Tunnels & Trolls, Lost Worlds, Ace of Aces, Grimtooth’s Traps, Illuminati PBM are among the more famous fantasy gaming products made by Flying Buffalo - but did you know they published their very own magazine called “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”?
What a treat when an auctioned 1983 “SA” Special Oversize Issue #17 arrived at my door not too long ago. Join Rediscovered Realms as we explore some of the fun art, ads, and aspects from this old school fantasy gem.
Cool cover illustration by Chris Miller - I caption it, “I’m done reminding you to take the dog out. Now the dog will take YOU out!”
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SA #17 Table of Contents
The quality of this quarterly magazine is very impressive. Thick pages, nice graphic design, meaty articles, fiction stories, and of course, my favorite - amazing artwork!
Illustration by Russ Miller
In the 1st issue of Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Winter 1978), Ken St. Andre defined it as a "'zine based around T&T specifically and fantasy role-playing in general".
There goes the (fantasy) neighborhood. Lawyers are coming to your hamlet! Russ Miller illustration.
How to catch and reform a serial slash n’ hacker (not to be confused with a “hack n’ slasher”)
Do you like old school fantasy magazines? Did you see this Rediscovered Realms article about “Fantasy Gamer”?
TSR’s Dragon Magazine wasn’t the only fantasy mag in town. Steve Jackson put out Fantasy Gamer Magazine for 6 issues back in 1983 & 1984. In fact, at the time of this writing, the 1st issue just hit its 40th birthday! Like a time capsule, Fantasy Gamer
Recently, there was a knock at the door which revealed a nondescript plain brown box on the front step. I stooped to retrieve it and before retreating back inside, could have sworn I heard the lowest of growls. “Best not shake it then,” I mused. Inside, I went seeking a pocket, no, better a bowie knife, to reveal its contents (and defend myself if necessa…
Methinks the Bugbear did it, in the Tavern, with the Magic Dagger+1. Did I win?
Every issue of SA has either a short mini-solo adventure for T&T or a short Gamemaster Scenario that can be used with T&T or other fantasy role playing games.
Retro Atari 16K strategy game ad. Dinosaurs, Space combat & Aliens - these things NEVER go out of style!
Grimtooth, is what we would call in today’s vernacular, “a real asshole”
First 8 covers for Sorcerer's Apprentice Magazine
Illustration by Jerrod Wallace.
Another really fun feature of this magazine is their column titles and graphic logos. Check out the header logo for “The Weapons Shop” above. Other cool column names they created:
“Troll Talk” (letter from the editor)
“Arcane Graffiti” (game reviews)
“Broken Spines” (book reviews)
“Queries & Quandaries” (reader question & answer)
Fantasia board game. Sounds fun. I mean how can you resist, “free-wheeling”, “easy to handle” pieces, and the temptation to cut out your box cover and “frame it”?!
Do you love heroic fantasy gamebooks like me? Consider signing up to be informed when I launch my very 1st one!
(Featuring artwork from Clyde Caldwell & Luke Eidenschink!)
Second "8" issues of Sorcerer's Apprentice Magazine (9 & 10 were combined!)
Kane short story by Karl Edward Wagner. Illustrations by Stephen Fabian.
This short story is pretty incredible. I hadn’t come across the “Kane” stories by Karl Edward Wagner before. Glad I did. That guy did some amazing writing.
The artwork, by Stephen Fabian is phenomenal as well. I reserved several of the other best-est illustrations so I can include them in a special future newsletter about him.
Stephen Fabian
Stephen Fabian did the cover of the old “Fantasae” fanzine that Rediscovered Realms covered recently:
Magnificent thews and verse that can’t lose. This week we have unearthed a limited-run 1975 fanzine full of cool fantasy art and . . . poetry inspired by Conan’s creator, R.E. Howard. Before you skip this Rediscovered Realms’ rhyming class, you’ll want to stick around because I’ve uncovered a little-known illustration of one of the most famous modern-day…
No, not a sacrifice, but a resurrection, Tunnels & Trolls Priest-style! Illustration by Cortina Bandolero
Unsolved Mystery: Cortina Bandolero appears to be the penname for Laurie Jeanie Wardein, who was a writer, Elfquest superfan, artist and weekly newspaper music record reviewer - who was also a victim of a horrific unsolved homicide in 1985.
”She loved fantasy from the time she was a little girl," her mother says. "She was always thinking up characters and stories. I think that is why she took that name. Cortina. She thought it was romantic or something. Different. She spent a lot of time alone. She just didn't know how special she was."
Illustration by Richard Becker
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information online, but it appears Sorcerer’s Apprentice magazine ran until issue #34 in 1988, though from issue #17 onward, Bob Liddel took over and changed it into a fanzine format instead:
Incredible illustration by Richard Becker. That mustache would make Sturm Brightblade proud.
I couldn’t find any more information on artist, Richard Becker - but boy do I like his style!
