GAME CLUBS:
Major Organizations

THE DUNGEONEERS GAMING SOCIETY
A Great Place To Game

The DUNGEONEERS GAMING SOCIETY is a nationwide gaming organization based in Pittsburgh, PA. Hailed as one of the best in interactive gaming networks, we invite you to join the Society! DGS membership is FREE and includes a FREE all-inclusive Membership Kit. Membership provides access to our unique House Network, QUEST Newszine, plus special events and activities whereby members can earn Player Points and GM Points for participation and excellence in play.

For more information, send an SASE to:

DGS
c/o Jennifer A. Martire
1755 Potomac Avenue
Pittsburgh PA  15216-1948

email: martir19@mail.idt.net

For a sample issue of QUEST Newszine, send $1.00.

The Garrison Clubs are groups of miniature wargamers throughout the United States who believe in promoting the hobby through regular gaming at conventions, meeting places, and game stores. We have Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Historical players who are all united in the fact they wargame with miniatures.

The ILF exists to promote Interactive Literature (IL) as an art, a hobby, and as a form of education and entertainment. As part of this effort, the ILF tries to let more people know about what IL events are, and where they are run. The ILF works to promote the exchange of information between people who create and participate in IL events.

Some information is useful to authors, and some benefits players. The free exchange of ideas means that the quality of Interactive Literature improves faster, and that's good for the entire community. Here is a look at some of the information that the ILF makes available to its members:

Players:

• Calendars of events - including dates, locations, prices, contact names, numbers, and addresses - eight times a year
• Reviews of games
• Costuming resources and advice
• Discounts at many games!

Authors:

• Venues seeking games, eight times a year
• ILF mailing list, free to members
• Resource information on supplies, venues, publicity
• Information on venues and hotel contacts
• Publishing services, low-cost/free to members
• Venue location liaison services to members

What Doesn't the ILF Do?

The ILF is not a regulatory or sanctioning body. The ILF is the sum of the knowledge of its members, not a source for all knowledge on Interactive Literature. The ILF won't tell you how, when, where, or why to run or play a game, but ILF members can give you advice on all these issues and more, through volunteer services and through publications, including Metagame. You'll get the benefit of game reviews written by other players, advice from other gamemasters, and suggestions on whom to ask for more information.

The ILF does not run games. There is no "ILF Gamemasters Group," or even "ILF Game." The ILF is made up of members of many groups that do run games, and players who play games. The ILF isn't in competition with other groups that write games. In fact, there is no other organization in the U.S. that is like the ILF. The ILF is designed to promote the interests of roleplayers worldwide, who already have their own groups to run events, and does this in part by providing useful information services.

How Does It Work?

The ILF has a membership that is expanding across the globe, though it is concentrated on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The front line for information is Metagame, the quarterly magazine of the Foundation. Metagame contains articles, reviews, and hard core information on resources available to players and authors. The Calendar-Newsletter is published between the quarters with essential information and more detailed schedule information.

Conventions. The ILF produces at least one convention a year, which featuring several full-length or mini-length events by various groups, both experienced and brand-new. INTERCON is the flagship convention of the ILF, and has consistently featured some of the best, most diverse, and exciting games produced. If you enjoy live gaming, you won't want to miss INTERCON.

Magazines. ILF membership provides several important benefits to its members. First, with membership you receive four issues each of the ILF magazine, Metagame, and the ILF Calendar- Newsletter. These two periodicals give you up-to-date information on the events scheduled to run over the next year or so and information on playing and running events.

Discounts. Yet another benefit provided by the ILF is discounted memberships to many events. Over the course of a year, a member can easily recoup the cost of membership from discounts. This discount extends to the annual ILF convention, INTERCON. As an event writer, you gain the benefit of reduced rate advertising in Metagame if you offer a $3.00 discount to ILF members.

And that's not all. We constantly search for discounted products and services, available exclusively to card- carrying members of the ILF. Keep your eyes on Metagame to see new discounts become available, and ask your local retailers if they offer the ILF discount!

How Much Does This Cost?

All the benefits listed above are included with your annual membership dues of $15. For just $7.50, other members of your household can become members!

