Alarums and Excursions
Editor | Lee Gold |
---|---|
Categories | Role-playing games |
Frequency | Monthly |
First issue | #1, June 1975 |
Country | United States |
Based in | Los Angeles |
Language | English |
Website | Alarums and Excursions page |
Alarums and Excursions (A&E) is an amateur press association (APA) started in June 1975 by Lee Gold; publication continues to the present day. It was one of the first publications to focus solely on role-playing games.
History
In 1964,
In addition to removing roleplaying games discussion out of APA-L, the initial aim of the publication was to prevent roleplaying games from becoming so divergent that people from different cities could not participate in games together.[4][5]
The June 2017 issue of Alarums and Excursions was number 500, with a color cover drawn by Lee Moyer and printed by Rob Heinsoo.
Contents
Each issue is a collection of contributions from different authors, often featuring game design discussions, rules variants, write-ups of game sessions, reviews, and comments on others contributions.
Although game reports and social reactions are common parts of many A&E contributions, it has also, over the years, become a testing ground for new ideas on the development of the RPG as a genre and an art form. The idea that role-playing games are an art form took strong root in this
Over the years, contributors have included:
- Terry K. Amthor
- Wilf K. Backhaus
- Scott Bennie
- Greg Costikyan
- Doc Cross
- John M. Ford
- E. Gary Gygax
- Andrew Gelman
- David A. Hargrave
- Rob Heinsoo
- John Eric Holmes
- Wes Ives
- Robin Laws
- Nicole Lindroos
- Stephen R. Marsh
- Phil McGregor
- Dave Nalle
- Mark Rein·Hagen
- Ken Rolston
- John T. Sapienza, Jr.
- Lawrence M. Schoen
- Edward E. Simbalist
- Jonathan Tweet
- Erick Wujcik
- John Nephew
- Spike Y Jones
Reception
In the February 1976 issue of
In the June 1981 edition of Dragon (Issue #50), Dave Nalle reviewed Alarums and Excursions after its 63rd issue (November 1980), and although he found the writing style "a bit stuffy", with a "tendency for the writers to pat each other on the back", he still called it "the top APA publication... This is a very well run APA and features many of the leading thinkers in fantasy gaming."[8]
Awards
To date, Alarums and Excursions has been a winner of the
- "Best Amateur Adventure Gaming Magazine" in 1984[9]
- "Best Amateur Game Magazine" in 1999[10]
- "Best Amateur Game Periodical" in 2000[11] and 2001[11]
- "Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame" in 2022[12]
References
- ^ "APA-L". LASFS. Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
- ^ Bretts RPG Magazine and Zine Index Archived October 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, entry on Alarums & Excursions, retrieved September 2007
- ^ "alarums and excursions". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
- . Retrieved 2016-06-19.
- ISBN 952-91-6842-X. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
- ISBN 978-1-61317-084-7.
- TSR, Inc.: 15.
- TSR, Inc.: 24.
- ^ "The 1984 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 1985". GAMA. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "The 1999 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 2000". GAMA. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ a b "The 2000 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 2001". GAMA. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "Alarums & Excursions: Moreinfo".