''Interplay'' is a gaming magazine that was published from 1981 to 1982 by

Metagaming Concepts Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, '' Stellar Conquest''. The company also inven ...

''Interplay'' was a magazine focusing entirely on Metagaming products, particularly ''

The Fantasy Trip ''The Fantasy Trip'' (''TFT'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game designed by Steve Jackson and published in segments by Metagaming Concepts starting in 1977 and culminating in 1980. In 2019, Steve Jackson Games republished it as ''The Fan ...

''.

Publication history

Metagaming Concepts had sold off ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'', and they later turned to publishing a new magazine called ''Interplay: The Metagamer Diaries'' #1 (May/June 1981). Per Shannon Appelcline, "Unfortunately, it wasn't up to Metagaming's previous standards. The magazine's black & white covers were a clear step down from the glossy full-color covers of ''The Space Gamer''. Its interior also looked a lot more like the fannish magazines then being produced by Judges Guild than ''Interplays more distinguished predecessor." The company began having financial difficulties, and in ''Interplay'' #8 (September/October 1982), Howard Thompson touted the most successful series of games from Metagaming and promised that new products were soon to be released, although these were never actually published. Thompson soon left the game industry, but before that Genesis Gaming Products purchased ''Interplay'' in addition to Dwarfstar Games (1981–1982) from

Heritage USA Heritage USA was an American Christian-themed water park, theme park and residential complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, built by televangelist Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye Messner, Tammy Faye Bakker, founders of ''The PTL Club''. The ...

Reception

W. G. Armintrout reviewed the first issue of ''Interplay'' in ''

'' No. 41. Armintrout commented that "If you can't live without Metagaming designer notes and errata, then you'll have to have ''Interplay''. For ''TFT'' material, it seems to me that you should buy the annual supplement instead. I found the first issue to be useful (though not well-written or well-edited)."

References

{{Authority control Defunct game magazines published in the United States Defunct role-playing game magazines Magazines disestablished in 1982 Magazines established in 1981

Contents

Publication history

Reception

References