The Articles of Dragon: "Pysbots and Battle Mechs"

For good or for ill, my interest in the history of the hobby of roleplaying is intertwined with my interest in the history of the industry to which it gave birth. In particular, I find the history of The House That D&D Built – TSR Hobbies – to be endlessly fascinating, especially how dysfunctional it seems to have been as a business for most of its existence. To be fair, very few RPG companies have much to crow about in this regard, but TSR seems to be a prime example of a company succeeding in spite of itself. The more I learn about TSR's history, the more surprised I am that it managed to survive for nearly a quarter of a century.

I was reminded of this as I looked through the Ares Section of issue #99 of Dragon magazine (July 1985) and came across Mike Breault's article "Psybots and Battle Mechs." The article in question was intended as a preview of a then-upcoming science fiction roleplaying game, entitled Proton Fire. By "preview," I don't mean of the game's rules but mostly of its background, though there are a few snippets about the mechanics (characters can be warriors, rangers, or engineers and there are "talents"). 

Background-wise, it's pretty thin gruel. The humans of the Matri system descend from colonists who long ago arrived from Earth and settled on Coreworld, the fourth planet of the system. In the colony’s early centuries, power gradually fell into the hands of the Corporation and its ruling council, the Quintad. Originally five elected officials, over time they became increasingly authoritarian. Their corruption deepened after the developments in cybernetics allowed them to transform themselves into immortal cyborgs and rule indefinitely through violence and intimidation. 

The dominance of the Quintad collapsed when a laboratory accident released a devastating virus that killed 90% of Coreworld’s population and shattered the Corporation’s control. In the aftermath, the University, an academic colony hidden within a moon of the fifth planet, declared independence and began searching for a new home for the surviving humans of Matri. The central conflict of Proton Fire now pits the University and its agents, who explore and defend humanity’s future, against the Corporation and the immortal Quintad, who seek to restore their former domination using ruthless operatives known as Eliminators.

Characters can be humans, cyborgs, or psybots. Humans are similar to their ancestors on Earth and protect themselves through the use of armored battle suits called mechs. Cyborgs are more or less what you'd expect. Psybots, meanwhile, are advanced robots that possess emotions and experience pain, but lack the empathy and insight of human beings. The article suggests that the characters devote themselves to exploration of new star systems and foiling the plans of the Quintad, though they never really explain what those plans are now that most of humanity is dead.

Despite all this, I was very intrigued by Proton Fire and looked forward to its release. I was and am a science fiction guy at heart and was genuinely curious to see if the actual game was more fully realized and expansive than this article suggested. Alas, that was not to be. A couple of issues later, TSR posted a retraction, in which they explained that there "wasn't a big market for a stand-alone robot game," so it would be repackaged as a supplement to Star Frontiers. That never happened either and all we have to go on regarding the game's final fate is what Steve Winter posted in a comment to this blog back in 2011.

I suspect this kind of thing happens more often than we realize. Goodness knows that my own track record when it comes to unfinished projects is far from stellar, so I shouldn't point fingers. Still, I'm just one guy, not a multi-million dollar game publisher like TSR was at the time. One day, I'd love to know more about Proton Fire and its origins. I suspect, though, it'll probably be one of those mysteries that I'll never see solved to my satisfaction. Oh, well.

REPOST: The Articles of Dragon: "Before the Dark Years"

[Historical Note: The original version of this, from April 23, 2011, was not part of The Articles of Dragon series but a stand-alone post. However, since the article it discusses did appear in Dragon, it seemed appropriate to fold this report into my revival of the series.]

While the way that TSR looted the corpse of SPI was shameful (and likely had a deleterious effect on the wider hobby), it had one positive effect from the perspective of my youth: the advent of the "Ares Section" of Dragon. I've always been more of a sci-fi fan than a fantasy one, so knowing that every issue of Dragon would devote two or three articles to the genre each month was a good thing in my view. (This also probably explains why the issues of Dragon I was most fond of ran from 80s to the early 100s – corresponding very closely to the lifespan of the Ares Section).

Gamma World was well represented in the Ares Section, frequently presenting articles penned by creator James Ward, which I appreciated, given my obsession with official-dom. One of my favorite articles from Ward was published in issue 88 (August 1984), called "Before the Dark Years." It presents a historical timeline of the Gamma World setting, beginning (as all post-apocalyptic timelines do) in 1945 with the first use of nuclear weapons and ending in 2450, which was the approximate start of the 2nd edition of the game (1st edition began later, in 2471 – why the change, I wonder?).

It's true that the article appealed to me back then because it scratched a completist urge to know it all, an urge I have long since – and happily – abandoned. But back then it was simply awesome to know, for example, that the starship Warden was launched in 2290. Re-reading the article, I still love it, but for rather different reasons. I like it for entries like this one:

2322 – Processed-iced asteroid (guidance circuits damaged by terrorists) strikes Mars; eight-year duststorm and climatic disruption result. All colonies on planet isolated; Federation charter suspended for the duration.

Or this one:

2331 – Trans-Plutonian Shipyards assume control of their own programs and generate robotic "life."

The reason I love entries like these is that they hit home that Gamma World's apocalypse doesn't happen in the here and now but in a science fictional future. That ought to be obvious, given the presence Mark VII blasters and black ray guns and so forth, but, somehow, it's easy to forget, perhaps because, in the 70s and 80s, worrying about the End of All Things focused on the present, not the future. Indeed, lots of people didn't think there would be a future, thanks to the Damoclean threat of Armageddon.

Gamma World didn't take that approach. Instead, it's set in the future and the weapons that usher in the Dark Years include not just nuclear missiles but also "dimension-warp" devices and other weaponry undreamed of in our age. I think that set Gamma World apart from other post-apocalyptic games, imbuing it with a more "wondrous" quality and also, if I may wax sociological for a moment, making it a little less frightening to kids like me. The Morrow Project, to cite one example, postulates that the End would come in 1989 as a consequence of Cold War foolishness and, however absurd its specifics, that was a scenario many people genuinely believed might occur in their lifetimes. But a 24th century terrorist group called the Apocalypse? Using dimension-warp weapons and striking at not just Earth but space colonies as far away as the Oort Cloud? That's clearly fantasy and a lot less terrifying.

As I noted recently, my preferred way to play Gamma World is to treat the post-apocalyptic world as largely a blank slate, one utterly unfamiliar to the characters, who not only grew up generations removed form the Fall, but are played by people for whom even the pre-Fall world is alien. That pre-Fall world included settlements on the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere, is supported by robots, cyborgs, and A.I.s, and is launching extra-solar colonization efforts. That creates a lot of scope for terrific adventures and campaigns; I might even go so far as to say that, as developed in this and other articles, Gamma World provides a canvas every bit as large as that offered by Dungeons & Dragons. Sadly, the game has largely been treated as a joke by its custodians over the years, its full potential never quite realized and that's too bad.

Polyhedron: Issue #13

Issue #13 of Polyhedron (August 1983) is dubbed a "special issue," because, in the words of its editor, Mary Kirchoff, more "strictly gaming aid articles." What that means is that, unlike previous issues, this one includes no RPGA ephemera, only articles for use with TSR's various roleplaying games. This is precisely what I'd hoped to see in the pages of Polyhedron when I first started to subscribe to it. Alas, the 'zine would return to its earlier form with issue #14, but I nevertheless enjoyed this one, singular though it was.

