Tenkar's Tavern: Gygax Magazine Issue #1 Released on RPGNow

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gygax Magazine Issue #1 Released on RPGNow

Yep, Gygax Magazine Issue #1 has been released on RPGNow for $4.99.

I have the print copy, and it has it's really good and really ambivalent parts to it. It is a first issue, so it may be experiencing growing pains. Or maybe we'll continue to get lets of articles proving "Old School " Cred.

Eh, at $4.99 you can judge for yourself. The cover certainly rocks!

From the blurb:

The premiere issue of Gygax magazine - the quarterly adventure gaming magazine.

Contents for issue #1:

The cosmology of role-playing games by James Carpio

Still playing after all these years by Tim Kask

Leomund's Secure Shelter by Len Lakofka

The ecology of the banshee by Ronald Corn

Bridging Generations by Luke Gygax

Gaming with a virtual tabletop by Nevin P. Jones

Keeping magic magical by Dennis Sustare

Playing it the science fiction way by James M. Ward

DMing for your toddler by Cory Doctorow

Great power for ICONS by Steve Kenson

The future of tabletop gaming by Ethan Gilsdorf

The Gygax family storyteller by Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.

Talents off the frontline by Dennis Detwiller

D&D past, now, and Next by Michael Tresca

Gnatdamp: A sanctuary in the swamp by Michael Curtis

Magical miscellany - new items for AGE by Randall Hurlburt

An AGE of great inventions by Rodrigo Garcia Carmona

Scaling combat feats for Pathfinder by Marc Radle

Comics:

Marvin the Mage by Jim Wampler

What's New with Phil & Dixie by Phil Foglio

Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew

3 comments:

mattFebruary 23, 2013 at 1:20 AM
I absolutely love the cover, clearly hearkens back to the days when I was a teenager who could not wait to get inside to read it and would sit down on the curb by the mailbox and flip through the pages the moment the mailman dropped it off.
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Phil WatsonFebruary 23, 2013 at 4:09 AM
Thanks for the heads up on this! I just downloaded it and flipping through it, it looks pretty good. Definitely has that old school vibe. I'm glad people are still putting stuff like this out.
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The DaveFebruary 23, 2013 at 7:39 PM
So are they making a print version for subscription? Let's be honest, sometimes we like a reading material we can take with us when we are on our throne..
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gygax Magazine Issue #1 Released on RPGNow

3 comments:

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