Imagine Magazine
Already having a
successful long-running American RPG magazine, Dragon, gaming company
powerhouse TSR decided to let their UK branch launch their own local
title. Imagine Magazine was launched in April 1983 and lasted for 30
issues, ending in September 1985. Like Dragon, and indeed most "house"
magazines of the time, while it leaned heavily towards articles and
scenarios for games published by their parent company, it also included
ones for popular games produced by other companies, most notably in #14 a
Travellers adventure based on Brian Talbot's Luther
Arkwright comic, co-written and with original art by Talbot himself.
Firefrost was a two page text
introduction to the backstory of Arkwright's multiverse, followed by a two
page comic by Talbot which served as a mission briefing for the characters
who were featured in the attached scenario, The Fire Opal of Set. #21
meanwhile was a superhero special, tying in with TSR's release of the
Marvel Superheroes RPG, and included a scenario, Kiss of Death, for that
game starring Captain Britain, while #22 featured an interview with author
Michael Moorcock alongside an Elric short story (The Last Enchantment) and
scenario (Earl Aubec and the Iron Galleon), both penned by Moorcock
himself.
Imagine also included short fiction in most
issues, usually from new authors, though occasionally from established
writers (as was the case with Moorcock's contribution). Notable examples
included Anne McCaffrey's Cinderella Switch; Brian Lumley's The Mirror of
Nitocris in #13; and Featherquest,
the first published story by newbie author Neil Gaiman in #14 (only
reprinted afaik in the extremely limited edition A Little Gold Book of
Ghastly Stuff in 2011), as well as Gaiman's How to Sell the Ponti Bridge
in #24, eventually reprinted 22 years later in the collection M is for
Magic.
As was also common to RPG magazines, it featured a
small number of comic strips: The Adventures of Nic Novice (#1-14) by Jim
Bambara and Paul Ruiz, designed to introduce first timers to the whole
concept of gaming, part of the regular feature The Beginners' Guide to
Role Playing Games; The Saga of Rubic of Moggedon (#1-30), a parody of
Elric starring a cowardly feline swordsman that had previously appeared in
the D&D Players Association Newsletter (PAN); Ian Williamson's The
Sword of Alabron (#1-16), recounting the misadventures of a
dungeon-crawling party of adventurers - the cowardly thief Dexys, the
naive paladin Reg the Crusader, black-clad mage Nightswift, and
belligerent Scottish dwarf Auchter. Ian Gibbs' comic strip VOP (#16-30),
which had previously appeared in the fanzine Dragonlords, replaced the
departed Nic Novice, while Robin Grenville-Evans' Phalanx (#17-28) took
over Sword of Alabron's vacated slot, telling a twelve part tale about
adventurers Ogryn the Big and Weasel the Fairly Clever. When that ended a
sequel to Sword of Alabron began, Auchter's Axe (#29-30), bringing back
Alabron's most popular character, but the abrupt cancellation of Imagine
meant this new adventure was rudely curtailed.
First Posted: 15/05/2023
Last updated: 15/05/2023
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