Check. Flags. Check. In-game character additions versus XP character additions. Check. Revisiting these ideas isn’t a bad idea, especially since are mixed differently for this game. Once you get past those pages, the chapter becomes fresh ground that is very specific to the Mage line. Every aspect of the character is examined HARD. I’m not sure NASA puts as much thought into their science as the authors did the latter part of this chapter.

It’s probably more information than most groups would use, but, Hell, it’s there if you want it!

Chapter Four looks at the Chronicle. How do you want to run your game? The writers contribute the largest part of this book to this question. You want to run a game without orders? Fine. Want a game touched by four-color comics? They got that too. This is the most “advicey” chapter in the book and my second favorite. With the additional rule tweaks in this chapter, I found myself wondering how seamlessly interlocking advice from multiple chapters would be.

If, for example, a change from Chapter One directly opposed one from Chapter Four, which has superiority? In the end, I suppose it boils down to house rules and your group’s decisions, which is really what these books are all about in the first place. Each of these alternate takes on Mage has probably occurred on a table already (albeit without all the nifty design changes). The writers are just opening up new avenues in an attempt to get the most mileage from your game.

And there isn’t anything wrong with that.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mage Chronicler's Guide
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Freshmen Volume 1 Trade
Publisher: Top Cow
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/05/2011 18:37:49

Here’s the short of it: due to dorm overflow, fifteen college freshmen are shipped over to live in the science building, which has been modified to create living space. When a lab experiment explodes, their cells evolve — granting them powers related to whatever they happened to be thinking at the moment. The one character who would have loved to be granted powers — the resident comic book geek — is the one character who stepped out for pizza, missing the explosion and remaining powerless. They face all sorts of evil, from robbers to a mad and evil genius to frat boys with super strength. The overall arc is as much about the students learning how to care about each other — rather than wallowing in their own worlds — as it is about the super powers or the main thrust of the plot.

Each issue is narrated by one of the main characters, sometimes more obviously than others. The writers make really good use of that narration, particularly in the third issue, when you can guess who the narrator is, but the voice seems almost omniscient, so the reveal at the end is excellent. The science is appropriately comic booky — the machine that breaks is designed to make cells heal themselves; clearly it also impacts the cells on a different level — and the conceit is believable inside the scope of the story. Most of the characters are likable — and even the ones who aren’t are easy to enjoy disliking. The art suits the style of storytelling. It’s in the traditional superhero style, and the panel work is almost invisible — the art serves the story without ever drawing attention to itself.

It’s hard to imagine this series going too far — a quick internet search shows that there’s a second arc and a couple of tie-between issues — because it would be too easy for it to become just another superhero story once it got beyond figuring out the relationships. But being a college freshman is all about figuring out who you are once you’re away from all the people who have known you your whole life, and learning how to relate to other people on your own terms. Adding super powers heightens those basic issues, which brings the comic together as a coming of age story for a group of characters. It’s definitely worth the read.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Freshmen Volume 1 Trade
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Curse of the Yellow Sign, Act II: Calling the King
Publisher: John Wick Presents
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/21/2011 11:37:11

I loved this story. There’s a limit to where you can go with a story where the hook is that people are going to be performing The King in Yellow. It can only lead to madness. And yet John Wick pushes those limits as far as they can go, creating an eerie little tale I can’t wait to actually run with people. It has much in common with the classic Call of Cthulhu adventure Tatterdemalion. In this case, however, it is less a situation of a party turned sour and an invitation to join the King in Carcosa. Rather we see six personalities unravel, as they learn that all they’ve ever cherished, and that they value, truly means nothing. It’s bleak, it’s nihilistic, it may well be my favourite ever King in Yellow scenario. It’s a hard job to present something that’s true to the grim horror of Robert Chambers’ original stories, but John Wick has done it without making it an A to Z of King in Yellow propmpted madness.

“This is how it ends…”

It seems to me something that could so easily be adapted to Cthulhu Live too, if you wanted to run a LARP adventure with just a handful of people.

Just as this game could be easily adapted for Cthulhu Live use, so too can it be adapted to Call of Cthulhu d20, Trail of Cthulhu, or any of the other Cthulhu campaign settings that have cropped up (with the provisor that the story is set in 1999), bearing in mind the author was able to run the game without any dice or rules If you were prepared to create six new characters and dress up the sandbox slightly differently there’s no reason you couldn’t shift this to any other time.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Curse of the Yellow Sign, Act II: Calling the King
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