Alarums and Excursions

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Zine
Title: Alarums and Excursions
Publisher: APA
Editor(s): Lee Gold
Date(s): 1975-present
Frequency: monthly
Medium: print APA
Size: 60-130 pages
Fandom: Dungeons and Dragons & Tabletop RPG
Language: English
External Links: Alarums and Excursions webpage
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Alarums and Excursions (A&E) is a photocopied monthly roleplaying game apazine started by Lee Gold in 1975 and published every month since then through to July 2022, except one due to travel, one for medical issues and two for convention attendance[1]. This was at a time when the tabletop roleplaying community was dominated by men - she wrote, edited, compiled and published what became one of the most enduring APA zines in the genre.

The name comes from Shakespeare -"alarums and excursions" is a stage direction to indicate a confused uproar[2], which effectively describes D&D at times. Each issue is a collection of contributions from different authors across the U.S., U.K. and Canada, plus occasional contributors from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Norway[3]. It features game design discussions, rules variants, write-ups of game sessions, reviews, and comments on others' contributions. Lee also contributes her own column, Tantivy.

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.

 [4]

The zine began for two reasons: firstly, there were complaints that discussion of the new roleplaying game, D&D, were swamping the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society newsletter APA-L[3] and secondly, Lee Gold felt there needed to be a central point to discuss ideas and prevent the game from becoming so divergent it was unplayable except by specific people in their specific groups:

Eventually as playing styles diverged in LA, San Francisco, and Boston, I decided to start an APA so we could share ideas and keep from becoming so divergent that we couldn't participate in games together, so I started A&E in mid-1975. Early issues had articles by professionals like Dave Hargrave and Steve Perrin, Ed Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus, Wes Ives and Phil McGregor, as well as a couple of somewhat confused letters from E. Gary Gygax (who couldn't quite figure out who was writing the zines he was commenting on and so misaddressed his own comments). But the bulk of the zines came (as they still do) from amateur roleplayers. Some writers loved a particular game system, some had house rules, some wrote about roleplaying in general. Some wrote fiction or poetry or songs, but most of the stories that appeared were writeups.

 [5]

In this aim, Lee was successful, with the zine becoming a testing ground for new ideas on the development of the RPG as a genre and an art form. This helped game designers understand that roleplay is an art form and led to the development of a variety of new games, both official and unofficial[6]. A number of the zine's regular contributors became notable in game design and science fiction and fantasy writing:


cover of issue #44

A&E runs ad-free. Issues 1-311 were provided in print format only. Since issue 312, it is also available via .doc and/or .pdf form (only with a "vow not to send copies to other people"[1])

It is estimated that as of 2023, there are 560 issues published. Back issues are available to be ordered (issues 1-311 have been scanned and converted to .pdf), and some are available in hard copy, stored in Lee's home and garage:

The current hard copies reside in two locations:


1) In cardboard boxes on a shelf on top of the cars in the garage. (Note: I am 4'9" tall. I have to get on top of a ladder to reach these boxes. I'm 75 years old.) These magazines start around issue #100-#150 or so. They're in mediocre shape.

2) In the front bedroom closet, piled on the floor and on shelves, starting around #150-#200 or so. They're in better shape.


Don't count on any of these issues to be in complete runs until you get into the relatively recent years: e.g. #300+.

 [7]

Creator Reactions

Initially, Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson, supported the zine, even contributing to it himself[8] in issues 2, 8 and 15 and calling it a Major Triumph in his 1976 review of the zine in The Strategic Review Issue 6. However he grew to view APAs as a threat to his intellectual property as well as an unwelcome source of criticism from players. In Dragon Issue 16 (1978), he describes APAs as

"...generally beneath contempt, for they typify the lowest form of vanity press. There one finds pages and pages of banal chatter and inept writing from persons incapable of creating anything which is publishable elsewhere. Therefore, they pay money to tout their sophomoric ideas, criticise those who are able to write and design, and generally make themselves obnoxious. * While there are notable exceptions, they are far too few to give any merit to the vehicles they appear in." [9]

As a note to the article, he explains his change of heart:

"When I first got into this business, I felt that the APA-zines might be good for the hobby. I even reviewed a number of them for TD readers. Now I know the error of my thinking. They serve no useful purpose."[10]

In 1981, Dragon reviewed A&E for it's 50th Issue, calling it "the top APA publication... This is a very well run APA and features many of the leading thinkers in fantasy gaming.[11]"

Awards

Legacy

A&E's legacy is best summed up by Lee Gold herself:

...In those years, A&E; has cost me a lot of time and energy. And it's put me in touch with some great roleplayers (both GMs and players), writers, and publishers. It's also led me to some wonderful friendships. I can't imagine what my life would have been without it, but I know I'd be poorer for its loss.

 [12]

External Links

"Lee Gold: 45 Years of Alarums & Excursions!" Zenoplus Archives, June 18, 2020

"Meet the Woman Who by 1976 Was the Most Important Gamer in Roleplaying After Gary" DM David Blog, June 16, 2020

DNA Episode 086 - Interview with Lee Gold - via YouTube

Alarums and Excursions - Wikipedia

References

  1. ^ a b Alarums and Excursions webpage, updated July 2021
  2. ^ Meet the Woman Who by 1976 Was the Most Important Gamer in Roleplaying After Gary by DM David, June 16, 2020
  3. ^ a b RPG Magazine and Zine Index, Alarums and Excursions Page - via Wayback Oct 24/06
  4. ^ Alarms and Excursions Webpage - updated July 2021
  5. ^ "A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans" by Paul Mason, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 11 [2012]
  6. ^ Alarms and Excursions - Contents, Wikipedia
  7. ^ ibid
  8. ^ Basic and Advanced—Dungeon & Dragons goes two directions (Part 3) DM David, December 19, 2016
  9. ^ Dragon Magazine Issue 16, page 16
  10. ^ Dragon, Issue 16, page 21 - Editor's Note
  11. ^ Dragon Magazine, Issue 50, page 26
  12. ^ RPG Magazine and Zine Index - Alarums and Excursions Page via Wayback Oct 24/06
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