Roleplayer #28, April 1992
Fanzines Forever!
Freedom of the Press Belongs to Those Who Own One
by Steve Jackson
Of all the ways to make money (or, more likely, lose it) in the gaming
business, magazine publishing must be the toughest and most thankless. When
you finish one issue, the next deadline is staring you in the face. Every
issue is a puzzle, with dozens of articles, illustrations, ads and fillers
to assemble. Production costs are as high as those for games -- or higher
-- yet the press run and retail price are both lower.
Is it any wonder that gaming magazines are few and far between? And genuine
independent magazines that cover the whole hobby (as opposed to unabashed
house-organs like the one you're holding) are even rarer. As a matter of
fact, just last week we got word that Gamesman, a great independent
British effort, had gone out of business after about 10 issues. So it goes.
No, magazine publishing is expensive and risky. But people want to read
about games . . . and they want to write about games. What fills the void?
Privately-produced efforts . . . "fan" magazines . . . fanzines.
These magazines vary wildly in content, production values, quality. . .
Some have been around for years and years, while others vanish just about
the time you notice them. They're usually hard to find; retail stores almost
never carry them, so you have to subscribe. And to subscribe, you have to
know the zine exists in the first place! Catch-22. (If you're interested
in subscribing, keep in mind that the longer a zine has been around, the
longer it's likely to stay around. That's why the reviews below
include issue numbers.)
Note that many fanzines don't offer subscriptions, as such. Instead, the
creator sends out copies for "the usual." This is shorthand for
"I'll trade you a copy of my zine for a copy of yours, or an illustration,
or an article, or a letter that I can print."
All this means that fanzines are written and read by people who want
to write and read. Professional reviewers and editors are doing this for
a living. They have to worry what their bosses and the advertisers and the
distributors and their buddies in GAMA will think. Zine editors don't care.
Zines are often biased, sloppily produced, immature and just plain stupid.
They're also real. They're a great source of ideas and inspiration.
The good ones deserve to be better known -- and maybe, with a few more contributors,
even the tired ones might wake up a bit. This article will look at a sampling
of the roleplaying zines now being published.
How did I pick my sampling? Simple. Last
year I mentioned in Roleplayer that I would be doing this article. Here
are reviews of every single zinc that I've received since then. As it happened,
this wholly unscientific sampling nevertheless presented a good cross-section
of the many species within the genus "fanzine." The only thing
they have in common is that they're produced for love rather than profit;
they don't pay their contributors and aren't making anybody rich.
Alarums & Excursions
This is an APA, or "Amateur Press Alliance" -- a fanzine made
up of the works of many regular contributors. Each contributor creates and
sends in a few pages for each issue, usually as camera-ready copy, and pays
an appropriate share of the publication costs. Thus, not just the content,
but everything about style and layout, varies wildly throughout the issue.
And APAs are usually completely un-edited -- the editor is really a compiler
and organizer -- so if a member sends in something lame, it will be printed
as-is.
Some APAs, including A&E, will accept contributions from anyone
who pays the standard fee; others have a closed membership list. Either
way, the zine is supported by assessments from everyone who sends in material.
Alarums & Excursions is an institution; it has been appearing
monthly for years and years and years. It wins awards. It's certainly the
best-known gaming fanzine, and for good reason. Issues run well over 100
pages and contain everything you can think of: reviews of games and conventions,
campaign and adventure ideas, fiction (often campaign-based) or simple retellings
of campaigns, philosophical discussion, and slander of unfavored game systems.
A number of the regular contributors, including the editor, have had game
material professionally published; many of the others clearly could write
professionally if they cared to! (In fact, SJ Games has recruited three
writers that I know of from the pages of A&E, just on the strength
of the material they wrote there for fun.)
Each issue features an "ignorable theme," announced well in advance.
Nobody has to write on this theme, but many of the contributors
choose to.
Many of the writers also discuss their lives outside of gaming, giving each
issue a "letter from friends" feeling. Indeed, following A&E
for a while, you realize there's a strong sense of family among the regular
contributors.
Reviewed: Dozens of issues, most recently #200.
Strong point: Big, incredibly diverse; some material is brilliantly original.
Weak point: Content is everything with A&E, form nothing. It's
mimeographed -- poorly -- ugly at best, and sometimes actually hard to
read.
