Thread: Designer's Notes

The Maverick — 2006-03-01T22:48:54+00:00

i]Adapted from an article originally published at The Games Journal in April 2001.[/i

Back when I was designing the Space and Fantasy Gamer's Guide, I had considered including some notes explaining how the project came about. Months later, as the Guide was nearing completion, fatigue and other factors helped convince me that it wasn't really necessary to add a few more pages to my "510 page monster."

Evidently this omission was noted by Greg Aleknevicus who invited me to write this "making of" piece for The Games Journal. Having recovered from Guide burnout long ago, I am glad to be able to share some of the "how's and why's" behind the Guide. Before I get to those though, a brief description of the Guide is in order.

What is the Space and Fantasy Gamer's Guide?

The Guide is an index to 6 gaming magazines. It lists every game-related article published between 1975 and 1990 in the magazines Ares, Fantasy Gamer, Interplay, Nexus, Space Gamer, and The VIP of Gaming. A common thread between these magazines was their focus on science-fiction and fantasy themed boardgaming and role-playing.

The Guide was self-published as a limited, signed and numbered edition in January 1999. It is an 8.5x11" spiral bound softcover book slightly over 500 pages long.

Why did you put together a crazy project like that?

There are two things which led to the creation of the Guide. One served as inspiration, the other as motivation.

The inspiration came from Danny Holte's Wargamer's Reference Guide (WRG) which he released in 1997. The WRG is a 225 page index covering 13 wargaming magazines - an indispensable tool for finding articles related to old wargames. However, the last thing on my mind when I received the WRG was "Hey, I should put together a crazy project like that!"

My motivation to put together the Space and Fantasy Gamer's Guide stemmed from a set of Space Gamer magazines I had acquired a few years earlier. I was regularly flipping through them looking for articles I remembered seeing. All too often I would end up going through several issues before finding what I was looking for.

I tried a couple of quick fixes before I got the idea to do the Guide. First, I checked online and found what purported to be a Space Gamer index. This ended up being just a list of reviews. So I started working on a summary index which focused on MicroGame titles. But even with my rudimentary index at hand, I was still shuffling through issues looking for stuff I had read before.

At some point (I can't recall the exact moment when insanity overcame me) I put two and two together: There wasn't a satisfactory Space Gamer index out there... the Wargamer's Reference Guide sure was a handy resource... hey, I should put together a crazy project like that!

How was the Guide created?

Gathering the Data

The first thing I did was plan. I decided that I wanted to create a comprehensive resource, but I also wanted it to be easy and convenient to use. The latter factors were particularly important because I knew I would frequently be relying on the Guide myself. With these considerations in mind, I narrowed down the magazines I wanted to include, thought about what data I should index, and decided on a rough format.

My second step was to solicit input from fellow gamers. I passed around a rough sketch of what I had planned and asked for suggestions. While I didn't receive a great deal of commentary, I did end up with some very helpful insights.

One of the best suggestions came from Gary Stagliano. He urged me to present the data in a "catalog style" format rather than just setting it out in rows and columns like the Wargamer's Reference Guide did. He eventually convinced me it was the right way to go, and I revised my plans accordingly. Without Gary's sage advice, the Guide would not be nearly as convenient to use. Hopefully he'll forgive me for forgetting to list him on the Acknowledgments page!

Once I had firmed up my plans, the real work started: data entry. The Guide is based on a page-by-page analysis of each magazine. I knew that if I merely recorded the table of contents for each issue, I would be overlooking a lot of important material. However, the page-by-page method meant I needed to have a copy of every magazine to be indexed.

It was here that Quincey Koziol provided invaluable support by loaning me dozens of magazines from his personal collection. I should note that since he is on opposite side of the country from me, Quincey went above and beyond the call of duty by entrusting his magazines to two trips with the U.S. postal service! I really hated to send back issue #1 of the Space Gamer after I was done with it. On the other hand, now that I know what's in it, I know that I won't pay the "going rate" for it.

