Gygax Magazine

[TristramEvans]

So, I'm sure we've all read the sordid details regarding the lawsuit surrounding this, but who here has actually read the magazine? Was it any good? Did it specifically cover OSR topics, or was it more like the early Dragon (and White Wolf for that matter), and cover the hobby as a whole? Is it more like Dragon or Dungeon?

 

[Endless Flight]

Is it still going?

 

[Harl Quinn]

Unfortunately, no, it ended at issue #6 :mad: and all because of family drama. I'm sure Gary did 20+ revolutions in his grave over it. Going over my PDFs, it was pretty much like Dragon in the early to mid 1980s, covering a variety of systems but mostly the D&D family. There were lots of general, system-agnostic articles as well as some historical articles on how D&D developed. Non-D&D systems covered included ICONS and Savage Worlds, just to mention two. I loved the layout as it was the same style (and fonts) as the Dragon Magazine I remember and loved. I really miss it...

Harl

 

[The Butcher]

Benoist gifted me an advance copy of the adventure in Gygax #3 which was the seed to his humongous Hobby Shop Dungeon/Marmoreal Tomb project. I got quite a few months of mileage out of that adventure!

I love the idea of a magazine that supports multiple game systems, like ye olde Dragon, but the hard truth is that the world has changed.

 

[Endless Flight]

Did it end solely because of the Gygax name lawsuit? Couldn't "TSR" have just rebranded it, or was that the draw, the name itself?

 

[Harl Quinn]

Benoist gifted me an advance copy of the adventure in Gygax #3 which was the seed to his humongous Hobby Shop Dungeon/Marmoreal Tomb project. I got quite a few months of mileage out of that adventure!

I love the idea of a magazine that supports multiple game systems, like ye olde Dragon, but the hard truth is that the world has changed.

I know. Between all the Kickstarter drama, edition wars, and the political cancer afflicting certain forums, it's hard to be a gamer. I miss the old days where we just had to worry about jocks stuffing us in lockers and people accusing us of being devil-worshipers...

Harl

 

[Harl Quinn]

Did it end solely because of the Gygax name lawsuit? Couldn't "TSR" have just rebrand it, or was that the draw, the name itself?

I believe it was pretty much the Gygax name itself, which is heartbreaking.

Harl

 

[The Butcher]

I know. Between all the Kickstarter drama, edition wars, and the political cancer afflicting certain forums, it's hard to be a gamer. I miss the old days where we just had to worry about jocks stuffing us in lockers and people accusing us of being devil-worshipers...

Times change. The Internet has brought us together, which amps up the drama but also makes it easier to put gaming material out there. I think it's a great time to be a gamer.

 

[TristramEvans]

Did it end solely because of the Gygax name lawsuit? Couldn't "TSR" have just rebranded it, or was that the draw, the name itself?

IIRC (its been a year or so), what I heard is just that the Gygax sons were too exhausted with the whole ordeal to bother continuing

 

[Harl Quinn]

Times change. The Internet has brought us together, which amps up the drama but also makes it easier to put gaming material out there. I think it's a great time to be a gamer.

I'm with you there, to an extent. For me, the bulk of choices out there leads to a bit of analysis paralysis in determining what I really want and can afford... Add to that some social anxiety and the bitterness and bad blood I've witnessed online and locally over the years, and it makes it hard to find a group (you think) you can trust... I'm hoping the Pub will be a better place than others I've been in...

Harl

 

[TristramEvans]

I'm hoping the Pub will be a better place than others I've been in...

Harl

So far, its been exactly what I've always wanted from a forum. And too boot, its filling up with friends from other forums

 

[Simlasa]

I miss the old days where we just had to worry about jocks stuffing us in lockers and people accusing us of being devil-worshipers...

I remember there being a fair amount of friction between gamers of differing preferences back in the Wayback. Even in the small town I was in there were D&D groups calling each other out as being 'Monty Haul' and 'Twee'.
When I got to college and joined the wargames club (which ran lots of D&D) there always seemed to be some sort of drama going on.
But without the internet the insults travelled MUCH slower, and less directly.

 

[David Johansen]

Really, it's a shame the magazine is gone. I wish we had something like Dragon, a corner stone for our hobby. Maybe we could build a webzine here. Articles but game specific, useful articles and adventures. Any thoughts?

 

[TristramEvans]

A webzine would be fun.

 

[thedungeondelver]

All the bases have been covered re: drama; I always thought Dragon could run very hot (issues 1-90 or so) lukewarm (90-130) or just cold (131-)...Gygax magazine hit somewhere in the "early Dragon issue #90s" (not 1990s) for me. While it lacked that head-shop 'zine vibe that early Dragon magazines did I think it did a fair job of capturing the feel of early 1980s Dragon magazine.

 

[Harl Quinn]

A webzine would be fun.

I agree. It would certainly give me a bit of a outlet and bolster my writing skills.

Harl

 

[Ronin]

I have done my own dead tree magazine in the past. DIstributed out of three FLGS. It can be hard, but it is rewarding, and a love. I think it is hardest on the editor. But I would be down to contribute. My output is not like it was though. Work, life, and etc is taxing on me and my time nowadays. As I'm sure is the same as all of you.

 

[David Johansen]

So, do we need a new thread to discuss this. One thought is that it could be a great way to self promote games we've written. The other is that maybe it would get wider reach if we focused on material for existing games and put some limits on the whole self promotion thing. Though it occurs to me that being able to drop ads for your game into an article D&D or Traveller might be pretty effective. I would suggest no more that 25% ad content.

 

[TristramEvans]

Someone would need to step up to take on the role of editor. I can contribute content, but have too much on my plate to oversee the project.

 

[David Johansen]

I started a new thread. I'm thinking it might be good to have three people who read over the submissions and vote for selection. It might also be good if they were somewhat anonymous as people can take criticism quite badly.