''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy

board games 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 ...

and

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

s. 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 title ''Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer''.

History

''The Space Gamer'' (''TSG'') started out as a digest quarterly publication of the brand new

Metagaming Concepts Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, '' Stellar Conquest''. The company also inven ...

company in March 1975. 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" (after their first game, ''

Stellar Conquest ''Stellar Conquest'' is a science fiction board game designed by Howard M. Thompson that was published in 1974.Preface to the third printing, Stellar Conquest rule book, Howard Thompson, June 1978. It is a prototype of the 4X strategy game genre ...

''). Initial issues were in a plain-paper digest format. By issue 17, it had grown to a full size bimonthly magazine, printed on slick paper. When Steve Jackson departed Metagaming to found his own company, he also secured the right to publish ''The Space Gamer'' from number 27 on. In the first Steve 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." In the same issue, Steve Jackson announced, "''TSG'' is going monthly... from umber 28 (May 1980)on, it'll be a

monthly Monthly usually refers to the scheduling of something every month. It may also refer to: * ''The Monthly'' * '' Monthly Magazine'' * ''Monthly Review'' * '' PQ Monthly'' * '' Home Monthly'' * '' Trader Monthly'' * ''Overland Monthly'' * Menstruati ...

magazine." 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 the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

with the split in Number 64), and ''Fantasy 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 into ''Space Gamer'':

You see, we were churning out magazines - ''Space Gamer'', ''Fantasy Gamer'', ''
Fire & Movement ''Fire & Movement: The Forum of Conflict Simulation'' was a magazine devoted to wargames, both traditional board wargames and computer wargames. It was founded by Rodger MacGowan in 1975, and began publication the following year. In February 198 ...
'', and '' Autoduel 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 merge ''Space Gamer'' and ''Fantasy Gamer''... As it has for the past year, ''Space Gamer'' will appear bimonthly, giving us the time to get some games done, as well.

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 sold ''Space Gamer''. We'll still be heavily involved—but SJ Games won't be the publisher any longer. Giving up ''SG'' is definitely traumatic... but it gives us the time to do other things, especially

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems ...

". The magazine had been sold to ''Diverse Talents, Incorporated'' (DTI). They initially had it as a section in their own magazine ''The VIP of Gaming'', but it soon became a separate publication again with the previous numbering and format, but with the name ''Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer''. ''Space Gamer'' ceased publication in September 1985. 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 renamed ''Space 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 in PDF format.

Editors

Aaron Allston Aaron Dale Allston (December 8, 1960 – February 27, 2014) was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably ''Star Wars'' novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, severa ...

: #52 (June 1982) – #65 (Sept/Oct 1983) ** Also ''Fantasy Gamer'': #1 (Aug./Sep. 1983) and co-edited Number #2 (Dec./Jan. 1984) * Christopher Frink: #66 (Nov./Dec. 1983) – #69 (May/June 1984) ** Also ''Fantasy Gamer'': co-edited #2 (Dec./Jan. 1984) and edited #3 (Feb./Mar. 1984) – #6 (June/July 1984) * Forrest Johnson: #28 (May/June 1980) – #51 (May 1982) * Steve Jackson: #27 (Mar./Apr. 1980) *

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

: #70 (July/Aug. 1984) – #76 (Sept/Oct 1985) ;Diverse Talents Incorporated * Anne Jaffe: #77 (Jan./Feb. 1987) – #82 (July/Aug. 1988) ; 3W Inc. * Barry Osser & Jay Adan: Vol.II, No.1 (#86, July/Aug. 1989) – Vol.II, No.2 (#87, Oct./Nov. 1989) * Jeff Albanese & Perrin D. Tong: #83 (Oct./Nov. 1988) – #85 (Jan./Feb. 1989) ;Future Combat Simulations * Jeff Albanese & Perrin D. Tong: #88 (Mar./Apr. 1990) ;Better Games * Pat Mannion: #1 (Sep./Oct. 1992) – #3 (Jan./Feb. 1993) * Red Dog: #4 (Mar./Apr. 1993) – #8 (©1994, states "93rd Issue of Publication" but was actually the 96th overall)

Reviews

*'' Dragon'' #195 (July 1993) *''

The 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 (magazine), Dungeon''. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazin ...

'' #6

Awards

''The Space Gamer'' won the 1977 Charles S. Roberts Award for ''Best Semiprofessional Magazine''. ''The Space Gamer'' was awarded the

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 ...

for "Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1982".

References

External links

* Archived Space Gamer Magazines on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Gamer Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Game magazines Hobby magazines published in the United States Magazines disestablished in 1985 Magazines established in 1975 Origins Award winners Quarterly magazines published in the United States Role-playing game magazines