The Space Gamer

Space Gamer was a generic sci-fi gaming periodical, that published several Traveller-related articles.

Description (Specifications)

Space Gamer supported a number of other games and authors, but it included nearly the whole gamut of early Classic Traveller authors and artists as well.

Selected Traveller Articles

Space Gamer Traveller Articles

Name	Author	Date	Issue	Remarks
Robotics for Traveller	Tony Watson	3 Jan 78	Space Gamer 15	None
Addendum Equipment and Weapons	Robert P. Barger	3 July/Aug 78	Space Gamer 18	None
Psionics in Traveller	Kenneth W. Burke	2 Nov/Dec 78	Space Gamer 20	None
Mercenary: a Reviw	Tony Wilson	March-April 79	Space Gamer 22	None
Snapshot: a Review	Tony Wilson	January-February 80	Space Gamer 26	None
Alternate Characters for Traveller	Forrest Johnson	2 Oct 80	The Space Gamer 32	This was the first "Special Traveller Issue."
Ithilien Class	Mark Chittenden	1 Oct 80	The Space Gamer 32	Page 11. 150 ton scout ship from the Conundrum State Shipyards.
More Psionics for Traveller	Kenneth W. Burke	1 Jan 81	Space Gamer 35	None
Pawn of the Fire Web	K.L. Jones	6 Feb 81	Space Gamer 36	None
Alien for sadic GMs: The Alien for D&D and Traveller	K.L. Jones	6 Feb 81	Space Gamer 36	None
Ya Wanna Buy A Used Ship?	Tim Brown, William A. Barton	2 Apr 81	Space Gamer 38	None
Rumor Reliability	Steve Winter	1 May 81	Space Gamer 39	None
Aboard the Leviathan	Marc W. Miller	2 Jun 81	Space Gamer 40	None
Adventures on Tschai	Steve Winter	8 Jun 81	Space Gamer 40	Planet of Adventure is a series of four science fiction novels by Jack Vance. Tschai is a planet and a center of action.
New Space Combat System	Steve Winter	3 Jun 81	Space Gamer 40	None
SF Character Contest Results	Unknown	2 Sep 81	Space Gamer 43	None
Expanded Combat	William A. Barton	4 Sep 81	Space Gamer 43	None
AFV's in Traveller	Donald Gallagher	10 Oct 81	Space Gamer 44	None
Terrorists in Traveller	Kenneth W. Burke	3 Dec 81	Space Gamer 46	None
Flare Star (part 1)	J. Andrew Keith	1 Jun 81	The Space Gamer 46	None
I'm a Doctor, Not a...	J. Andrew Keith	2 Jan 82	Space Gamer 47	None
Flare Star (part 2)	J. Andrew Keith	1 Feb 82	The Space Gamer 48	None
Tools for Terrorists	William A. Barton	3 Mar 82	Space Gamer 49	None
Flare Star (part 3)	J. Andrew Keith	1 Apr 82	The Space Gamer 50	None
Review of Imperial Data Recovery System	John M. Morrison	1 Apr 82	The Space Gamer 50	None
Omni Car, The	William A. Barton	1 Jun 82	Space Gamer 52	None
Flare Star (part 4)	J. Andrew Keith	1 Jul 82	The Space Gamer 53	None
Splat Gun, The	William A. Barton	3 Oct 82	Space Gamer 56	None
Chainsaw Combat	Christopher Kupczyk	1 Apr 83	Space Gamer 62	None
Interdiction Station	Marcus L. Rowland	10 Feb 84	Space Gamer 67	None
Competitive Citizens	Dan Perez	2 Aug 84	Space Gamer 70	None
Pre-Enlistment Skills	Warren Okuma	1 Apr 85	Space Gamer 73	None
Stiletto Class Yacht	Gary Reilly	1 Apr/May 87	Space Gamer 78	None
Manhunt	Bill Cassell	1 Sep 89	Space Gamer 81	None
Ranger Class Courier	James B. King	1 Sep 89	Space Gamer 81	None
Tarragon's Heir	Michael O'Brien	1 Dec 89	Space Gamer 84	None
Starjammer Class Yacht	Gary Reilly	1 Jan/Feb 89	Space Gamer 85	None
Corsair Contention	James B. King	1 Jan/Feb 89	Space Gamer 85	None

External Links

1. EXTERNAL LINK: Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer
2. EXTERNAL LINK: The Space Gamer homepage at Better Games.

History & Background (Dossier)

Meta-history & Background: The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 70s through the mid-80s. The magazine is no longer published, but the Better Games maintain a web presence using its final title Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer.

The Space Gamer started out as a quarterly publication of the brand new Metagaming Concepts company in 1975. Initial issues were in a plain-paper digest format. By issue 17, it had grown to a full size bimonthly magazine, printed on slick paper.

When Steve Jackson departed Metagaming to found his own company, he also secured the right to publish The Space Gamer from number 27 on. The magazine stayed with Steve Jackson Games for the next five years, during which, it was at its most popular and influential. In 1983, the magazine was split into two separate bimonthly magazines: Space Gamer (losing the 'The' with the split in Number 64), and Fantasy Gamer; the former concentrating entirely on science fiction, and the latter on fantasy. This arrangement lasted about a year. Fantasy Gamer ran six issues before being folded back into Space Gamer. Steve Jackson Games published through issue 76 (Sept/Oct 1985).

In 1986, the magazine was sold to Diverse Talents, Incorporated (DTI) who continued the magazine with the same numbering and format (after a gap of nearly a year and a half), but with the name Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer. The trademarks to Space Gamer and Fantasy Gamer was then sold to World Wide War (3W), a company which for a brief time tried to ascend to the top of the adventure gaming hill. They also purchased Strategy and Tactics. Alas, WWW also went down like Metagaming, and Space Gamer ended up in the hands of Future Combat Simulations (FCS). After publishing just one issue, FCS could not continue and a year later FCS declared bankruptcy. After passing through several hands, the Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer trademark got passed to Better Games.

Better Games now publishes Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer as part of their online gaming system. They have published eight issues.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at The_Space_Gamer. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science