Lifetime memberships are available, as well as corporate memberships, and affiliate organizational memberships. Please write for rates and other information.

How Do I Join?

Simply mail your name and address, with your check/money order to:

Interactive Literature Foundation 
P.O. Box 196
Merrifield, VA 22116-0196
Attention: Memberships

Or for more information, you can reach the ILF at:

Phone: (703) 912-9877 [voicemail]
Email: SJO.APA@email.apa.org

Let us know where you heard about us, and be sure to tell us if you'd like to work on any of our conventions or other upcoming events!

What is Interactive Literature?

Interactive Literature (IL) is an event in which people create a story together through roleplaying. Though there are many possible scenarios, often this takes place with people meeting face-to-face to become someone else for a few hours, a weekend, or even longer. You may have heard such an event described as a LARP, a Live Action Roleplaying Game, or some other similar name. We use the term Interactive Literature because it doesn't exclude any one type of event.

The Lance & Longbow Society was formed 8 years ago by Patrick McGill and myself. The other societies, SOA and Pike & Shot overlap our period and tended to "ignore" it. Someone said, wouldn`t be a good idea if....

At the end of the first year we had some 50 members, and not all British! We are now an "international" group with members in North America, Australasia, Europe, and even a Japanese chap who has a fasination with western europe in the 15th century. At the end of the last membership year we have about 250 members, which is not bad when we only cover about 215 years.

The society prints a journal quarterly called Hobilar. This is full of articles covering the period 1272-1487. There is also a colour plate, usually on heraldry.

The Naval Wargames Society was formed approx. 30 years ago, but in recent times has kept a low profile. It is open to anyone, and although the bulk of the membership is from the U.K., about 10% are from overseas. It aims to cover all periods and interests, but like all these organizations, its magazines are dependent upon unsolicited material.

It puts out a journal, Battlefleet, which goes out four times per subscription, and the newsletter, All Guns Blazing, which is really aimed at players from the main groups in the S and SE of England (as it mainly deals with What's On and Battle Reports).

Paul French
53 Drake Road
Willesborough
Kent
TN24 OUZ
United Kingdom

NASAMW is somewhere around 15 years old. It was started by Johnson Hood, Kruse Smith, and others as a wargaming organization for ancient/medieval gamers. NASAMW is an organization that tries to serve local and regional gaming groups by providing news and information, and by trying to give everyone the same basis for their play.

This organization publishes a bimonthly journal called Spearpoint, runs occasional "big, national" tournaments at conventions such as Cold Wars, Historicon, and the like, and -- as an umbrella organization -- are indirectly involved with a lot of the tournaments run by local chapters. For example, the Northern California chapter is running a WRG7.5 tournament in Foster City the end of February.

Some critics feel that NASAMW is too tournament- and WRG7-centered. They were, to a limited extent, correct, but the Society has really tried to reach out to other ancients gamers. NASAMW does work with and sponsors tournaments with Tactica, Armati, DBA and DBM. For example, Tactica and Armati errata appear in Spearpoint. Mark Huml has written several informative articles reviewing the DBM army-list books from a competitive standard, and Mike Kroon has authored excellent articles on tactics and "army doctrine." Frankly, recent issues of Spearpoint have been much more DBM-oriented than WRG 7.5. The Society wants to support and see all decent rules systems do well and be popular, a cause that draws in new members.

NASAMW did a lot of work attempting to decipher, clarify, and interpret the WRG 7 rules, usually in cooperation with Phil Barker. The hope was to get a standard set of interpretations. This is not so that NASAMW can be "thought police," it's so players can travel to events across the country and not be too shocked by differing rules interpretations. This is indeed a great benefit. At the last "National Championship" (in Canada!), all rules arguments were quickly and easily resolved by the players involved. But, if two players want to agree to ignore the interps, they can. In fact, some of the interps are expressly optional -- "only if one (stuckup uptight overly competitive) player insists must you do thus and so..."

