The Space Gamer received three Origins Award nominations for Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine (in 1981, 1985, and 1986). The Space Gamer won an Origins Award for Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1982.
Space Gamer began life as a paper magazine published by Metagaming Concepts in 1975. Steve Jackson Games took over publication with issue #27 (dated March/April 1980), and ultimately published 50 issues (plus six issues of spin-off magazine Fantasy Gamer). Issue #76, September/October 1985, became Steve Jackson Games' last issue before the rights to the name went elsewhere. Space Gamer covered all aspects of hobby gaming: RPGs, wargames, card and strategy games, and more. It also featured industry news and reviews. Although Space Gamer is still a great read in its own right, today it's also a fascinating look at an earlier era of hobby gaming.
All the issues of Space Gamer that were published by Steve Jackson Games are available digitally at Warehouse 23, including a bundle of all 50 issues.
Today's featured issue from the vault:
Space Gamer #32 (October 1980)
Space Gamer #32 (cover date October 1980) fires up the transdimensional jump drive and transports you, the reader, to the gaming hobby's early days – and the articles are fun to read, too!
In addition to the regular game reviews, news, and letters, this issue's focus is Traveller. Supporting this theme is the article "Alternate Characters for Traveller" (providing rules and guidelines for generating alien or non-human heroes), a deck plan for the Ithilien-class scoutship, and reviews of nine supplemental Traveller products.
Also included is "Deus Ex Machina," presenting three different bits of wargame-aiding code for a programmable calculator; "Minus Two Reaction," a short piece of fiction that begins (and ends) in a bar; "Ten Characters I Wouldn't Let in My Universe," a lighthearted list of NPCs to (not) add to your fantasy RPG; and the sixth in the series "Game Design: Theory and Practice," co-written by Steve Jackson.
For historians, this issue contains a company report on Yaquinto Publications by one of its key members, Steve Peek. More important, it also has information and insight into October 1980's big news: the formation of a little company called Steve Jackson Games.
Whether you're a fan of old-school gaming or a historian of our hobby, each issue of Space Gamer is the perfect passport to the past!
 #27 - #36 |  #37 - #46 |  #47 - #56 |  #57 - #66 |  #67 - #76 |
