Favorite gaming magazine?

[Dauntless]

I started thinking about this while going over my own thread of favorite 80's games. What is/was your favorite gaming magazine? This can include non-RPG magazines like Wargamer or even historical magazines if you used them alot for research. Basically any magazine which gave you loads of inspiration for gaming.

Any articles stand out in your memory?

Challenge- Not just GDW stuff, but games in general. I thought they had some nifty ideas and was the place to go for official Traveller updates (they took over JTAS). One article I remember was for Twilight 2000 back in the US where you had to deal with a gang of cannibals in New England.
The Space Gamer- Another generic gaming magazine with some really offbeat ideas. One of the one I remember most was about Magic and Dragons in Car Wars.
Dragon- Although I only rarely played AD&D (1st edition only), I thought the articles were interesting. Can't forget the comic strips either. I remember an early issue of Dragon where they described the neutral Chromatic dragons.
Autoduel Quarterly- This was a must have for me in order to get my hands on the newest Uncle Al's gadgets. One of the funnier articles was in a "variant" issue that included "existential blue crayon guns" and "black hole droppers" along with a Photon Torpedo that automatically turned whatever you hit into confetti.

[Fitz]

Without a doubt my favourite is Critical Miss. As far as inspiration goes, I haven't found any gaming mags to be that inspiring, though I've stolen bits and pieces here and there.

[Lord Mhoram]

AC then Digital Hero. I read gaming magazines for nothing but game content. They had/have that. Dragon has a fair amount too. Other than that I don't think I have opened a game magazine. General magazines just have too little info on the games I play - I don't play all that many so most of the wordage is useless to me. :)

[Cominius]

Back when I used to play and run D&D on a regular basis (mainly back in 2nd Ed days, but also into the 3e and 3.5 eras) I enjoyed Dragon.

These days the only two gaming magazines I subscribe to are Dungeon, and Pyramid. I may or may not play D&D ever again, but as long as I have an interest in RPGs, and fantasy RPGs in particular, I’ll stay subscribed to Dungeon (assuming the quality of the magazine doesn’t suddenly plummet) for the simple reason that it is a nearly endless source of adventure ideas and NPCs waiting for me to use in whatever system I’m currently playing around with.

I’ll stay subscribed to Pyramid for many of the same basic reasons as Dungeon. Obviously Pyramid isn’t focused on publishing adventures, and is a more general purpose publication compared to Dungeon. I really like that it publishes articles for a variety of different RPGs (although its focus is GURPS). The main reason I like it is because is a great source of campaign ideas, and campaign advice in general.

[Trained Chicken]

Cosplay Weekly has a special place in my heart and on my coffee table.

[Edsel]

I used to like Space Gamer quite a bit. Way back, about 20 years ago, Dragon was okay. Adventurers Club was also a favorite. Nowadays the only thing that I read that could be loosely considered a gaming magazine is Knights of the Dinner Table.

Of course I buy Digital Hero but since that's not a paper publication I didn't count it.

[Phil]

I think almost any British gamer from the 80s will automatically yell out White Dwarf and send the competition running for cover. Between 1983(ish) and 1990, this was IMHO the best gaming magazine on the planet. Then Games Workshop turned it into a vehicle solely for their own products, and then they reduced their products solely to the Warhammer franchise and its related spin-offs. It has never been properly replaced, either in terms of readership, quality or nostalgia!

For a number of years it was the home of top RPG writers including Marcus L Rowland (Forgotten Futures) and Phil Masters (Kingdom of Champions).

[BigJackBrass]

Up until Steve Jackson Games sold it, my favourite was Space Gamer. I have a number of copies sitting in the study and even though they're twenty years old I still find useful stuff in them. And it's the magazine through which I discovered Tekumel, for which it simply has to top the list.

Mind you, White Dwarf was very good too, although I'd say it fell apart around 1988 rather than 1990 (but hey, who's counting?)

[RoninArts]

Challenge- Not just GDW stuff, but games in general. I thought they had some nifty ideas and was the place to go for official Traveller updates (they took over JTAS). One article I remember was for Twilight 2000 back in the US where you had to deal with a gang of cannibals in New England.

Check. I used to grab this for Star Wars support.



Autoduel Quarterly- This was a must have for me in order to get my hands on the newest Uncle Al's gadgets. One of the funnier articles was in a "variant" issue that included "existential blue crayon guns" and "black hole droppers" along with a Photon Torpedo that automatically turned whatever you hit into confetti.

Absolutely. Every. Issue. I used to have a ton of fun with this game. When I got to SJGames one of the first things I did was help push to release a new edition of the game.

[Blue]

Didn't spend much time on magazines. Only ones I really touched were...

