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Darklore Manor is an independently produced compilation of traditional gothic music (i.e., the album is harpsichords and violins, not electric guitars or re-mixed dance music) composed specifically to serve as the score for a dark and mysterious tale or a horror roleplaying campaign. Darklore Manor is devoid of the cheap sound effect shticks that seem to compose the bulk of similar efforts and, instead, is simply a compilation of haunting melodies.
What’s more, Darklore Manor isn’t merely music – it’s good music. Rather than a hastily compiled mishmash of random musical notes minced with substandard sound effects ripped from an amusement park ride (i.e., creaking doors, ghostly laughter, etc), each track on Darklore Manor is a carefully crafted piece of honest to god music that is not only evocative of gothic haunts, but is also easy on the ears. If more amateur musicians poured half of the time and effort into their campaign scores as Nox Arcana has into single tracks, I’d own many more such compilations.
The Final Verdict
After listening to the collection a few times, I still like what I hear (and, ultimately, that’s the real test of a musical compilation for me). I like the haunting, purposeful, melodies of Nox Arcana, as well as their decision to regale me with music, rather than sound effects.
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Haunting the Dead features four novellas set in White Wolf’s World of Darkness featuring characters from the Orpheus game line. This is a break from the usual format that White Wolf uses when releasing a new game. Usually there is a fiction anthology featuring several short stories. The novellas in Haunting the Dead allow for more character development and (as with any good ghost story) more plot twists. This was a great idea and I hope White Wolf continues his trend.
The first story, The Grass is Always Greener, by Stefan Petrucha, is the best of the bunch. This story introduces the reader to the world of Orpheus without forcing pages of information down our throats. The author takes through the mind of the main character as she deals with her inner demons while hanging out with a band of misfits. The tension continues up to the very end of the tale, keeping the reader hooked and wanting more. A difficult tale to follow, The Grass is Always Greener, starts off Haunting the Dead with a bang.
The other three stories in Haunting the Dead follow the game material a little more closely than The Grass is Always Greener, featuring the adventures of Orpheus Agents (the type of characters you’d play in the RPG). Eurydice, by Seth Lindberg, is a good tale, but it probably would have made a better full-length novel. It does feature a creepy villain that fans are still discussing on the various Orpheus boards on the web. Dia de los Muertos, by Allen Rausch, and Corridors, by Rick Chillot, are good fiction, and fit the world of Orpheus well…they just are not on the same level as The Grass is Always Greener and to a lesser extent Eurydice.
My hat goes off to Becky Jollensten, who did the cover and book design for Haunting the Dead. Most readers don’t notice these little details, but she did a great job with this book. The design adds just a bit of extra style, complimenting the novellas inside.
This book ties in well with the Orpheus game supplements, but is enjoyable by those who have no knowledge of the game. A great collection of talented authors that should set the standard for new material.
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The combination of Horror and Westerns does take a little getting used to. The Foreword to this volume, written by Joe Lansdale, explains the appeal of both genres and how they might work when mixed together. Deadlands explores these themes, mixing elements from TV shows, movies and comic books in a bizarre, but workable, adventure. The fiction in this volume explores the living and the dead, good and evil, drama and humor.
There is a nice two-page introduction to Deadlands just before the stories begin. It offers up information on the arrival of the Manitous and the points at which the supernatural invaded the West. This primer is invaluable for those unfamiliar with the backstory of the Deadlands and makes reading the stories much easier.
The short stories that make up this volume are fitting to the world of Deadlands, and range in quality from very entertaining to pointless. Obviously part two of a three-part series of anthologies, some of the tales in this volume are continuing stories, which then go on to finish up in the next volume. Some introduce interesting characters, ones that might make great antagonists for a group of Deadlands PCs. Exploring different regions of the Deadlands, these tales offer a variety of mysteries and pit the protagonists against foes both supernatural and mundane.
Lucien Soulban’s “No Man’s Law” offers a tale of young Eli Woodrow, a stagecoach robber who is way out of his league. Eli gets himself caught in the middle of a mysterious plot and a nasty doublecross. The best parts of this tale have nothing to do with the supernatural and everything to do with human greed and sin.
Zach Bush offers up a ghost tale of sorrow and vengeance called “Nuna Daul Tsuny” about atrocities done to a Cherokee girl who now haunts the plains seeking her lost innocence. Tragic and eerie, this story proves that not all horror in the Deadlands is about gore and monsters.
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Introduction
Aletheia is an extremely difficult book to write a review for because, while it is an RPG, it is one with an extremely defined, extremely tight, extremely focussed setting which amounts to a campaign idea with its own rules, rather than as an RPG as such. Given that so much of the book is devoted to the reality behind the secrets of the setting it is nigh impossible to give a full review and assessment of the game since that would give away too much and spoil it for those that do buy it.
This is something of a conundrum.
