Gaming/RPG magazines

[Hairball]

Fundamental lesson from this thread: getting an RPG print mag to survive is tough.

I agree.

I was hoping that there was a general rpg gaming magazine, kind of like Dragon was way back when. But it's gotta be a really tough market to run in.

 

[Roudi]

Polymancer is more of a general RPG magazine, focusing on system-neutral articles. I dig it.

 

[grodog]

Different Worlds may release a CD archive of all 47 issues of the magazine, but---alas!---no new issues are planned at this time

 

[Imperialus]

Polymancer magazine is a Canadian gaming magazine that I occasionally see here in US game shops.

Polymancer is actually a really good (if low budget) gaming mag. It actually seems quite reminicent of old issues of WD and Dragon. They always have a one shot adventure from a multitude of genres (this month is a sci fi, a couple months ago was a World War I horror adventure), usually an interview, plus a ton of articles concidering the size of the magazine. Though the quality of the writing can be hit or miss, but that's sorta to be expected in an opperation this size. One other really refreshing thing is the lack of ads.

 

[Erik Mona]

I agree.

I was hoping that there was a general rpg gaming magazine, kind of like Dragon was way back when. But it's gotta be a really tough market to run in.

It's basically impossible. My guess is that the major distributors would take fewer than 1000 copies of such an effort, and that's not going to pay for the cover.

--Erik

 

[diaglo]

So what are the various gaming and/or rpg magazines out there?

I mean magazines that focus entirely on tabletop rpg's, with maybe some cards and miniatures gaming. I guess Dragon would be the classic example.

Dragon, Dungeon and Polyhedron are the ones I am familiar with.

Are there others?

i used to enjoy Imagine and White Dwarf too. but not since the 80's.

current ones i've used included: ENWurld Journal before it tanked. Knights of the Dinner Table. and ODDities (an online netzine... but it also sputtered out).

online i've also read GamersWorld magazine out of Bangladesh.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I stopped following White Dwarf when the focus shifted almost entirely to minis. Is it still like that?

Errr White Dwarf has been owned and operated by Games Workshop for nearly 2 decades now. It promotes their game lines only.

I think someone mentioned Warpstone, which I highly recommend for WFRP fans.

A games shop in town used to carry this magazine and it did have a lot of great stuff in it. I stopped playing WFRP about 8 years ago though and haven't looked for it in a long time.

 

[HellHound]

EN World had a magazine. Whatever happened to that? You can still order the back issues at Goodman Games. I would be interested in volunteering if it is ever resurrected.

We published four issues through Goodman games before it died there, then two issues throgh Mongoose publishing.

In the end, we lost a metric boatload of money on the magazines.

However, if someone wants to head the launch of a new ENWorld Gamer electronically, and can get the content together, contact me about it and we'll see what can be done. Even if it ends up as an electronic "best of the ENWorld Forums" kind of publication, I think it would be pretty cool. Of course, odds are that we would have to release it for free, since there doesnt seem to be any money in it anymore.

 

[ChristianW]

Good to see Scrollworks mentioned. I miss that zine a great deal, but as some of you pointed out, it was soooo expensive to keep a print rag going for long. Soel's correct; I'm keeping myself busy with a little single-sheet zine called Iridia that's been a lot of fun to write. I publish it each week and send it out to about 50 folks.

 

[loki44]

Errr White Dwarf has been owned and operated by Games Workshop for nearly 2 decades now.

.....which is about how long ago I stopped reading it.