Darrin Drader
Explorer
This issue, this column will contain both an obituary and two birth announcements. It also contains all the assorted gobbleygook that normally floats to the top . . .
This is the LAST ISSUE OF STRATEGIC REVIEW. But harken well, BETTER THINGS ARE IN THE OFFING!! The Strategic Review will not be forgotten; much of it will live on, in the pages of THE DRAGON. (Fanfare and drumroll.)
For some time now, we have felt that our title was somewhat misleading, particularly so since we have drifted deeper and deeper into fantasy and science fiction, not to mention swords & sorcery. The drift occurred as a result of what YOU, the readership, have indicated to us that you wanted. We were turned down by the Post Awful on our application for Second Class mailing privileges because SR had too high a content ratio of our material; articles about our games, etc. We had become a dyed-in-the-wool house organ. We decided to leave the house-organ field to the rest of the pack, and fulfill a crying need of the hobby: a good, well produced objective and visually stimulating magazine devoted to gaming in Fantasy, Swords & Sorcery, Science Fiction and role-playing games. This put us in a bind, though, because it means we have to exclude a lot of good stuff, and neglect a good deal of the wargaming field, which does not deserve to be neglected. Therefore, the following decisions have been made.
First, we have formed another division of TSR Hobbies, Inc.: TSR Periodicals. Second, TSR Periodicals will produce TWO magazines; one devoted to S&S, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and roleplaying games, and the other to deal with the established types and periods of wargaming. Both will be featuring some of the finest writers around.
THE DRAGON will be our magazine of fantasy, s & s, sci-fi, and roleplaying games, including DIPLOMACY. (It will feature a PBM game played by some of the best players in the country, refereed by Len Lakofka.) Boardgames will not be neglected, and will get regular coverage. Miniatures will also be a feature. The criteria is not the means, but rather the subject matter
We are doubling the size, to a whopping 32 pages. To go along with the renovation, we will be using lots of color. THE DRAGON will contain the familiar MAPPING THE DUNGEONS, and the DM listings, as well as WARGAMING NEWS, CREATURE FEATURES, MIGHTY MAGIC MISCELLANY, and thecolumn you are now reading.
The first DRAGON, due in June, will feature an exclusive Fafhrd story by Fritz Leiber, an article by M.A.R. Barker, a piece by Larry Smith as well as The Khitan Armies, by Scott Bizar, and the first installment of a fantasy novel by Gary Gygax, to be serialized exclusively in its pages.
LITTLE WARS, the second magazine, will be a magazine for miniatures enthusiasts, but will not neglect boardgames either. It will have battle reports, game analyses, book and game reviews, figure reviews, as well as weapons data, uniform information, OB’s and ‘zine reviews. It will cover every environment and period playable: Napoleonics; WW II, Ancients, Thirty Years War, ECW, ACW, Naval of all periods, Air, Hundred Years War, WW I, Medievals. American Revolution and all the rest, irregardless of whether boardgame, miniature or anything else. LITTLE WARS will be the same size as THE DRAGON and just as colorful Both LITTLE WARS and THE DRAGON will be published bi-monthly, on alternate months. The first LITTLE WARS will contain an objective, truthful and unbiased “History of Wargaming.” (In contrast to a couple of less than honest or truthful versions recently published by others.) It will also feature a major article on the Viking Expansion, as well as other pieces by the best in the hobby.
These changes have necessitated a price increase to $1.50 per issue, with a six issue sub costing $9.00. All subs will be mailed First Class, which means no more waiting on the whims of the Post Office. Dollar for dollar, you will get the same amount of material for your money; double size for double price. The advantage is that you will have a much improved publication, with color and better graphics STRATEGIST’S CLUB news will be inserted on a separate sheet, along with the coupon, for the benefit of the people already having subs. However, please note that we intend to do away with the coupon concept, as we are aiming for a lot o over-the-counter sales. When the coupon has been eliminated, we will send SC
news to the members under separate cover.
