There's an add in the back of one of my Palladium rpg books for something called "Gateways" magazine.
Googling it, I came across some connections to Erick Wujcik, although I'm not sure if he was a contributor, editor, or what.
Looking at the few issues on ebay, it seems to have covered the various Palladium games, but also other stuff- Willow, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.
So can anyone elaborate on what Gateways was about, what was Erick's part in it, and what happened to it?
I'd also really be interested in a list of issues and what the topics covered were in each.
Thanks!
I don't have that much info, but I have the issue where Erick talked about TNMT, his work at R. Talsorian, and the early days of the AmberRPG.
Gateways was a general magazine, not exclusive to Palladium, but covered a wide range of games and other game-related topics.
Is it just him talking about TMNT, or is there material for a GM/player to use for the game? Adventure, optional rules, etc.
Quote from: jdurall;249096I have the issue where Erick talked about TNMT, his work at R. Talsorian, and the early days of the AmberRPG.
Hey, Jason, can you tell me the issue number for this? I may want to track down the "early days" article (or maybe I could slip you a couple of bucks to photocopy or scan it for me...)
Quote from: finarvyn;249114Hey, Jason, can you tell me the issue number for this? I may want to track down the "early days" article (or maybe I could slip you a couple of bucks to photocopy or scan it for me...)
Email me a reminder (I think you can do that through these forums) with an address and I'll see what I can do when I have the time.
I'm going to perform a little thread Necromancy here...
Gateways Magazine started out as an independently run gaming magazine and, back in the day, it and White Wolf Magazine were the only gaming magazines out there that were not run by a gaming company. For an independent gaming magazine though, it did well. At its peak they were even being distributed to, and sold, in B Dalton Bookstores.
The magazine itself had some great content, and they also published a monthly newsletter (the magazine was bi-monthly) in support. Gateways was eventually bought out by Palladium (and we all know what happened with White Wolf).
Beyond that though, there isn't a whole lot of info out there about the magazine. I cannot even find a final issue count anywhere.
Thanks for sharing this, and welcome to theRPGsite!
I remember White Wolf magazine back before V:tM came out, they even had a couple of good articles back then. Can't say I remember Gateways though.
RPGPundit
Thanks for the welcome. I know Gateways went at least 14 issues. They had a lot of great content and really worked hard to plug their magazine at shows like Gen Con. I remember they had drawings for all sorts of games. 1 entry just for walking by, two entries if you subscribed to the free newsletter, three entries if you subscribed to the magazine and the free newsletter.
I won a copy of Living Steel that way.
They were also really great about approaching people and asking them for game reviews. I was sad to see the magazine go.
As for the old White Wolf magazine? Had it not been for their financial stability, Lion Rampant would've gone belly up and there never would've been a V:tM. Normally it is the gaming company that is investing in the magazine, but with White Wolf it really was the other way around.
Independent gaming magazines were a thing of the past for a while. Now, with the OSR we are starting to see them return (such as Gygax magazine). Here's hoping that it helps revitalize the genre a bit...and maybe drags some people back out of the corners and into publishing.
Quote from: Ceronomus;639317Thanks for the welcome. I know Gateways went at least 14 issues. They had a lot of great content and really worked hard to plug their magazine at shows like Gen Con. I remember they had drawings for all sorts of games. 1 entry just for walking by, two entries if you subscribed to the free newsletter, three entries if you subscribed to the magazine and the free newsletter.
I won a copy of Living Steel that way.
They were also really great about approaching people and asking them for game reviews. I was sad to see the magazine go.
As for the old White Wolf magazine? Had it not been for their financial stability, Lion Rampant would've gone belly up and there never would've been a V:tM. Normally it is the gaming company that is investing in the magazine, but with White Wolf it really was the other way around.
Independent gaming magazines were a thing of the past for a while. Now, with the OSR we are starting to see them return (such as Gygax magazine). Here's hoping that it helps revitalize the genre a bit...and maybe drags some people back out of the corners and into publishing.
We'll see. I'm not hopeful. I think magazines are pretty much doomed by the internet.
I think that the internet changes the model some, certainly. But Gygax magazine, for example, is available in hard copy or in PDF. I think others will follow suit. I don't think that giving up on the monetization of IP content is going to end, merely change. Couple that to the fact that there are plenty of folks that still read magazines, there is certainly a market for it.
Plus, hard copy 'zines are also making a comeback. Crawl (supporting DCC) is a fine example. It is small press, and more of a break even project than a for profit venture, but it has buyers as well as subscribers.
I don't know as the death of printed matter is here yet. Perhaps in another generation but not, I think, with ours.
Wow, Gateways, that takes me back. I used to have most of the issues, which had a wide array of interesting articles, although I'm not currently remembering any in detail.
Hmm.... time to go dig through the magazine box and see if I still have these.
Quote from: Ceronomus;640903I think that the internet changes the model some, certainly. But Gygax magazine, for example, is available in hard copy or in PDF. I think others will follow suit. I don't think that giving up on the monetization of IP content is going to end, merely change. Couple that to the fact that there are plenty of folks that still read magazines, there is certainly a market for it.
Plus, hard copy 'zines are also making a comeback. Crawl (supporting DCC) is a fine example. It is small press, and more of a break even project than a for profit venture, but it has buyers as well as subscribers.
I don't know as the death of printed matter is here yet. Perhaps in another generation but not, I think, with ours.
Its dead to me. I can't really see myself buying magazines again. there's a chance I might get a single individual magainze issue if there's something of tremendous interest to me that is simultaneously impossible for me to get by other means; but there's no way I can see myself buying a magazine on a regular basis, which is what magazines need to make money.