As to the game itself, I can’t decide whether I like it or not, while the execution of the game is largely flawless and the ideas within it are interesting, in their way it is very restrictive and very set. Fine if your gaming group likes the setting and the idea, then it gives you a great springboard from which to launch straight into play, if your gaming group are difficult bastards as mine often are, then this may pose a problem.
Overview
The players are some (or all) of the members of The Seven Dogs society, an elite group of specially selected people taken from an exhaustive list of genealogical investigations undertaken by the society’s missing founders. You don’t get a choice in that matter, though you do get to generate your character as you wish within those boundaries. These characters can be just about anything but since the game is centred around investigation, lacking investigative skills will tend to cause you problems. The other commonality is that every character has a supernatural power of some kind.
The role of the characters, the setting in which they find themselves and the home location from which they operate are all absolutely defined so it is vital that the designated GM not allow the players to read the book, at all, ever. Which rather restricts the ability to hand around the ‘cool new game’ to get people interested. A basic synopsis however would be something like this:
“You are all members of The Seven Dogs Society, a special group of psychically gifted investigators who are trying to reconcile weird events with a rational view of the world in order to arrive at an overarching understanding of the truth, a unified theory of everything. In the process you will encounter strange phenomena, investigate them and try to come to some manner of conclusion.”
There are many similarities and many influences that seem to be readable in the game, it seems to occupy a similar space to the new version of Mage, but one can also see a similar design philosophy to The Gumshoe engine and I would think Over The Edge would have to have influenced the writers. In fact, you could view this as a linear Over The Edge with a slightly more defined mechanic and player role, the defined setting of both games resonate with each other and Al Amarja wouldn’t be out of place – at all – in Aletheia’s world, even if it is a bit more mondo-bizarre.
Artwork
The use of artwork is minimal, but striking, mostly depicting relatively ordinary looking people doing relatively ordinary looking things but with a few pieces that demonstrate the weirdness of the game. That sort of combination, along with the clear and unfussy layout gives the game an appropriately dry and ‘scholarly’ air for most of the book and creates a ‘shock’ when you do encounter the weirder bits later on, increasing their effect.
Writing
The writing is good, clear, crisp. Explains itself well, the system is simple and so is simply explained, leaving the lion’s share of the book for the background material, sample cases and a sample adventure. I only found a few simple mistakes in the text so there’s really nothing to complain about here that wouldn’t be nitpicking.
Background
This is what I can’t really talk about without giving the game away too much, at least I can’t talk about specifics. Suffice to say that the game has a specific background, this is the way things ARE in the setting and there isn’t much room for deviation, interpretation or shifted focus. The whole game is a single, large mystery, made up of smaller mysteries and the campaign plays out in the solution of that mystery and then comes to a natural conclusion, so this is a limited-life product, much like the old White Wolf offering Orpheus.
While I like the idea of the overarching mystery this just reinforces my impression that this isn’t really an RPG so much as a campaign with some rules tacked on to it. As such this could be a good thing to buy for any modern mystery game or to incorporate into an existing setting, even as an investigation of, rather than by The Seven Dogs.
So, what can I actually say about the background? Not much that I haven’t already but I can say that the defined ‘truth’ is a mash-up of many different new-age and eclectic religious beliefs, topped off with a little popular quantum theory. I say popular because it has little to do with real quantum theory, people hear terms like entanglement, observer effect and quantum consciousness and then go off on one to Neverland without pausing to actually consider these things. I don’t normally find this sort of thing a problem but within this game it did make me uneasy.
Why?
Well, reading through the book I read a lot of things that I run into in discussions, things that people genuinely believe. Again, this isn’t necessarily a problem but normally in such games there’s a nice little disclaimer in the introduction, something like…
‘Magic isn’t real, pointing a stick at someone and shouting in Latin will only annoy them, aliens aren’t mating with your left nostril while you sleep and any resemblance in this book between gods depicted and gods that may or may not exist is purely coincidental. But gee, doesn’t this stuff make for whiz-bang stories?’
Aletheia doesn’t have that and it reads almost like you’re being preached at, right from the get go. I have no issue with drugs, religion or magic in game settings, or even being preached at (you can ignore a book easier than a frothing street preacher after all) but the matter-of-fact way the material is presented runs from the out-of-character introduction right the way through to the end. In a world where people buy into Deepak Chopra and blatantly exploitative nonsense like The Secret that can’t help but make me a little uneasy.
Rules
The rules use a simple dicepool system of between one and five dice, with a bonus dice if you have a ‘descriptor’ (such as strong, tough etc) that is applicable to the situation. You roll these dice needing to score a 5-6 with each dice scoring that counting towards a target number of successes. Professions or skills add automatic victories toward that goal target number and to succeed you have to meet the number.
