''Alarums and Excursions'' (''A&E'') is an

amateur press association An amateur press association (APA) is a group of people who produce individual pages or zines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group. History The first APAs were formed by groups of amateur pr ...

(APA) started in June 1975 by

Lee Gold Lee Gold is a member of California science fiction fandom and a writer and editor in the role-playing game and filk music communities. Gaming Gold became prominent after 1975 as the editor of '' Alarums and Excursions'', a monthly amateur pre ...

; publication continues to the present day. It was one of the first publications to focus solely on

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

History

In 1964,

Bruce Pelz Bruce Edward Pelz (August 11, 1936 – May 9, 2002) was a US science fiction fan. He was highly active in the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) and a major SMOF, co-chairing the 30th World Science Fiction Convention. He also wrot ...

of the

Los Angeles Science Fiction Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS, is a science fiction and fantasy fan society that meets in the Los Angeles area. The current meeting place can be found on thLASFS website LASFS is the oldest continuously operating scienc ...

(LASFS) began a monthly amateur press association known as ''APA-L''. In 1974, with the publication of ''

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 ...

'' by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

, articles and comments about the new roleplaying game began to fill the pages of ''APA-L''. Pelz felt the discussion was taking up too much space, and he asked

to start a new APA that would take this material and focus entirely on roleplaying games. The first issue of ''Alarums and Excursions'' appeared in June 1975, the title taken from an

Elizabethan drama English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

stage direction that moved soldiers across a stage. In addition to removing roleplaying games discussion out of ''APA-L'', the initial aim of the publication was to prevent roleplaying games from becoming so divergent that people from different cities could not participate in games together. The June 2017 collation of ''Alarums and Excursions'' was number 500, with a color cover drawn by

Lee Moyer Lee Moyer is an People of the United States, American Painting, painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and web designer. Notable works include posters for musicians Tori Amos and Melissa Auf der Maur, as well as Laurel and Hardy paintings for t ...

and printed by

Rob Heinsoo Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

Each issue is a collection of contributions from different authors, often featuring game design discussions, rules variants, write-ups of game sessions, reviews, and comments on others contributions. Although game reports and social reactions are common parts of many ''A&E'' contributions, it has also, over the years, become a testing ground for new ideas on the development of the RPG as a genre and an art form. The idea that role-playing games ''are'' an art form took strong root in this

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

, and left a lasting impression on many of the RPG professionals who contributed. The 1992 role-playing game '' Over the Edge'' was inspired by discussions in ''A&E''. Over the years, contributors have included: * Terry K. Amthor * Wilf K. Backhaus * Scott Bennie *

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wa ...

* Doc Cross *

John M. Ford John Milo "Mike" Ford (April 10, 1957 – September 25, 2006) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet. A contributor to several online discussions, Ford composed poems, often improvised, in both complicated ...

* E. Gary Gygax *

Andrew Gelman Andrew Eric Gelman (born February 11, 1965) is an American statistician and professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. Gelman received bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and in physics from MIT, where he was ...

David A. Hargrave David Allen Hargrave (May 25, 1946 – August 29, 1988), known as ''The Dream Weaver'', was a prolific and sometimes controversial game designer and writer of fantasy and science fiction role-playing games (RPGs). Hargrave's most notable written ...

John Eric Holmes John Eric Holmes (February 16, 1930 – March 20, 2010) was an American professor of neurology and writer of non-fiction, fantasy and science fiction. His writings appeared under his full name and under variants such as Eric Holmes and J. Eric ...

* Wes Ives *

Robin Laws Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist. Career Robin D. Laws ...

* Nicole Lindroos * Stephen R. Marsh * Phil McGregor *

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 ...

Mark Rein·Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing, card, video and board game designer best known as the creator of '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated ''World of Darkness'' games. Along with J ...

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...

* John T. Sapienza, Jr. * Lawrence M. Schoen * Edward E. Simbalist *

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games '' Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', '' Over the Edge'', '' Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and '' 13th ...

Erick Wujcik Erick A. Wujcik (January 26, 1951 – June 7, 2008) was an American designer of both pen-and-paper and computer role-playing games, and co-founder of Palladium Books. Gaming career Wujcik started off as head of the gaming society at Wayne S ...

John Nephew John A. Nephew is an American game designer, who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career John Nephew began freelancing for TSR as a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' author in 1986 while he was still in high school, first writing material for ...

* Spike Y Jones

Reception

In the February 1976 issue of ''

Strategic Review ''Dragon'' is one of the two official magazines for source material for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game and associated products, along with ''Dungeon''. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succee ...

'' (Issue 6),

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

complimented the new APA, calling it "an excellent source of ideas, inspirations and fun." Although Gygax felt some of the contributors were "woefully lacking in background", and the quality of printing varied dramatically from issue to issue, he concluded, "For all of its faults, it is far and away the best ''D&D'' '

, and well worth reading. See for yourself why it rates a Major Triumph." In the June 1981 edition of '' Dragon'' (Issue #50),

reviewed ''Alarums and Excursions'' after its 63rd issue (November 1980), and although he found the writing style "a bit stuffy", with a "tendency for the writers to pat each other on the back", he still called it "the top APA publication... This is a very well run APA and features many of the leading thinkers in fantasy gaming."

Awards

To date, ''Alarums and Excursions'' has been a winner of the Charles Roberts/

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

four times: * "Best Amateur Adventure Gaming Magazine" in 1984 * "Best Amateur Game Magazine" in 1999 * "Best Amateur Game Periodical" in 2000 and 2001

References

External links

Alarums and Excursions page

Lee Gold's index of APA-L's pre-A&E D&D-related content
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alarums And Excursions Fanzines Magazines established in 1975 Organizations established in 1975 Origins Award winners Role-playing game magazines Science fiction organizations Magazines published in Los Angeles

History

Contents

Reception

Awards

References

External links