RPGPundit
Hi there,
I just now found this site —and this question— while googling an old article of mine. Although the reply is 9 years overdue, I hope it finds the audience it was seeking.
Gateways ran as an independent pub for 13 issues from 1986 to 1989. At a time when The Dragon, White Dwarf and other general industry magazines were becoming company-specific house organs, Gateways stepped into the vacuum and covered all games and all genres. They specialized in franchise tie-ins (gaming had only recently discovered licensing), with a special focus on designers and creators.
(Just one example of the transmedia sampling the publication offered was a package on Speed Racer. It not only looked at the history of the cartoon, but interviewed the writer and artist of the new comic book, previewed the just-announced live-action movie —which would remain in development hell for another 20 years— and offered scenarios and official stats for including the Mach 5 in a half-dozen RPGs and boardgames such as Car Wars.)
Gateways also had in-depth (and inside baseball) interviews with industry personalities from Gary Gygax and Erick Wujcik to, well, everyone. I eventually wrote a two-part history of role-playing games for the pub, and talked to all but one principal designer in the business for the article.
The magazine reached its peak in 1988 when it gained national distribution. Sadly, it folded when a joint publishing deal with Palladium Books fell through in 1990 after only one issue (Gateways Special #1).
In a way, Gateways prefaced the current interest in transmedia, and its publisher went on to work with Disney, Sony and other corporations in coordinating the content in their movies, shows, books and games.
As Gateways featured Jeff Gomez, who would go on to found Starlight Runner Entertainment and bring the transmedia concept to fruition, saying that it prefaced the current interest is an understatement.
Probably should have mentioned, Jeff Gomez was Gateways' publisher.
Still slowly picking up the magazines but haven't been able to find a single one of the newsletters. I still miss Gateways though, it was the first professional publication that I ever wrote an article for.
Quote from: Jape;943235Hi there,
I just now found this site —and this question— while googling an old article of mine. Although the reply is 9 years overdue, I hope it finds the audience it was seeking.
Gateways ran as an independent pub for 13 issues from 1986 to 1989. At a time when The Dragon, White Dwarf and other general industry magazines were becoming company-specific house organs, Gateways stepped into the vacuum and covered all games and all genres. They specialized in franchise tie-ins (gaming had only recently discovered licensing), with a special focus on designers and creators.
(Just one example of the transmedia sampling the publication offered was a package on Speed Racer. It not only looked at the history of the cartoon, but interviewed the writer and artist of the new comic book, previewed the just-announced live-action movie —which would remain in development hell for another 20 years— and offered scenarios and official stats for including the Mach 5 in a half-dozen RPGs and boardgames such as Car Wars.)
Gateways also had in-depth (and inside baseball) interviews with industry personalities from Gary Gygax and Erick Wujcik to, well, everyone. I eventually wrote a two-part history of role-playing games for the pub, and talked to all but one principal designer in the business for the article.
The magazine reached its peak in 1988 when it gained national distribution. Sadly, it folded when a joint publishing deal with Palladium Books fell through in 1990 after only one issue (Gateways Special #1).
In a way, Gateways prefaced the current interest in transmedia, and its publisher went on to work with Disney, Sony and other corporations in coordinating the content in their movies, shows, books and games.
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know about this. And welcome to theRPGsite!!
Gygax Magazine is toast. (http://www.geeknative.com/54234/gygax-magazine-close/) RPG zines in pdf format with print copies for the hardcore seem to be doing well though (Fight On, Black Pudding, Vacant Ritual Assembly).
Gateways is probably available somewhere out there on the interwebs but I haven't seen it.
Speaking of Wujcik, the Amber book mentions on the title page that there was an Amberzine that you can write away for, anyone ever seen or read those?
Quote from: Voros;943641
Speaking of Wujcik, the Amber book mentions on the title page that there was an Amberzine that you can write away for, anyone ever seen or read those? (http://www.geeknative.com/54234/gygax-magazine-close/)
Yes. I had them all.
I have to say, though, they weren't all that awesome as a gaming resource. They were thick (though small) books, and looked at first glance like they'd have to have a ton of material, but it would turn out that it was more of a kind of literary fanzine than a gaming zine. Each issue usually had one or two short (1-5pg) articles of actually game-related material, and then the other 95% of the book was either literature (Zelanzy stuff, other known fiction), fan-fiction, or long game-session literature/reports.
Interesting. I guess that shows the different idea of what a zine was back then. More open and personal that most of what you see today which is very gameplay focused. Which I actually prefer. I remember picking up music zines in the 90s and finding pages and pages of spiel about the writer's weekend or some such. Seems like that lack of focus has migrated to rpg podcasts these days.
I think that the Zelazny estate had put some pretty tight restrictions on what kind of material could be in Amberzine. (I still own the whole set, by the way.) For example, standard Amber fiction was a no-no, but "campaign game logs" were okay. The ADRP game is such that not much was needed as an expansion, but Erick did answer questions about the game in Amberzine if folks sent them in.
Jape I just posted in our gaming alumni site on FB looking for your article, at least the second half of it. Gateways folded before the second half came out. I met the writing partner you are most associated with at a con in Alabama in the early 90s and she said you had indeed written the second half. While your writing accolades are many, that article has stuck with me these many years. A tip of the hat to the first half of the article sir. I had no idea at the time who the Bloom Brothers were, Loraine, or the evolution of TSR. I am hoping to find it. Jean Rabe is in our alum group and I honestly feel she is my best bet to have a copy. Many thanks from a long time fan.