The letters page contains two letters of note. One asks about the possibility of a D&D movie, while the other questions why Deities & Demigods includes "fighting abilities and statistics" for the gods described therein. Here's the response regarding a D&D movie:

The story of the D&D movie Gary Gygax was supposedly working on during his time in Hollywood is the stuff of legend. I know very little about it myself, but Jon Peterson, has written a lengthy essay about its history and development that's well worth your time. 

The Deities & Demigods question is interesting, both for the answer (provided by DDG co-author James M. Ward) and for its asker, a name that might be recognizable to those familiar with the luminaries of the OSR:

And here is Ward's answer:

This is pretty much the same logic employed by Tim Kask in the foreword to Gods, Demigods & Heroes, the predecessor to the DDG. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, except that it suggests TSR felt a need to police the boundaries of power within D&D. What an odd thing!

"Dispel Confusion" contains the usual assortment of questions about TSR's stable of roleplaying games. Of these, one stands out as worthy of being highlighted:

One can quibble about whether these are indeed "the two most important concepts in the D&D game," but I find it difficult to disagree that both of these concepts in the answer are indeed significant ones, particularly the second one. My ongoing House of Worms campaign – which will celebrate its ninth year of continuous play in March 2024 – is largely propelled by player choice and the consequences of those choices, for example.

Mary Kirchoff provides another installment of "Under Construction," this one being something of a follow-up to the one that appeared in issue #10. Like its predecessor, it's clever and flavorful – a good example of a dungeon "special." The issue also includes a "policy statement" from the publishing division of TSR, regarding Dragon and the newly-acquired Ares:

In short, TSR decided to focus Dragon solely on fantasy RPGs, shifting science fiction RPGs over to Ares. This was a huge disappointment to me at the time, because then, as now, I prefer SF to fantasy and I had no interest in subscribing to yet another gaming magazine. Ultimately, like everything else TSR did with the former SPI's properties, this move was ill-considered and failed. In time, Ares would cease to exist as a stand-alone magazine and sci-fi content would be re-incorporated into Dragon in the form of the Ares Section, which would become one of my favorite parts of the magazine.

Roger E. Moore's "Gods, Demigods, and DMs" is yet another look at the apparently vexed question of how to handle interactions between deities and powerful player characters. Moore's advice is generally very good, relying on both mythological tales, the AD&D rules, and common sense as guides. He quite reasonably believes that the gods should not be seen as "pushovers" even by the mightiest PCs and that the DM should pull out all the stops when roleplaying gods and demigods that their awesomeness is fully manifest. As I said, he provides lots of solid advice and examples, but I still have to wonder: were battles with the gods so commonplace that TSR needed to address it again and again?

"Spelling Bee" by James M. Ward looks at just two spells: continual light and its reverse, continual darkness, in order to show how versatile and useful they can be in play. I appreciate articles like this, because I've long felt that (A)D&D has too many spells, especially when one considers how many ways even a handful of spells can be used by a clever caster. Pointing out all the ways existing spells might be employed goes some way, I think, toward alleviating the need for further, ever more specific, spells – at least that's my feeling.

"The Hive Master" by Harold Johnson is an unusual four-page adventure for use with Gangbusters. I say "unusual," because, unlike all previous scenarios written for the game, this one doesn't deal with bootlegging or bank robbery but instead with efforts by a mad scientist – Professor Abe Malefica – to get his revenge on the world who mocked him by releasing a specially-bred type of harvester bee into the world. It's pulp nonsense of the highest order and I hated it at the time. Looking at it now, though, I have a better appreciation for what Johnson was doing, even if he refers to Malefica as an "entymologist." 

The issue includes a double-sided cardstock reference sheet of Dawn Patrol rules and tables. I still have mine inside my game box to this day. "Ecosystem," another by Ward, looks at the ramifications of the environment in Gamma World on adventure scenarios. "Go West, Young Gamer" by Steve Winter suggests the inclusion of four new ability scores to Boot Hill – Coordination, Observation, Stature, and Luck – as a way to further differentiate characters in the game. Given that BH is a very primitive game in terms of mechanics, this makes some sense. Does anyone know if these were these incorporated into the third edition of the game by chance?

"Raid on Theseus" by Doug Niles is a starship combat scenario for use with Knight Hawks. Kim Mohan's "Psionic Pspells" is a lengthy (four pages) article looking at "spells resembling psionic powers" from every possible angle. These spells are enumerated in Appendix C of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, but Mohan is, for some reason, interested in explaining the logic behind each spell's inclusion in the list in order to better understand AD&D magic, psionics, and the interplay of the two. I cannot say I share his enthusiasm for the topic. "The Condor Assignment" by Allen Hammack is ostensibly a Top Secret article, but it's mostly a review of then-current espionage media, like the Bond novel, Icebreaker. 

Other than the obligatory RPGA catalog at the end, that's issue #13. Though no longer than its immediate predecessors, it certainly feels meatier to me, probably because of the lack of RPGA ephemera that didn't interest me at the time and interests me even less four decades later. This issue represents what I always wanted Polyhedron to be, but very rarely got – a pity.

Dragon, Ares, TSR, SPI

Issue #76 of Dragon (August 1983) – a favorite issue of mine – contained the following notice on page 4, right after the "Out on a Limb" letters column: 

Here is some background on this. Ares was an in-house science fiction gaming magazine produced by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI). The first issue appeared in March 1980 and was published (more or less) bimonthly. TSR acquired SPI's assets in 1982, just as issue #12 (January 1982) was about to be published. From that point on, the magazine switched to a less frequent schedule, becoming quarterly and its editorial direction was entirely in TSR's hands. 

Much like SPI itself, TSR had no clear notion of what to do with Ares and struggled trying to find a place for it within the company's publishing plans. The note above appeared just prior to the release of issue #15 (Fall 1983). TSR must have concluded that the best way to preserve Ares was to give it an injection of readers from Dragon by shifting all of the latter's SF content over to its pages. On the face of it, this move makes sense and might have even worked had it not been for the fact that, in acquiring the company, TSR had voided all existing subscriptions to SPI's periodicals, including Ares. This move angered its existing subscriber base and likely played a major role in the magazine's demise in 1984, ending with issue #17.

From that point on, Ares survived as a section within the pages of Dragon itself, reversing the decision announced above. Even though I liked Ares as a separate magazine, the Ares section of Dragon – which only ran April 1984 to 1986 – was among my favorite parts of Dragon, presenting lots of excellent articles for Gamma World, Traveller, and, of course, Marvel Super Heroes, among many others. I was saddened when Kim Mohan announced in issue #112 of Dragon (August 1986) that, according to reader opinion, "we've been spending too much space on coverage of superhero and science-fiction games. Accordingly, the ARES section is now a thing of the past."

I've regularly remarked that, when it comes to roleplaying, science fiction is an "also ran genre." It's not without its fans, but it's, at best, a distant second to fantasy in terms of popularity, assuming it's not been eclipsed by another genre. There are numerous reasons why this is the case; I even understand them. Looking back on this notice from Dragon is a reminder that it's ever been so.

An Exciting New Family Boardgame!

I've talked about the Escape from New York boardgame before, but I was reminded of it recently while perusing an issue of Ares magazine. The issue included the advertisement above, which is actually quite striking. Nevertheless, I reiterate here what I did in my original retrospective: why was this marketed as a family boardgame? 