Characters start out very average – two points in each statistic if they were spread out evenly, but also get a profession, some pick-up skills and a psychic or otherwise supernatural power. Different powers and different professions are rated with stars, the more stars the more expensive but also the more useful the profession or power, so you have to trade expertise in for usefulness, which is fairly balanced.
The investigative side of the game is somewhat similar to The Gumshoe system, but not as detailed or quite as responsive. Vital clues are identified and these are always discovered first, but you don’t automatically get them, you still have to roll. Thus an investigation can stall if nobody is able to succeed in finding that all important clue. Additional success brings additional supplementary clues, which may reveal more of the whole.
Its a simple but responsive system that seems to work very well indeed for its intended purpose.
Upsides
* Brilliant investigative campaign world.
* Well crafted ‘light’ system mechanics.
* Mature approach and presentation.
Downsides
* Preachy.
* Very locked down.
* Finite usefulness.
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Delta Green is a new take on H.P. Lovecraft’s Mythos, bringing the fight against darkness and horror to the 90’s and beyond. Delta Green is made up of government agents secretly working against a larger conspiracy of horror and madness. This anthology offers us eight tales from around the world of various agents and the missions that bring them into conflict with creatures of terror.
There is a great foreword by John Tynes giving a brief introduction to the world of Delta Green. A useful primer for those unfamiliar with the Delta Green role-playing game, the foreword offers up some details on the agency’s history and tells us about a few of their enemy conspiracies.
Each tale in this book also has a paragraph or two introduction telling us about the author of the story and teasing us with a hint regarding the tale. This is something I’d love to see more anthologies offer. These introductions let us know how the author got involved in the project and perhaps some interesting details as to why they wrote a particular story for the collection.
One of the best tales in this collection is by A. Scott Glancy, and is actually a pre-Delta Green story. “Once More, from the Top” tells us about the raid on Innsmouth that started it all. Fans of the role-playing game will recognize elements of the Escape from Innsmouth adventure in this tale. Marines and Federal Agents confront monsters in this little town that set things in motion for the government to create Delta Green. The horror and sorrow of the retired Marine recalling that fateful night comes through in this story quite well. The haunted look in his eyes as he recounts his story to two Delta Green agents reminds us of the price that must be paid. Intense combat, a chilling sense of dread and daring heroism are part of this story.
Dennis Detwiller offers a look into Delta Green during WWII with “Night and Water.” A tale about a Delta Green agent going after members of the Karotechia, the Nazi occult division. This story is almost a prelude to Detwiller’s larger Delta Green WWII novel, Denied to the Enemy. This story seemed almost too short, as if there could have been so much more detail surrounding the events and characters introduced within. However, if the reader is inclined to pick up another book, Detwiller’s Denied to the Enemy more than makes up for this if the reader wants more WWII action.
Other more modern tales in the book, such as Arinn Dembo’s “Suicide Watch” and Martin E. Cirulis’ “The Fast Track” offer other viewpoints on the status of the Delta Green conspiracy and even a few hints at possible future adventures. Characters from other Delta Green fiction and sourcebooks are mentioned and new faces make their mark on the setting. The writing styles vary considerably from story to story, but this does not hurt the overall work in any way. Some of the tales are more in line with Lovecraft and others move forward in new directions. This gives the book plenty of depth and offers readers new ways to look at the Mythos.
Dark Threatres offers us eight Delta Green tales in all, including John Tynes, Greg Stolze, Robert E. Furey and Benjamin Adams in addition to those mentioned above. Each story taking readers to different parts of the world and some to past horrors. Anyone interested in the Mythos should get this book. Delta Green continues its fight against the darkness…
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Three Shades of Night offers a look into each of the “big three” supernatural races of the World of Darkness; all three novellas in this book take place in Chicago, and all of them also involve a supernatural virus that is killing innocents throughout the city.
The first tale, by Janet Trautvetter, is called “The Murder of Crows” and follows the Mekhet vampire, Loki, on his quest to discover the person(s) responsible for the virus that is currently killing mortals throughout the city. Elders within the Kindred population believe that there may be a vampire “carrier” of the virus because some of the victims are among the regular herd of mortals the Kindred feed upon. Loki gets involved with a variety of characters throughout his hunt, including Kindred mentioned in other Requiem books (fiction and RPG alike). The Unholy makes an appearance or two, keeping Loki guessing as to her true motives and powers. The characters from the next two stories in Three Shades of Night also make short appearances in this story, hinting at what is yet to come later in the book. All-in-all, “The Murder of Crows” is the strongest of the three stories in the book.