Subscriptions: Free to contributors. Others can be negotiated with the editor:
Lee Gold, 3965 Alla Road, Los Angeles, CA 90066. Costs vary depending on
issue size and where the subscriber is located. Back issues are $1.50 plus
postage.
All of the Above
All of the Above is another APA, specifically dedicated to GURPS.
It's the only all-GURPS zine I've seen. Many of the contributors
have written or illustrated for SJ Games; the quality of the material is
generally very high. Several of the articles that have appeared in AotA
would have been a credit to Roleplayer, and perhaps some of them
will appear here someday for a wider audience.
Most of the contributors have access to laser-printing, and the editor will
laser-print material supplied to him on a disk. He also works at a copy
shop, so the physical appearance of the zine is excellent.
Membership is limited to 20 right now; to see if any slots are open, contact
the editor.
Reviewed: Issues 1-7.
Strong point: Pure GURPS, mostly very well done.
Weak point: Limited distribution and high price for non-members.
Subscriptions: "Approximately" $5 per issue for non-members, or
$5 for a copy of the current issue. For details, or to apply to join, contact
the editor: Lee Graham, 9071 Dallas St. #D-8, La Mesa, CA 91942.
Black Mole
Our only example of the thriving British zinc scene (for every gaming zinc
in the U.S., the U.K. has a dozen). And a perfect example of the "I
lose money on every issue, but not much, and I'm having fun" philosophy
of editing. Lots of material here on several different systems: a detailed
Pendragon review, a Paranoia adventure that
I like better than some I've seen from West End, variant rules for Shadowrun,
and more, along with the editor's report on his own current doings.
Reviewed: Issue 4.
Strong point: Either the contributors are unusually literate as zine writers
go, or the editor really edits. In other words, the writing is much better
than average for a fanzine.
Weak point: Typed and reduced. Almost hard to read.
Subscriptions: A single copy is a 20p coin and an A5 SASE (which they call
a "SSAE" in England) to the editor: Gareth Jones, 69 Atherley
Rd., Shirley, Southampton SO1 5DT, England. Or, for those overseas from
the U.K., send the usual -- the editor specifies "a fanzine in any
language."
EGG
The title stands for "Experimental Game Group." This zinc is devoted
to discussion and exploration of the editor's "matrix game" system,
which combines elements of war-gaming, roleplaying and debate.
I've been following EGG for several issues, and it looks very interesting.
I wish I had the time to get involved; there are ideas here that I'd like
to explore.
Reviewed: Issue #15. (I've seen several others; this one is fairly typical.)
Strong point: A detailed look at a truly original system and a number of
different ways to use it, including one complete game setup.
Weak point: If you're not interested in the "matrix game" system,
there's nothing here for you. If you are interested, you'll get eyestrain
trying to read the small, smeary type.
Subscriptions: 1 year (6 issues) for $7. Editor: Chris Engle, 1601 Matlock
Rd. #4, Bloomington, IN 47408.
Papyrus
This little zine (8 pages, letter-sized) seems to have been compiled from
material downloaded from various gaming-related BBSs and reprinted from
other zines. This issue had material for GURPS,
Ysgarth and AD&D. A main reason
for its existence seems to be to support the editor's interest in trading
games; he includes an extensive list of game material and magazines that
he's offering for trade.
Reviewed: IV.
Strong point: Possibly the best value for money of any zine reviewed here:
it's free.
Weak point: Very fannish, low-budget effort. But doesn't pretend otherwise!
Subscriptions: The usual? Send a SASE to the editor: Nick Parenti, 2815
Lund Ave. #6, Rockford, IL 61109.
Re: Quests!
Published by the RolePlaying (sic) Games SIG of American Mensa Ltd, the
high-IQ society. ReQuests is fairly large, and contains contributions
from Mensa members all over the country. The issue I looked at, #24, had
comments on a variety of games, though I quickly lost patience with earnest
discussions of the proper interpretations of D&D alignment
rules. In fairness, that didn't take up too many pages . . . And there were
discussions and reviews of other games, and quite a bit of non-system-based
material, both adventure seeds and general discussion.
Everything is typed rather than typeset or laser-printed -- there's no attempt
at graphics -- but it's cleanly printed, easy to read, and intelligent.
(But then, it had better be intelligent if it's from Mensa . .
. ). A couple of the reviews would not have been out of place in a professional
magazine.