Escape from New York, while quite tame by today's standards, the film was rated R, which means that, in principle, no one under the age of 17 should have seen it (and it wouldn't be released on VHS until 1984, three years after the game was published). Granted, there's no reason you need to see the movie to enjoy the game, but would anyone who hadn't seen it take much interest in it? Then again, TSR was just coming into the height of its power and influence, so a movie or TV tie-in was probably inevitable. Compared to the alternatives, Escape from New York doesn't look so bad.

Ares Magazine: Special Edition #2

And now, at last, we come to the final issue of Ares magazine, Special Edition #2. It's undated, but it must have appeared sometime between Summer 1983 and Spring 1984, when Ares became an integral section of Dragon. Its layout and general appearance match that which appeared in the pages of Dragon at any rate, so there's clear continuity between what TSR was attempting here and what we later saw elsewhere. I view that as a good thing, since I was a huge fan of "the Ares Section." Indeed, it was that section more than any other that kept me interested in Dragon. Special Edition #2 is actually very good and contains a number of excellent articles (and some oddities).

The issue kicks off with David J. Schow's "So you want to write the ultimate SF film book, huh, kid?"It's frankly a very strange article that I assume was an attempt humor. By "SF film book," Schow means a book about science fiction films. His article is a tongue-and-cheek examination of the pitfalls of such an endeavor, but it's neither funny nor informative. Fortunately, it's short. David Stover offers up a science fact piece entitled "New Worlds," which discusses the major planetary satellites of the solar system. Though purely factual (based on then-current data), it's nicely done and includes healthy doses of speculation to inspire SF gaming scenarios.

The first of two short stories is Douglas Borsom's "Tales of the Sky, Tales of the Land," which takes the form of a story told by a father on a far-off colony world to his children. The second, "Latent Image," by Gary Woolard, is about two tourists who come across a shop filled with antique photographs that exert a weird influence over them. Of the two, I like Woolard's story better, but it's not particularly science fictional -- more like an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits.

"Home Sweet Home" is a terrific article by David Cook -- lots of Davids writing in this issue -- that provides random charts for generating new star systems for use with Star Frontiers. It's a surprisingly meaty article that does more than provide astronomical data; it also gives the referee cultural and other details he can use as a springboard for creating adventures. Meanwhile, Dale L. Kemper provides an entire sector for use with Traveller, the Far Frontiers sector, which was the home sector of all of FASA's excellent licensed adventures. I had a photocopy of this article in my "DM's binder" years ago, since I liked the idea of a campaign set farther away from the Third Imperium than even the Spinward Marches.

Mark Graham Jones provides "Revised Psionics for Traveller Gaming," which is an attempt to simultaneously make psionics less powerful and more flexible than as presented in the rulebooks. This stems from the author's desire to present a setting in which there is not the rampant anti-psionics prejudice of GDW's Third Imperium. While I can understand that desire, I'm not sure how that desire necessitates revising the psionics rules. Continuing in this theme, James M. Ward provides "It's All in Your Mind," which is a collection of new mental mutations for use with Gamma World. Jon Mattson's "New Frontiers of the Mind" is an optional system for psionics in Star Frontiers. I'd never read this article before, though I knew of its existence from a rejection letter I received from Dragon when I submitted a similar article to them for inclusion in the new Ares Section. Truth be told, Mattson's article was much better than my own.

Kim Eastland reviews some science fiction miniatures, while various other writers (including Roger E. Moore) review science fiction gaming products. Michael Lowrey is this issue's book reviewer and Christopher John continues to review movies. Roger Raupp's sci-fi comic, "Ringshipper," gets one more installment -- its final one as it turns out.

There's a lot to like in Ares Special Edition #2, at least from my perspective as a fan of space opera and post-apocalyptic gaming. I wish I had had this whole magazine back in the day, as I suspect I would have gotten a lot of mileage out of it. And while it's sad to note that this is the true end of Ares as an independent periodical, it did spawn my favorite section of Dragon for the next several years, so its legacy lived on.

Next up: Imagine.

Ares Magazine: Special Edition #1

In addition to its seventeen regular issues, Ares also released two "special editions," the first of which appeared in Summer 1983. If you're curious what's constitutes a special edition, managing editor Geoffrey Golson helpfully provided the following:

The Special Editions will maintain the same format of the regular game issues, but will concentrate on different aspects of the magazine's formula. Sometimes we'll delve deeper into science fact, other times we'll explore myriads of game variants.

My own feeling is that the special editions (of which there were two) were an attempt by TSR to make use of material they already had but couldn't find a way to include in a regular issue of the periodical. For example, this first special edition's highlight is a massive supplement for the Universe RPG detailing an alien race. I also think that TSR was simply experimenting with different formats, trying to find some way to make Ares work for them now that they held the editorial reins.

The issue kicks off with "White Hole Bomb" by Curtis L. Johnson. This is a "science fact" article that discusses the possibility of creating artificial singularities to use as weapons of war. While the science may be considered dubious nowadays, the article at least makes an attempt to present then-current ideas as fodder for speculation. It's a far better approach than the killjoy articles John Boardman wrote for most of the magazine's run. Next up is "Conan the Barbarian" by L. Sprague de Camp, which is little more than a timeline of Conan's life according to both Howard's original stories and the later pastiches. As these things go, it's fairly innocuous, though, as usual, De Camp can't resist getting in his digs at REH, especially with regards to his "abnormal" devotion to his mother.

There are two fiction pieces in this issue. The first, "The Oaken Sword," is by Ian McDowell and is an Arthurian tale whose protagonist is Mordred Mac Lot. Mordred is here portrayed sympathetically, as a rakish youth who feels disappointment at his true father's unwillingness to admit to his paternity. The second story, "Nitimandrey & the Cabinet Maker's Vision," by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, concerns the titular king who is visited by a poor cabinet maker who has received a terrible vision that the king decides must never come to pass. Edward Bever then offers rules variants for use with the Dawn of the Dead simulation game to make the game "more like the film."

The remaining half of the magazine (32 of 64 pages) is devoted to "First Contacts," which describes an alien race known as the Sh'k''tlp. Written by Greg Costikyan, this is, as I noted above, more a full-length supplement to Universe than a mere article. It presents not only information on the race's history, society, and culture, but also rules modifications for Universe to enable players and referees alike to create Sh'k'tlp characters for use in their campaigns. It's very well-done but suffers a bit because there's only a single very small and not very clear illustration of a Sh'k'tlp, making it difficult to visualize what these rather alien aliens look like. There's also the fact that their name is unwieldy to the point of being unpronounceable, but that was the style at the time.

I personal liked the first special edition of Ares, particularly the "First Contacts" supplement. However, I can't help but wonder how it was received at the time. Unless one were a hardcore Universe fan -- did such beasts even exist -- more than half the pagecount was devoted to something of very limited utility. Of the other half, most of it was taken up by fiction pieces and, while decent enough, neither one is science fiction. Once again, Ares seems to have suffered from an identity crisis to its likely detriment.

Ares Magazine: Issue #16

Issue #16 of Ares, released in winter 1983 is the tragic final installment in this magazine's brief history. I say "tragic," because it's a really good issue -- well written and presented and filled with lots of very interesting articles -- that is also its final one. [EDIT: Apparently it's not; there is an issue #17 and I don't own it.] No more stand-alone issues of the magazine would be forthcoming after this one. Instead, Ares would become a section within Dragon.

Say what you will about TSR's treatment of SPI and its properties, but I can't help but feel that, when it came to Ares, TSR knew what it was doing. Issue #16 is a fully fledged science fiction periodical that provides just the right mix of speculation, fiction, gaming, and other features. It's almost exactly the kind of magazine I'd have enjoyed back in the day, so it's a double pity that I not only never read this at the time but that it was also, ultimately, a failure.

