It's been quite a wait, but it's finally time! The first issue of Gygax magazine will be unboxed at 2pm EST on Saturday, January 26th at The Brooklyn Strategist. We'll be streaming the unboxing live at GygaxMagazine.com for everyone who can't be in New York City that day.
As soon as the first box is opened, you'll be able to order single copies or subscriptions online. (And of course, we'll have them in the store as well.)

The staff of Gygax magazine, including Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, Jayson Elliot, Jim Wampler, and James Carpio, will be online for a video Q&A. We'll have some other special guests that day as well.

After the unboxing, we'll keep the video running while we run gaming events all afternoon. There will be a limited number of online seats available to join the in-store games via the virtual tabletop Roll20. A followup email will be sent next week with a link to a form where you can sign up to play online.

Keep following us on Twitter and Facebook for more details as we get closer to the unboxing day! We'll be sending a followup email next week with details for anyone who wants to attend the event in person.

Mark your calendar:

Saturday, January 26th
2pm Eastern Standard Time

GygaxMagazine.com

The Brooklyn Strategist
333 Court Street
Brooklyn, New York

See you there!
-Jayson

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm really looking forward to this one - I'll sign up for a subscription as soon as they'll let me!

 Alpharius wrote:
WoTC recently somewhat successfully reprinted the Big 3 of 1E AD&D books.

WoTC has also recently said that they'd basically eventually reprint and/or make available again via PDF 'everything'.

Combine this with this announcement and... it is a good time to be a fan of "Old School" RPGs!

 warboss wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
WoTC recently somewhat successfully reprinted the Big 3 of 1E AD&D books.

WoTC has also recently said that they'd basically eventually reprint and/or make available again via PDF 'everything'.

Combine this with this announcement and... it is a good time to be a fan of "Old School" RPGs!

Will the upcoming magazine be 100% grognard only? I started my hobby in gaming of all sorts during the 2nd edition heyday but never actually liked the mishmash of rules in D&D prior to 3rd edition.

Gygax Magazine Launch Party


Watch live online or attend in person


Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 2:00pm.

We'll be opening the first box of magazines at 2pm sharp, and doing a live + video Q&A with the crew: Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Jayson Elliot, Tim Kask, Jim Wampler, and James Carpio.

There's a full day of gaming, including Savage Worlds, Marvel RPG, and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Admission is free, games require tickets, sold at the event.

Plus a massive AD&D 1E dungeon delve with the founder of Dwarven Forge!

Magazines go on sale, online and in-store, as soon as the first box is opened.



The Brooklyn Strategist
333 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I (aged 50) am looking to get back into P&P role-playing though Traveller is my current choice.

I was never a D&D fan but it is still good to see someone championing the oldies and goodies.

Ditto on the old school artwork. It brings back the days when the writer got a friend from art class to bash up some illos in pen and ink.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I (aged 50) am looking to get back into P&P role-playing though Traveller is my current choice.

I was never a D&D fan but it is still good to see someone championing the oldies and goodies.

Ditto on the old school artwork. It brings back the days when the writer got a friend from art class to bash up some illos in pen and ink.

 Byte wrote:
Hmm. I didn't know about the reprint of the 1st edition books. I haven't followed D&D since it became a card game... or whatever.

 chris_valera wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Hmm. I didn't know about the reprint of the 1st edition books. I haven't followed D&D since it became a card game... or whatever.

Tut tut. It never became a card game, it became a miniatures game with RPG rules attached!www.chrisvalera.com

 chris_valera wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Hmm. I didn't know about the reprint of the 1st edition books. I haven't followed D&D since it became a card game... or whatever.

Tut tut. It never became a card game, it became a miniatures game with RPG rules attached!

 Byte wrote:
"SQUEE!".

Kinda cool, but I'm trapped in 2nd Edition. I still have all books from the late 70's and 80's.

Doubt they will come out with a D&D like game. The market is saturated as it is. But hey, its Gygax! Kinda...

 Monster Rain wrote:
This thread seems like a good place to drop this:

http://www.dndclassics.com/

All kinds of old-school D&D stuff is available as a PDF as well as B1 In Search of the Unknown is available as a free download.

I merged my 2nd Ed stuff with my 3.5 campaigns. It took some creative liberties and a little number fudging but my players seemed to enjoy interacting with a tribe of Grippli that served a Mist Dragon.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
I never really had a chance to get into 3rd edition or anything after, but AD&D could also be a miniatures game if played that way. I never did. Heck, we did everything in our heads. Nothing but maps, and dice rolling and character sheets.

There is a difference between 2nd ed and 3rd that I couldn't put my finger on, and I never quite warmed up to 3rd. I never really played, so that may have influenced my thinking, but I will forever curse the marital woes that led TSR to ruin.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
Heck, we did everything in our heads. Nothing but maps, and dice rolling and character sheets.
.

yson Elliot has formed a company with a name that will tweak the nostalgia bones of many a gamer: TSR. And the first product TSR is launching isn’t a game or gaming product or rule book. It’s a magazine called Gygax Magazine.

