''Imagine'' (printed under the long title ''Imagine: Adventure Game Magazine'') was a British monthly magazine dedicated to the first edition ''

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Several different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ga ...

'' and ''

Dungeons and 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 ...

'' role-playing game systems published by TSR UK Limited.

History

Shannon Appelcine explained, "TSR tried to horn in on the British magazine market in 1983 with ''Imagine'' magazine, but they folded it just two years later. Gary Gygax would much later claim that ''Imagine'' had usually been operated at a loss and was kept around mainly for its useful marketing of TSR's lines. ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

s lead in Britain was pretty much unassailable." ''Imagine'' was published monthly between April 1983 and October 1985. The print run lasted for 31 issues (30 issues and one special edition) before its cancellation. Don Turnbull was cited as publisher and Paul Cockburn as assistant editor for the majority of the life of the publication. Neil Gaiman wrote film reviews for several issues of ''Imagine'' in the early part of his career, taking over from

Colin Greenland Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954 in Dover, Kent, England) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is ''Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both majo ...

, and had his first short story "Featherquest" published here in May 1984. Gaiman's "How to Sell the Ponti Bridge", reprinted for the first time in ''

M is for Magic M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''em'' (pronounced ), plural ''ems''. History T ...

'' was also first published in ''Imagine'' in March 1985.

Legacy

Some of the official ''AD&D'' material originally published in ''Imagine'' was collected and used in ''

Unearthed Arcana ''Unearthed Arcana'' (abbreviated UA) is the title shared by two hardback books published for different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Both were designed as supplements to the core rulebooks, containing materia ...

''. ''Imagine'' was also responsible for several creative

spin-offs Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

, notably the ''

Pelinore The flexibility of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') game rules means that Dungeon Masters (DM) are free to create their own fantasy campaign settings. For those who wanted a pre-packaged setting in which to play, TSR, Wizards of the Coast ...

'' gaming world. The magazine also featured the classic adventure game comic ''The Sword of Alabron'' in issues 1 to 16. This was briefly revived as a second story arc titled ''Auchter's Axe'' in issues 29 to 30 prior to the magazine's cancellation. When some TSR UK staffers were made redundant, they started the publication ''Game Master'' to try to maintain the experience of ''Imagine'' and some of its popular features, such as ''Pelinore''; that magazine also published articles containing details on the closure of ''Imagine'', which criticized

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 ...

and TSR.

References

Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Dungeons & Dragons magazines Game magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines disestablished in 1985 Magazines established in 1983 Mass media in Cambridge Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom {{hobby-mag-stub