If  anyone at TSR knew, when it was putting this issue together, that it would be the last of its kind, they don't let on to that fact. The opening editorial, again by "The Editors," suggests that the magazine's "new look" and more focused content is the start of something big. There is no suggestion whatsoever that the periodical's days were numbered. Indeed, a new letters column is introduced in this issue, implying that, if anything, the folks involved in creating Ares had every reason to expect its continuance.

Gone this issue is John Boardman's "Science for Science Fiction" and I can't say I'm sorry. I liked the idea behind the column, but Boardman's authorial voice was to pessimistic and smug to hold my attention. This issue we're treated instead to "Galactic Empires" by Robert A. Freitas Jr. This lengthy article (8 pages plus a one-page supplement) uses a combination of history, sociology, psychology, and speculation to imagine what the foundation and maintenance of a galactic empire would be like. I can't say that it's "realistic" or based on "science fact," but it's a good and inspirational read. It's precisely the kind of thing I had always hoped we'd see in "Science for Science Fiction" but never did, because Freitas, unlike Boardman, hasn't let his skepticism win out over his sense of fun. Though not specifically a gaming article, it's nevertheless useful to referees and players of science fiction games.

Poul Anderson (!) provides this issue's fiction installment in the form of "Quest," a short story sequel (of sorts) to his famous The High Crusade. "Quest" is a fine tale about seeking the Holy Grail amongst the stars, and was included in the 50th anniversary edition of The High Crusade published back in 2010, if you're interested in reading it. David Cook provides this issue's integral wargame, also called The High Crusade, which simulates the battles between English knights and the soldiers of the instellar Wersgorix Empire, as depicted in the novel. It's a two-player game in which each participant struggles either to gain or maintain control over a multi-racial, multi-planet empire. As wargames go, it's fairly straightforward, its most interesting element being the inclusion of random events for both sides. These events, I suspect, play an important -- and unpredictable -- role in the progress of the game, making it harder to develop a "perfect" strategy for success. I'd love the chance to play it sometime.

"Return of the Stainless Steel Computer" by Ken Ramstead is a short expansion of the solitaire play options of the Return of the Stainless Steel Rat game from issue #10. Roger E. Moore offers "Creating Alien Races for Traveller Game Adventures," in which he talks about and gives an example of the process -- the unfortunately named Sydymites from Judges Guild's Ley Sector. The funny thing is that I had a photocopy of this article back in the '90s, when I was deeply involved in Traveller fandom, and used it as a template for creating my own alien races. Moore has second article, "Swords and Stars," which expands on the barbarian career option from Traveller's Citizens of the Imperium.

Greg Costikyan continues to review books, while Steve List does the same for games, including my much-beloved Star Trek The Roleplaying Game. Christopher John likewise review movies, most of which he hated, especially Krull and Superman III. I can't say that I disagree with his judgments on either score. David J. Schow talks about the process of creating movie novel tie-ins, which is actually quite interesting. Roger Raupp offers up the second (and last, as it turns out) installment in his science fiction comic, "Ringshipper."

And that brings us to the end of this issue and, unfortunately, the end of Ares magazine. As I stated when I began this series, I was only vaguely aware of the existence of Ares during the time of its publication, so I never had the chance to read these back then. Doing so now has been enlightening, but it's also been mildly depressing, both because I think Ares had unrealized potential and because I am reminded of the deaths of many other gaming periodicals that I did read in those days. While the Internet provides a great deal of useful content, often for free, I'm enough of an old man to miss print periodicals and mourn their decline. That's why I am so pleased to see the rise of fanzines in the old school community and why I will be starting a new series next week devoted to another forgotten gaming journal of old.

Ares Magazine: Issue #15

Issue #15 of Ares magazine appeared in the Fall of 1983. It's the first issue to sport a wholly new interior, one that's a lot "sleeker" than what we'd seen before. If, like me, you were a reader of "the Ares section" in Dragon, the layout should look familiar, since it survived, with some modifications the demise of Ares as an independent periodical. The new interior also looks more "user friendly" than that of the older issues, which didn't look all that different than the interiors of SPI's wargames. Issue #15 sports a cover by Jeff Easley that I actually like a great deal, though how it squares with the magazine's supposedly stronger emphasis (under TSR) on "science fiction gaming." It's even odder when one considers that this issue's editorial reiterates the division between the content of Dragon and Ares, with the former getting fantasy and the latter SF.

The issue kicks off with a new feature called "Matters of Fact" by Frank Kendig. It focuses on real world science and includes sidebars on utilizing this information in gaming. "Matters of Fact" would seem to be a successor to John Boardman's "Science for Science Fiction" columns. Its less pessimistic and elitist tone is welcome, as are the sidebars, such as David Cook's treatment of Von Neumann machines in Star Frontiers. Christopher John continues to do film reviews, including a very negative one of Return of the Jedi, which he calls the "cheap and tarnished crown for the [Star Wars] series." Meanwhile, Steve List reviews games, such as Starfleet Battles and Striker, and Greg Costikyan's book review column survives yet another issue.

Issue #15 features two lengthy bits of fiction, though both game-related. The first is "Visitation" by David J. Schow, which is a tie-in to this month's integral game, Nightmare House. Nightmare House, by David Marshall, bills itself as "a Gothic Horror Boardgame." It's a two to five player game set in Darkholm House, a haunted house built in the 19th century. One of the players takes the role of the evil entity that controls the House, while the other players are ghost hunters who've entered the house to banish that entity forever. There are twelve different ghost hunters from which to choose, each with their own special abilities. The game takes place on both the material and astral planes and what happens on one plane can affect the other, which add some complexity to play. The House player can throw "haunts" at the ghost hunters, in addition to trying to take possession of their bodies. Haunts are things like cold spots, animated skeletons, mysterious mists, poltergeists, and so on. Nightmare House actually looks like a fun game; I'm very tempted to try and play it.

David J. Schow follows up Nightmare House with a "real world" piece on haunted houses and ghost hunters entitled "Haunted Places." It's an interesting article, but it mixes fact, speculation, and opinion together rather than merely talking about its subject matter dispassionately. The issue's second fiction piece is "Into the Void" by Carl Smith. Set in Star Frontiers game universe, it accompanies a mini-module by the same name. The adventure details a Sathar attack on a freighter carrying a valuable cargo. What's interesting to me is how extensively the module details the environment of the freighter and the tactics of the Sathar -- almost as if it were a wargame scenario. Concluding the issue is a one-page science fiction comic by Roger Raupp called "Ringshipper," which is clearly intended to be the start of an ongoing series.

All things considered, I rather liked issue #15, but that's probably because it reminded me so much of the Ares section from Dragon in terms of its content and presentation. One of my biggest problems with Ares is that it never quite seemed to know what it wanted to be and often evinced an antagonistic attitude toward gameable science fiction and science fictional ideas. That attitude largely disappeared when TSR took over the editorial reins and, while I can understand why some might find the new stronger focus on SF gaming restrictive, I welcomed it and found myself looking forward to more. Sadly, there will be only one more issue of Ares before it is folded into Dragon.

