"The Stars are Right!"
On January 2, 1990 I walked into the Post Office on Fort Jackson, South Carolina and pushed 100 issues of SHADIS # 1 across the counter for shipment. For three months I had been laboring away on a small computer in the corner of my bedroom, creating a fanzine from scratch.
For the next six years SHADIS became the master of my world and the center of my universe as it grew from a small, hand- assembled fanzine to a prozine reaching distribution levels of 20,000.
The cover of that first issue proudly invited the reader to "Witness the Beginning of a Great Adventure!" And what an adventure it has been. I had no idea when I chasing my dream that it would be so wrapped up in the dreams of so many others. My small fanzine, for whatever reason, attracted gainers. And with them came the talent and experience (and yes, the venture capital and business savvy I was lacking) to help SHADIS step up at the table with the big guys.
For the past two years, we've been the little guys who made good. Everyone seems to have been rooting for us. From our readers, to shop. keepers, to distributors, artists and game designers, it seemed everyone was calling up to pass along a good tip or ask for a few promo copies to show a friend or potential advertiser. SHADIS was launched with an attitude that we were here to serve the industry.
I don't think it ever hit me that we'd actually pulled it off until I heard the news that we had missed winning the Origins Award for Best Professional Gaming Magazine by just three votes! (Dragon' and Duelist' tied for first place.) It wasn't until that moment, when I saw that we were standing almost toe to toe with the 'big guys' that I had a sense of what we've accomplished with SHADIS.
Yes, it's been a great adventure indeed!
I speak in past tense because it is with great regret that I am announcing my resignation as editor of SHADIS. A few weeks ago, after months of deliberation, I placed a proposal before my partners asking that my interest in both AEG and SHADIS be bought out. With reluctance, they accepted that proposal and by the time you read this editorial it will all be settled and I'll already be sailing the uncharted waters of the freelance world.
Why? There were numerous concerns that led me to such a decision but most of them are inherent in any deadline-driven job such as stress, long hours, missed holidays, etc. One very serious problem for me is the fact that I've been turning A job opportunities and assignments for the down past two years because the magazine demands too much of my time to even consider outside pro. jects.
The clincher, however, was the fact that my, partners and myself have been moving in different directions the past year or so. This problem is in no way unique to AEG. Countless business partnerships end over differences on how a company should be, run or in what direction it should grow. just one of those sad facts of life.
A good friend summed up the situation by commenting, "Jolly, you wanted a grass- roots company and your partners are aiming for the stars." I think his explanation is about as good as any I would care to offer. (Consider this the Cliffs. Notes version of my departure).
Where am I off to? Well, I promised myself I would take a few months before tackling any major projects so I'll be freelancing for the time being. I've also retained ownership of Knights of the Dinner Table' so I'll be working on the comic books and doing the strip for one or more of the gaming magazines.
Since the parting has been friendly, the door is open for KODT to continue appearing in SHADIS. I've also indicated I may be interested in heading up a regular column, or freelancing an article from time to time. So don't expect me to drop from sight - at least not yet! I'm also in the process of setting up freelance assignments with several of the other gaming magazines while I'm waiting for my subscription to SHADIS to arrive in the mail.
Not to fear loyal readers, I am leaving SHADIS in capable hands of D.J. Trindle who has been serving as Assistant Editor for over a year now.
D.J. had the unfortunate experience of learning my home-brewed system for editing and laying out a magazine. I fondly call it the "Jolly Blackbum: One man - No I don't need any help - Oh my Gawd it's Saturday - I need someone to bring me a change of clothes to the office - Here's your damn proofs it's your problem now - I'm getting hammered" Layout Editing System.
D.J. has learned the system extremely well and I'm expecting him to take SHADIS onward and upward as editor. He's been doing a great job on the magazine and if you're apprehensive about having a new set of hands at the wheel, relax. D.J. has pulled together the last three issues largely on his own.
It occurred to me as I was writing this that I am writing my last editorial for SHADIS. That got me thinking about all the editorials I've written over the years and before I knew it I had pulled out my archived copies and drifting back to that little fanzine that dragged me on this journey.
After reading the editorial in Issue #14 which presented the policies and standards I had set down for SHADIS, I realized it would be fitting to present it again during the changing of the guard that's about to take place.
The SHADIS Policy Statement combined with the Declaration of Independence (check out the contents page of any issue of SHADIS from # 16 on) define my original vision of SHADIS. It's the yardstick I've used to keep the magazine on course, and keep any would-be-detractors at bay.
A Matter of Policy
Editorial: SHADIS # 14 July 25, 1994
In the grand scheme of things, I suppose a humble gaming magazine can't really be considered anything of great import. What can be said about it except that it's a forum for people sharing a common interest, in this case gaming, and a vehicle for advertisers to target their audience. A single magazine among thousands of others in a hundred different niche markets trying to find a place in the brutal and deadly world of publishing.
