Role-Playing Magazines

The role-playing magazine collection showcases the diverse interests of role-playing culture, which gained prominence in the mid to late 1990s. This culture can be categorized into tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), live action role-playing (LARPing), and historical reenactments. The d8 magazine focuses on role-playing culture and its community, while the Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour started in comic form to introduce people to the world of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). The Renaissance issues delves into the historical and cultural aspects of the Renaissance and medieval eras through reenactments. Meanwhile, the Historical Gamer provides insights into miniature model culture, as well as military history and strategy.

As a whole, this collection illustrates the foundational culture and appreciation for immersive world-building and community through historical and interactive narratives that connect fantasy gaming with the 1990s community.

Magazine cover with painting of three male game characters over a dark background

Commissioned by TSR, Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour offers a brief exploration of the Forgotten Realms in comic book format The back cover promotes other Forgotten Realms materials: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, City of Splendors, Volo’s Guide to Waterdeep, and Ruins of the Undermountain II: The Deep Levels.

Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms was originally created by Ed Greenwood in 1967 and has evolved into one of the most renowned D&D campaign settings. The collaboration between Greenwood and Jeff Grubb led to the release of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in 1987. Subsequently, a variety of novels, rulebooks, maps, comics, and video games have been published, gaining wide popularity in modern D&D culture. 

Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour, unearths Presto (Preston), a young mage, who seeks out the infamous wizard Elminster for training and embarks on adventures throughout Faerûn. Presto ultimately chooses not to pursue apprenticeship and returns from the “grand tour” to reunite with his friends. The comic features characters from the Dungeons & Dragons animated series that aired from 1983 to 1985.

This magazine is a limited-release edition published by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) and written by Jeff Grubb in January 1996. Grubb had previously written another Forgotten Realms series for DC Comics in the 1980s, which comprised twenty-five issues.

Magazine cover with image of a medieval-style knight in armor in red and dark colors.

This is the fifth and final edition of d8, titled "Guiltless Time Travel, Mutiny, Wiccan Perspective". The issue explores themes related to rebellions, the practic of magic from a Wiccan perspective, time travel, and other role-playing experiences.

d8

Named after the eight-sided polyhedral die, d8 started as a passion project by its founder and creator David DeCheser, and was published in Philadelphia and New York from 1995-1996. The magazine comprises exactly five issues that delve into the culture and community surrounding role-playing games. This series features articles on LARPing, comic book artists, interviews, magic, cults, fashion, and more.

In contrast to most gaming magazines, d8 chose not to focus on gaming systems, rules, and products. Instead, it aimed to explore the individuals behind the games and the cultural influences that shaped them. The objective was to connect people with diverse interests and backgrounds through a shared experience encompassing topics such as fantasy, science-fiction, history, art, music, film, literature, and conventions. This approach attempted to differentiate itself from other gaming publications while celebrating the creativity and individuality inherent in gaming culture. One wonders how popular the magazine would be in modern society, given the recent popularity in TTRPGs and LARPing.

Holly Black, the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, contributed to writing and editing articles for d8  while simultaneously, Tony DiTerlizzi, co-author of the Spiderwick Chronicles, was employed by the magazine’s publisher, TSR. The magazine is particularly notable for introducing the two together. “Ahremon/City of the Sun: Garden of Ghosts” marks Holly Black’s debut fiction work, featured in the second issue of d8.

Magazine cover with black and yellow type and the image of a man in medieval armor and mail chain.

The first volume and edition of Renaissance magazine centers on the art of participating in full-scale jousting. The cover depicts a man adorned in complete jousting regalia, while the articles within the magazine dicuss proper renaissance attires and etiquette, Shakespearean insults, and more.

Renaissance

Renaissance is a publication dedicated to all aspects of the Renaissance festival, comprising the  expected experiences, reviews of books pertaining to the time period, historical insights, music, and reenactments of battles. In 1994, Kim Guarnaccia, a Yale graduate, along with her husband, created the magazine. Following a wedding inspired by the Renaissance era, the Guaranaccias envisioned a magazine that would show the experience of their wedding while celebrating their passion for all things Renaissance. The project gained remarkable traction, resulting in a doubling of attendees at Renaissance fair (ren fair), which is an impressive feat for a single magazine. Over time, the project expanded to include reader feedback, incorportation of crosswords, recipes for holiday diners, activities for friends, and much more.

This issue was the initial one produced, featuring articles that discuss the ins and outs of full scale jousting, including what to wear and techniques. Other articles highlighted in this Renaissance magazine include; Shakespearean insults, proper ren fair attire, culinary cuisine of the Renaissance, the care of kings' wonders, and role-playing games. The magazine delves into the experience of role-playing a knight, king, peasant, and other characters.

Magazine cover with a painting of an Union solder over a horse with several soldiers and flags on the left side.

The twenty-second issue of the Historical Gamer focuses on the American Civil War. It explores the ground work for recreating battles of the civil war and reviews of new miniatures of the time.

Historic Gamer

Historic Gamer is a passion project by William S. (Bill) Biles, who serves as both the creator and publisher of this magazine. Only a few credits are attributed to some editors and the sole hobby shop responisble for distributing these magazines, known as the Emperor's Headquarters. This magazine primarily focuses on tabletop miniature historic war reenactments, with this particular issue centering around the American Civil War. In this edition, Bill describes how this magazine aims to explore historic war scenarios and how they could have happened, while also addressing the wargame community's perspective that these games are solely simulations reflecting the historical outcomes history we know.

The main articles focuses on how to set up the environment for this specific war, while the rest of the magazines are filled with reviews of miniature models, updates from the world of miniatures, and insights into various battle reenactments. Additionally, the magazine invites readers who are passionate about these war games to contribute their own articles for Bill to include in the upcoming edition, which will featuring guest writers. This initiative is an exciting way to involve the community. Unfortunately, their distribution store closed in 1995, which ended the production of this magazine.