Ares Magazine: Issue #14

Issue #14 of Ares was published in the Spring of 1983. It was also, according to the opening editorial by Michael Cook, "the first issue ... done totally under the auspices of TSR Hobbies, Inc." Cook notes that he still has a backlog of submissions acquired from SPI, so that, for the time being, the content of the magazine will "remain much the same as in the past." Nevertheless, there will be a "general improvement" in all aspects of the magazine now that TSR is in charge. I'm no SPI partisan, but, in retrospect, it's not difficult to read Cook's editorial and see it as arrogance. I'm not certain it was intended as such, even if it comes off that way, with its implication that things would now be "improved" under the new management. It's little wonder, then, that relations between SPI's customers and TSR so quickly deteriorated and that Ares would have so few issues as an independent periodical under TSR.

Issue #14 begins with another installment of "Science for Science Fiction" by John Boardman, Ph.D. Gone is "Facts for Fantasy," since, as noted in last issue, TSR would be making Ares a wholly science fiction-oriented journal. Following it is another "science fact" article, "The Troubled Sun," by Dave Stover. This fairly length piece discusses the life cycle of stars, with particular emphasis on our own Sun. It's not a bad article, as these things go, but it's fairly dry and it's applicability to gaming is neither obvious nor explored.

Christopher John continues his movie reviews, this time tackling High Road to China, Videodrome, and Blue Thunder, all of which he liked to varying degrees. Meanwhile Ian Chadwick has been placed in charge of a section devoted to software reviews, with Crush, Crumble, and Chomp getting some attention, along with Sword Thrust. Greg Costikyan turns in more book reviews, none of which are particularly memorable in my opinion. There's also a pair of game reviews -- Invasion: Earth and Dragon Pass. Perhaps because I'm familiar with the games in question, I found these reviews interesting. It's worth noting that, overall, all the reviews have a much more positive and less sarcastic tone than did those published in the early days of Ares. Speaking as someone who finds little pleasure in acidic reviews, I find this a welcome change.

Timothy Truman provided the cover to this issue (again), as well as a black and white comic called "Braskan Gambit," which ties into the issue's integral wargame, The Omega War. It's an engaging enough comic if you like Gamma World-style post-apocalyptic barbarians with lasers science fantasy but otherwise nothing special. The Omega War game itself, by David Ritchie, is intriguing, at least from a world design standpoint. The game takes place in the 25th century, in the aftermath of a nuclear war between Europe and North America, which left the latter devastated. One player takes on the role of the High Commissioner for North America, appointed by the new World Union, whose task it is to restore order to the anarchic wasteland of the New World. The other play takes on the role of the North American rebels who resist this effort. The game can be won either through military action or by political influence, which I think gives it some depth. That said, I find the little details about the setting that come through in the rules, along with map of North America, much more fascinating than the game itself.

The issue rounds up with an article by David Ritchie called "The Alpha of Omega," which is part design article and part love letter to the pulps. In it, Ritchie talks about the pulp inspirations that led to the creation of The Omega War and the difficulties inherent in producing post-apocalyptic science fantasy. It's a really good article that held my attention and the kind of thing I wished Ares had published more of. I'm honestly more interested in the inspirations of a game than in the niceties of its game mechanics, but I'm probably weird that way.

In any event, reading this issue of Ares is something of an odd experience. Knowing as I do the ultimate fate of the magazine -- and SPI's properties -- lends a kind of slow motion train wreck feel to the whole thing. It's a shame, because I think Ares always had potential as a magazine, but that potential was never fully realized under either SPI or TSR.

Ares Magazine: Issue #13

Issue #13 of Ares (Winter 1983) is the first issue published by TSR after its acquisition of SPI earlier that year. I suspect that most, if not all, of the content of this issue was already in the slush pile when TSR took over, since, except for editorial (now written by Michael E. Moore instead of Redmond Simonsen), the magazine's usual stable of authors are all present. In that editorial, Moore talks about a few of the changes that'll be introduced in coming issues, starting with a stronger focus on science fiction gaming. Consequently, fantasy material will shift over to Dragon in order to distinguish better between the two periodicals. Moore also notes that future integral games will be less complex and more suitable to beginning players. He even goes so far as to criticize (in broad terms) the designs of previous games appearing in Ares. To say that issue #13 signals a sea change for Ares is an understatement.

Timothy Zahn offers up a short story, "Damocles Mission," illustrated by Timothy Truman (who seems to have done a lot of work for the last few issues of Ares). The story takes place in the future world of 1988 and depicts an encounter between the space shuttle Discovery and an unknown object that has entered our solar system. Susan Schwartz and John Boardman continue to write their respective columns, "Facts for Fantasy" and "Science for Science Fiction." An additional -- and lengthy -- science fact article, "The Space Shuttle: Reaching Beyond," by Walter B. Hendrickson, is also included. David Spangler's "StarTrader Game Enhanced" provides option rules to the game from issue #12. There are reviews of various board and computer games, most notably GDW's Fufth Frontier War.

Damocles Mission is also the name of this issue's integral game. It's a simulation of an expedition sent to explore the mysterious spherical object headed toward Earth. The game consists of a number of tiles, which represent systems aboard the alien object, and counters, which represent astronauts, equipment, and conditions. As the astronauts explore the object, investigating its mysteries, hoping to understand its nature and how to control it so that it can be steered from its collision course with Earth. Designed by Redmond Simonsen and Gerry Klug, I personally think Damocles Mission is complex and confusing in its presentation, despite my interest in its subject matter.

John Butterfield answers questions about the Universe RPG in a regular feature called "Universe Commlink." Gerry Klug gets a similar feature for DragonQuest called "Questing." There's another new review section devoted solely to "RP Gaming," which is welcome. Greg Costikyan continues to review books, including The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which Costikyan considers inferior to its predecessor but "still a very funny book." Gerry Klug reappears as the author of a "capsule adventure" for DragonQuest called "The Treasure of Socantri." It's actually a very interesting adventure with a delightfully swords-and-sorcery feel.

As I noted above, issue #13 marks a turning point for Ares, as TSR takes over and attempts to put its stamp on the magazine. While I know that SPI loyalists look on this change of ownership as a wholly bad thing, my own feeling, as an outsider, is that some of what TSR proposed to do with the journal was much needed. My biggest complaint about Ares is that it's such an unfocused, mixed bag of a periodical that it was hard to know what to expect with each issue. Likewise, the magazine regularly evinced an elitist, disdainful attitude toward so many things that reading it wasn't always a pleasure. TSR won't have many issues to show its plans for Ares before folding it up for good, but I have to say that I look forward to reading the next few issues to see what they do with it.

Ares Magazine: Issue #12

Issue #12 of Ares was released in January 1982, with a cover by Timothy Truman. The issue begins with an editorial by Remond Simonsen, in which he addresses what was apparently a common complaint about the magazine (and one I myself have voiced), namely, that Ares was "too conservative" and "too pessimistic" in the approach of its science articles. Simonsen replies that to view the science articles in this fashion is a "radical misinterpretation of the purpose and thrust of Ares science material." He suggests that there are three purposes to their science-based articles:

1.) Cause the reader to examine critically the easy assumptions of conventional SF; 2.) Provide data for reasoned speculation; 3.) Draw sharper lines between science fantasy, science fiction, and science fact (we do this not to discourage anyone from reading science fiction, but rather to increase our appreciation and understanding of these separate categories).

Simonsen goes further, saying that science fiction unconcerned with science facts is in fact "anti-science" and "anti-technological." "Ares," he says, "doesn't want to give you ... gee-whiz, empty-headed bull." Despite this stance, Ares would never shy away from publishing games that "fly in the face of scientific theory and fact," since such games were nevertheless fun. Speaking for myself, it was never the mere presence of articles on science fact that bothered me so much as their judgmental, hectoring tone -- much like Simonsen's own editorial.

