RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

by **Simon W** » 6:30pm on 13 Jun 12

nclarke wrote:Thanks SimonW for the memories.

My pleasure. I fondly remember waiting for some of those 'zines to land on my doormat - especially those that had some of my contributions in them. Those were the days!

by **beasterbrook** » 5:46am on 14 Jun 12

Cilinar wrote:As I said above, I know that scanning some zine from the late 70's and giving it away violates copyright law but my intent is not to cause harm. If I could find the original authors and pay a fee for PDF copies, I would. In many cases it's nearly impossible, though.

Anyway, I certainly understand your point and don't want to cause any trouble. It's just sad that so many of the old, obscure zines will never see print again when so many of us would be happy to read them in any format.

I have heard this EXACT argument from someone before.. almost the same words in fact.. and trust me I hear your pain.. I don't do pdf much, I do have some but I don't look at them, I'm mainly a physical sort of guy, I like the origionals.. I have collected a rather large amount of Living Greyhawk stuff as almost all of that only came in pdf, the same with a lot of the "Living" games.. ie Living City, RPGA con modules etc.. blar blar..

If you want to go down the straight and narrow, it will be almost impossiable.. you theritically have to get the authors agreement and then you have to see if his work infringes on other copyright, you have to remember that a lot of this stuff was done without any regard to copyright stuff, they used copyright stuff from TSR etc without any regared to it, after all who is going to take some 17 year olds making zines with 50 issues you never even heard of before they dissapear.. in the begining companies have little worry about it, but the loger they left it "unchallenged" it endangered their own IP and then it was all about money, thats when Cease and desist letter got sent etc

I have though about this issue in more than passing in the last couple of years as I have a rather large collection of zines etc.. trust me you aren't missing a lot in most of them, they are very similar in a lot of ways etc.. but it is a shame that there aren't coppies for the (extremly) small amount of pople that would even care about reading them what was in them that don't have coppies...

Brette:)

by **beasterbrook** » 5:50am on 14 Jun 12

PaulBaldowski wrote:I wrote for Delusions of Grandeur (a generic RPG fanzine, still sort of running now) and carnel (now an online 'zine with about 30+ issues in total, probably annual

Tell me more about DoG and still running etc?
The last printed issue I have of Carnal is 39.. no more have come of late.. I should follow that up and see what is happeneing there..

Brette:)

by **beasterbrook** » 5:54am on 14 Jun 12

Cilinar wrote:I've also tried to get in touch with some authors. I found one copy of Tempest's Lore and sent emails to everyone listed in the copy, asking about other issues (it was free). Nearly every email failed due to addresses no longer being valid.

by **Cilinar** » 3:25am on 15 Jun 12

beasterbrook wrote:Looks like you might be able to download the first 2 issues here.. http://www.angelfire.com/zine/Tempest/archive.html can't see myself at the moment as at work and they don't allow you to down load zip files.. (The html zip files are there for both)

Thank you very much! I had been to that site (which is dead) but never found the archive page. Sadly the "doc" links are dead but the two HTML links did work. Strange format since everything I've read shows the files to be available as PDF's (including issue 5, which I do have). So, I'm still on the junt for issues 1-4 in PDF form.

this guy..
http://rpggeek.com/collection/items/rpg ... 3545?own=1

In my hunt, I found that page and already sent him a PM asking about copies of the files. I haven't received a response, which is pretty common. I KNOW that zines which were released as PDF's have to be floating around out there somewhere, it's just a matter of finding them or someone who has a copy and is willing to email it to you.

I don't do pdf much, I do have some but I don't look at them, I'm mainly a physical sort of guy, I like the origionals..

Me too and I purchase them when I can. I just mailed off $50 to Lee Gold for some back issues of Alarums & Excursions. Still, there were a LOT of gaming fanzines in the early days of RPG's. Most of the ones I see on eBay are being sold by stores, not individuals, and they are often asking $50, $100 or even more for what, in all honesty, is a pamphlet. So, while I'd prefer a paper copy, I'll settle for a less expensive or free PDF if that's the only way I can read it.

If you want to go down the straight and narrow, it will be almost impossiable.. you theritically have to get the authors agreement and then you have to see if his work infringes on other copyright

Not almost, it IS impossible in most cases. First, I'd have find someone with an original copy, then ask them to send me any and all author information. Some fanzines list multiple people or even clubs as copyright holders. Then, 30+ years later, I'd have to track down every one of them and get their permission. Whew!

Hopefully, I've made it clear that I'm not trying to profit from any of this nor am I suggesting that money change hands. According to http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html, "copyright has two main purposes, namely the protection of the author's right to obtain commercial benefit from valuable work, and more recently the protection of the author's general right to control how a work is used". I certainly respect both of these purposes but the truth is that the original authors of these out-of-print zines of 20-30 years ago are not making a dime anymore and, I suspect, that they would not care if someone distributed a few PDF scans of their old work. While it's not legal to scan and share a PDF copy of a 1978 zine, I would argue that it's not unethical (though I respect those who disagree).

BTW, if this offends anyone, please let me know and I'll drop the topic. It's a touchy discussion. I do hope I've made it clear that I'd prefer to support copyright holders (like Lee Gold) who still offer their work in some form and am only talking about works that are not available for purchase anywhere.

by **PaulBaldowski** » 8:13am on 18 Jun 12

beasterbrook wrote:
PaulBaldowski wrote:I wrote for Delusions of Grandeur (a generic RPG fanzine, still sort of running now) and carnel (now an online 'zine with about 30+ issues in total, probably annual

Tell me more about DoG and still running etc?
The last printed issue I have of Carnal is 39.. no more have come of late.. I should follow that up and see what is happeneing there..

Brette:)

Re. carnel (no second 'a'): I must admit to only possessing the first dozen in physical form. I think I may have written something for a couple of issues and have kept only vague contact with Rob.

Re. Delusions. Nathan, the editor, recently contacted me about the possibility of a 25th anniversary issue. I'm not holding my breath. Easily some of the best intentions but the poorest publication rate I've seen. In the early days, it had such prospects.

by **beasterbrook** » 8:20am on 18 Jun 12

Thanks.. I think I'm missing the first dozen so let me know if you want to sell em..

DoG I have the first 5 issues and "The Best of" any more of those?

Brette:)

by **PaulBaldowski** » 10:31am on 18 Jun 12

beasterbrook wrote:DoG I have the first 5 issues and "The Best of" any more of those?

I'm truly impressed that you have this many - and, I think you have the full set. I personally handled that first issue you have almost 25 years ago - running the cartridge down on my Design teacher's precious photocopier. Oh, the fun we had...

Nathan Cubitt now does stuff in the world of TV (you can probably find reference to him lurking in IMDB.com somewhere). I'll be sure to give a heads-up should an anniversary issue gather any more momentum.

by **Cilinar** » 10:43pm on 18 Jun 12

PaulBaldowski wrote: I wrote for Delusions of Grandeur (a generic RPG fanzine, still sort of running now)

Can I get a link to the Delusions of Grandeur site? I'd like to purchase back issues, if any are available.

by **beasterbrook** » 11:35pm on 18 Jun 12

As the title of this thread might suggest, Delusions of Grandeur was a RPG zine put out in the late 80's (according to geek the first issue was 1988.. http://rpggeek.com/rpgissue/99604/delus ... 1-jun-1988 )

And as you may expect hard to get..

Details on the Best of DoG can be found here..
http://carnel.sdf-eu.org/delusions/index.html

by the sounds of it paul does have Nathans contact details..

Brette:)

RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Re: RPG Fanzines of the 70's & 80's

Who is online

About

Support