“Birds of Ill Omen” by Sarah Roark is the Werewolf: the Forsaken tale of the book. The main character, Heartsblood, is not a Chicago native; he comes to Chicago by way of a vision about the city, hoping to stop the plague from spreading. Along the way he temporarily joins a local Pack of werewolves (eventually becoming the Pack Alpha for a time) and seeks clues to help him unravel the mystery. He learns a lot about the corruption that has built up in the city, talks to a few Spirits and even helps heal some of the Pack’s emotional wounds before moving on. “Birds of Ill Omen” is a bit of a difficult read at times; it seems that the reader needs to be familiar with Werewolf: the Forsaken in order to understand some of the terminology that Heartsblood is using. Even though at times it seemed a bit confusing, there was more than enough action to keep things interesting.
Myranda Sarro is the author of “Shadows and Mirrors” and wraps us the conspiracy with the Mage characters that made brief appearances in the first two stories. This story is hurt by the fact that “The Murder of Crows” and “Birds of Ill Omen” have already set-up much of the mystery and clued the reader in on some of the secrets. While the other two tales were complete stories of their own (and complimented each others’ events), “Shadows and Mirrors” relied on the assumption the reader was familiar with not only the Mage: the Awakening setting, but also with the first two stories of this collection.
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A great follow-up tale to Stolze’s earlier Requiem novel A Hunger like Fire, this time we learn about some new members of Chicago’s undead society. Most of the characters in this book, with two notable exceptions, are members of the Lancea Sanctum Covenant. The two exceptions are “Earth” Baines and Aurora…but I’ll get to them a little later.
Events in A Hunger like Fire have put Solomon Birch, the ranking member of the Lancea Sanctum, in a dangerous position. A few members of the Covenant feel he is no longer fit to lead them and begin planning his removal as Bishop. Deals are made, gossip is whispered, and pawns are set into motion. While no one in the city questions the faith of Solomon Birch, there are those who think his ties to the Prince (an Invictus) have made him unfit to lead the Covenant. In addition to the internal politics of the Lancea Sanctum, there are rumors of a night on Indulgence. An Indulgence is a single night where vampires are free to kill others and to Embrace new vampires without fear of punishment from the Prince. This could lead to old grudges settled with violence and new young vampires throughout the city. This is dangerous for those wishing to uphold the Masquerade and keep mortal hunters from finding the undead.
Throughout the book there are several conversations between vampires of different factions that really demonstrate just how devious and deadly the undead really are. The Invictus lounging in an exclusive health club while discussing the potential outcomes of the current situation, for example is quite different from the members of the Ordo Dracul whispering in the library.
Velvet, a younger member of the Lancea Sanctum, gets herself mixed up with two mortals and the ongoing political drama…keeping her quite busy throughout the book. She is an interesting character, having next-to-nothing in the way of favors, powers or position when compared to Solomon Birch or his rivals. She makes her way through the night just as well as they, even if her problems are much less grand.
“Earth” Baines is a member of the Invictus Covenant and a sometime “Hound” for the Prince’s enforcer Norris. This position, and his desire for more, gets him dragged into the internal strife of the Lancea Sanctum. Certain members of the Covenant make use of his blatant greed, lack of subtlety and joy of violence. He is never quite bright enough to realize when he is being used, much to the delight of those manipulating him.
Aurora, a mortal out for revenge against the vampires, gets in over her head rather quickly. She fails in an attack on Velvet early in the story, which sets her up to be manipulated by monsters much more powerful than she ever imagined. She is probably my favorite character in the story. She is determined, resourceful and angry. She even manages to humiliate and frustrate Baines at least once, which was an entertaining read.
There are several other members of the Lancea Sanctum that make appearances throughout the story. Some of them are even written up in World of Darkness: Chicago for those that play the Vampire: the Requiem role-playing game. Sylvia Raines, for example, stirs up some trouble and sets a few plots in motion that would make for some very interesting character motivations in an ongoing game.
The writing in The Marriage of Virtue & Viciousness is top-notch, among the author’s best work to date. Each of the characters shows a range of motivations and their emotional states never feel flat.
While I would have liked to have read a bit more of Solomon Birch (especially considering the back cover text reads as if the entire book is about him and him alone), the other characters certainly keep things interesting. If you enjoyed A Hunger like Fire this book is as good, if not better.
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Blood In, Blood Out is the second part in the trilogy for Vampire the Requiem. It takes you out of Elysium and into the streets of Chicago, where it is even colder. A different type of law exists out there, one where civility isn’t found.
It still incorporates the same characters, but the main focus of the story is on a new character, Duce, and his struggle against the status quo of Chicago. Lucian Soulban is the writer for this book, and brings some interesting elements into the story. While his style differs slightly from Greg Stolz, it is easy to continue with the story where it stopped in the first book.
The book broke off slightly from the first book to focus on the new characters and problems that developed. Again, this book gives a great view of the ‘other side’ of the tracks in the World of Darkness. Not every coven is recognized by the Camarilla, and Chicago is a prime example of that. It tails the leader of the Carthians in the city, Duce, and how he is connected to Persephone, childe of Prince Maxwell. It also has a wonderful view on betrayal of covens, and how it comes about.
