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| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jacek Rodek |
Wydawnictwo MAG (Polish for: MAG Publishing House), is a publisher that was the first to publish Polish translations of popular American and British role-playing games (RPGs) like Call of Cthulhu and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay . In more recent years, it has turned to publication of translations of popular English-language novels.
Despite the rise of the role-playing game industry in the United States and the U.K. during the 1980s, very few people in Poland under Communist rule were aware of the existence of role-playing games. Following the fall of Communist rule, Jacek Rodek, the editor-in-chief of Fantaskya, a monthly magazine dedicated to fantasy and science fiction, founded the publishing company Wydawnictwo MAG [1] in order to publish Magia i Miecz (Magic and Sword), a magazine that would be dedicated to role-playing games. Rodek and Darosław J. Toruń were the first editors.
Due to a lack of published role-playing games in Poland at the time, the first six issues of the magazine focussed on Kryształy Czasu (Crystals of Time), an unpublished Polish RPG created by Artur Szyndler. [2] The first issue printed the rules, and subsequent issues featured articles about character generation, magic and spellcasting, and descriptions of the game world. The first full adventures for Kryształy Czasu appeared in issues #4–#6: „Nieproszony gość” ("Uninvited Guest"), „Demoniczna horda” ("Demonic Horde"), and „Pułapki w pułapkach” ("Traps Inside Traps").
MAG published a hardcover version of Kryształy Czasu in 1999.
Magia i Miecz's monthly circulation of 20,000 [3] indicated there was an audience for RPGs in Poland, so MAG acquired the Polish-language licenses for several popular British and American role-playing games, including:
MAG released Polish-language editions of several tabletop games, notably Doomtrooper , and the Kult collectible card game (CCG), and also published some original Polish RPGs such as Wiedźmin - Gra Wyobraźni (The Witcher: A Game of Imagination), based on a series of novels and short stories written by Andrzej Sapkowski.
By 2001, Magia i Miecz had become unprofitable as its circulation waned to 10,000. [3] MAG stopped publishing the magazine, and pivoted from role-playing games to books, [4] specializing in science-fiction, horror and fantasy, children's literature and contemporary fiction, primarily translations of popular English-language novels. [5] Its long-running Uczta Wyobraźni (Feast of the Imagination) series, started in 2006, features over 60 works by authors such as Ian McDonald, William Gibson, Christopher Priest, Susannah Clarke, and Bruce Sterling. MAG has also enjoyed great success republishing the works of Neil Gaiman and Christopher Paolini — in 2005–2006, Polish sales of Paolini's novel Eragon topped 135,000. [4]
MAG also publishes novels by well-known Polish writers such as Feliks W. Kres. [3]
Games Workshop Group is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000.
Andrzej Ziemiański, also known as Patrick Shoughnessy, is a Polish author of fantasy, science fiction, thriller and crime, who by 2012 have sold over 500,000 copies of his books. Ziemiański was educated as an architect and he holds a PhD in architecture.
Feliks Wiktor Kres is a popular Polish fantasy writer. He debuted with his short story "Mag" (Mage), submitted to a writing contest of the Fantastyka magazine. Since then, he has published seven novels and dozens of short stories. His pseudonym may be translated as Lucky End.
Black Industries was the role-playing game imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop. It was announced on January 28, 2008 that it would cease operations after its products currently scheduled for release are published.
Robin D. Laws is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist.
The history of role-playing games begins with an earlier tradition of role-playing, which combined with the rulesets of fantasy wargames in the 1970s to give rise to the modern role-playing game. A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. Traditionally all the participants but one take on characters and determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization and the actions succeed or fail according to a system of rules and guidelines, and one of the participants takes on the role of game master who narrates the story, plays all the non-player characters and determine the challenge rating and the outcome of various actions. Within the rules, the participants may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.
Science fiction and fantasy in Poland dates to the late 18th century. During the latter years of the People's Republic of Poland, a very popular genre of science fiction was social science fiction. Later, many other genres gained prominence.
Polish role-playing games have been in production since the early 1990s. Now there are several games that have been designed in Poland, as well as many translations on the market.
Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor.
Graeme Davis is a game designer, writer and editor. Davis has worked extensively in the roleplaying game industry.
Magia i Miecz was the first RPG-oriented magazine in Poland. Started in 1993, it ceased publishing in 2002 after 103 issues. The publisher was Wydawnictwo MAG. Tomasz Kołodziejczak served as the editor of the magazine.
Kryształy Czasu was one of the first Polish role-playing games.
Role-playing games made in Japan made their first appearance during the 1980s. Today, there are hundreds of Japanese-designed games as well as several translated games. Tabletop RPGs are referred to as tabletalk RPGs, a wasei-eigo term often shortened as TRPG in Japan to distinguish them from the video role-playing game genre.
Chris Pramas is an American game designer and writer, as well as a founder of Green Ronin Publishing. He is best known as the designer of the Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and Freeport: The City of Adventure.
Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd is an Irish games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings games, Cubicle 7 offers titles covering a range of licensed and self-developed properties.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play is a role-playing game set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees.
Jim Bambra is a British designer and reviewer of fantasy roleplaying games (RPG), and a former company director. He is particularly known for his contributions to Dungeons and Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Warhammer, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game which was based on the Star Wars films. Later he became head of design at MicroProse, then managing director of Pivotal Games, a publisher of video games including Conflict: Desert Storm.
Casus Belli is a French magazine about role-playing games, published in different formats since 1980. It contains news, reviews, interviews, features, and role-playing game materials. The magazine was published by Excelsior Publications until 1999, by Arkana Press in 2000–2006, and by Casus Belli Presse in 2010–2011, and has been published by Black Book Éditions since 2011. Since 2020, it also has the online video companion Casus TV, which is produced in collaboration with Tric Trac.
Under a Blood Red Moon is an adventure module released in June 1993 by White Wolf Publishing for use with either of their tabletop role-playing games Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and is a part of the World of Darkness series. It is set in and around Chicago, and follows the conflict between the local vampire and werewolf communities; players take the roles of werewolves, or as vampires belonging to the Camarilla or Sabbat sects.
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