Editing Alarums and Excursions

{{Short description|Tabletop role-playing game ALA periodical}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title           = Alarums and Excursions
| image_file      = 
| image_size      = 
| image_alt       = 
| image_caption   = 
| editor          = [[Lee Gold]]
| editor_title    = 
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer    = 
| frequency       = Monthly
| circulation     = 
| category        = [[Role-playing game]]s
| company         = 
| firstdate       = <nowiki>#</nowiki>1, June 1975
| finaldate       = 
| finalnumber     = 
| country         = [[United States]]
| based           = [[Los Angeles]]
| language        = English
| website         = [http://www.conchord.org/xeno/aande.html Alarums and Excursions page]
| issn            = 
}}

'''''Alarums and Excursions''''' ('''''A&E''''') is an [[amateur press association]] (APA) started in June 1975 by [[Lee Gold]]; publication continues to the present day. It was one of the first publications to focus solely on [[role-playing game]]s.

==History==
In 1964, [[Bruce Pelz]] of the [[Los Angeles Science Fiction Society]] (LASFS) began a weekly amateur press association named ''APA-L''.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.lasfsinc.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=136 | title =APA-L | date =2019-01-14 | website =LASFS | publisher =Los Angeles Science Fiction Society | access-date =2019-07-15 }}</ref> In 1974, with the publication of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' by [[TSR, Inc.]], articles and comments about the new roleplaying game began to fill the pages of ''APA-L'', a development to which Pelz objected.<ref>[http://www.arielarchives.com/Brett/magazines/alarumsandexcursions.html Bretts RPG Magazine and Zine Index] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024220743/http://www.arielarchives.com/Brett/magazines/alarumsandexcursions.html |date=October 24, 2006 }}, entry on Alarums & Excursions, retrieved September 2007</ref>   [[Lee Gold]] took note of this and started a new APA, ''Alarums and Excursions'' (the title taken from an [[Elizabethan drama]] stage direction that moved soldiers across a stage<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/alarums+and+excursions|title=alarums and excursions|work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary}}</ref>), to focus entirely on roleplaying games, attracting such material away from ''APA-L''. The first issue appeared in June 1975.

In addition to removing roleplaying games discussion out of ''APA-L'', the initial aim of the publication was to prevent roleplaying games from becoming so divergent that people from different cities could not participate in games together.<ref>{{cite news| last= Mason| first= Paul| date= 2012| title= A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans| url = http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/444/350| journal         = Transformative Works and Cultures| volume= 11| access-date  = 2016-06-19| doi= 10.3983/twc.2012.0444}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last1= Mason| first1= Paul| date = 2004| title= In Search of the Self: A Survey of the First 25 Years of Anglo-American Role-Playing Game Theory| page= 2| editor1-last = Montola| editor1-first= Markus| editor2-last = Stenros| editor2-first= Jaakko| contribution  = Beyond Role and Play| location= Helsinki| publisher= Ropecon ry| url = https://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/84/2004-Beyond.Role.and.Play.pdf| access-date  = 2016-06-19| isbn = 952-91-6842-X}}</ref>

The June 2017 issue of ''Alarums and Excursions'' was number 500, with a color cover drawn by [[Lee Moyer]] and printed by [[Rob Heinsoo]].

==Contents==
Each issue is a collection of contributions from different authors, often featuring game design discussions, rules variants, write-ups of game sessions, reviews, and comments on others contributions.

Although game reports and social reactions are common parts of many ''A&E'' contributions, it has also, over the years, become a testing ground for new ideas on the development of the RPG as a genre and an art form. The idea that role-playing games ''are'' an art form took strong root in this [[zine]], and left a lasting impression on many of the RPG professionals who contributed. The 1992 role-playing game ''[[Over the Edge (role-playing game)|Over the Edge]]'' was inspired by discussions in ''A&E''.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons: The '90s|publisher=Evil Hat Productions|year=2014|edition=2|volume=3|isbn=978-1-61317-084-7|page=55}}</ref>