Some immediate problems I had with the book was I found myself not getting into the characters as much as the first book. The character that was supposed to have the reader relate too seemed a bit too distant for me. Even with the continuation of Persephone, the first books main character, it was hard for me to get into the story. I think the biggest problem was the first book left you with a cliffhanger that wasn’t even continued with the second book. The pacing of the book was another thing. It didn’t flow as well as the first book.
The language and alliterations in the book was also something to be desired. It makes many references to the Black Panthers and other organizations. This is not the problem, it’s the fact that it was littered throughout the book, and almost becoming preachy. While it is a great element to introduce this in a story, it almost seems like Lucian is putting the reader down for everything that has happened in the past. It made me feel like something you accidentally step in on the sidewalk, not a good feeling to take away from a book.
As a stand alone book, Lucian did a wonderful job keeping the life that was breathed into the existing characters when they were first introduced. The new characters in this book, Duce and his friend, took on a life of their own. They offer an outsiders view on Elysium politics and social order. The Carthians definitely have an outside view of the Invictus and Sanctified, and that comes out wonderfully in the novel. This is a great book, especially if you have read the first of the series (which I hope you have). This book is again, a great resource for anybody who is a storyteller. Take the time to appreciate the book as it is. Read it as a stand alone book, not as part of the series. Not only will you enjoy it more, you can take away more from the story as well.
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Volume 5 covers a three issue miniseries called Firstborn, as well as Witchblade issues 110-115. We learn that New York detective Sara Pezzini was the bearer of the Witchblade, an ancient artifact borne of the elemental universal forces of light and darkness and it maintains a balance between the two. Light, known as the Angelus, and the Darkness both occupy human hosts on Earth. While the Darkness inhabits a local crime boss named Jackie Estacado, the Angelus remains searching for a host deemed worthy.
The Witchblade usually manifests as a gauntlet and bestows its wearer with incredible powers. However, having mysteriously become pregnant, Sara has given up the Witchblade to Dani Baptiste, the daughter of Sara’s boss. When Sara finds out the improbable identity of her unborn child’s father, the stakes are raised by the influence her baby may hold over the balance between the Angelus and the Darkness as well as the fate of the universe itself. Soon a war is waged over Sara’s baby as she struggles to find protection without the assistance of the Witchblade.
This volume is written by Ron Marz and for the most part the writing is competent and interesting. The aspect of the Witchblade universe I like best is its moral ambiguity. Good and evil are not black and white. This holds true both figuratively and literally. The antagonists in this story are not always as they seem. The forces of evil are fluid and nuanced and “good” seems to really be a matter of perspective. This makes the characters infinitely more interesting and unpredictable.
Witchblade covers topics that are atypical in comic books of this genre. There are plots and subplots devoted entirely to concepts such as careers, dating, sex, and motherhood. And although, it doesn’t entirely avoid the well tread path of the Lifetime Movie of the Week, Witchblade treats these ideas seriously and handles them in an interesting enough manner as to not alienate the young testosterone-infused demographic. Moreover, this universe targets female 20-somethings and it does so unapologetically and mostly successfully.
Despite these positive attributes it feels like there’s unrealized potential in the ideas explored within. Nothing ever rises to the heights that these ambitious ideas warrant. And stylistically, there are a few problems as well. I found myself annoyed by the abundance of on-the-nose exposition and confused by the equally abundant number of characters inhabiting any given page all at once.
Marz’s lead characters are strong, particularly Sara Pezzini. However, I find Patience the Magdalena, Witchblade’s requisite bloodline-of-Christ character, to be the most compelling of the peripheral folks populating this story. Unfortunately, she’s inexplicably underused and under motivated here. A bit more of that aforementioned unfulfilled potential, I suppose.
The artwork found in Witchblade Volume 5 is various and fantastic. Artists including Luke Ross, Sami Basri, Kevin Nowlan, Nathan Faribairn, Dave McCaig, and Rick Leonardi all contribute their respective styles and skills to this volume, but it’s the work of artist Stjepan Sejic that sets this book off. Sejic’s work is not photorealistic, but it’s realistically bold and alive in a slightly off kilter way. Sejic renders these characters with supple flesh and hair so well drawn you could reach into the page and style it provided you have a comb. Witchblade Volume 5 is visually nutrient and truly a pleasure to look at.
Overall, Ron Marz’s latest contribution to this universe is an ambitiously dynamic affair. It tries to meld T ‘n A from a feminist perspective with the insecurities of the average career woman, the supernatural with the metaphysical, and the ultra powerful with the very vulnerable, and he nearly pulls it all together. But you know what they say about coming close and in the end there’s much more of a lingering ho-hum factor than the exhilarating wow factor this should have inspired. Witchblade Volume 5 is worth reading for the artwork alone, but it hasn’t managed to make me see the proverbial light on this series.
