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Thursday, January 2, 2014

What Gaming Magazines / Zines Do You Read, Past or Present?

Back in the 80's and 90's, when RPG's ruled the world, it seemed like every publisher and their mother was putting out an RPG magazine.

TSR had Dragon and Dungeon. Games Workshop had White Dwarf. SJG had The Space Gamer and the Fantasy Gamer. Avalon Hill had Heroes (or some such). Different Worlds changed hands a few times if I recall. Shadis was a breath of fresh air that spawned KotDT. Journal of the Traveler Aids Society was there for the Traveller players. I'm sure I'm missing one or two.

All of the above are gone (White Dwarf hasn't supported RPG's in decades and Dragon and Dungeon haven't been in a print format in years).

So, the gaming magazine is effectively dead, replaces in current days by gaming 'zine - self published magazines with little corporate influence behind them. Published less for profit then for love of the game, or at least, that's how I see it.

What gaming magazines did you read back in the day and what gaming 'zines do you read these days?


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29 comments:

  1. Jason ZavodaJanuary 2, 2014 at 8:46 PM

    All of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sean CaldoJanuary 2, 2014 at 8:51 PM

    Don't really feel the need to go for 'zines or anything these days because of the wealth of useful information found on the good old 'net. Blogs, podcasts, reddit, youtube, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 2, 2014 at 8:55 PM

    All of them!!!

    Wizards Mutants Laser Pistols (5 issues), Brave the Labyrinth (3 issues), and Crawl! (8 issues) are three of my current favorites but I gotta give a bloodcurdling, broken minded and unearthly shout out to The Unspeakable Oath (23 issues)!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJanuary 3, 2014 at 11:56 AM

      Wow I am an idiot. Started reading the lastest Dyson’s Dodecahedron (8 issues) and didn't include that in my first post. I blame alcohol, particularly Knob Creek.

      Delete
  4. Sean CaldoJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:09 PM

    Just found out the free archive of 250 issues of Dragon are no longer available on archive.org Are there any free zines and the like out there?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Doctor FuturityJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:23 PM

    Don't forget the fanzines from Way Back When. For every official 'zine I followed --Sorcerers Apprentice and Different Worlds were my top faves, followed by Space Gamer and White Dwarf when it was still about RPGs-- there were always twice as many fanzines. I published The Sorcerers Scrolls bi-monthly from 1985 to about 1990, and followed a ton of old 'zines....TnT, Wyrm's Footnotes, Alarums & Excursions, Arioch (hmmm I think it was called Arioch), all the stuff Dragon Tree put out....about two dozen more I can't even remember the names of anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:26 PM

    "Dragon" and "Dungeon" are both "on hiatus" effective December 2013. Something about WOTC turning all their attention to D&D Next. Read more here, FWIW: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/alum/DRA

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mystic ScholarJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:33 PM

    I followed Dragon and Dungeon when they were in hard print.

    I'm currently giving Gygax Magazine a try

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:34 PM

    As far as reading: excellent Blogs (like this one!), Gygax magazine, and old Judge's Guild stuff (Dungeoneer, JG Journal, etc.). Some of the old White Dwarf issues also have good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  9. JeremyJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:50 PM

    Challenge magazine from GDW,. which was what JTAS morphed into.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anthony N. EmmelJanuary 2, 2014 at 10:49 PM

    Gygax Magazine and Crawl! here. I used to read TLG's Crusader.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gothridge ManorJanuary 2, 2014 at 11:23 PM

    Dragon and Dungeon back in the back. Now, I ready as many of the zines I can get my eyes on. Loviatar, Crawl!, Wizards Mutants, Laser Pistols, Underworld Lore, 6 Iron Spikes & a Small Hammer, Dyson's Dodecahedron, Delve!, Dungeon Crawl, Fight On!, Knockspell, Lapsus Calumni and recently been enjoying &. So I would say all of them, but I know I'm missing a few and hope to get copies of those soon.