Dragon was always Hit-n-miss. What I enjoyed was the cover and the occasional article on something superheroic.

Dungeon was loaded with adventures and I tended to avoid it in case my GM wanted to run something from there.

Before Digital Hero there was Adventurer's Club! One of my favorites. There was almost always something worth using in there.

White Dwarf started out with a mix, much like Dragon, then turned purely into a means of backing one company's product.

[Matt Frisbee]

The only gaming magazines I ever sprang coin for were Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society by Game Designers Workshop and Traveller's Digest by Digest Group Publications. I bought the former because I was a Traveller nut (and still am) and the latter because I liked it so much I wrote a couple of articles for them.

Both magazines were tightly focused on a single game universe and spent a lot of time expanding upon it. Yes, there were adventures and equipment (you needed that stuff for Traveller), but there were also articles dealing with things you'd never stop and consider in typical game universes, such as political structures and economic theory.

Overall, with a few glaring exceptions, both magazines were exceptional in quality and writing, and were well worth the money.

Matt "Still-got-a-baseball-cap-with-the-Imperium-sunburst-on-it" Frisbee

[Mad_Ernie]

I enjoyed Different Worlds back in the '80s because they managed to sneak in some Champions stuff [X-Men, Teen Titans, DNAgents write-ups, etc]. I don't read any of the current gaming magazines [I even gave up reading Digital Hero].

I still have one of those issues! I think it has the Teen Titans written up for Champions, V&V, and Superworld.:)

-ME
:cool:

[Dauntless]

Pyramid was another mag I'd occasionally read. And yeah, I even read White Wolf from time to time.

I don't know why, but for some reason, the ads from magazines are what often stick out in my mind. I still remember drooling over the electric dice gizmo that was offered in Dragon magazine, but for like $25, that was out of of my league.

Hell, remember when an expensive game was $20 and magazines were $3?

[BNakagawa]

Back in the days before it became a TSR house organ, Dragon was a lot of fun. Even more fun whenever Tom Wham got one of his loopy games in the middle.

Different Worlds was ok, but my favorite old school mag was the Space gamer. If you didn't subscribe, you missed out on the hillarious cartoons and gags on the mailing covers. Any mention of the Kung Fu CB Mamas on Wheels vs. the Motorcycle Wrestling Aztec Nuns or Nekkid Elf Babes is always a guaranteed hit in my book.

I don't know if it counts, but Interactive Fantasy rocked.

[kjamma4]

Autoduel Quarterly- This was a must have for me in order to get my hands on the newest Uncle Al's gadgets. One of the funnier articles was in a "variant" issue that included "existential blue crayon guns" and "black hole droppers" along with a Photon Torpedo that automatically turned whatever you hit into confetti.

Agreed on ADQ being a must have. I remember going into my FLGS and searching every three months for the latest issue. There was something specially cool about those smaller-sized issues.

Completely diagree on the Uncle Schmal's variants. IMHO, that was the biggest waste of space ever. I was doubly enraged when they reprinted it in Uncle Albert's Catalog from Hell. They could have used the space for other, more valuable material.

[tkdguy]

I enjoyed Shadis and d8, both of which are no longer being published. Too bad; they were independent game magazines which had ideas for different games and genres.

I still have my collection of Dragon magazine. I stopped because it was geared toward 3rd Edition, which I never really got the hang of. The same thing goes for Dungeon. I have a few issue of White Dwarf, before it limited its focus to GW products, especially WFB.

I have a few issues of Inphobia, which was published by White Wolf. I think it's out of print too.

[Dauntless]

I still smile thinking about those corny Uncle Schmal's inventions. Sure it was "gaming" useless, but I thought it was something interesting to break up the conventional. You probably didn't like the Magic or Dragons in Car Wars either I imagine ehh? Never ran any combats with them, but I still thought (at the time) that it was a nifty idea (especially the demon mechanics).

I'm curious since I don't keep up with magazines anymore...what ARE the magazines that are out for gaming right now?

[tkdguy]

I'm curious since I don't keep up with magazines anymore...what ARE the magazines that are out for gaming right now?

As far as I know, the current ones are Dragon, Dungeon, White Dwarf, Digital Hero, Pyramid.

[RoninArts]

As far as I know, the current ones are Dragon, Dungeon, White Dwarf, Digital Hero, Pyramid.

Ronin Arts* is publishing Superline, a M&M Superlink magazine, in print and PDF.

www.roninarts.com/superline


* Note: I own Ronin Arts so this post is definitely biased.

[tkdguy]

Ronin Arts* is publishing Superline, a M&M Superlink magazine, in print and PDF.

www.roninarts.com/superline


* Note: I own Ronin Arts so this post is definitely biased.
Looks good! Thanks for the info!