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Review originally posted at FlamesRising.com - http://www.flamesrising.com/new-tales-of-the-yellow-sign-rev
iew/
New Tales of the Yellow Sign by Robin D. Laws is a collection of eight short stories that invokes and draws inspiration from The King in Yellow, the 1895 psychological horror collection of Robert W. Chambers. In writing New Tales, Laws undertakes what is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult projects for an author—writing a short story collection built around a core concept or a small number of central themes. The challenge in doing this is that whether readers are trying to or not, they tend to judge each short story on its own, instead of how it fits into the collection’s overarching concept and themes. In composition, I see a collection like New Tales to be akin to concept albums. Each has “core tracks” that advance the concept. Each may include “voice breaks” where the audience is addressed directly as a way to make the message more explicit to the audience. Each often contains a “cover song” or a selection that pays homage to a past artist that the overall work is drawing inspiration from. Finally, both short story collections and concept albums try to avoid “filler tracks”—the selections that don’t really fit with the rest of the collection, but are sometimes included anyway. Approaching New Tales of the Yellow Sign from this viewpoint, I believe that Laws’ collection should be considered a creepy, disturbing success. From my point of view Laws strikes an acceptable balance in his collection having four and a half “core tracks,” one and a half “voice breaks,” one “cover song,” and only one bit of “filler.”
The core stories of New Tales of the Yellow Sign revolve around themes of madness, horror, and unexpectedly love. “Full Bleed,” “A Boat Full of Popes,” “Distressing Notification,” and “The Dog” are all core stories, while the story “Gaps” straddles the line between my view of a “core track” and a “voice break.” Throughout these stories Laws develops a North America that is both familiar and alien. There is just enough of our modern world exemplified in each story so that the weird and metaphysical additions to each story come through as more disturbing than they might otherwise in a vacuum. Through these stories Laws explores the weird, disturbing, and sometimes redemptive, aspects of modern society through the lens of psychological and metaphysical horror characteristic of Chambers’ original The King in Yellow. Of the core stories in New Tales of the Yellow Sign, I found “Distressing Notification” and “Gaps” to be the most disturbing and entertaining. In “Distressing Notification,” Laws turns a horoscope app for smartphones into a terrifying specter of doom while also playing on the disturbing intrusiveness of modern technology in daily life. In “Gaps,” which is far and away my favorite story in New Tales, Laws explores the horror of lapses in memory and control over your body in one of the best uses of a second person narrator I have ever read. “Gaps” is immersive, suspenseful, and the horrifying lack of control I felt as a reader mirrored the horror the narrator felt over his or her lack of control. Overall, each of the core stories offers a compelling view of our modern world and the strange horrors that we refuse to acknowledge or lurk the periphery of our consciousness.
Laws pulls the reader directly into the weird world of New Tales in aforementioned “Gaps” as well as the bombastic, in your face finale, “F@&k You You’re Not Getting Out of This Car.” From my view, these two stories serve a similar role to voice breaks during an album. They directly engage the audience. In “Gaps,” Laws pulls the reader into the story as a means to impart that something is not right in the world of New Tales. While the narrator is grasping at the inexplicable gaps in his or her memory, the reader grapples with the weird and impossible aspects of the world of New Tales. Suspense builds as the plot skips towards the resolution, and as the reader struggles to figure out what is not right in the world of the story. Laws ends New Tales with a hammer blow of a story in “F@&k You You’re Not Getting Out of This Car.” Written in second-person, just like “Gaps,” the reader is placed in the role of a person who is trapped in a car with a bitter, disenfranchised lunatic. The overwhelming message of “F@&k You” is that there are crazy people in the world, crazy people who are dissatisfied with their marginalized existence in mainstream society and they’re not going to take it anymore. While lacking in subtlety, the chilling part of the story comes from the sliver of uncertainty about whether the railing lunatic screaming at the narrator is just a violent madman, or if he is a righteous protector, striking down one of the pervasive, weird, or alien evils that have assaulted others throughout the pages of New Tales.
The final two stories in New Tales, “The Blood on the Wall in the Fortress” and “Pendulous,” represent one homage piece and one filler story. “The Blood on the Wall in the Fortress” pays homage to the original work of Richard Chambers. While set in World War era, as opposed to the late 19th century, the story gives a direct nod to French settings used in many of the stories in The King in Yellow. “Blood on the Wall” is itself, a frightening commentary on the dangers of standing out as different in a group, as well as the psychological tolls of war. While not a bad story by any means when viewed on its own, “Pendulous” struck me as a text that was included in New Tales of the Yellow Sign because seven stories did not seem like enough for the collection. For a collection otherwise filled with impactful and imaginative tales, “Pendulous” seemed bland and banal in comparison. In an otherwise sweetly orchestrated collection of fiction, “Pendulous” sticks out in my mind as the one sour note.
