A Flames Rising Review:

Jess Hartley’s group of pre-generated characters comes from Changeling: the Lost. She follows the typical road that allows each character to fill a needed spot in the group. For example, the Beast Aslan (the Lion-O chap on the front page) is the team’s muscle. There is nothing wrong with going this course as most players work to create just such a group. It allows the entire group a chance to shine throughout most sessions. These characters, for me, seem to have a bit in common with the Refuse. They are outsiders who are haunted by their past.

Sometimes this haunting is literal, such as in Romeo’s case.

Jess Hartley’s fantastic writing, particularly at the end of the booklet, helps prime ideas. Her characters, while created for pick-up purposes, have long-reaching goals the suggest long-term use. It doesn’t have to be this way, but the materials are there. She is forced to spend a little too much space on playing these characters with one of them missing, but the decision to create role-based characters causes this. She makes strong connections to the Changeling adventures The Rose-Bride’s Plight and The Fear-Maker’s Promise and suggests solid ways to tie into those adventures. The final two pages are a collection of wild story seeds, probably some of my favorites.

Review by Todd Cash

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com:

http://www.flamesrising.com/flash-fire-ready-made-wod

A Flames Rising Review:

Most players enjoy something tangible given to them in a game. It can be as simple as dice, poker chips, and a character sheet; nevertheless, the experience deepens when newspaper articles, photos, and varied memorabilia are also handed out. People are bound by their senses.

The more senses used during a game greatly intensifies the overall experience. Attack them all. While the Testament of Longinus won’t smell like a centuries old text, it’s still a masterfully fun little addition to the World of Darkness (and you can always check-out an old book from the library to relate that old smell for your players). This psudo-document follows the story of a self-described “antichrist” as he moves from criminal to vampire to . . . something more.

I normally go over a game’s layout first, but I’ll tackle artwork first today. The reason is simple. The nature of this product permits it to have no artwork. While it is true that some holy texts do have classically rendered art plates within them, most don’t. The “no artwork” decision works perfectly for this little manifesto. I italicize that statement because the cover is still a piece of fantastic art. Its design reflects the soft aged leather of a forgotten book, obviously using the Bible as inspiration. I hope White Wolf offers a print run of this tidy little beast as most self-printing jobs will not do it justice. After all, this is billed as an “in-game prop.”

One deeply amusing thing about reading this book is the journal portion of the book. In it, the writers critique the pseudo-religious text, bickering about the changes in authors and so forth. The writers did a fantastic job sounding like different authors, spanning across hundreds of years. In a sense, the journal portion of the book offers a rich review of the testament portion.

Fun, fun stuff.

The material in the book can quickly put characters on a quest for the mystical Longinus. He’s another Caine, Christ, or Boogeyman. His story and accomplishments are envied by too many factions for this book not to have impact in most Vampire or even Hunter games. With the correct angle, it could even be brought into a fully different system. Who is to say a Delta Green cell wouldn’t want to find and destroy such a sanity-splitting tome?

All in all, I think this book is a great addition.

Review by Todd Cash

Read the Full Review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/testament-longinus-review

A Flames Rising Review:

a|state is a game, designed by Contested Ground Studios, that deals with finding that soft, white light of hope in the murky depths of poverty, crime, and The City.

a|state’s setting is post-apocalyptic futurism, but with a few twists. Unlike other post-apocalyptic settings, there are a lot of unknowns. Something happened, something that ripped the fabric of modern-day reality off from civilization’s spoiled body. Technology is limited, identities are a luxury, and survival of the fittest is a way of life—not just a catch phrase. The City, assuredly a conglomeration of some things that “were”, has no name. In this place with no name, you battle against your greatest enemy—yourself.

Thematically, a|state reaches to a place that rests within all of us. It is a place that houses a faint glimmer of hope that somehow, some way or another, begs to be let out. This is not a game about combat, who gets the most stuff, or who levels up the fastest. This isn’t about redemption or loss; you can start out the game with nothing. This is a game about tension. If you make the wrong decisions, the whole society comes crashing down.