Richard Becker illustration. The guy on the floor is me - saddened I didn’t find out more about Richard. The proud bartender could be YOU, if you find out more about Richard and let me know!
Back cover ad for Citybook II. Citybook I was big hit for Flying Buffalo.
Other News from The Realms
EXCLUSIVE interview with Rose Estes (writer of TSR’s Endless Quest books, Greyhawk, Find Your Fate, et al.) is coming soon to Rediscovered Realms! I can’t wait to share with you her amazing journey.
For those really interested in TSR’s DEEP HISTORY, there was an old story about them in their heyday, flush with cash, dredging up a sunken ship from Lake Geneva, just because. Artist, Clyde Caldwell, shared with me he remembered the old boiler rusting away “out back of TSR” when he started there. Well, Clay Bores dredged up the local news video of the event!
Last week was a holiday here in The States, and while most folks were out partying like it was 1999, the poor lil’ ol’ scribe from Rediscovered Realms was wasting away in his little cell (with only 1 lump of coal - provided by Grimtooth - for heat), chained to his electronic quill creating the latest amazing newsletter . . . that went mostly unread. ☹ In case you missed it in your inboxes, you’ll want to check out:
This week, I’ve disentombed my 1981 pocket-sized Dungeons & Dragons Computer Fantasy Game by Mattel Electronics from the depths of my childhood collection. But with the tiny watch batteries having disappeared long, long ago into oblivion, will I be able to get it to light up once again? Let’s find out.
This week I visited my local Barnes & Noble bookstore where I noticed this cool 2023 Dungeons & Dragons escape room adventure game, “Bedlam in Neverwinter”. I left the store without it, but think it has already imprisoned me, as I long to go back for it!
Finally, there are only 8 days left to pick up a copy of Christopher Bünte’s The Secrets of Candarlin. Christopher had shared with me that this was a story & world he had conceived many years ago and is very dear to his heart.
That’s it for now, fellow adventurers. Until next time.
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” - Mae Jemison, astronaut
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The Kane stories are pretty amazing. I've got the Centipede Press hardcovers and the old SF Book Club anthologies. That Flying Buffalo was able to get Wagner to print a story with them speaks a lot about the short fiction market. I highly recommend the documentary about his life. He was a creative force, but his life is pretty tragic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/296318
What's really interesting is that he was part of a "circle of friends" that included David Drake and Manly Wade Wellman. All of whom are very talented writers, but who have very different world views. For example, in an essay on his site Drake had this to say (https://david-drake.com/2010/manly-wade-wellman/):
"Manly was a lot smarter than I in my arrogance (my stupid arrogance) gave him credit for. As one example that can stand for many (this, by the way, is a peril of a memory as good as mine is: I remember many things that embarrass me with the eyes of hindsight), Manly was adamant that cocaine was an addictive and destructive drug, based on his experience as a police reporter in Wichita. Karl was sneeringly certain of the medical opinion that cocaine was non-addictive.
I bought into the ’scientific truth’. Now, after watching a very close friend as well as a number of acquaintances in the writing community (including Stephen King) lose years and nearly their lives to cocaine, I can only nod to Manly’s memory. Now I know there’s psychological addiction as well as physiological addiction. Manly was right; I was wrong. And that was generally true when we differed on matters of opinion."
Your reaction to finding Wagner stories in Sorcerer's Apprentice reminds me of the reaction I had when I found out that Gary Gygax's company was the first company to public David Gemmell's novel LEGEND.
The Kane stories are pretty amazing. I've got the Centipede Press hardcovers and the old SF Book Club anthologies. That Flying Buffalo was able to get Wagner to print a story with them speaks a lot about the short fiction market. I highly recommend the documentary about his life. He was a creative force, but his life is pretty tragic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/296318
What's really interesting is that he was part of a "circle of friends" that included David Drake and Manly Wade Wellman. All of whom are very talented writers, but who have very different world views. For example, in an essay on his site Drake had this to say (https://david-drake.com/2010/manly-wade-wellman/):
"Manly was a lot smarter than I in my arrogance (my stupid arrogance) gave him credit for. As one example that can stand for many (this, by the way, is a peril of a memory as good as mine is: I remember many things that embarrass me with the eyes of hindsight), Manly was adamant that cocaine was an addictive and destructive drug, based on his experience as a police reporter in Wichita. Karl was sneeringly certain of the medical opinion that cocaine was non-addictive.
I bought into the ’scientific truth’. Now, after watching a very close friend as well as a number of acquaintances in the writing community (including Stephen King) lose years and nearly their lives to cocaine, I can only nod to Manly’s memory. Now I know there’s psychological addiction as well as physiological addiction. Manly was right; I was wrong. And that was generally true when we differed on matters of opinion."
Your reaction to finding Wagner stories in Sorcerer's Apprentice reminds me of the reaction I had when I found out that Gary Gygax's company was the first company to public David Gemmell's novel LEGEND.
Really wish you hadn’t said “Dungeons & Dragons” and “escape room” in the same sentence...because now I have to track down and buy a copy.