Adventurer Issue 1

Yep, I've been going through those boxes of old magazines that share the spare room with the model railway again.  It never ceases to amaze me, the stuff I bought in my misspent youth.  Even more amazing is the fact that so much of it survives.  Anyway, this is the premier issue of Adventurer, a magazine devoted to role playing games.  I have no idea whether it ever had a second issue, certainly, this is the only one that I have in my 'collection'.  According to the contents page, it was published in April 1986, a time when computer games were in their infancy and role playing games were the cutting edge of the gaming experience, eclipsing traditional board games and war games in popularity, particularly amongst younger gamers.  The boom was kicked off, of course, by Dungeons and Dragons, but pretty soon rivals appeared as new entrants to the games industry and established companies alike vied to grab a slice of the new market.  Naturally, in this pre-internet age, magazines devoted to the hobby began to appear, allowing players to connect, both with each other and the industry.  In the UK, the market for role playing games magazines was dominated by Games Workshop's White Dwarf, (Games Workshop were also the UK importer and distributor of several of the main US role playing games).  Which might come as a surprise to anyone who has read White Dwarf for the past few decades, during which it has become the house magazine of the Warhammer fantasy miniatures game system.  But in its early days, it was devoted to role playing games.

Adventurer was clearly an attempt to cash in on White Dwarf's success, with this first issue putting heavy emphasis upon the fact that it was an entirely independent publication, with no ties to any particular system or manufacturer.  (In contrast to White Dwarf, which was published by the UK's then main importer of role playing games).  In terms of content, it isn't a million miles from its rival, with scenarios and articles covering most of the then popular systems, including Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulu (of which I still own a copy) and previews the private eye role playing game Gumshoe, (which I also own).  There are articles on more generalised aspects of role playing games, such as the role of psychology in role playing games and the effects of blood loss on characters and a competition to write a short story to explain the cover painting.  There's even a piece on applying the principles of 'method' acting to playing characters in role playing games!  There are also lots of reviews, a round up of fanzines and a comic strip.  I vaguely recall reading the magazine for the first time, but I couldn't have gone back to it much as it is still pretty much in pristine condition.  Even the colour poster is still inside (it is a double page spread of the cover painting).  All of which is amazing, considering that it has spent the better part of the last forty years in boxes full of other role playing magazines, stored in various rooms - most recently under several bundles of  00 gauge model railway track.  

(A quick check with The Internet Archive reveals that there were a total of eleven issues of Adventurer published 1986-87, although I don't own any others, nor do I recall seeing any on the shelves of my local branch of WH Smith after this debut issue).