Today we’re cracking open a time capsule - an issue of Imagine Adventure Games Magazine from August 1984 - and flipping through some of its most visually fun pages together.
No deep dives. No long-winded analysis.
Just raw, unfiltered old-school fantasy artwork, cool ads, comics, and fragments from a world where imagination ruled the table.
Come explore . . . and see what catches your eye.
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When Adventure Games Ruled the Realms
Published by TSR UK in the 1980s, Imagine Magazine was a sister publication to Dragon Magazine - packed with adventures, articles, comics, and a distinctly British flavor of fantasy role-playing.
But just as memorable as the content itself were the margins of the magazine - the ads, illustrations, and strange little glimpses into the hobby as it existed in its early days.
This is probably one of the coolest D&D ads I have seen. Maybe because I love the artwork across the top. Anyone know where that came from? Seems like maybe a cover of Dragon Magazine?
I always appreciate the 2-tone colors in some of the old school fantasy products. Just a little red+black or green+black seems to make things pop tremendously.
Blending real-world mythology/history into Fantasy RPGs was also something that felt extra cool.
Similar to the 2-tone ink colors, when magazines and supplements included a few pages of colored paper, it really kicked up the visual appeal.
Like what you’re seeing? Then check out this other Imagine magazine Rediscovered Realms edition:
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It is interesting to see how many Play By Mail groups there were during this time. Whatever theme you were interested in there was a group. Also the blurb on magic users made me laugh. Sounds like a how to on running a fantasy Airbnb.
Always great fun looking through the old magazines! Plenty that I enjoy from them, could not pick just one kind of thing. The ads are fun to see how the (then) new things were promoted. And the convention lists are interesting to learn where the early ones were held. While I often think of the area where I grew up as being a somewhat small one, I've seen some of the early shows from there get mentions (or even large ads!) in magazines like "Dungeoneer" and "Dragon".
Speaking of ads, I tried a quick search on that image but didn't come up with anything definitive yet. Google images thought it might tie to one of Ursula K LeGuin's novels, but it isn't the cover of any of the printings that I saw so far.
It is interesting to see how many Play By Mail groups there were during this time. Whatever theme you were interested in there was a group. Also the blurb on magic users made me laugh. Sounds like a how to on running a fantasy Airbnb.
Always great fun looking through the old magazines! Plenty that I enjoy from them, could not pick just one kind of thing. The ads are fun to see how the (then) new things were promoted. And the convention lists are interesting to learn where the early ones were held. While I often think of the area where I grew up as being a somewhat small one, I've seen some of the early shows from there get mentions (or even large ads!) in magazines like "Dungeoneer" and "Dragon".
Speaking of ads, I tried a quick search on that image but didn't come up with anything definitive yet. Google images thought it might tie to one of Ursula K LeGuin's novels, but it isn't the cover of any of the printings that I saw so far.