Alarums & Excursions

Alarums and Excursions (A&E) is an amateur press association started in June 1975 by Lee Gold (at the request of Bruce Pelz, who felt that discussion of Dungeons & Dragons was taking up too much space in APA-L). It was the first publication to focus solely on role-playing games.

Each issue is a collection of contributions from different authors, often featuring game design discussions, rules variants, write-ups of game sessions, reviews, and comments on others contributions. Although game reports and social reactions are common parts of many A&E contributions, it has also, over the years, become a testing ground for new ideas on the development of the RPG as a genre and an art form. The idea that role-playing games are an art form took strong root in this zine, and left a lasting impression on many of the RPG professionals who contributed.

Source: Wikipedia, "Alarums & Excursions", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

Publisher's blurb:

A&E is a laser printed monthly roleplaying game APA (amateur press association) with contributors from across the US, UK, and Canada. A&E was begun back in 1975. Maximum length is 150 pages, no advertisements; issues usually run 60-80 pages. A&E is not affiliated with any gaming company. Contributors are interested in many different games. They are also interested in cultural and military history, fantasy and science fiction, rock music, military re-enactments, movies, martial arts, murder mysteries, filksongs, science fiction fandom, religion, physics, astronomy, and a number of other subjects, all of which can be easily tied into roleplaying games if you take a sufficiently creative approach.

This APA is self-published by Lee Gold

Anyone is invited to contribute material to A&E in the form of a zine prepared for publication. Please review weblink for guidelines and costs. Several A&E contributors also are or have been active on RPGGeek - see A&Eers on the Geek

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Alarums & Excursions has won these awards:

• 1980 - Best Amateur Magazine
• 1981 - Best Amateur Magazine
• 1982 - Best Amateur Magazine
• 1984 - Best Amateur Magazine

• 1984 - Best Amateur Adventure Gaming Magazine
• 1999 - Best Amateur Game Magazine
• 2000 - Best Amateur Game Periodical
• 2001 - Best Amateur Game Periodical