Inspiration from Adventure Gaming Magazine

 “I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”

— Hermann Hesse

As much as I have rambled on over the years about missing print magazines like TSR’s Dragon, that periodical was not the very first adventure gaming hobby magazine to which I was exposed. Way back in 1982 I’d just finished eighth grade in junior high school. A few months earlier I’d received the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set as an Easter present and immersed myself in the game. But now school was out for the summer. I took my hoarded allowance and biked down to the Branchville Hobby Shop to purchase the D&D Expert Set to fuel my summertime gaming exploits. After I paid, the clerk tossed an old issue of Adventure Gaming magazine into the bag. My first experience with a print gaming magazine was purely by chance, a “wandering monster” kind of encounter that gave me a new avenue through which to explore the hobby...one that started me down a road into writing and publishing.

Naturally my first instinct was to dive into the Expert D&D boxed set with its rules tome and module X1 The Isle of Dread with its outlined “Known World” setting (later to become Mystara), double-page map spread, and lots of wilderness adventure potential. But that issue of Adventure Gaming magazine #4, from October 1981 broadened my horizons beyond the very limited landscape of roleplaying games I was exploring at the time.

It certainly helped that editor Timothy Kask had worked with D&D since the mid 1970s, including a stint editing Dragon magazine’s earliest incarnations. His efforts with Adventure Gaming clearly sought to broaden periodical coverage beyond TSR’s games and indeed beyond the scope of roleplaying games. Adventure Gaming included product features and interviews, news from game companies, alternate rules for games I’d never heard about, and different ways of looking at numerous aspects across the entire hobby. For an overly enthusiastic kid relatively new to all this, I learned, in my naive way, about numerous aspects of the adventure gaming hobby:

Pyramid of Light: After gushing about in-magazine games and modules, I realized my very first one came in this issue of Adventure Gaming...well before I started getting scenarios bound into Dragon magazine. Like the modules in the D&D boxed sets, this one offered a template for my own adventure development.

Thieves’ World Review: A lengthy feature of Chaosium’s Thieves’ World boxed setting ignited an interest in exploring fantasy medieval urban settings. It would become the first non-TSR setting resource I bought, one that inspired me for years to come.

Al Leonardi Interview: This game designer interview introduced me to some different aspects of gaming, Leonardi’s groundbreaking “combat picture book games” like Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds. It was my first impression of a game designer. I’d meet Leonardi a few years later — and interview him myself for my extremely amateurish gaming fanzine — but only dabbled with Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds. Leonardi pased away in July 2025.

Feudal Diplomacy: I had no idea what Diplomacy was, but the article by Lewis Pulsipher piqued my interest that such games involving military forces, territories, and supply centers existed. I later acquired my own copy and played it several times.

Traveller Thoughts: An article about some sci-fi game called Traveller helped broaden my concept of roleplaying games beyond TSR’s medieval fantasy fare...and I’d eventually immerse myself in the game two years later.

Mig Killers Review: While this feature demonstrated to me one could simulate modern aerial combat in game form, one line in it made a lasting impression on me and my concept of games. Before this point I assumed games came in boxes. In the article author J.D. Webster mentioned “I was thrilled on day to discover the little Zip-locked Mig Killers sitting in the local hobby shop.” Wait...games could come in zip-bags? As I was soon inspired to create my own admittedly amateurish games — and seeking to emulate what I saw in the hobby — I started using zip-bags to hold game components. Sure, for some games I made boxes, but most went into bags.

Equipment Lists: Okay, the contents of Glenn Rahman’s “How Much Is That Bearskin In The Window?” were based on ancient Rome, but it offered some idea what one might purchase with all that dungeon-delving loot, especially when one visited the big medieval-fantasy city (see Thieves’ World above...).

Comics: The comics Adventure Gaming featured helped develop my growing sense of what all this fantasy roleplaying stuff was all about, like the fairly serious “Brom & Arylla,” the goofy humor of “The Adventures of Space Trader Vic,” and the humorous “Adventures of Finieous Fingers,” which played on gaming tropes.

News, Letters, & Conventions: These brief columns offered a neophyte an expansive glimpse at everything else the hobby might become. “What’s New?” surveyed upcoming releases across the various genres of the adventure gaming hobby. The letters gave me a glimpse of how others viewed gaming, though not quite as contentious as what I’d later find in the pages of Dragon. “Conventions” and “Adventure Venue” introduced me to a hitherto unknown aspect of the hobby where I might share my enthusiasm for gaming with others (though it would take a few years before I attended my first gaming con).

Miniatures: Several features about metal miniatures helped me understand the scope of these “toys” sometimes featured at the hobby shop, from fantasy roleplaying aids to modeling figures for historical gaming.

Advertisements: Throughout Adventure Gaming I found pages of advertisements for products beyond what I’d seen in the “Gateway to Adventure” catalogs TSR slipped into my D&D boxed sets. They exposed me to the graphically appealing concepts of miniatures, other roleplaying games, and even wargames. GHQ’s ad for its micro-armor range intrigued me with its implications that one could game history, the photo of a micro-Sherman next to wargame counter chits stating “If war were meant to be wged with paper, Patton would have been born a steno clerk.”

Along with the D&D Expert set that issue of Adventure Gaming helped fuel my summertime explorations of fantasy roleplaying and inspired me to look forward to investigating other aspects of the hobby.

After that first “D&D Summer” spent creating characters, mapping and populating islands in the Sea of Dread, and running adventures with the neighborhood kids, I started as a freshman at Ridgefield High School. It was a source of great anxiety for me. I worried about everything: the bus getting to school late; how I’d manage with a locker and crowds of indifferent (at best) students; whether I’d succeed in a host of courses, including math and science, which I found difficult; whether I’d retain any friends from junior high or even make any new ones...especially ones with similar interests in my newly found adventure gaming hobby.

I got on the bus and found a seat. The few kids already there watched me, sizing me up. After the inevitable comments about my appearance and some jokes at my expense they settled down. A group nearby clustered around a magazine one had brought. It was Dragon magazine issue #66. In my own awkward way I inveigled my way into the conversation and learned what it was all about...and that they, too, played D&D. And though casual bus-ride chat was about all of the hobby we ever shared, it steered me toward Dragon and the buffet of different gaming articles it offered each month. I subscribed for years, finding new ideas and enjoyment in every issue, enough to inspire me to create my own amateurish gaming fanzine and ultimately pursue game writing and publishing. But it all started with that free copy of Adventure Gaming #4 casually tossed in my paper bag at the hobby shop.

“Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.”

— Henry David Thoreau