The publication aims to revive the spirit of great gaming magazines such as Dragon, White Dwarf, Adventure Gaming, and Pegasus.

On Saturday, January 26, at 1:30pm, Gygax Magazine will be launched at a “unboxing party” at The Brooklyn Strategist (333 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY). Copies will officially go on sale at 2:00pm EST, with a broadcast of video coverage of the event streaming live at GygaxMagazine.com. Editors and writers will be on hand, and games will be played.
The magazine will feature content about tabletop gaming and the tabletop gaming community. The debut issue includes contributions from Cory Doctorow, Luke Gygax, Ernie Gygax, Dennis Sustare, Michael Tresca, Lenard Lakofka and many others. [Disclosure: It also features an article by yours truly.]

So what is the reason Elliot, the magazine’s publisher and creative director, is taking the risk to put out a new magazine about role-playing games, when you might argue it’s video games, not Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs, that are getting all the attention?

“The purpose of forming TSR, the reason for doing this, [and to] rescue the trademark and to start a magazine called Gygax, and using these terms that are obviously going to resonate with gamers, was because I wanted to ensure the viability of tabletop gaming for future generations,” Elliot said. “I wanted to look at how we play games today with all the new distractions that are available — from video games to IMAX films. What does that mean in the 21st century?”
His magazine will focus on the culture of gaming — past, present and future, featuring stories and content about tabletop games and RPGs, such as 1st and 2nd editions of AD&D, Pathfinder and D&D Next. “What’s exciting to me is being able to look at this magazine and feel that we’ve really managed to put together a gaming journal that’s for the whole hobby.”

Elliot stressed that his “TSR is a new company.” TSR, Inc., the original company that published D&D, was founded by Gary Gygax; it was purchased by Wizards of the Coast in 1997. Elliot, who co-founded the Roll for Initiative podcast, discovered that the trademark for TSR had been abandoned about nine years ago. He registered it in 2011. With an idea to launch TSR, Elliot then got key people involved from the old TSR’s past, he said, for credibility. Among them: Luke and Ernie Gygax, sons of the deceased D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. Both were instrumental to the development of D&D in its earlier years.

“I decided there was no way I was going to to move on with TSR unless Luke and Ernie Gygax were involved — people who were involved from the beginning. Credible people had to be involved.” With the Gygaxes on board, he then approached Tim Kask, former editor of Dragon magazine, who serves as an advisor on Gygax Magazine‘s editorial board.

wanted someone who was around at the beginning,” Elliot said. “I wanted someone to guide me. The most obvious choice was to choose Tim Kask, the founder of Dragon magazine.” Also involved with the magazine are James Carpio and Jim Wampler. Margaret Weis will be the first member of TSR’s board of directors.

“I’m really excited about the cast of characters we’ve been able to assemble, a mix of the old and new. Names people will recognize from the old days.” He also has managed to keep alive the now-defunct magazine Kobold Quarterly, in a regular feature called “Kobold’s Cavern.”

The publication “is the first step in a number of things we want to do.” But for now, Elliot has no plans to release games, gaming product, or rules book. “There are already great rules book and games out there.” Future products, he said, will likely “be focused on helping people play the games that people play now.”

At the launch party, the Gygax brothers Wampler will chime in via the live stream from their respective cities. “There will be a chance for anyone who’s watching to ask whatever questions they like,” said Elliot. “People in the store will get to ask stuff, too.”

After the official “box opening,” at 3 p.m., special guests will be running gaming events, and invited participants can roll some dice and play. The marquee event will be Stefan Pokorny, founder of Dwarven Forge, who is bringing “a bunch of their amazing dungeons” for a dungeon delve game. “He’s going to be setting up some of his best terrain,” Elliot said. (You can see an example here.) Another offering: a game show-style event called “Cube of Death” that anyone can join. There will also be a Geek Chic Sultan table to play on, and then later a performance from D20 Burlesque.

At some point in the afternoon, Elliot said, he’ll turn on the “buy” button on the web site so the general public can buy the magazine. After Feb. 7, Gygax Magazine will be available digtially as a PDF and Apple Newsstand for the iPad. The magazine will be available at game shops soon, and it will also be for sale at some upcoming game conventions, including Gen Con, Origins, Gary Con, TotalCon, and North Texas RPG Con.

For more information, visit Gygax Magazine.

 porkuslime wrote:
placed an order just now.

One of the options is "Free shipping" so, I chose that.

I am now hoping that this is a physical magazine instead of an electronic resource.. it LOOKS like a physical magazine.

The cover art is VERY evocative of the Old School experience.