''Different Worlds'' was an American

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

s magazine published from 1979 to 1987.

Scope

''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'', ''

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford (game designer), Gre ...

'', ''

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler, or The Traveller may refer to: People *Anyone engaged in travel Groups * Romani people, or Roma, or Gypsies, and their subgroups in various countries * Indigenous Norwegian Travellers * Irish Travellers ...

'', '' Call of Cthulhu'', '' Journey to the Center of the Circle'', and others; play techniques and strategies for players and

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...

s of role-playing games; reviews of games and miniatures; and reviews of current books and movies of interest to role-playing gamers. Notably, ''Different Worlds'' also featured early works by artists

Steve Oliff Steve Oliff (born February 20, 1954) is an American comic book artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry since 1978. Biography Oliff broke into professional comics by attending comic book conventions and meeting people. At one c ...

Bill Willingham William Willingham (born 1956) is an American writer and artist of comics, known for his work on the series '' Elementals'' and ''Fables''. Career William Willingham was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. During his father's military career the fam ...

, and

Steve Purcell Steven Ross Purcell (born July 30, 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator, game designer, and voice actor. He is the creator of the media franchise ''Sam & Max'' and received an Eisner Award in 2007 for working on the show. The series has e ...

; ″Sword of Hollywood″, a regular film review column by

Larry DiTillio Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include ''He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword'' and the award-winning '' Masks of Nyarlathot ...

from issue seven onward; the irregular autobiographical/interview feature ″My Life and Roleplaying″; and the industry scuttlebutt column ″A Letter from Gigi″ by the pseudonymous Gigi D'Arn. Different Worlds also published books, including: * Tékumel Sourcebook: The World of the Petal Throne, book 1, 1987 * Tékumel Sourcebook: The World of the Petal Throne, book 2, 1988 * Blackwatch Technical Reference Manual, 1989

Publication history

''Different Worlds'' was launched in 1979 by

Tadashi Ehara Tadashi Ehara is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Tadashi Ehara worked as the buyer for the Gambit game store in San Francisco when he became the second employee of Chaosium. ''Different Worlds'' magazine wa ...

and

Greg Stafford Greg Stafford may refer to: * Greg Stafford (game designer) (1948–2018), American game designer * Greg Stafford (footballer) (born 1974), Australian rules football player * Greg Stafford (politician) Gregory James Stafford is a British Conser ...

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...

as a general-interest role-playing magazine. At that time Chaosium was primarily a board game publisher, but had also published its own role-playing game, ''RuneQuest'', in 1978. ''RuneQuest'' was designed primarily to be played in

Glorantha Glorantha is a fantasy world created by Greg Stafford. Overview It was first introduced in the board game '' White Bear and Red Moon'' (1975) by Chaosium and then in a number of other board, roleplaying and computer games, including ''RuneQ ...

, Stafford's fantasy world and the setting of the board games '' White Bear and Red Moon'' (later '' Dragon Pass'') and ''

Nomad Gods ''Nomad Gods'' is a fantasy wargame designed by Greg Stafford, and published by Chaosium in 1977. A French-language edition was published by Oriflam under license from Chaosium under the name ''Les Dieux Nomades'' in 1994. A free version for o ...

''. Chaosium had previously published the magazine ''

Wyrm's Footnotes ''Wyrm's Footnotes'' is a gaming magazine first published in 1976 by Chaosium that ran for 14 issues, and ceased publication in 1982. History ''Wyrm's Footnotes'' was originally a house organ for Chaosium that featured articles about Chaosium's ...

'', which ran for fourteen issues from 1976 to 1982. ''Wyrm's Footnotes'' was conceived primarily as support for '' White Bear and Red Moon'' and other Chaosium board games, but quickly became a forum for discussion of Glorantha, and was rebranded to be the official ''RuneQuest'' magazine with its 11th issue (Spring 1981). ''Different Worlds'' was published bimonthly from 1979 to 1987, for forty-seven issues. Chaosium published the first thirty-eight issues from 1979 to 1985, and

Sleuth Publications Sleuth may refer to: *Detective *Sleuth, collective noun for a group of bears Computing *The Sleuth Kit, a collection of forensic analysis software *SLEUTH assembler language for the UNIVAC 1107 Entertainment and media *Cloo Cloo, formerly k ...

published the final nine issues between 1985 and 1987. Tadashi Ehara was the magazine's editor at both publishers.rpg.net index to ''Different Worlds''
/ref>

Reviews

*''

Perfidious Albion "Perfidious Albion" is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic slights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances f ...

'' #46 (May 1980) p.19

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Different worlds 1979 establishments in California 1987 disestablishments in California Defunct game magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1979 Magazines disestablished in 1987 Magazines published in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct role-playing game magazines Defunct wargaming magazines