''Polyhedron'' (formerly ''Polyhedron Newszine'') was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, and originally the official publication of the

RPGA The RPGA (also called the Role Playing Game Association and the RPGA Network at various times), was initially part of the organized play arm of TSR, Inc and later of Wizards of the Coast. From 1980 to 2014, it organized and sanctioned role-playing ...

(Role Playing Gamers Association).

1981 to 2002

Publication of the Role Playing Gamers Association magazine began in the year 1981, targeting players of the ''

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 ...

roleplaying 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 ...

. Articles were written by gamers for other gamers in the style of the ''

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 ...

'' magazine, and information was included on

membership and events. The magazine was nominally quarterly from May, 1981 through February, 1982; bimonthly from April, 1983 through May, 1991; and monthly from June, 1991 through November, 1996; publication then ceased until October, 1997, and thereafter was bi-monthly (with some irregularity) through May, 2003; finally it was again monthly from June, 2003 until the final issue in August, 2004. For several years it was available only to RPGA members; for some, joining the RPGA essentially amounted to a subscription to ''Polyhedron''. ''Polyhedron'' was produced by members of the RPGA, including some professionals working in the game industry, and was intended for RPGA members. The magazine was initially referred to as the ''"RPGA Newsletter"'' (or RPGA News) inside the cover of the initial 4 issues and the title read ''"TSR RPGA"'' on the cover. Starting with Issue 4 (p3) the new title ''"The Polyhedron"'' would be used. From issue 5 through 9 the covers were titled with ''"The Polyhedron"'' and from issue 10 onward as ''"Polyhedron Newszine"''. The masthead lists several formal publishers (occasionally omitting this information) including E. Gary Gygax (Issues 1-11);

Kim Eastland Kimber "Kim" Lee Eastland (February 26, 1952 – January 29, 2020) was a game designer who worked for TSR. Early life Kim Eastland was born in Moline, Illinois, one of two children of Everett and Margaret Eastland. He attended Alleman High Scho ...

(12-15); Mike Cook (irregularly 32-50); Jack Beuttell (51-68); Rick Behling (69-76 and 91-111); James Ward (77-90); TSR (112-141); Wizards of the Coast (irregularly 142-149); and Paizo (153 onward). Notable editors include

Frank Mentzer Jacob Franklin Mentzer III is an American fantasy author and game designer who worked on early materials for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. He was an employee of TSR, Inc. from 1980 to 1986, spending part of that time ...

(1-4); Mary Kirchoff (5-21); Penny Petticord (22-31);

Skip Williams Ralph Williams, almost always referred to as Skip Williams, is an American game designer. He is married to Penny Williams, who is also involved with the games industry. He was the co-creator of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3rd Edition and the longtime au ...

(33, 34, 37, 39);

Jean Rabe Jean Rabe is an American journalist, editor, gamer and writer of fantasy and mystery. After a career as a newspaper reporter, she was employed by TSR, Inc. for several years as head of the Role Playing Game Association and editor of the ''Polyhe ...

(36, 38, 40-103);

Dave Gross Dave Gross () is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is also a magazine editor, and has held the position of Editor-in-Chief at ''Star Wars Insider'' and at ''Amazing Stories''. Career Dave Gross, Michael Mikae ...

(104-107); Duane Maxwell (107-118); Jeff Quick (122-134); and

Erik Mona Erik Mona (born April 1974) is an American game designer who lives in Seattle, Washington. Career Mona was the Managing Editor of issues 1 and 2 of the '' Oerth Journal'', an online publication devoted to the ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setti ...

(138 onward). Two special issues were also published—an Introductory Issue (Jean Rabe, 1989) that was sent thereafter to new RPGA members, and a Gen Con Issue (Sean Glenn, 1999) that was distributed only at that year's Gen Con. The magazine's publication was fairly erratic and the contents very uneven until Jean Rabe's period as editor where the magazine was put on a regular schedule and contents were developed into recurring topical columns and monthly themed materials. Rabe also strengthened the quality of content and applied more rigorous editing to articles which had previously tended to be somewhat amateurish and personal. During this time also, cover art improved markedly and, notably, focused on strongly presented (and fully clothed) female adventurers. Rabe also converted the magazine from bi-monthly to monthly. Pagination of ''Polyhedron'' is problematic, because often (but not always) the mailing wrapper (generally containing printed matter) was counted in the pagination, and often (but not always) the cover was counted in the pagination as well. Given this, the magazine generally was 16-20 pages in length for issues 1-8; 32-36 pages in length for issues 9-128; and 32-48 pages in length for issues 131-143 (at this point, the magazine started to carry advertisements). From issue 144 onwards page counts became fairly variable but generally ran near to either 60 or 40 pages. Polyhedron featured several notable cover styles, including black and white art on issues 1-39; a single-colored left-hand stripe with hexes on issues 40-51; a single colored cover (retaining the hex stripe) from issues 52-74; single color cover with a cluster of hexes in the top-left corner on issues 78-119; increasingly variable covers on 120-143; and full-glossy covers from 144 onwards. Collectors should note that the magazine was serially issued but also published in volumes and numbers for issues 1-148 and then again for issue 161. However, the volume and numbers printed in the magazine frequently were wrong (at least fifteen errors are known during the 148 issues); the issue number should be taken as authoritative.

2002 to 2004

In September, 2002,

Paizo Publishing Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived ...

acquired publishing rights and merged the ''Polyhedron'' magazine with the sister publication ''

Dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

'' to form a single magazine (issue 90 of ''Dungeon'' and issue 149 of ''Polyhedron'' were one and the same magazine, and this dual numbering continued throughout this period). This ended the association of ''Polyhedron'' with the RPGA. It also marked a major change in the magazine's focus, from a primarily ''Dungeons & Dragons''-oriented magazine similar to ''Dragon'' to a general d20 system magazine that often featured entirely new, simple role-playing games based on this system, along with support for non-D&D d20 games such as

d20 Modern ''d20 Modern'' is a modern fantasy role-playing game system designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. The system's core rulebook was published by Wizards of the Coast on November 1, 2002; by 2006, ten additional supp ...

. Eventually another formerly separate magazine, the ''

Living Greyhawk Journal The ''Living Greyhawk Journal'' was a periodical published by the Role-Playing Games Association (RPGA) as a stand-alone magazine from 2000 to 2004. It was published by Wizards of the Coast. The publication was intended to supplement the RPGA's ''L ...

'', briefly became a section in ''Polyhedron'' as well. Though this version of ''Polyhedron'' had many vocal supporters, sales were poor, a situation many blamed on putting two magazines with distinct target audiences together in one somewhat higher-priced package. The ''Polyhedron'' section was removed from ''Dungeon'' as part of a major revamp of the latter magazine in 2004 and ''Polyhedron'' is no longer published in any form.

2005

From March to November, 2005,

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

used the name ''"Polyhedron"'' for a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' email newsletter with links pointing to content on their website. The newsletter typically contained product reviews and announcements and a cartoon.

Reception

''Polyhedron'' 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 aw ...

for "Best Amateur Adventure Gaming Magazine of 1987". ''Dungeon/Polyhedron Magazine'' won the 2002 Gold

Ennie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

for "Best Aid or Accessory".

References

{{Reflist Defunct magazines published in the United States Dungeons & Dragons magazines ENnies winners Magazines disestablished in 2004 Magazines established in 1981 Origins Award winners TSR, Inc. magazines Wizards of the Coast magazines