As if to reinforce the magazine's editorial position, its first article is a lengthy one (5 pages) entitled "New Minds: The Promises of Artificial Intelligence," by Allan Terry and Frances Grimble. Needless to say, authors Terry and Grimble are decidedly negative in their estimation of A.I.'s prospects. David J. Ritchie provides a good article on "Adventures in Albion," which offers roleplaying conversions of some aspects of the wargame Albion: Land of Faerie from issue #11 for use with DragonQuest. Meanwhile, Greg Costikyan's "The 11 Billion Dollar Bottle of Wine" is, for me, the standout article of this issue and an example of the kind of article I wished Ares offered more often. The article looks at the possibilities for interstellar trade given certain technological and sociological assumptions. It's a fun article that equally employs real science, speculation, and common sense to present something that's interesting and, more importantly, gameable -- a far cry from so many of the articles in Ares.

There are "Designer's Notes" for numerous SPI games, including Universe. Timothy Truman provides a four-page comic called "Star Trader!" that's loosely connected to this issue's integral game. "Science for Science Fiction" and "Facts for Fantasy" are back, as one would expect, after Simonsen's editorial. Also returning are reviews of movies (Time Bandits), books (Lord Darcy Investigates, among others), and games (several Dwarfstar games and Champions, along with more). Gerry Klug presents new rules and errata for DragonQuest, while John Butterfield does the same for Universe.

The remainder of the issue is devoted to StarTrader, a science fiction simulation by Nick Karp. It's intended to simulate interstellar trade in the 24th century, with up to six players taking on the roles of merchant princes in command of fleets of trading vessels, plying their wares across many worlds. There are rules for hyperjumps, combat, salvage, smuggling, passenger transport, and trade (of course!), as well as those that cover high finance, reputation, and building new starships. StarTrader is quite extensive in its scope, without being too lengthy (it's under 20 pages). There are notes for using the game with Universe, which I think is terrific.

Issue #12 was the last issue published by SPI before the magazine -- and its parent company -- were acquired by TSR. Consequently, issue #12 feels in retrospect like a bit of a swan song for Ares. It's actually a pretty good issue, or at least one of the few that I liked more than I disliked. Even so, as Redmond Simonsen's editorial at the start shows, Ares under SPI continued to present itself as a "serious" magazine with a specific style and focus that were held up in contrast to "other" periodicals, both within the hobby and without. Even though this meant that I rarely enjoyed Ares unreservedly, I nevertheless have to admire how Simonsen and SPI stubbornly kept to their vision for the magazine.

Ares Magazine: Issue #11

Issue #11 (November 1981) is another tightly focused issue, with its integral game, Albion: Land of Faerie, forming the nexus around which everything else revolves. The issue kicks off with a "background" piece called "A History of the Third Fomorian War" by David J. Ritchie, which provides details on the setting of the aforementioned wargame. This setting is a fantastical one inspired by, but not bound by, the myths of the British Isles, particularly those of Ireland. It's not intended to be "true" to those myths so much as to borrow liberally from them for names, ideas, and situations. Author Diana Paxson provides a piece called "The Power Points of Albion" that talks about sites of mystical energy, which, while not strictly intended for use with the issue's game, nevertheless covers some of the same ground.

The issue also includes an Arthurian tale inspired by some lines from Chaucer's The Clerk's Tale. Entitled "Chichevache" and written by Ian McDowell, it involves an encounter with the eponymous creature whose diet consists only of good and noble wives and is thus, according to medieval legend, always hungry. Greg Costikyan ruminates on the design of solitaire games in "You Against the System." Costikyan also reviews several books, most notably Dream Park, which he likes a great deal. John Boardman and Susan Schwartz appear once more with their regular "Science for Science Fiction" and "Facts for Fantasy." Schwartz's entry focuses on matters Celtic, in keeping with the overarching theme of issue #11.

Christopher John reviews Heavy Metal rather critically, proclaiming it "an uneven, empty movie" that he found less engaging than Disney's The Fox and the Hound. I'm no fan of Heavy Metal myself, but that strikes me as both a harsh and ludicrous judgment. Eric Goldberg savages the SF RPG Star Patrol, calling it a "failure." Nevertheless, he also notes that it "displays flashes of brilliance," for which reason it might prove useful as "an accessory for Traveller, Space Opera, or Universe." He goes on to say that

Role-playing is an elastic enough genre to permit a game to fail at its stated goal and to succeed at something else.

I think there's some truth to that, which is why I now find myself ever more keen to track down a copy of Star Patrol for myself. Goldberg also looks at Arms Law and Spell Law, deeming both less than ideal, with his worst criticisms saved for Spell Law. I couldn't help but feel that some of his criticisms seemed to stem from the fact that ICE had clearly written its rules with D&D in mind, an affront in the eyes of the designers of SPI, who regularly take potshots at TSR and its products whenever possible -- future events will make this ever more ironic.

Gerry Klug pens this issue's "DragonNotes," and, with the help of Nick Karp, Klug also writes "Designer's Notes."

Albion: Land of Faerie is a lengthy wargame, taking up 16 pages, not including its map and counter sheets. The game depicts a battle between the Fomorians and the Faeries, whose conclusion ushers in the end of the age of magic and the rise of the age of Man. By my admittedly pathetic lights, Albion seems rather complex, with rules for weather, attrition, and refits, in addition to the expected rules for movement, command control, and combat. The game also treats magic items and enchantment, as one might expect. The game definitely looks intriguing, but it's also pretty intimidating to folks like me.

I didn't enjoy issue #11 as much as issue #10, perhaps because I'm not as enthusiastic about Celtic-inspired fantasy as I am about science fiction, but, even so, this was a well-done and presented issue and closer to the kind of thing I'd have liked to see in a gaming magazine back in the day.

Ares Magazine: Issue #10

I readily concede that I'm neither a wargamer nor particularly well suited to SPI's style and presentation of their products (despite my decades-long fascination with DragonQuest and Universe). Consequently, my reviews of Ares magazine are undeniably skewed in their perspective, as I was not the target audience for this periodical. Still, I've been enjoying looking back on these issues and watching Ares evolve over time. I am told that was one of SPI's great strengths -- responding to the feedback data they assiduously collected in all of their products. That may explain why issue #10 (September 1981) is the first issue that actually feels like a gaming periodical rather than whatever it is that previous issues felt like.

The most immediately interesting thing about issue #10 is its cover, whose artist I recognized without having to look in the credits. That's because it's done by Timothy Truman, who, in 1981, wasn't yet known for anything other than RPG art and, even then, his credits were few. I mention this because, prior to this point, Ares had been illustrated primarily by "big name" sci-fi, fantasy, and comics artists rather than artists known solely from gaming products. Perhaps it's not as big a deal as I make it out to be, but it does represent a visible shift, esthetically, if nowhere else, in the direction of the magazine.

