tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post5932079154172816606..comments2024-03-28T12:41:02.947-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Different Worlds: Issue #17James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-54459903688320804792021-06-03T21:07:37.549-04:002021-06-03T21:07:37.549-04:00The other thing that's going on here is that i...The other thing that's going on here is that in 1981, Chaosium was still trying to publish both <i>Different Worlds</i> and <i>Wyrm's Footnotes</i>, so they were competing with themselves to some extent.John Brinegarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12123235797335728124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-78568703573036192012021-06-02T07:56:19.846-04:002021-06-02T07:56:19.846-04:00It was Adams' ever increasing use of reprinted...It was Adams' ever increasing use of reprinted material from earlier books that eventually killed my interest in the series. Got to the point where you'd see whole chapters that were lifted almost unchanged from previous books.<br /><br />The hero-to-villain thing was amusing the first time or two it happened but yeah, it got old after a very short while. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-90946715683300798872021-06-02T01:07:10.098-04:002021-06-02T01:07:10.098-04:00Any perceived uneven quality of Different Worlds v...Any perceived uneven quality of Different Worlds vs the Dragon and White Dwarf is probably due to Different Worlds having a considerably smaller pool of authors to draw from. It was a relatively small fish in a big pond. The initial print run of bi-monthly Different Worlds issue #1 (Feb/March 1979) was 1500 copies (followed by a second printing of 1,000 after first printing sold out) at a time when the Dragon's monthly print run was about 10,000 and bi-monthly White Dwarf was > 5,000. By 1981, Dragon had monthly print runs around 60,000 and in 1983 print runs were ~120,000. Different Worlds became sort-of-monthly partway through 1981 and it is very, very unlikely that it was ever printed in anything like these numbers. As an author back then, where would you have wanted your article to appear? Having spent years editing magazines, I can attest that it is a neverending treadmill to come up with new quality material of interest for your readers. Combine that with trying to maintain a reasonable/regular publishing schedule and a magazine's editors can often be faced with running material they'd rather not or authoring pieces themselves under pseudonyms to cover shortfalls and stay on schedule. Titushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10327841920784343663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-60988626428403849712021-06-01T20:17:20.735-04:002021-06-01T20:17:20.735-04:00I could be wrong and haven't checked the timel...I could be wrong and haven't checked the timeline but I always thought the Chaosium/Avalon Hill deal was responsible for killing Questworld and for motivating Games Workshop into dropping RuneQuest and developing Warhammer RPG.Ruprechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00139664977453444000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-77512880504910881392021-06-01T15:37:53.181-04:002021-06-01T15:37:53.181-04:00I liked Horseclans as a setting but Adams' pe...I liked Horseclans as a setting but Adams' penchant for writing schizophrenic characters (this book's hero is next book's villain) drove me nuts.Kevin J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12822203839411266747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39832142390045398332021-06-01T14:13:08.193-04:002021-06-01T14:13:08.193-04:00Literally never saw this issue. The FLGS was spot...Literally never saw this issue. The FLGS was spotty about getting every issue and younger me hadn't worked out that you could insist on that sort of thing yet. Bemused by the cover blurb about a new TFT "class" (which I assume refers to the Horseclans article) when the game has no classes, not even a hard division between casters and non-casters. I was quite a Horseclans fan in my teens, but made the mistake of re-reading it in the late 80s and it didn't hold up well for me at all. Then again, neither did Remo Williams or Casca.<br /><br />Did anything come of the FGU magazine rumor? I don't recall them having one, but maybe I just didn't notice it.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-21591548012135809072021-06-01T13:59:10.773-04:002021-06-01T13:59:10.773-04:00By 1981, there were several issues of Sorcerer'...By 1981, there were several issues of <i>Sorcerer's Apprentice,</i> Flying Buffalo's magazine supporting Tunnels and Trolls, that had what they called "mini-solos," short solitaire adventures formatted as described herein, with boxed text at the bottom or at the sides of the pages in small print. Interesting that Chaosium picked up on the idea and flew it up the flagpole, as it were. radnoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11006466605445207729noreply@blogger.com