''Abyss'' was a gaming magazine first published in 1979, edited by

Dave Nalle David F. Nalle (March 19, 1959 – February 13, 2021) was an American political writer, game author and type designer. He was active in the early history of the development of the internet. Nalle was at one time Chairman of the Republican Liberty ...

and published by Ragnarok Games. It was headquartered in Washington, D.C.

''Abyss'' was a bimonthly zine-type magazine focusing on fantasy role-playing games including '' New Ysgarth Rules'' (also published by Ragnarok Games) and ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

''. Each issue was twenty

offset Offset or Off-Set may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Off-Set", a song by T.I. and Young Thug from the '' Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' * ''Offset'' (EP), a 2018 EP by singer Kim Chung-ha * ''Offset'' (film), a 200 ...

pages in length, with a reported circulation of about 175. Regular content included new fantasy monsters, character classes, magic items and spells; opinion pieces; and in every other issue, a mini-adventure. Later, the frequency of ''Abyss'' was switched to quarterly.

Reception

In the June 1981 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'', Dave Nalle reviewed his own magazine, saying, "The main weakness of ''Abyss'' is a tendency in some articles to deal with subjects which are too complex or too specific to be fitted well into any campaign. It also deals with some material which might not interest every reader." In the July 1981 edition of ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' (Issue No. 41), Ronald Pehr commented on the difference between the magazine's stated desire to expand to new roleplaying games, and its actual content. "The publishers are creative, doing their best on an obviously minuscule budget, but it is difficult to recommend a magazine which won't please the majority of gamers. ''Abyss'' is trying to expand coverage of the gaming field, but to date most of the writers have limited themselves to ''D&D'' or ''New Ysgarth Rules''."

Reviews

*''

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

'' #8 (July/Aug., 1982)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abyss Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Hobby magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1979 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. Magazines with year of disestablishment missing Quarterly magazines published in the United States Role-playing game magazines

Contents

Reception

Reviews

References