''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987.

Scope

''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''

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 Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'', ''

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first publis ...

'', '' Traveller'', '' Call of Cthulhu'' and others; play techniques and strategies for players and

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

s of role-playing games; reviews of games and miniatures; and reviews of current books and movies of interest to role-playing gamers. Notably, ''Different Worlds'' also featured early works by artists

Steve Oliff Steve Oliff (born February 20, 1954) is an American comic book artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry since 1978. Biography Oliff broke into professional comics by attending comic book conventions and meeting people. At one co ...

Bill Willingham William Willingham (born 1956) is an American writer and artist of comics, known for his work on the series '' Elementals'' and '' Fables''. Career William Willingham was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. During his father's military career the f ...

, and Steve Purcell; ″Sword of Hollywood″, a regular film review column by

Larry DiTillio Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include ''He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword'' and the award-winning ''Masks of Nyarlathote ...

from issue seven onward; the irregular autobiographical/interview feature ″My Life and Roleplaying″; and the industry scuttlebutt column ″A Letter from Gigi″ by the pseudonymous Gigi D'Arn.

Publication history

''Different Worlds'' was launched in 1979 by

Tadashi Ehara Tadashi Ehara is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Tadashi Ehara, the buyer for the San Francisco game store Gambit, became the second employee of Chaosium. ''Different Worlds'' magazine was launched in 1979 ...

and

Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Gloranth ...

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

as a general-interest role-playing magazine. At that time Chaosium was primarily a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

s publisher, but had also published its own role-playing game, ''RuneQuest'', in 1978. ''RuneQuest'' was designed primarily to be played in

Glorantha Glorantha is a fantasy world created by Greg Stafford. It was first introduced in the board game ''White Bear and Red Moon'' (1975) by Chaosium and then in a number of other board, roleplaying and computer games, including ''RuneQuest'' and ''Her ...

, Stafford's fantasy world and the setting of the board games '' White Bear and Red Moon'' (later '' Dragon Pass'') and '' Nomad Gods''. Chaosium had previously published the magazine '' Wyrm's Footnotes'', which ran for fourteen issues from 1976 to 1982. ''Wyrm's Footnotes'' was conceived primarily as support for '' White Bear and Red Moon'' and other Chaosium board games, but quickly became a forum for discussion of Glorantha, and was rebranded to be the official ''RuneQuest'' magazine with its 11th issue (Spring 1981). ''Different Worlds'' was published bimonthly from 1979 to 1987, for forty-seven issues. Chaosium published the first thirty-eight issues from 1979 to 1985, and Sleuth Publications published the final nine issues between 1985 and 1987. Tadashi Ehara was the magazine's editor at both publishers.rpg.net index to ''Different Worlds''
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Different worlds 1979 establishments in California 1987 disestablishments in California Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1979 Magazines disestablished in 1987 Magazines published in the San Francisco Bay Area Role-playing game magazines Wargaming magazines