For DBM, NASAMW wants to do the same -- where the rules are fuzzy, they want to come up with consistent interpretations, so that you can attend an event in Boston and play the same rules as they play in Miami. The NASAMW Chief Umpire, in conjunction with local representatives to the Rules Committee, comes up with concerns and problems, which they then forward to Phil for clarification resolution.

NASAMW also comes up with unofficial, one-time-only "experimental rules" for "theme tournaments." For example, this March will be a big "Rome & her enemies" theme tournament with some special rules for color and play balance.

NASAMW, recently approved a new set of bylaws. They no longer support a "National" championship. (It was pretty stupid holding a "National" in Canada, especially since it wasn't the Canadian National.) They now, instead, support NASAMW championships in various rules systems and in various formats. At present, there are both DBM and WRG 7th championships. In 1995, they will provide opportunity to compete for the title of NASAMW Champion in 15mm individual and team tournaments in DBM, and in 15mm & 25mm individual and team tournaments in WRG 7th. They will also present a 15mm Armati tournament at ColdWars (Lancaster, PA, this March). As DBM continues to grow, they will begin offering DBM in 25mm, with the goal of presenting 25mm events at Historicon (Lancaster, PA, this July or August) and championships in 1996.

The tournament support provides a strong venue that allows NASAMW to expose others to ancient/medieval gaming. But they also support demonstration games and one-of events.

Another use for NASAMW (and other national organizations from other countries) is to serve as a kind of a "User's Group" to funnel requests and comments to the rule's authors. For example, if Aaron Gorfein wrote to Phil Barker complaining that WWg were too powerful for the price, he might well be ignored. However, if NASAMW wrote to Phil, said that everybody is running Hussite armies because WWg are too good, it has a much better chance of being noticed.

Spearpoint and NASAMW also serve as a kind of forum for historical research, and a vessel for publishing alternative army lists. This is sometimes a sore point, as "list inflation" results in slightly better and better army lists over time.

Membership in NASAMW costs US$18 per year (calculated August through July), and includes subscription to Spearpoint. To join, send your name, address, telephone number, and a check or money order made payable to NASAMW, to:

NASAMW
c/o Scott Dickson
590 Woodend Dr SE
Concord, NC 28025

To find the nearest NASAMW member to your location, write to the address given above.

A mailing list has been set up for for NASAMW politics/issues. To subscribe, send your e-mail address to Bob at beattie@umich.edu.

The Society of Ancients was formed in 1965 by Tony Bath with 20 or so founder members, such as Phil Barker, Derek Guyler, Bob O`Brien, etc. A number of these are still with us today, and our 1995 membership was over 1100 worldwide. Our Society is run on a not-for-profit approach supported by and for the benefit of its membership.

The Society publishes Slingshot, our house journal.

Founded in 1976, with a worldwide membership.

The aim of the SWA is to encourage and support wargamers who lack or prefer to do without the opportunity to face a live opponent for some or all of their wargaming. And to improve the standards of solo and postal play by the exchange of knowledge and techniques. Our terms of reference cover all aspects of the hobby:

• Board and Simulations games
• Miniatures
• Fantasy and Role-Playing
• Computer wargames
• with special reference to solo or postal play

Lone Warrior is the magazine of the SWA and is published quarterly. It can viewed on the Internet via MagWeb. It is produced by amateur wargamers for wargamers, and is comprised of articles on solo wargaming, letters and comments, news and reviews of interest to members. The scope of Lone Warrior embraces all aspects of the hobby, from tips for beginners to soloing, to how to run a full scale solo campaign.

Services provided by the SWA for members:

All enquiries are welcome, but please include a self-addressed envelope or 2 IRC's (International Reply Coupons) to ensure a reply. Contact:

United Kingdom:

Steve Moore
120 Great Stone Road
Firswood, Manchester
M16 0HD, UNITED KINGDOM

Email: glempson@netcomuk.co.uk

United States:

Rich Barbuto
1707 Ridge Road
Leavenworth, KS
66048, UNITED STATES

Email: lonewarrior@kc.rr.com

I have been wargaming for 20+ years and play most periods, but enjoy Renaissance most.

U.S. Pike and Shot Federation
1146 Harvard Dr.
Santa Rosa, CA  95405