Over the years, contributors have included: {{div col|colwidth=12em}}
* [[Terry K. Amthor]]
* [[Wilf K. Backhaus]]
* [[Scott Bennie]]
* [[Greg Costikyan]]
* Doc Cross
* [[John M. Ford]]
* [[E. Gary Gygax]]
* [[Andrew Gelman]]
* [[David A. Hargrave]]
* [[Rob Heinsoo]]
* [[John Eric Holmes]]
* Wes Ives
* [[Robin Laws]]
* [[Nicole Lindroos]]
* [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Trammell|first=Aaron|year=2018|chapter=Representation and Discrimination in Role-Playing Games|editor-first1=José P.|editor-last1=Zagal|editor-first2=Sebastian|editor-last2=Deterding|title=Role Playing Games: Transmedia Foundations|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-138-63890-7|page=442}}</ref>
* [[Stephen R. Marsh]]
* Phil McGregor
* [[Dave Nalle]]
* [[Mark Rein·Hagen]]
* [[Ken Rolston]]
* John T. Sapienza Jr.
* [[Lawrence M. Schoen]]
* [[Edward E. Simbalist]]
* [[Jonathan Tweet]]
* [[Erick Wujcik]]
* [[John Nephew]]
* Spike Y Jones
{{div col end}}

==Reception==
In the February 1976 issue of ''[[Strategic Review]]'' (Issue 6), [[Gary Gygax]] complimented the new APA, calling it "an excellent source of ideas, inspirations and fun." Although Gygax felt some of the contributors were "woefully lacking in background", and the quality of printing varied dramatically from issue to issue, he concluded, "For all of its faults, it is far and away the best ''D&D'' '[[zine]], and well worth reading. See for yourself why it rates a Major Triumph."<ref name=sr>{{cite journal|last=Gygax|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Gygax| date=February 1976 |title=Triumphs and Tragedies|journal=[[Strategic Review]]|publisher=[[TSR (company)|TSR, Inc.]]|issue=6|pages=15}}</ref>

In the June 1981 edition of ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' (Issue #50), [[Dave Nalle]] reviewed ''Alarums and Excursions'' after its 63rd issue (November 1980), and although he found the writing style "a bit stuffy", with a "tendency for the writers to pat each other on the back", he still called it "the top APA publication... This is a very well run APA and features many of the leading thinkers in fantasy gaming."<ref name=dragon>{{cite journal|last=Nalle|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Nalle| date=June 1981 |title=The 'Zines!|journal=[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]|publisher=[[TSR (company)|TSR, Inc.]]|issue=50|pages=24}}</ref>

==Awards==
To date, ''Alarums and Excursions'' has been a winner of the [[Charles Roberts Award|Charles Roberts]]/[[Origins Award]] four times:
* "Best Amateur Adventure Gaming Magazine" in 1984<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1980s/The1984OriginsAwards/tabid/3227/Default.aspx|title=The 1984 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 1985|publisher=GAMA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007022304/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1980s/The1984OriginsAwards/tabid/3227/Default.aspx|archive-date=7 October 2014|access-date=22 April 2016}}</ref> 
* "Best Amateur Game Magazine" in 1999<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1990s/The1999OriginsAwards/tabid/3243/Default.aspx|title=The 1999 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 2000|publisher=GAMA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006174818/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1990s/The1999OriginsAwards/tabid/3243/Default.aspx|archive-date=6 October 2014|access-date=22 April 2016}}</ref> 
* "Best Amateur Game Periodical" in 2000<ref name = "hbdhyg">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe2000s/The2000OriginsAwards/tabid/3245/Default.aspx|title=The 2000 Origins Awards - Presented ad Origins 2001|publisher=GAMA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007005721/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe2000s/The2000OriginsAwards/tabid/3245/Default.aspx|archive-date=7 October 2014|access-date=22 April 2016}}</ref> and 2001<ref name = "hbdhyg"/>
* "Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame" in 2022<ref>{{cite web | url=https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/family:1494:moreinfo | title=Alarums & Excursions: Moreinfo }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.conchord.org/xeno/aande.html Alarums and Excursions page]
* [http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/temp/apa-l&roleplaying-lee_gold.doc Lee Gold's index of APA-L's pre-A&E D&D-related content]

{{WargameMag}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alarums And Excursions}}
[[Category:Fanzines]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1975]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1975]]
[[Category:Origins Award winners]]
[[Category:Role-playing game magazines]]
[[Category:Science fiction organizations]]
[[Category:Magazines published in Los Angeles]]