    ReplyDelete
  12. faoladhJanuary 3, 2014 at 12:05 AM

    Back when it was: Dragon, JTAS/Challenge, the occasional White Dwarf and GM from England, a couple of issues of Shadis, The Unspeakable Oath, White Wolf (when it was a magazine and not a game company), IF: Interactive Fantasy, Nexus, Roleplayer/Pyramid; basically, whatever I could find.

    Now: Loviatar (the granddaddy of the modern gaming 'zine 'splosion), The Manor, Gygax, and so on. You know, the whole schmear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. faoladhJanuary 3, 2014 at 12:07 AM

      Oh, yeah, Different Worlds. I liked that one a lot, even though there was very little I could directly use. Still, it gave excellent background.

      Delete
  13. Justin S. DavisJanuary 3, 2014 at 12:17 AM

    Lessee...

    Olden Times:

    ) Dragon
    ) Dungeon
    ) ICE's HERO System zine, Adventurer's Club
    ) HERO System 'zine, Haymaker! (was a long-time contributor, too!)
    ) Shadis
    ) Mayfair's DC Heroes Role-Playing Game Newsletter
    ) Pinnacle's Deadlands magazine, Epitaph
    ) Steve Jackson's Pyramid
    ) GDW's Challenge
    ) EN World Gamer (all two issues of it!)

    Currently...
    ) Wizards, Mutants, Laser Pistols
    ) Crawl!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Justin S. DavisJanuary 3, 2014 at 2:01 AM

    D'oh. Can't believe I forgot Knights Of The Dinner Table. Been reading since Issue #3.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2014 at 10:12 AM

    I read Dragon and Dungeon, and I used to subscribe to Pyramid when it went online.

    Huh, was Pyramid one of the first to convert to an online zine format? It wouldn't surprise me, they were always ahead of the curve with digital offerings.

    These days the only Zine I follow regularly is Star Frontiersman. Blogs take up my reading time instead.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sean CaldoJanuary 3, 2014 at 10:44 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean CaldoJanuary 3, 2014 at 10:45 AM

      I feel rather out of place here as a relatively new gamer, but what exactly do these zines offer that a quality blog doesn't? Why would you spend money on these when you have creative people dying to pump out and share their content for free? Thinking of places like savageafterworld. The dude is practically writing books on his blog full of useful and entertaining content.

      Delete
    2. UnknownJanuary 3, 2014 at 12:15 PM

      Personal choice for me. Magazines and 'zines give me that tactile sensation and takes me back to the heady days of old (1983) when I started playing Basic D&D. Plus when someone like Dyson Logos puts out a product in print I can throw a few shekels in his direction for putting out so much great stuff for free.

      We still live in a capitalist society and that free stuff doesn't pay the bills!

      Delete
  17. AnthonyJanuary 3, 2014 at 1:28 PM

    Dragon
    Pyramid
    Challenge
    And my favorite was . . . Shadis

    ReplyDelete
  18. Matthew SchmeerJanuary 3, 2014 at 2:15 PM

    See list here:

    http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/p/old-school-zines.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownJanuary 3, 2014 at 2:36 PM

    Gygax Magazine. (With a shout out to Brave The Labyrinth...Pete puts our some great stuff at Small Niche Games!)

    ReplyDelete
  20. BlUsKrEEmJanuary 3, 2014 at 9:45 PM

    Current tops is Crawl!.

    I just realized how much I miss Fight on! and Oubliette.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Simon J. HogwoodJanuary 4, 2014 at 1:47 AM

    +1 to 'Brave The Labyrinth' and 'Dyson's Dodecahedron'.

    New Big Dragon also has a decent (if single-issue, so far) 'zine called 'The Dragon Horde'.

    ReplyDelete
  22. MarcJanuary 4, 2014 at 3:15 PM

    Autoduel Quarterly :-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. MarcJanuary 4, 2014 at 3:15 PM

    Autoduel Quarterly :-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. imredaveJanuary 5, 2014 at 9:52 AM

    I'm reading the monthly pathfinder adventure as my magazine.

    ReplyDelete

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