Due to space considerations, some letters have been edited. Even if your letter isn't printed, your comments are welcome and your suggestions and constructive criticisms are thoughtfully considered. So keep the letters coming. Remember SHADIS is an interactive magazine - we want you, the reader, to be involved. --Jolly R. Blackburn Dear SHADIS, Thanks so much for including Visionary Publishing in # 19's Bits 'N Pieces column. We really appreciate it! I have some updates and corrections, both for our company as well as others mentioned in the column. Our America Online contact is now Sam Chupp who has joined us as Creative Director. We'll be publishing Sam's story/game 'karma' in the winter. Sam stresses that the lower-case k in 'karma' is intentional! Our game 'Remembrance' has become 'Reflections', a two player game which focuses on promises and true love. 'Urban Legends' is on hold at the moment, although the moderatorless Tarot-based system is still being developed and used elsewhere. By the time this sees print, our fiction/art collection 'New Visions' and the first issue of our journal 'Vision Quest' should both be available. They are available as digital books in Adobe Software's Acrobat format. I'm no longer Industry News Editor for 'Luminary' as the magazine has unfortunately ceased publication. 'Vision Quest' does include game reviews and industry news, so feel free to send me press releases. By the way, William Spencer-Hate's AOL screen name recently changed to QMSWilliam and Sam Chupp is no longer the AOL rep for White Wolf. Visionary Publishing also has a web page at http: / /www. io. com/- mi g which includes company info and excerpts from 'Vision Quest' and 'New Visions'. Hope this info helps! Keep up the great work! --Mitchell J. Gross Visionary Publishing, Inc. via the Internet Yours was not the only correction we received to that section. An expanded and corrected and generally spiffier version is included in this month's Bits & Pieces. We hope it's useful to our Netconnected readers. -- GW Dear Mr. Blackburn, I am writing this letter for a twofold purpose. The first is to complement you on the latest issue. I especially enjoyed the articles on Native American magic (always nice to see something non- British/Western in fantasy games) and the piece on holy swords. Both were very well written and informative. The second is to see if SHADIS would be interested in an article on adventuring in the slums of a city. Not only would this apply to fantasy campaigns, but I would also mention the use of such sordid surroundings in scifi and horror games. I myself have been a freelance writer for several years, with gaming articles published in Dragon and White Wolf. I am currently a contributing writer for d8 Magazine as well as an editorial assistant in New York. I would be more than happy to send you a more detailed proposal or the entire article itself should you be interested in the piece. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, Steve Berman via America Online We're glad you enjoyed Navajo Magic. We try to to publish offbeat things occasionally just to keep people interested. And, as the article was written by the author of GURPS Old West, we felt that it wasn't too nonstandard. We're always happy to see new submissions. Our revised Writers' and Artists' guidelines are available (after a long wait - sorry, folks) as this goes to press. -- GW Hi; Are there any back issues of SHADIS or SHADIS Presents avail. able? If there are, how do I get them. Thanks in advance! Ramon Guerrero via the Internet We've gotten so many of these letters recently that we've reinstated out Back Issue Madness offer - back by popular demand. It's near the end of this issue look for it! --GW Dear Mr. Blackburn, I've been playing role-playing games for (oh my gosh, it's been) 16 years now. My story is fairly familiar, I suppose. I got interested in the original brown-bag D&D books, and once I got into college, I joined a gaming group and played probably half of the RPGs out there. We were lucky enough to have a fine gaming store in town, and I remember scouring the shelves looking for modules, magazines, anything which might be interesting and fun. Unfortunately, as the industry matured, much of what was available became "slicker." While the artwork and paper quality improved, the content suffered. I lost interest in gaming around the time TSR began churning out the endless 2nd edition AD&D books. This represented to me the end of an era: corporate suits had begun producing "product" and not games. Anyway, the reason for this little trip down memory lane is I want to congratulate you on SHADIS magazine. It has really rekindled my interest and faith in the industry. In no way am I disrespectful when I say that it is the lack of slickness in your magazine which I love the most. I applaud your decision to remain in newsprint. You even managed to surround wellwritten and thoughtful articles with fine artwork. I've been reading SHADIS since about # 16. Your glowing review of FUDGE inspired me to get a copy, and, having fallen in love with it, I even began a new campaign (after an absence of about 3 years). I know that gamer burnout and return is common, but something has to trigger it, and that something for me was SHADIS. Anyway, thanks. Respectfully Rob Ritchie via America Online We're always glad to hear from people who have come back to the fold. Responses to the FUDGE article have been almost uniformly. positive; the FUDGE folks have promised us a third edition in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned. --GW This next letter was forwarded to us by the folks on the other side of the office, who are developing a card game. On our newly-appointed World Wide Web site (http://www.isomedia.com/homes /~aeg/aeg.html - go have a look at the SHADIS pages!) they posted a call for game suggestions and chocolate-chip cookie recipes. Here's part of one of the responses, which SHADIS now brings to you as a public service. --GW Thinking you might be flooded with chocolate-chip cookie recipes, here's a recipe for something that's actually quicker to make than cookies yet just as much of a chocolate boost: Almond Chocolate Sticks 8 oz. cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups flour 1 pkg. (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds Cream the cheese with butter till soft and blended; beat in sugar and vanilla. Sprinkle flour and baking powder over and stir into cheese mixture. Spread in ungreased 13" x 12" baking pan (usual cookie sheet). Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes or till firm and lightly browned at edges. Sprinkle chocolate over and let stand a few minutes to melt. Spread with knife till cookie layer is evenly coated, then sprinkle with almonds. Cool, then cut lengthwise into 1" strips. Cut across strips to get 4" lengths. Makes 2 dozen sticks. Enjoy, Blaise Selby Back to Shadis #20 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1995 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com