Publisher: Magnum Opus PressInteractive Fantasy was the first magazine devoted to the subject of interactive narratives and storytelling in games. It included articles by leading designers and game-thinkers of the time, and is cited in many academic works on gaming, but has not been properly available since its original release.
The magazine was published by Hogshead Publishing in 1994-5, and was edited by Andrew Rilstone. There were four issues. The first issue was titled Inter*action but was changed for trademark reasons.
Interactive Fantasy was an attempt to bring insight, intelligence and consistency to the discussion of narrative-based games, which at the time primarily meant tabletop RPGs. We were inspired by Scott McCloud and rsquo;s Understanding Comics, and in later issues by Chris Crawford and rsquo;s Interactive Entertainment Design. We tapped friends and contacts across the world and at all levels of the industry for articles, using the tendrils of fandom, conventions, APAs and the nascent internet RPG community to make links and spread the word. We were astonished by who responded.
Although Interactive Fantasy only lasted for four issues, its list of contributors is almost a who and rsquo;s-who of forward-thinking tabletop designers of the 1990s. From ground-breaking designers like Jonathan Tweet and Robin D. Laws to industry stalwarts like Greg Stafford, Allen Varney, Nicole Lindroos-Frein (now Nicole Lindroos-Pramas) and Greg Porter, we were very fortunate. People wanted a venue to share their ideas and philosophies of design, and IF was briefly it. In retrospect the jewel in our crown came in issue 2, with Greg Costikyan and rsquo;s masterful and often-cited essay and lsquo;I Have No Words And I Must Design and rsquo;, but every issue had high points, and some were very high indeed.
This digital reconstruction is not 100% faithful to the original printed edition. The layout has been recreated but the fonts are not exact matches, and lines and pages break in slightly different and nbsp;places. However, any page-references to the print edition should be applicable to this edition. Advertisements have been scanned and reproduced. A few schoolboy errors in typography have been tightened up and original typos corrected.
The original creators remain the owners of the copyright in their articles, and the covers remain the property of the artists. I have worked hard to contact them; I failed in a few cases but where I succeeded they have unanimously granted permission for this re-release, and they have my thanks for that. If you believe you are the rights-holder for any of the content of this publication but you have not been contacted by me about it then please let me know.