Adventurers Club was a quarterly magazine published by Hero Games and edited at various times by Steve Peterson, Bill Robinson and Bruce Harlick. It was started in 1983 [1] and ceased publication in 1995. [2] In total 27 issues were published. [1]
Adventurers Club was a quarterly magazine published by Hero Games and edited at various times by Steve Peterson, Bill Robinson and Bruce Harlick. It was started in 1983 [1] and ceased publication in 1995. [2] In total 27 issues were published. [1]
Adventurers Club originally featured supplementary material for Champions and Espionage , as well as news from Hero Games and a letter column purportedly edited by the fictional villain Foxbat. [3]
In 1983, Hero Games kicked off its house magazine: Adventurers Club. [4] :129 However, by 1986, the company was having problems with cash flow and manpower, and as a result Adventurers Club #7 (Summer 1986), which had been prepared in March 1985, was delayed for over a year while money was diverted toward other projects. [4] :131
As the result of a merger in 1988 between Hero Games and Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), five issues of the magazine (#8 to #12) featured articles about both Hero and ICE games. In the 2014 book Designers & Dragons, game historian Shannon Appelcline wrote, "Unfortunately, fans hated the split magazine. In their final dual-branded issue, editor Aaron Allston acknowledged that half of the readers had been asking that the ICE articles be removed and the other half had been asking that only ICE articles be covered." [4] :105–106, 133
In response, Adventurers Club was once again dedicated solely to Hero games, while ICE published a tabloid magazine, Iron Crown Quarterly, which focussed only on ICE games such as Rolemaster , Spacemaster , and Middle-earth Role Playing ; ICE produced seven issues of Iron Crown Quartertly from 1988–1990. [4] :105–106, 133
Allen Varney reviewed the magazine twice in the pages of Dragon :
In the Nov-Dec 1983 edition of Space Gamer (Issue No. 66), Russell Grant Collins thought that the magazine featured material essential for players of Champions, saying, "If you GM a Champions campaign, I really recommend this magazine. If you GM Espionage!, then it still might appeal to you. It is a worthy addition to the Hero line." [3]
Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) is a publishing company that has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games since 1980. Many of ICE's better-known products were related to J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, but the Rolemaster rules system, and its science-fiction equivalent, Spacemaster, have been the foundation of ICE's business.
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