This leaves us with one item; current subs. After much discussion, and not a few die rolls, we think we have hit upon a fair and equitable solution. As of Feb. 25, we have refused any multi year renewals or subs. As of April 1, we will refuse all renewals and subs to SR, and only accept DRAGON or LITTLE WARS subs, at the new rate. All existing SR subs will be converted to DRAGON subs at a 3/2 ratio. That is, for every three SR’s left, we will send two DRAGON’s. For the money spent on a SR sub, you will get much more via THE DRAGON. The old price for SR entitled you to six, sixteen page ‘zines, for a total of 96 pages. This way, 48 pages of SR (three issues) gets 64 pages of THE DRAGON, 96 gets 128, and so on. If you wish to convert your sub to LITTLE WARS instead, please write us to that effect. Subs with less than three issues left will receive THE DRAGON#1 only.
TSR Hobbies, Inc. has added yet another member to the staff; David Megarry, designer of DUNGEON!. Dave is no stranger to the field; some years back, he was part of UTR Production, creators of GUERRILLA WAR. Originally from St. Paul, he came to us via Boston, More biographical data will be forthcoming in an upcoming issue of THE DRAGON. Mike Carr, designer of FIGHT IN THE SKIES, is due to join TSR in April. Best known for FITS, Mike formed the FITS Society, and publishes their ‘zine, AERODROME. More background on Mike will accompany the data on Dave. Work proceeds apace on LITTLE BIG HORN, watch for it. It will be a realistic, yet fun and fast playing boardgame simulation of George Armstrong
Custer’s last campaign. If played well by the Cavalry, it might not be his last. Also coming along well is Fritz Leiber’s and Harry Fischer’s LANKHMAR. The map promises to be another beautiful eye-catcher, ala EPT. Watch for it around.
MINI-FIG and THE OLD GUARD are hard at work, on our D & D and EPT figure lines, respectively. No release dates have been set yet, but you can be sure that we’ll let you know when they are. We can promise that they will be of the highest quality, made to order for the growing field of fantasy miniatures buffs. WE GOOFED! We erroneously priced Gladiator at $6.00; it should be $4.00. Mea Culpa . . . Dave Sutherland will be joining us as staff artist in April. Readers of SR and owners of D & D and the supplements should be familiar with the fine quality of his work, and his will be a welcome addition to our staff. Dave is yet another Twin Cities refugee, to add to our growing total of them. By the time he and Carr join, fully half of our people will be Twin Cities expatriates, three of which are named Dave. I wonder if we are seeing the beginning of a trend . . .? The Dungeon is open for business, tho’ we won’t have our Grand Opening, until April, because we seem to have a problem in receiving the inventory we ordered. When the inventory is complete, it will be the most complete line of’ wargaming goodies in the Midwest. Y‘all stop by, hear? Music is capable of setting the mood for any endeavor, and playing D & D is no exception. If the music is good enough, it can add immeasurably to the expedition/adventure, and sometimes helps keep rowdy parties quieter and more manageable. Rick Wakeman has two albums that are particularly noteworthy in that respect; they also treat the listener to some good fantasy in their own right.The two I refer to are “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Myths and Legends Surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.” Another of his that is suitable is “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.” Another artist is There is an excellent “underground” comic that has made a significant contribution to S & S out now. It purports to be 24 issues in length, in its entirety, and may set a new trend in story telling. I refer to FIRST KINGDOM, by Jack Katz. The first three volumes are now available, and well worth looking for onyour stands.
Of course, there are literally dozens of goodies floating in our cauldron, games and rules manuscripts, as well as other projects bubbling in the depths. But as every good cauldron stirrer knows, you just can’t hurry some things up: some creations are the products of more attention and preparation than others. Hope you like the menu . . .
Hey TSR, thanks for cancelling my favorite magazine of all time in favor of something that does not provide an emphasis on board games or strategic games. I can't believe that you're cancelling this institution after 202 issues! It's unconscionable! You just ruined my childhood (which has been over for the better part of two decades) and gave us a price hike to boot! I refuse to read this new magazine called The Dragon (man, what an uninspired title) and I will not continue to feed your corporate greed with my dollars!
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![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
It is true that they gave us advance notice. And I agree it hasn't worked as they may have hoped. However the advance notice came as a bomb for many customers, not a trial balloon. Customer relations is a tricky thing, and bombs certainly don't win anyone over. So I think damage control is required. Indeed, I think Paizo trumped WotC in the customer relations department. It would be good of WotC to offer a bone of substantive info that the majority of us would appreciate at this point. Is it too much to ask WotC to match Paizo in handling customers smoothly on what may be an inevitable change to an iconic product so many of us were used to?
