Gaming Magazines of the Past

I purchased digital copies of issues 27 and 28 of The Space Gamer from Warehouse 23 this weekend.  Those are the first two issues of the Steve Jackson Games run on the magazine.  Looking through the contents of these two issues has really made me nostalgic about the gaming magazines of the past.  I would frequently purchase an issue or two of something off the magazine shelf whenever I visited Starbase 21 back in the 80s and 90s.  I would continue that trend after that time with other stores and other magazines even when I had a long gaming slump after 2000.

I discovered my first role-playing magazine with Dragon.  I do not remember the exact issue but it was a relatively early one.  I would buy up every new issue at the store and eventually got a subscription.  I had a pretty impressive stack of issues going and I made the unfortunate decision at some point to remove the articles I found worthwhile and get rid of the other contents.  I have an old binder or two somewhere that has all of these articles; I hope I still do at this point.

I would pick up many more magazines over the years.  I enjoyed The Fantasy Gamer and would have preferred it stayed separate from The Space Gamer but I will take it either way honestly.  Nintendo Power also had a similar appeal to me with the maps and walkthroughs of games.  Shadis was a long time favorite of mine as well as Vortext.  Pyramid was a good magazine but it never grabbed my attention like old copies of The Space Gamer.  Finally, The Rifter was a great Palladium Books house publication. I wish that they would have focused that energy on updating old product and releasing new content but a new grab bag of useful articles was always welcome.  

Unfortunately, none of these magazines still exist today.  I know most everybody has moved to forums and a web presence.  I get the reasons why and I do not hate the forums.  I frequently several of them and post quite frequently at times at The Ruins of Murkhill.  I just wish there was still one good general gaming magazine around.  It is similar to the difference between a book and an e-reader for me.  Nothing beats the crisp, new smell of a new magazine (or book) in hand.  I could really go for laying on the couch with an issue in hand reading it until I got drowsy and decided to take a nap.  

Palladium Books® 2014 Christmas Surprise Package Extended to January 11, 2015!

If you are a fan or just interested in any of the games offered by Palladium Books® you still have a chance to buy in at a discount.  In short, for the price of $42 plus shipping you get a minimum of $84 worth of product! You can also request shirts, autographs, and other items.  For all of the details, read the announcement at their online store page.

The Megaverse® Beckons...

I took vacation today because it is my birthday.  I just felt like chilling at the house instead of busting my hump.  I caught up on some Netflix viewing that I had wanted to do so I was wondering what to do next. Then it dawned on me that the children were in school so a trip to the FLGS would not have to be rushed or spent monitoring their browsing activity.  

I went to Wizard's Asylum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  There are other hobby stores in the area but I specifically wanted to look for the products of Palladium Books®.  I looked at all of the products before I decided to get the following three books:

Dead Reign™ Sourcebook Three: Endless Dead™

Dead Reign™ Sourcebook Four: Fear the Reaper™

Rifts® Sourcebook One™ - Revised and Expanded  

I bought the two Dead Reign™ books for 50% off.  There were other copies on the shelf at full price.  I have no idea why they were marked down.  I could  not tell the difference between the condition of the ones I purchased and the ones on the shelf.  Maybe it was over-stock?  Maybe they were browsing copies? Maybe they were "gently used" by the store for a game night, demo, or something else?  I have no idea but I do have a complete run of the published Dead Reign™ books.  

At one time I had the original version of Rifts® Sourcebook One™ but no longer.  I am basically starting over on my Palladium Books® collection.  I had numerous books but decided to trim down my collection.  I seriously advise doing this unless you are absolutely certain you will never want to use those books again!  I got rid of everything but the Rifts® Ultimate Edition™ I have kept for all of these years.  I have a recurring urge to use Rifts® and open it up every now and then to start planning.  Now the time is right to get serious about it so I have started planning some purchases for a campaign starting off in the West involving vampires, bandits, etc.  I even signed up to be a Megaversal® Ambassador and I will have some news on events or demos on that front soon.

     

Note: The three images above are from the Palladium Books® Store; no infringement is implied by the use of these images.  The images are used for reference purposes only.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Chaos Earth, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.