Reviewed: #24.
Strong point: Varied, easy to read.
Weak point: Production value doesn't live up to the content (a trivial
flaw, since it's a non-professional product).
Subscriptions: $8 for four issues, or $2 for a sample copy. You do not have
to be a Mensa member to subscribe or contribute, though contributions from
members are given preference. Coordinator: Mary H. Kelly, 4030 Valley View
Lane #233, Farmer's Branch, TX 75244-5031.
San Jose Strategic Gaming Society Monthly
Here's an example of the species "club publication." This issue
focuses on club news, but also includes articles on GURPS
character design, Paranoia and combining GURPS
with Megatraveller.
Though this is a very new publication, they're trying to be organized; they've
already got a Writer's Guide and Submission Information Sheet.
Reviewed: Vol. 1, No. 2.
Strong point: Having little space, the editor has made articles tight and
efficient. No overwriting here!
Weak point: 2 pages, tiny type.
Subscriptions: Free to club members. For membership information, contact
SJSGS, 1234 Canary Lane, San Jose, CA 95117.
The Game's Afoot
A very impressive little publication at first glance. The format is unusual
-- letter-sized paper, folded the long way -- with a full-color cover on
#8!
Contents include reviews, commentary (really quite a lot of commentary,
some of it boringly self-referential and some not to any particular point),
adventure seeds and campaign ideas. A table of contents would have been
nice. The writing is uneven, with some very good pieces and some not so
good. Some of the material doesn't relate to games.
It's hard to know how to be fair with a zine like this. A great deal of
successful effort went into the physical presentation. It looks better than
some professional jobs. But typos and general bad writing are more jarring
when they come in such a pretty package. Sort of a Catch-22; I love to see
good layout and design in a fanzine, but then I'm more critical of the contents.
Reviewed: #7 and 8.
Strong point: Cutting-edge production quality.
Weak point: Typesetting bad writing doesn't improve it.
Subscriptions: $15 for one year (6 issues). Editor: Shawn Tomlinson, Zirlinson
Publications, 1447 Treat Bou-levard, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Transactions of the Royal Martian Geographical Society
Subtitled "The Journal of Victorian Era Roleplaying," this issue
was exclusively devoted to Space: 1889 -- though the editor's
cover letter said that later issues would deal with other games set in the
19th century.
This was the most impressive zine to cross my desk in years. This issue
contained a good variety of 1889 material: an adventure, writeups on characters,
organizations and gadgets, a page from the Syrtis Star newspaper,
and an article on combining Call of Cthulhu with Space:
1889!
All this was fully professional-quality material, attractively typeset.
Had there been art, the pages would have been indistinguishable from those
of a professional magazine. There was no filler in this issue. . . if a
reader is interested in the game, he'd be able to use every page.
Reviewed: Volume 1, Number 1.
Strong point: Better than many professional magazines!
Weak point: In terms of content, there are no weak points. The
$4 cover price for 20 pages is a bit extreme.
Subscriptions: $12.00 for 4 issues, or $4 for a sample issue. Editor: Mark
Clark, 598 Thompson Station Road, Newark, DE 19711-7520.
WARPfactor
Published by the Williams Association of Role-Players at Williams College,
this is in many ways a typical example of a good college zine. To quote
a self-description, "WARPfactor is where WARP folks whine
about their GMs, beg for players or just seem odd." That's fairly accurate.
Lots of random stuff here in 8 pages laser-set in small but readable type.
Some is incomprehensible to anybody not at Williams College, of course.
Reviewed: Volume 3, No. 1.
Strong point: About a third of this zine is mildly to screamingly funny.
About a third of it is GURPS related, which we assume is
a strong point to the readers of Roleplayer. (Some is both GURPS
and funny, as in the sample issue's "Stupid GURPS tricks"
list of bogus new advantages and disadvantages.)
Weak point: If you're not a Williams College gamer, the rest of the zine
might as well be printed in Swahili for all the good it'll do you.
Subscriptions: No clues here. Contact them at SU 3213 Williams College,
Williamstown, MA 01267. The editor is Jonathan Young.
Fanzines Online
And then there are the fanzines that never see print . . . the electronic
zines and net conferences. These are growing in importance every year, and
may some day eclipse the print fanzine. We'll discuss them in a future issue.
(Back to Roleplayer #28 Table
of Contents)