Issue #10 kicks off its renewed emphasis on science fiction gaming, first with a collection of designer's notes to Universe and other sci-fi gaming products, such as Star Trader. There's also a short story by Harry Harrison, "The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat," which ties into the issue's integral wargame. John Boardman and Susan Schwartz both reappear with their regular "Science for Science Fiction" and "Facts for Fantasy" features. Christopher John reviews several science fiction movies (positively, no less), including Outland -- a favorite of mine -- Escape from New York, and Dragonslayer. I've noted in previous installments that the reviews in Ares became generally more upbeat and less snarky as the issues wore on and that I applauded this shift. Amusingly, David J. Schow's "Media" column remained every bit as curmudgeonly. In issue #10, he writes about this newfangled thing, "home-subscription movie channels," which are delivered via "cable." While Schow sees potential in such channels, he nevertheless dismisses them as showing second rate movies and that the experience of watching films at home will never be as good as that in theaters except to the "indiscriminate." Greg Costikyan's book reviews are mostly of books I've never heard of, let alone read. Meanwhile, Eric Goldberg reviews Griffin Mountain, which he praises effusively, and The Lords of Underearth, which he also enjoyed.

Gerry Klug's DragonQuest adventure, "The Camp of Alla-Akabar," appears in this issue. I have a certain fondness for this adventure, as it was included in the Ballantine softcover version of DQ that I regularly checked out of the library in the '80s. Klug also pens this issue's "DragonNotes" feature, as well as "There's Only One Universe," which is yet another designer's notes article about Universe. Justin Leites offers expansions and variants for use with last issue's DeltaVee. Taken together, these sections constitute a significant amount of support for SPI's RPGs and I was glad to see it. As I said at the beginning of this post, issue #10 is the first time that Ares starts to feel like a gaming magazine rather than a strange mishmash of stuff thrown together "because that's what the kids like these days."

Concluding this excellent issue is Greg Costikyan and Redmond Simonsen's The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat wargame -- or "simulation," as it's called. The game ties into the Harrison short story included with the issue and details a space station whose computer has "gone berserk," placing its occupants at risk. The player takes the role of James "Slippery Jim" diGriz (aka The Stainless Steel Rat), who's been tasked to enter the station and deal with the problem. The game is intended for solo play, since it includes 225 "event paragraphs" that are read upon certain conditions, like a choose-your-own-adventure book. A second player can be added, taking the role of Jim's wife, Angelina, but the station's computer and robots remain "programmed" by the game itself rather than being controlled by another player. Like most SPI "simulations," The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat is complex, but, unlike so many others, it also looks like fun. I'm sorely tempted to try and play the thing, which is not a feeling I regularly get from SPI games.

All in all, I really liked issue #10. It feels like Ares is finally on solid ground and knows what it's about. That makes it all the more tragic that only a few more issues remain before the magazine ceases production entirely.

Ares Magazine: Issue #9

Issue #9 of Ares was published sometime after May 1981, when issue #8 appeared. I am assuming it was in July, since the magazine is bimonthly and issue #10 is dated September of that year. The lack of a publication date might be due to the unusual cover on this issue -- a "split screen" showing both a still from the movie Dragonslayer and the an illustration for DeltaVee, the issue's integral wargame. Issue #9 is also significant in that creative director Redmond Simonsen that "we've begun to include more game material in the issue," by which I presume he means less fiction and non-fictional background articles. Furthermore, as we'll see, DeltaVee is the biggest wargame included with an issue of Ares, therefore prompting additional changes.

Michael E. Moore kicks off issue #9 with a lengthy interview with Hal Barwood, the producer of the 1981 fantasy film Dragonslayer. It's a fairly interesting article, though not exactly revelatory to anyone who saw the movie or has read about it. I didn't see Dragonslayer when it was first released, but I did see it a year later as the second part of a double feature with E.T. I've always had a certain fondness for it, perhaps because nearly everything about it is charmingly earnest without degenerating into camp, like so many other fantasy movies from that era.

As part of the magazine's renewed focus on gaming, there's article consisting of playtester and designer notes for the science fiction wargame, The Sword and the Stars. At the same time, we also get another "science fact" article by John Boardman, called "Lasers in Space." Strangely, this one does not wholly poo-poo the idea that lasers could make viable weapons in certain contexts. This makes me wonder if perhaps Boardman was employed by the US Department of Defense to work on the Strategic Defense Initiative. Boardman's "Science for Science Fiction" returns, along with Susan Schwartz's "Facts for Fantasy." These articles remain as dry as ever. There is fiction in this issue, a short story by David J. Schow called "The Embracing" that I found utterly forgettable.

Christopher John provides movie reviews for several noteworthy films of the era, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark, which, like all good people, he loves. He is more critical, though still positive about Superman II, while he raves about Excalibur, a movie about which I've always been a lot more ambivalent. There are also reviews of Knightriders and Clash of the Titans, both of which are generally positive. David J. Schow reappears in an odd article entitled "Back in the Stocks," in which he laments the loss of bookstores with extensive back stock, making it harder and harder to find the classics of the past, "the past" in many cases being only a few years prior. Greg Costikyan reviews several books, most notably the first two volumes of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun tetralogy, while Eric Goldberg reviews games, including High Fantasy and Adventures in High Fantasy. Goldberg, once again, seems far less snarky in his reviews than in previous issues, which is to be commended in my opinion.

We get brief -- a couple of paragraphs -- designer's notes for various SPI games, along with another installment of "DragonNotes," but the real attraction of issue #9 gaming-wise is DeltaVee. DeltaVee is not just a starship combat game for use with the Universe SF RPG, it's also the biggest game yet to appear in Ares -- so big that it was printed as a separate booklet rather than being inside the issue itself. Designed by John H. Butterfield and Redmond Simonsen, it's 16 pages long and very dense, far more dense than any of the starship combat systems with which I've regularly played. I have no doubt that its use of real world physics (hence its name) make for interesting gameplay, but nothing about it grabbed me enough to give it a whirl either now or back in the day, when I had a copy of the Universe boxed set that included it. Of course, I'd love to hear from gamers who did use DeltaVee, because I've always had the nagging sense that I gave up on it too easily.

Ares continues to change with every issue I read, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's great because it means that I never know what to expect, but that's also why it's a curse. You can clearly see Simonsen and SPI shifting ground, looking for the proper mix of material to include that will satisfy their subscribers and the wider gaming public. It's fascinating to watch, especially through the distance of time, knowing as I do that Ares, like SPI itself, was destined not to survive much longer.

Ares Magazine: Issue #8

Issue #8 of Ares made its debut in May 1981, featuring another cover by John Pierard, this one featuring a depiction of Odin, Thor, and Vidar as they prepare to do battle on the Plain of Vigrid. It's not a particularly good illustration in my opinion, looking more than a little stiff and goofy, but perhaps I'm insufficiently appreciative of its virtues. Much better, I think, is Pierard's interior art accompanying the first article, "Ragnarok, The Mythic Story of the Twilight of the Gods" by Susan Schwartz, which provides "historical background" for this issue's integral wargame. Also by Schwartz is another installment of "Facts for Fantasy," along with more of John Boardman's "Science for Science Fiction."

Justin Leites offers up a game variant, "Pandora's Link," which shows how to connect the two games, Voyage of the Pandora with Wreck of the Pandora. Given the similarity of the two games in terms of rules and subject matter, this makes good sense. David Ritchie provides another installment of "DragonNotes" for DragonQuest. Speaking for myself, I find these articles do little to enthuse me about trying to grasp the rules of DQ, as they seem even more persnickety than those of Chivalry & Sorcery, which is saying something. John Butterfield previews SPI's SF RPG, Universe, through another short "Designer's Notes" article. This one includes reference to the game's planetary generation system, which is one of my favorite parts of the game and something I seriously considered swiping for Thousand Suns.