Creatively, a|state manages to take an idea (post-apocalyptic) and forge it into something new. “Religion”, as we know it, is not addressed at length in this mythos, but it doesn’t have to be. Too often western religious ideologies are the root behind post-apocalyptic speculations. As a result, some futuristic musings exclude non-Christian traditions. a|state disregards our current society in terms of its inner workings. Instead, it seems to have created its setting in this manner, “What kind of technological advances would happen hundreds of years from now? Okay, now disaster strikes. What is left over? Speed it up another few, hundred years. What would it look like?”

Having played a|state a handful of times, I can say that a|state is a game about playing the hero. Actions speak louder than words, and carelessness will be rewarded with oblivion. a|state is not about physical rebirth (or The City’s Rebuild) rather, it is about spiritual growth. It acknowledges that every person is a part of bringing hope, and it rewards players that do so—even if they bring it in the midst of so much self-pity and sorrow that the players, themselves, may not even realize what they are doing.

a|state is an extremely playable stand-alone game that works well for short, as well as longer-term, adventures. Whether you are rescuing children, or breaking up a crime boss fight, there is lots to do in “The City.”

Review by Monica Valentinelli

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/astate-role-playing-game-review

A FlamesRising.com Review:

12 to Midnight presents its first horror anthology, a twelve author collection centered around their well-established Pinebox, Texas setting. Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas contains an impressively wide scope of stories (and horrors) while still maintaining certain key threads and locales throughout. There are even repeated nods back to various 12 to Midnight adventures like Skinwalker.

It won’t take long for me to talk about the artwork for the anthology. Jeff Varnes cover depicts what must be an image from within the Big Thicket, one of those recurring locales in the book. It’s simplicity makes it work. Any temptation to depict a horror of some sort would have probably stalled. Also, the artwork evokes common and well-ingrained childhood fears of being alone in the woods. Inside, there are two pages of cartography by T.C. Largent. One shows a rather close look at Pinebox, Texas and the other is devoted to Golan County.

Diving into these stories felt like a mix between the stories I read in old comic titles like The House of Mystery and The Vault of Horror. A short set-up with a handful of characters, an environment in something Man Knows Isn’t Right, and a twisty, usually gruesome ending makes up the bulk of these short stories. They make for the perfect campfire stories.

And the stories come from so many directions! I worried that the stories would get repetitive by the final chapter; however, the twelve authors found horrific tales in usual haunts like basements (The Hanging Tree) and forests (Off Radio) and unusual ones like diners (Pie) and Guitar Hero (Guitar Zero). The varied set-ups keeps the reader craving another fix.

Earlier I said that these stories feel like the short stories in horror comics. A switch in media to something more televised would say they feel like Tales From the Darkside, Friday the 13th: the Series, or the darker elements of the Twilight Zone. These stories do not explore any particular mythos in detail. Lack of depth doesn’t mean lack of story. No, these stories are fun. They deliver a quick “boo” to someone already on edge.

In my book, that’s called entertainment.

Review by Todd Cash.

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/buried-tales-pinebox-review

A Flames Rising Review:

Wolfsheim is a mini-adventure for Scion, stand alone, suitable for an evening’s play or as a pick-up or convention game, though it will need experienced characters to be pre-generated in such an instance. It’s fairly straightforward, if a little rail-roady (as most of these adventures from White Wolf have been) and it could easily be shifted in space and time from its modern, Germanic setting to just about anywhere or anywhen.

The basic storyline is that of Yojimbo, the famous Japanese samurai story, a town caught between two predatory groups and the wanderers coming in, upsetting the balance between the people and their antagonists and, hopefully, causing a new peace to come about (through a great deal of bloodshed in the middle).

Wolfsheim is 44 pages, landscape - so suitable for laptop oriented gaming - of adventure with a short introduction and quite a few pages of organisational material, cuecards and NPC stat cards in the back. The meat of the adventure runs to about 22 pages all told with the rest taken up with the introductory material, background information, NPC motivations and the aforementioned play aids. The adventure is tight and focussed and, as well as falling within the overall Yojimbo scenario, also draws on dark fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretal and the myths and stories that circulate about the Black Forest.

The layout in unremarkable but workmanlike, I still can’t abide the layout or stylistic choices made in much of the modern White Wolf material but this is personal taste. While it biases my review it may not impact so much on your appreciation of the book.