In closing, New Tales of the Yellow Sign is, overall, a quality and entertaining collection of strange and disturbing tales. I feel that any fan of the original The King in Yellow, as well as fans of authors in the vein of Lovecraft and Bierce, will enjoy this collection of short stories put forward by Robin D. Laws. Even people who are not fans of horror, but enjoy the occasional suspense-thriller, should find enough to like in New Tales of the Yellow Sign to justify a read. The only audiences who I would not recommend New Tales to are people who dislike any type of horror, and perhaps younger audiences, as Laws does use strong language in some of his stories. I enjoyed my time spent wandering through the varied world of New Tales of the Yellow Sign, and would not hesitate to give the collection another read through in the future.
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Review originally posted at FlamesRising.com - http://www.flamesrising.com/weird-war-ii-sw-review/
Tabletop RPGs were born from historical minis gaming. Going in the reverse direction seems to be difficult in RPGs. Unless, of course, you add a supernatural element. Western gaming lay dead until Deadlands came along with a potent mix of zombies and steam guns. It’s no surprise that the company made famous by that game, Pinnacle, might try a similar formula with other times in history. They made a successful foray into the d20 OGL with Weird War II, smashing together the horrors of war with the horrors of legend. Weird Wars are poised to become a brand within Savage Worlds, with rumored entries including Rome and the Crusades. Launching the line felt like a good time to revisit Weird War II, which is available in Print and PDF for Savage Worlds.
The setting is a pretty basic mash-up: take World War II, add zombies, vampires, werewolves, and cultists to taste and stir. It differs from Deadlands in that the fantasy and horror elements don’t change up the world in big ways. Things are more low key, and the Office of Special Intelligence is much better at keeping a lid on the existence of creatures. Players are also less supernaturally aided. A Haunted vehicle can be taken as an Edge, Russian soldiers can eventually be trained to be psychic soldiers and chaplains can use faith to turn the undead but that’s it. More often than not, the PCs will have to use their wits, guts and whatever equipment the U.S. Army gave them to kill the monsters the Axis Powers unleashed.
The Savage Worlds version offers a good fit for the setting and system. Though human is only playable race, there are dozens of branches of military that fit a similar function. The base assumption is that the group will be made up of a unit with a commander and his men. Other options exist, for those who might want to patrol the seas looking for a phantom U-boat or partisans and resistance fighters behind enemy lines. Some Edges even offer traits that play to national stereotypes like unflappable Brits and friendly Frenchmen.
This is a full-color PDF that combines much of the material from the original d20 line. There are chapters devoted to many of the fronts of the war as well as a general overview. The PDF is full color, using artwork from previous books as well as vintage artwork from the period. A few changes from the original Weird War have been made. Players no longer have access to magic. Some of the sillier monsters were removed. The O.S.I. is now interested in covering up the supernatural instead of controlling it. The changes are minimal but fans of the original should take note.
The presentation in the book is top notch. Pinnacle is known for its flavorful core books and this is no exception. Everything is in full color. The art is a mix of vintage posters, authentic photographs and spooky paintings. Each of the chapters is broken up into a different campaign. These campaigns have subtle but different looks and keep things from getting too boring. The presentation makes coming up with adventures as easy as flipping through the book with the History Channel on in the background.
World War II is a huge subject to cover. Material from the original line made it into the book but not all of it did. There are points where it feels like concentrating of a specific theater might have been a better idea. the writers are clearly passionate and knowledgeable about their subject. Focusing in a specific area might have allowed the book to really nail the feel of being a frontline soldier as well add mixing in some strangeness to battle. Unless the group is made up of people looking to play multiple World War II campaigns, a lot of the book could go unused once the players blow up Hitler’s necromancy lab once and for all.
Each theater gets a chapter that details the soldiers, equipment and creatures that fit in the area. But the space each theater takes up leaves little room for one of the best parts of Savage Worlds books. Plot Point campaigns are one of the most well-liked bits about these core books. They offer a campaign structure condensed to be flexible. This book doesn’t have an overall campaign, instead choosing to go with short hooks in each campaign and random encounter generators. It’s disappointing since the authors show a love of history and seeing what they could come up with for an epic campaign would be interesting to say the least.
The book is filled with stats for tons of equipment from the era. Guns, artillery, tanks, airplanes, boats and more get statted out for whatever campaign might need them. In addition to the stats, many of the items get callouts in the text to discuss a little bit of history. The equipment also expands the field of battle, allowing for dogfights over Britain or tense sub encounters in the north sea.
Bottom Line: If you want to shoot Nazis, zombies, or, even better, Nazi zombies, sign up to deploy with Weird War II today
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An action filled mystery into the depths of the modern Knights Templar (hidden from the world that thinks they were wiped out long ago); Heretic focuses on Cade Williams and his team. Cade is known as the Heretic because of his strange abilities and personal quest against the supernatural. Other Templars either respect or fear him depending on which rumors they’ve heard.