Ragnarok: The Twilight of the Gods is a wargame by Darryl Esakof and Redmond Simonsen (of course!) dealing with the ultimate battle between the Aesir gods and the giants led by the traitorous Loki. Its map represents the Plain of Vigrid, the Norse Megiddo, where the two forces will engage in warfare. Two things stand out about Ragnarok. First, there's the unique powers of the various "heroes" on each side. For example, Thor can throw thunderbolts and his hammer, Mjolnir, has special traits as well. Second, the Aesir are more personally powerful than the giants, but fewer in number. The trick for the giant player is to try to get as many giants into play as quickly as possible. However, giants can enter Asgard only by means of Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, and the more giants brought across it at a time, the greater the chance the bridge will collapse and thus cut off the giants from their fellows.

As is so often the case, just before SPI releases a product of its own, there's a review of its competitors. Since issue #9 will feature Universe's starship combat rules, Steve List gives reviews for eight different starship combat games already on the market. These are: Starfall, Dark Stars, Time Lag, Warp War, Starfire, Starfire II, Starfleet Battles, and Starfleet Battles Expansion #1. Though a lot of the reviews are negative, they seem evenhanded to me rather than snarky hatchet jobs I've come to expect in Ares. Eric Goldberg also reviews Dark Stars as well as Quirks and these reviews are also uncharacteristically positive and sedate. The same can be said of Christopher John's movie reviews of Scanners, Hangar 18, and Starblazers and Greg Costikyan's many book reviews. I can't help but wonder if this seeming shift will last and if it was the result of an editorial mandate based on reader feedback.

Ares Magazine: Issue #7

Issue #7 (March 1981) of Ares features a cover by John W. Pierard, depicting a scene from Rescue from the Hive, the integral game included in this issue. Pierard created art for a number of sci-fi magazines, including Asimov's, so he's in keeping with the trend in Ares to employ non-gaming artists to do the magazine's covers. I don't know if that says anything about Ares or SPI, but it certainly lends a very different esthetic quality to the magazine, especially when compared to the Dragon issues I remember reading as a kid.

Speaking of art, issue #7 marked the debut of a "Gallery" feature in which a science fiction or fantasy artist shows off a single piece of text-free color artwork. The idea behind the new feature was that it simultaneously provided an illustration to inspire gamers and served as an advertisement for up and coming artists. In this issue, the artist in question is Tom Kidd, whose name is unknown to me in any other context.

Issue #7 also saw an increase in coverage of DragonQuest. In addition to David Ritchie's "DragonNotes" column (which answered rules questions and provided errata), he, along with Redmond Simonsen, provide a complete adventure, entitled "The Housse of Kurin." The adventure is described as a "capsule adventure," meaning its fairly short and limited in scope. Its focus is on an attempt to rescue some prisoners from the stronghold of a bandit named Kurin, making it very combat-heavy. Still, its maps are terrific (like all DQ maps in my experience) and there was clearly a lot of thought put into the tactics of the bandits and their allies, which would probably make it exciting to play (assuming, unlike me, you could actually your head around DragonQuest combat).

There's more "Facts for Fantasy" and "Science for Science Fiction." I appreciate the intention behind these regular features, but, for the most part, I don't find them especially inspiring. As mentioned earlier, this issue's wargame is Rescue from the Hive by Nick Karp and Redmond Simonsen (seriously, did this man do everything related to Ares?). The game focuses on an attempt to free two Terran hostages being held by a radical faction of the insectoid Znon race. The most intriguing aspect of the game is that Znon queens are telepathic and control their minions remotely, which gives them certain options and advantages in play. In addition, the queens can attempt to mind control Terran rescue units, throwing the Terran player's plans into chaos. Also, Znon units are placed on the map face down to simulate the fact that, initially, the Terrans have no idea what they'll be facing or where. Henrik Nordlie provides some fiction to accompany the game.

John Butterfield has a short article providing some designer's notes to the upcoming RPG, Universe. Meanwhile, Eric Goldberg offers two positive reviews(!) of Japanese themed RPGs, Bushido and Land of the Rising Sun. Naturally, there's a negative review, too, this time of a game I've never heard of before -- The Complete Fantasist. Goldberg writes:

Every once in a while a reviewer will come across a product so truly awful that he has no qualms about savaging it in print. It is an even rarer occasion when he will reconsider a stinging attack, because he is afraid people will think less of him for admitting that he read and/or played the product in full. I resolved for the New Year to be courageous and tell of my suffering through The Complete Fantasist, in hopes that unsuspecting gamers would not accidentally subject themselves to such inhumane treatment of their sensibilities.  

Never having read The Complete Fantasist, I can't say whether Goldberg's introduction above is warranted, but it's amusing to read nonetheless. 

Ares Magazine: Issue #6

Issue #6 (January 1981) of Ares is a strange issue, or at least a very different issue from the five that preceded it. As Redmond Simonsen notes in his editorial, "The content of the magazine is orienting itself more toward the game in the issue." By this he means that there are far fewer articles in this issue than in previous ones (there's also no fiction piece). Instead, a significant portion of its 40 pages are devoted to supporting Voyage of the Pandora, a science fiction game by John H. Butterfield and Simonsen himself, which he calls "a very distinctive and novel game system" using "programmed paragraphs" -- in short, a choose-your-own-adventure approach to solitaire gaming.

The first article proper is called "Pandora Tech" by Michael E. Moore and provides details of the Ares Corporation Titan-class biological survey vessel Pandora. It's a short "non-fiction" article in support of the issue's included game. This is followed by another installment of "Facts for Fantasy" by Susan Schwartz and "Science for Science Fiction" by John Boardman, both of which try to present real world facts and ideas as inspirations for gaming. I've never found any installments in either series particularly good, but they're both considerably better than Boardman's pieces on why beloved sci-fi concepts don't work according to "real" science. There are a couple of negative film reviews, one of which is for Flash Gordon, the now-much beloved campy pulp romp starring Max Von Sydow. There's also a ranty article by David J. Schow complaining about the cost of everything in movie theaters, from the tickets to the snacks. I can only imagine what Mr Schow would think about the state of movies in 2012.

Voyage of the Pandora itself is a rather fascinating game. The game simulates a four-month long expedition by the interstellar survey ship Pandora as it visits a variety of planets, seeking out new life. The player must utilize the ship's resources, including crew, to achieve certain objectives during the allotted time and with minimal loss of the ship's resources. Like all SPI games, I find its level of rules complexity somewhat high, especially for a game of this length. Still, I can't deny there's something compelling about its presentation, particularly its use of 232 paragraphs to act in the role of a referee to adjudicate all the encounters and events the player might experience. The game also uses a set of small hex maps and 100 counters, along with record sheets of various kinds, to handle other aspects of play.

There are a few book reviews by Greg Costikyan, including one for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which he loved. A second installment of "Quick Combat" for DragonQuest (by Justin Leites) also appears, along with "DragonNotes," a new feature devoted DQ. Rounding out the issue are game reviews by Eric Goldberg, including a review of GDW's Azhanti High Lightning, which he praises "Since [it] has many resemblances to a design of which I am proud."

As I said, issue #6 is a strange issue. One of the things that made SPI unique as a publisher was the way they solicited -- and reacted to -- feedback from their customers. Consequently, Ares feels very much like a work in progress. Each issue is different, as its staff attempts to produce something that meets the demands of its readers. That's certainly commendable behavior but it also gives the magazine an "up and down" character that makes it hard to get a handle on it.