The NPCs appear to be balanced and, while strong, there are circumstances and alliances that the players can take advantage of in order to even their odds. Taken as a straightforward fight players may find the scenario challenging - and it is combat heavy - but if they have even a modicum of cunning, or are combat oriented, they should survive the scenario fine.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/wolfsheim-scion-review

A Flames Rising Review:

White Wolf experiments with “ready-made player-characters” for those gaming groups on the go. Two such PDFs already exist, but I’ll only be talking about the Slaughterhouse Five. The PDF is 26 pages (no ads) devoted to the description of five player-characters and a bit of the world they live in. It’s an interesting idea, so let’s see how I felt it played out.

A few years ago, I wouldn’t have wanted to be fed a handful of pre-made characters to push onto my gaming group. It’s too much fun to make your own character. Right? Once upon a time, I would answered “yes” to that question without hesitation. I’ll now mend my answer to “yes, usually.” Why do I now permit myself to sacrifice creativity for availability? First, I no longer believe that question is even valid. The biggest reason why is pointed out by the blurb for the game. Healthy gaming groups are constantly evolving, trying out new games or new takes on old games. With all the transformations, character creation can sometimes drag things down.

The Slaughterhouse Five is a coterie of vampires in whatever city they are needed. As such, the layout of the game meshes in line with other Vampire: the Requiem releases. We have the attractive blood-lined borders and beautiful fonts decorating all the headers. The bulk of the PDF follows a predictable pattern, which is a two-page discussion of the character, a novice character sheet, and a seasoned character sheet (not everybody wants to start out at the bottom).

The writing for these characters is detailed. These are truly unique beings. Instead of having a Daeva party-goer, you have a Nosferatu with a raver’s addicted heart. In the case of the twins, I felt like maybe they were too quirky (despite the fact I enjoy the idea of two people playing the duo as they are written). Madison and Kostya will probably find takers fairly easily.

This undertaking is worthwhile even though this initial foray isn’t jaw-dropping. I think gaming groups will appreciate the cut-and-dried character option for convention use or one-shots or maybe even for putting into a campaign (though I suspect this is least likely). This experiment has promise.

Review by Todd Cash

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/ready-made-pc-review

A Flames Rising Review:

Once upon a time, my friend David ran a Delta Green game. David was a huge fan of the in-game prop, especially when it came to this particular campaign. If our clues were photographs, we generally had photographs in our paws. If the clue was a recording of some nature, then we also received that. I mention this because White Wolf’s new Collection of Horrors line appears to follow in his beliefs that props are good things. CoH is associated with the Hunter the Vigil line as each entry describes a scene (using the SAS platform) that can either be fitted into an already existing campaign, spark a new campaign, or simply fill up a night’s worth of gaming.

One nice thing about these focused scenes is that, despite their fixation, these adventures won’t really railroad players. Most of the scenes are open, not closed. Once the chief action takes place, players will be able to run wildly in reaction. This is doubly true when these scenes are cleanly added to an already established campaign.

I am not going to grade each of the modules because it boils down to a level of personal taste. All I’ll say is that the layout for each of these scenes is consistent and makes sense. I feel like the shortness of each will ultimately lead people to purchasing the full SAS adventures instead of mere scenes. The props are a great workable idea. Even though the audio-laced files seem like the better deal, some of the pure printed props are well-done. I’d suggest trying four or so out, just to whet your appetite. Use them in a Hunter campaign or try them out in something wholly different. Either way, I think these scenes will please most Storytellers.

Most importantly, have fun.

Review by Todd Cash

Read the Full Review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/collection-of-horrors-review

A Flames Rising Review:

The first fiction novel for Vampire: The Requiem, a game line produced by White Wolf, A Hunger Like Fire sets the tone for some colorful characters and intriguing plot twists.

Written by Greg Stolze, the novel begins with a character narration by Bruce, a newly-changed vampire. New to being an undead, but not authorized by the Prince of Chicago, Prince Maxwell. After reading the first two pages, I felt compelled to read further. While first person narration can get tricky, Stolze handles it well by adding some interesting character quirks. For example, the undead Bruce Miner has an attachment to his dog, Peaches. Of course, he has to use his special vampiric ability to get close to animals, but nonetheless it’s a good tie-in between game mechanics and a fictional character.

