 Issue 1 cover 1975 | |
| Categories | Science fiction, fantasy,tabletop role-playing games,board games |
|---|---|
| First issue | 1975; 50 years ago (1975) |
| Final issue Number | 1985 (1985) 96 |
| Company |
|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0194-9977 |
The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasyboard games andtabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The magazine is no longer published, but the rights holders maintain a web presence using its final titleSpace Gamer/Fantasy Gamer.
The Space Gamer (TSG) started out as adigest quarterly publication of the brand newMetagaming Concepts company in March 1975.[1][2]Howard M. Thompson, the owner of Metagaming and the first editor of the magazine, stated "The magazine had been planned for after our third or fourth game but circumstances demand we do it now"[3] (after their first game,Stellar Conquest). Initial issues were in a plain-paper digest format. By issue 17, it had grown to afull sizebimonthly magazine, printed on slick paper.
WhenSteve Jackson departed Metagaming to found his own company, he also secured the right to publishThe Space Gamer from number 27 on. In the firstSteve Jackson Games (SJG) issue, Howard Thompson wrote a report on Metagaming and stated "Metagaming's staff won't miss the effort. After the change in ownership, Metagaming feels comfortable with the decision; it was the right thing to do."[4] In the same issue, Steve Jackson announced, "TSG is going monthly ... from [number 28 (May 1980)] on, it'll be amonthly magazine."[5] The magazine stayed with SJG for the next five years, during which it was at its most popular and influential. In 1983, the magazine was split into two separate bimonthly magazines published in alternating months:Space Gamer (losing thedefinite article with the split in Number 64), andFantasy Gamer; the former concentrating entirely on science fiction, and the latter on fantasy. This arrangement lasted about a year.Fantasy Gamer ran six issues before being folded back intoSpace Gamer:
You see, we were churning out magazines -Space Gamer,Fantasy Gamer,Fire & Movement, andAutoduel Quarterly - at the rate of two a month! ...We had to find some way to preserve what little sanity we had left. The best way to do this was to mergeSpace Gamer andFantasy Gamer ... As it has for the past year,Space Gamer will appear bimonthly, giving us the time to get some games done, as well.[6]
Like Metagaming before it, the effort of producing a magazine became greater than its publisher was willing to bear. The change to bi-monthly publication was not enough to allow SJG to focus on new games as they wished, and in 1985, it was announced, "We've soldSpace Gamer. We'll still be heavily involved—but SJ Games won't be the publisher any longer. Giving upSG is definitely traumatic... but it gives us the time to do other things, especiallyGURPS".[7] The magazine had been sold toDiverse Talents, Incorporated (DTI). They initially had it as a section in their own magazineThe VIP of Gaming, but it soon became a separate publication again with the previous numbering and format, but with the nameSpace Gamer/Fantasy Gamer.[1]Space Gamer ceased publication in September 1985.[1]
Since that time, it has gone through a number of owners, all keeping the final name, but occasionally restarting the numbering. Eventually,Better Games, now renamedSpace Gamer, bought the magazine, and has kept the title alive by reinventing it through the internet.
In 2010 Steve Jackson Games started republishing back issues inPDF format.[8]
In his review column "Triumphs & Tragedies" inThe Strategic Review #6,Gary Gygax ratedThe Space Gamer a Triumph, noting that it includes "Sci-Fi, Fantasy, reviews, news, letters, ads, essays, and more, in a very neat and well printed format."[9]
In Issue 7 ofPerfidious Albion, Charles Vasey reviewed the first issue and commented, "Generally, this first issue was very interesting, with much promise for the future."[10]
In Issue 195 ofDragon,Lester W. Smith reviewed the magazine after it had been taken over by Better Games and noted that he had found the games published by this company to be innovative, but with a general "shoddiness of language." Smith noted that the first issue of this magazine "betrays something of that same mix of interesting ideas but rough presentation ... However, each issue shows dramatic improvement over its predecessor, and issue #4 is a real beauty." Smith concluded, "I recommend that you take a look at this new incarnation ofSpace Gamer/Fantasy Gamer magazine. While the material within is often too quirky for use in standard science-fiction or fantasy campaigns, it bears many good ideas."[11]
The Space Gamer won the 1977Charles S. Roberts Award forBest Semiprofessional Magazine.[12]The Space Gamer was awarded theOrigins Award for "Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1982".[13]