Someone or something is attacking chapter houses throughout the country, killing the Templars that try to defend themselves and desecrating the grounds for a dark purpose. Cade is sent in to investigate and stop this menace before things get worse.
The supernatural elements of this book are dark and terrifying to those who face off against them. Most of the Templars have only their weapons and belief in the cause to fight back against the evil in the world. A select few have a touch of supernatural ability themselves. Cade is one of them, having the ability to “step” into the spirit world and talk to ghosts (which can often give him clues the living may have missed). Cade also has a sort of second sight which allows him to sense the supernatural. The newest member of Cade’s team, Duncan, also has some slight supernatural ability. He doesn’t want it however and faces moral challenges throughout the book as to its meaning and what he should do about it.
The enemy has quite a bit of supernatural ability, including powerful necromancy. Mortal cultists and other, less savory servants help the villain fight the Templars throughout the story.
The biggest weakness in this book is the main character, Cade Williams. He is too good at everything and always better than the much more interesting supporting cast. Duncan, Riley and the other members of Cade’s team are great characters; each of them has quirks, flaws and entertaining personality traits. The challenges these characters face are sometimes overshadowed by the brooding, yet always heroic Cade Williams. Cade saves the day when other Templars are losing against demonic enemies several times throughout the book. This is to be expected somewhat since he is the primary character of the story, yet some of the other Templars should be able to function a bit better than they are made out to be. Cade cannot possibly be the best at everything.
The mix of action and mystery throughout the story is well written, keeping the story moving along at a fast pace. The characters have little time to reflect or get bored as the enemy continues to attack the Templars throughout the tale. As part one of an ongoing adventure, Heretic stands on its own…yet leaves plenty of room for further adventure with Cade or other Templar characters.
An easy read for anyone looking for a mix of action and supernatural mystery, Heretic is worth picking up.
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The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology is The Onyx Path’s opening salvo of a new series of products for the World of Darkness under the auspice of the God-Machine Chronicle. Since the launch of the new World of Darkness White Wolf/CCP has released a plethora of products as part of their toolbox approach to game design while shying away from developing an overarching “meta-book.” While some books have strayed close to the line between the two for the most part each product was a package of tools each troupe could play around with to build the World of Darkness they want to explore. Now Rich Thomas and the many creative forces behind The Onyx Path are stepping over that line and producing a chronicle book, a setting in which we can explore a particular vision of the World of Darkness (which some tweaks to the core rules to match). This anthology begins the exploration of that vision, wetting our whistle for the upcoming chronicle book which we will not get to see until sometime in 2013.
The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology collects nineteen works of short fiction which continue to “intrigue, tantalize and inspire readers” from start to finish. Seven of these tales originally appeared in other works produced by White Wolf/CCP and twelve of them are all new creations. Fans of the company and their game lines will recognize many of the writers and game designers who have lent their talents to the creation of this tome. Each piece ranges in quality from good to great but I cannot express how impressed I am with the anthology as a whole. Each story really is a piece of a much larger puzzle. This is a puzzle which we are only now starting to see its outline and there is still so much more to reveal.
Does the anthology answer questions about the God-Machine? Yes and no. If anything I have a thousand more questions than before I started reading. That is probably a good thing because I am even more excited for future releases now
Upon completion of the anthology I poured myself a glass of wine and decided to lounge on my futon with the television buzzing in the background. I realized a feeling of melancholy had crept over me with a touch of hopelessness. Not too much but just enough that I wanted to relax and let the cogs keep turning on their own without interruption. Obviously the anthology had the intended effect and I was very much in the right mindset to begin exploring this new setting.
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In this, the most recent issue for the Artifacts line, we see Finch and Dani stumbling through the new universe that Jackie Estacado has created -- but something is wrong. As they explore their relationship with each other, both are unaware that a battle rages on a different front. As the danger increases, Finch -- the new Angelus -- shows us she may not have what it takes to be a bearer.
This story is an important part of the Artifacts storyline because it's a crucial plot point that builds the new narrative. Fast-paced with gorgeous, realistic art, if you're following the series you'll want to see what happens here.
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This eBook is an overview of the types of markets you can tap into as a freelance writer. Filled with generalities, this compilation is really good for those who are new to professional freelance writing -- and who haven't chosen a specialty. While the book is formatted perfectly, there aren't a ton of resources for leads, and many of the
suggested places either require a word-of-mouth connection or a copy of Writer's Market.
If you are an experienced freelancer or writer who has already figured out your specialty, I would give this eBook a pass. If, however, you're new and just figuring out your career path, this is a good way to figure out not only what you want to do, but what the market is like (generally-speaking) for that particular aspect of the field -- minus the financials.
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