As I read further into the novel, I was challenged by the constantly changing character point-of-view. In order to keep up with the intensity of the characters, I treated the novel like a bar of fudge. Have a little bit at a time to enjoy it fully. The novel is easier to read as time goes on, and once you get used to what makes these characters tick, you want to know what they’re thinking. Characters like Persephone Moore, Solomon Birch, Prince Maxwell, and Scratch (a vampire with a penchant for zoot suits) move the plot just by their being in the right place at the right time.

In Vampire: The Requiem, there are four ways for vampires to “socially belong.” Clans, Covenants, Coteries, and Courts. In “A Hunger Like Fire,” Stolze presents all four of these methods. While he did not delve deeply into Clan affiliation, he did so with the others. Covenants, like the Lancea Sanctum, were prominently displayed. Solomon Birch, for all his hard ways, is a prime example of a vampire belonging to this covenant. As a result, you feel both repulsed and compelled by his character. There are two primary examples of Coteries in the novel. The first is a small, unaligned Coterie that bands together around Bruce. The second is the primogen of Chicago. Both groups band together for different reasons; one for camaraderie, one for politics.

The last, but most important, way for vampires to socially interact in Chicago is the Court of Chicago, or Elysium. Stolze sets the stage for other books by locating the Court at Chicago’s Navy Pier; Shedd Aquarium. If you’ve ever been to the Aquarium, it’s an unsettling thought to think of vampires haunting its halls. Darker still, is the honor for a vampire to decorate for the Court. Stolze’s attention to detail in this area sheds an intimate light on the true nature of being a vampire. We can only hope that the Court will continue in this vein.

As the first for the series, Stolze did an excellent job of both creating characters and setting for Vampire: The Requiem in Chicago. I felt the book was definitely money well-spent; it was refreshing, comical, and dark. Perfect for the World of Darkness.

Review by Monica Valentinelli

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/a-hunger-like-fire-book-review

The magazine comes in a robust 60 pages. That is not as big as their major competitor, but it is very, very, full. The initial editorial lays out all of the article types that the magazine plans to pursue in the coming quarters and every one seems interesting and with a constant mind toward having something for all players. There was always an eye toward having both solid fluff (flavor) and rules (crunch) in each article. More over, a focus on making sure the flavor and crunch aligned. Readers will notice if there is a disconnect and will be turned off by a product that does a bad job of aligning these two very important aspects of game design. That is not the case here.

The articles are similar to classic articles we, as a gaming generation, have all grown up with. There are articles that detail new weapons and talk about the fighters that use them, articles that introduce a new god, his followers and other important doctrines of the faith. In short, once again, Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel is walking a fine line between classic nostalgia that invokes feelings in old timers and easy grokkability for newcomers. In this issue, Rudel as the editor, succeeds admirably in this quest.

Upsides • Robust and full of both fluff and crunch • Material easily grokkable and usable in any homebrew game • Captures the feel of classic gaming magazines of the 80’s while still being modern and easy for newer players to use

Downsides • The black and white interior makes powers hard to recognize • Some templating and power issues in rules design.

Review by Vincent Venturella

Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/level-up-magazine-review

While the cover art left much to be desired, the overall layout again was stylish with its widescreen format. I also like the icon detailing the number of scenes, physical, mental, and social difficult settings, and suggested experience levels for the adventure. This makes it absurdly easy for a Storyteller to pick up the right adventure for the right group. The settings to the adventure fully lived up to its iconic promise.

The adventure, rich with promise, is a bit of a letdown. The single strongest aspect to it is the time frame. Once the players are introduced to the adventure’s hook, they have a limited amount of time to make things right. Sadly, the time frame also becomes a bit of an unwanted hassle for this adventure. Answering the question of “what is right” proves to have more than two dozen written possibilities (great!). Once you include the players and their own imagined world, those possibilities are endless (awesome!). No storyteller wants their players to be mired down by indecision, hence the time restraint; however, it seems pointless to include both factions.

Putting the game aside for the moment, let’s look at the writing itself. Henley’s writes well and invokes the right atmosphere with apparent ease. I’d like to read this adventure as a short story. His writing is consistent throughout the adventure and properly edited. I would revisit the writer again to see what other twisted thoughts might come from him.

