Imagine Magazine Issue 5 (August 1983)

This starts off with an editorial on sexism in gaming from the (presumably female) Editorial Assistant Kim Daniel, which I think would have been one of the first times this issue was raised...though not the last, by a long shot.

The "Adventures of Nic Novice" beginner's guide looks at spells, while the cartoon strip looks at character generation in Traveller, then probably the second most common game in the UK.

Stirge Corner looks at dungeon design, and proposes that dungeons break down into two classes - relatively small "adventure" dungeons built around a theme eg the lair of an evil cult, which may include a mission (rescue a princess etc) and are designed for a specific character level versus the big "mainframe" mega-dungeon dungeons that can be repeatedly pillaged by adventuring parties and still have plenty of life in them. I must say that in practice, I only ever saw the former, though accounts suggest many of the classic US campaigns were based on or at least included the latter.

This was the first of the "themed" issues Imagine became known for (although one could argue that the previous issue effectively had an SF theme), with this issue describing itself as a "Celtic Special" - this was the high point of people like Clannad and Enya, and "Celtic" was popular

"A class of their own" looks at Druids, both in the game and in the historical sources, and seems like a good and useful article. This was followed by four pages of new (and official) Druidic spells, most of which look sensible, apart from one that lets you effectively walk around with a tame Treant in your pocket. In fairness, it's a level 7 spell, by which point standard MUs can cast "Limited Wish", so perhaps the problem is less this spell than the very high power D&D spellcasters can attain at relatively modest levels. Oddly, we see a similar problem in the Marvel Superhero movies - Bucky Barnes or Natasha Romanoff are high-end brawlers, whereas Scarlet Witch can simply re-write reality.

"Lore, lay and legend" continues the theme with a quick summary of Celtic mythology, while the other Celtic themed item is the issue's mini-module "The Taking of Siandabhair", intended for 4-7 characters of 4-6th level. It's the basic "rescue the princess" plot, but divided into three separate mini-scenarios including one set underwater. The triple division is a neat touch, given the importance of threes in Celtic mythology, though I suspect that player having to hit the first two locations only to find that the princess has been moved on in each case may frustrate some parties.

The review column covers 3 D&D modules, the Star Frontiers screen & mini-module and the range of Samurai miniatures from Dixon, all of which it is fairly favourable about.

It also covers the "City of Sorcerers" boardgame, which is labelled as OK if flawed and (oddly) "Quantum Jump", which is an abstract family boardgame without obvious an RPG link.

The book review page also has some rather odd choices. It starts out by arguing that Marion Zimmer Bradley's work is probably fantasy rather than SF (which is probably true, but does it really matter?) then reviews a couple of books from Norman Spinrad and JG Ballard which both sank without much trace. It then looks at Michael Moorcock's "Retreat from Liberty", which is a straight political pamphlet though nobody can question Moorcock's claim to be a fantasy author, and finally "Red Dragon", the first of the Hannibal Lector books. Other than noting it's well before the series became famous with the movie version of "Silence of the Lambs", it's straight contemporary detective fiction, with no obvious reason for it to appear in an SF / Fantasy column...unless the reviewer figured that just having "Dragon" in the title was enough to qualify?

"The Imagination Machine" column looks at which microcomputer to buy - it provides good, logical advice but since it's from 1983, it's now no more than a historical curiosity.

The PA news section includes hints and tips on preparing a module for publication, which is interesting to see if a little specialist, plus the usuals such as the Dispel Confusion Q&A and Turnbull Talking, in this case about the origins of the hobby via Diplomacy.

There's a one page report from the Sol III Star Trek convention, which as is common with such articles manages to not actually say very much while simultaneously suggesting that everyone had fun; it's notable now because I can't imagine White Dwarf having an equivalent article at that point in time.

You've probably got the hang of my opinions on the four pages of cartoons by now, so I'll spare you the repetition (Spoilers: I'm not big on them).

Overall, while there's still some way to go, the quality and usefulness of the content has improved notably by this point, and it's starting to resemble the magazine I remember.