The Format of the Guide

The bulk of the Guide is devoted to an index of game related articles organized by game name. In other words, you can look up The Creature that Ate Sheboygan and locate reviews, variants, and scenarios for the game. To facilitate this process, the articles listed with each game are subdivided by article type. In addition to having entries for hundreds of games, the Guide also includes special topic headings for articles specifically related to game designers, game publishers, game magazines, miniatures games, and RPG supplements. Altogether, approximately 4,000 articles are indexed in the Guide.

Each article listing includes several pieces of information. Typically these would be title, author, magazine issue, page number, and comments. Further, every article is classified by type using one or more of 26 different categories (such as Strategy, Analysis, Review, Variant, etc.)

The Guide opens with a summary publishing history for each magazine. In addition to having chronological lists of issues (each with a one line description), the publishing histories also note features such as recurring columns, publishers, editors, number of pages, and cover price.

There are several appendices, two of which are particularly useful for reference purposes. An Author Index is included to help you find magazines containing articles by a specific author. There is also a descriptive index of the 27 games that were published in the magazines covered by the Guide. Other appendices index book reviews, movie reviews, play-by-mail articles, and computer/video game articles.

From Diskette to Printed Page

I will spare you the gory details of printing the Guide (such as the "first printing" that went back because the printer screwed it up, or why it might be a "bad idea" to have around 500 pounds of books in numerous boxes delivered to your office when you plan to store them at home anyway). However, there are two physical aspects of the Guide worthy of note.

The first is the spiral wire binding. This was an important part of my quest for convenience. Having experienced frustration with other small press style bindings (such as the ones with pages that constantly get stuck at the spine or those that won't allow an opened book to lie flat), I felt the spiral wire binding was the best option. Whether you are at a computer or in front of the table, it is easy to page through the Guide and to get it to stay open to the page you need.

The second notable feature is the handy reference card in a storage pocket at the back of the book. Truthfully, this is a bug instead of a feature. In spite of all the work, planning, and proofing, somehow I forgot to list the abbreviations for the article categories! On the other hand, I have yet to be contacted me regarding missing or incorrectly listed articles...

My kudos to Ron Shirtz, who was able to make up for my lack of artistic skills by putting together an attention getting cover. Ron is also responsible for the title being "The Maverick's" Guide, as he added this in one of his rough drafts. Of course, he didn't have to twist my arm too hard to convince to put my e-mail handle on the cover.

Epilogue

Occasionally someone will ask me when I am going to do "Volume II" of the Guide and whether it will feature their favorite gaming magazine. I often reply (half-jokingly) that I don't want to think about a Volume II until the first volume is sold out (and here I am still waiting for it to sell out, five years later).

I do (did???) have my sights set on doing a Volume II some day. Perhaps it could cover Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, Challenge, and The Dragon. In fact, I just purchased a large lot of early White Dwarf magazines... I've been taking a look at some of the online indexes and haven't found one that I'm satisfied with... or maybe I should be glad the first volume hasn't sold out yet — I'm not in any hurry to put together another crazy project like that!

2006 Update: You can order the Space and Fantasy Gamer Guide right here on BoardGameGeek. If you would like more details about the Guide, feel free to ask me, or you can visit the official Guide home page at http://micro.brainiac.com/sfgg/

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The Maverick — 2005-06-05T11:04:57+00:00

How to use the game article index in the Guide

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The Maverick — 2005-06-05T11:04:57+00:00

How to use the game article index, examples

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The Maverick — 2005-06-05T11:04:56+00:00

Portion of Reference Card showing all Article Subject Abbreviations used in Index

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The Maverick — 2005-06-05T11:04:56+00:00

Sample index page

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The Maverick — 2005-06-05T11:04:56+00:00

Sample Appendix page

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The Maverick — 2005-05-26T19:51:14+00:00

Cover

Game: Maverick's Space & Fantasy Gamer's Guide, The

Thread: Designer's Notes

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