The game portion itself just doesn’t wow me in the least. I tend to try things three times before writing them off, be it a television show, new group, or game. I would chalk this adventure up as a strike, despite the fact there are some seriously devious fragments worth mining from it. If you need a quick pick-up game that requires little preparation, this will probably fit your needs; otherwise, I’d give it a pass. This leads me to scoring it as:

Artwork (overall): 1 Die Layout: 5 Dice Writing (overall): 2 Dice Overall: 2.5 Dice

Review by Todd Cash

Read the full Review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/under-the-skin-review

<p>White Wolf takes us back to the Eighties in New Wave Requiem (WW25320). The decision to turn back the clock nearly twenty five years seems to be a brilliant one (Yes, I did say TWENTY FIVE years). Sob. Vampire: the Masquerade hit bookshelves in 1991, so readers never really got a feel for the Reagan Era of gaming. This appears to be their attempt at remedying that issue. This slim supplement weighs in at eighty-one pages; however, it wastes no space with ads (an oddity considering the waste the 1980s created). There are a few pages devoted solely to pieces of art, but these terrific characterizations demand forgiveness as they summon images of The Warriors and an evil Susanna Hoffs. </p><p> The text’s layout (down to the character sheet) plays with the same cold digital font used on alarm clocks, Doogie Howser, M. D. journal entries, and arcade games. As much as I wanted to hate this dominating font, I could not. It was the perfect fit to this book. Instead of the typical green or blue that the font should be, they wisely turned it blood red The cover art is another story; I loved it immediately. Erik Jone’s cover art depicts the sex, drugs, and money required to capture the “feel” of the 1980s; furthermore, the scantily dressed vamp reminds the reader that, despite being consumed by the infernal Trinity, blood is still king. It’s a great cover, probably the only one in recent years to pull me in on artistic merit alone. The interior artwork by John Christopher, Marco Nelor, and Frederico Piatti is sparse, which is to be expected with a release of this size. The art is well-placed, working to lead into chapters or show off one of the great NPCs. </p><p> While I found the lead-in artwork to be okay and somehow fitting, the character depictions are flat-out amazing. The icon associated with these pieces leads me to giving John Christopher credit for them. There are a few duplicates of a few characters within the books; however these full-page reproductions look like iron-on decals for ringer tees. Great, great stuff! </p><p> Yes, I loved this book. White Wolf rarely takes the step to bring the darkness of their world and let John Huges and Princess Diana run around within it. That is what I felt they did with this supplement however. I think the biggest reason a reader may dislike this book is if the Eighties just doesn’t do it for them. If so, I doubt they’ll pick up a book dedicated to it. Let me show you my scores: </p><p> Layout: 5 out of 5 Dice <br /> Artwork: 4 out of 5 Dice <br /> Writing: 4 out of 5 Dice <br /> Overall: 5 out of 5 Dice </p><p> Review by Todd Cash </p><p> Read the full Review at <br /> FlamesRising.com: <br />http://www.flamesrising.com/new-wave-requiem-rpg-review <br />

This is a short work at only 14 pages, but with such a small price tag ($2.50) it has a high production value. The supplement looks clean and professionally done. However, my first impression upon reading it was that we have a product without a market. I am not sure how much the gaming community is crying out for a humanoid elk-person to play. More over, I am not sure how much we needed an American Indian derivative to play either. I appreciate the fullness of this supplement and the format is solid. The idea of introducing a new race, planting them in the generic “world,” giving them a physiological and psychological overview and combining that with player and DM tools is a great idea and something I would like to see more of. I take issue not with the concept, but with its execution in this particular case.

I feel as though we missed a great opportunity here, but it is instructive of the many possibilities 4E has to offer. Though this race may be a miss creatively, the idea is good and I would be very interested in future products created and detailed in a similar fashion.

Style: 4 Substance: 2.5 Overall: 3

Read the full Review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/elkram-4e-review

A fun read that starts out with plenty of action in the first couple of pages. The artwork is definitely "classic" when compared to today's comics, but still a lot of fun.

"The Mystery of Psyche" is a great mini-tale and I'm looking forward to the conclusion in the next issue.