Over the last six issues my partners and I (along with a small army of contributors and feature editors) have strived to make SHADIS something special - something different. It's an ongoing process governed by a specific game plan and company policy. I won't bore you with all of the specifics, but I thought it might be of interest to some of our readers if I over viewed some of out basic policies.
1. Independent as well as Neutral
I decided in the beginning that SHADIS would be a "house-organ for the industry." I wanted a magazine that brought gamers together as well as the game companies (both large and small) in a forum that was strongly independent as well as neutral.
This point of policy is simple - there is no room for politics at SHADIS. If you want to hear the latest dirt on various game companies and designers, you won't find it here. If you want to know which side of the fence SHADIS has taken when a lawsuit between two game companies is announced, you'll be hard pressed to find out. The bottom line is that SHADIS is a games magazine and we will concern ourselves with issues that concern gaming
You'll find the details of such lawsuits - but you won't find personal opinions on which side is right.
2. Building Foundations
Another policy here at SHADIS wouldn't be of concern to our readers except that it might explain a few things that wouldn't otherwise be obvious. Many of you have inquired and even chided us for not going full gloss/fall color. Well, there's a reason why we haven't made the move up in production quality. Our first priority is to transform SHADIS into a financially stable and healthy publication.
The fatal temptation for most fledgling magazines is to pump dollars into paper upgrades and color. I suppose the line of thinking is that more readers will read your magazine if it is pretty and attracts the eye. Such a rationale ignores the uniqueness of our hobby.
Gamers, as a whole, are intelligent, discerning individuals who are not easily fooled by flash and showmanship. In fact, most gamers seem to have an aversion for big business and their hype-marketing.
Gloss pages would be wonderful. But I'm confident there are other gamers like myself out there who, given a choice between additional pages or going gloss, would vote for content over cosmetics.
The typical issue of SHADIS is 112 pages for a cover price of $3.50. That's over thirty additional pages of articles and adventure every issue that would not have been possible had we gone gloss.
3. Put on New Eyes
This is a favorite saying of mine, taken from an old Gallagher routine. It concerns taking a familiar subject and looking at it in a new way.
Popular sections of the magazine like Hook, Line, and Sinker, GameMaster's Workshop and even the Knights of the Dinner Table were devised by looking something common and attempting to took at it in another way.
I'm constantly evaluating SHADIS and asking myself how I can improve it. I study small press gaming zines for talent and fresh ideas. I surf the net looking to see what people are talking about and what their feelings are. Anything I can tap into to bring to the reader is a bonus.
I try to step back and pretend I'm Joe Gamer (not a far stretch) and ask myself what I'd would like to see in a games magazine. What would make M pick it up off the shelf? Hopefully the results are obvious. If not, we still have a lot of work to do.
4. Keep your Toes in the Grass
I coined this phrase a few months ago after tracing the history and development of some of my favorite game magazines (i.e a few of our competitors). I've spotted a trend over the years. A magazine would start out as a grass roots endeavor, flourish for a time and then suddenly remake itself into something which hardly resembles the magazine that attracted its original reader base.
I'm not saying this is bad -- it's the nature of progress. Change is good and often times its critical for survival.
As a matter of policy for SHADIS, however, I want to keep the magazine footed in the grass roots of gaming.
This can be achieved by staying intimate with small press publishers and becoming deeply involved in attending and supporting small conventions. More importantly, we can keep SHADIS on track if you, the reader, speak out and keep us honest by throwing a few rocks when we drop the ball.
I hope that gives you some sort of idea on where we are heading. I expect you I keep us on our toes if we stray.
And so my watch ends here at SHADIS. Before I close, I wanted to make something very clear. Because I created SHADIS and have had my hand at the editorial-rudder for so many years, there's been a tendency to lay all things 'good and noble' associated with SHADIS at my feet. I've always been uncomfortable with that, which would explain why so many of my editorials have been no-more than 'thank you' notes to various people who have helped with this endeavor.
Sure, I'm proud of where the magazine has gone and I'm confident the foundation has been laid for a long and bright future for it. The fact is, friends, SHADIS is not and has never been a one man show.
A magazine's lifeblood are the readers, contributors, artists, advertisers and everyone else who interacts with it on a monthly basis. A tremendous amount of effort and drive goes into pulling a single issue of SHADIS together. Effort derived from dozens of people, many of whom have never met face-to-face.
They've come together because they have something in common, a love for games and for the people they play them with.
It's natural, I suppose, that they would embrace a magazine inspired by those same feelings and dedicated to serving the community of gaming.
In the end, that's what SHADIS has always been about - friends coming together at the table and talking about their favorite subject, games.
Good gaming.
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