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D&D and RPG Review, Gamers for Isla
Feb. 4th, 2025 10:00 pmThe past several days my "free time", such as it is, has been spent putting the finishing touches on a special 128-page double-issue of RPG Review, celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons; "the game that changed the world" as "Time" magazine subtly put it. My own contribution, apart from being the editor, includes the history and stats for my first D&D character, Zaxxon, for multiple editions of the game and several reviews for modules from the early 1980s. The issue also includes an interview with Frank Mentzer, the author of the "BECMI" edition of the game from the same period. Adding to all this was the RPG Review Annual General Meeting on Sunday at The Rose Hotel in Fitzroy, where about 15 of us completed our official meeting business in eleven minutes and then spent the rest of the afternoon in fine company. It must be said over the past several years, the RPG Review has been quite a small powerhouse of activity: 58 issues of an online magazine and often with major industry figures interviewed, a massive library of almost a thousand publications, multiple conventions (two for RuneQuest and one for Cyberpunk), and so many gaming sessions involving hundreds of people run by members of our Cooperative. Despite my best efforts to recruit someone else to take over this wild steed, the membership continues to insist that I remain as president, so I guess that's one of my responsibilities in life.
One of the outcomes of that meeting was the enthusiastic establishment of a "Gamers for Isla" campaign. Late last year, there was some public news about the disappearance of Isla Bell, a young artist and environmentalist. Quite a few people in my friendship circle either knew her or her family or were close and promoting the campaign to find her. Alas, she had come to an awful tragedy. But this was no end; the family has established a charity for an art award and scholarship for young women that accord with Isla's passions. Through mutual friends, I have been in contact with members of the family who are also agents of the Foundation, and we're processing what will be a fundraising event to be held at the Conquest Games convention at the end of April. In the meantime, we're definitely encouraging people (and especially members and friends of the RPG Review Cooperative) to donate to the charity. Please let us know if you're doing so because you've seen our campaign; as always, we seek to make a difference. Rest in power, Isla.
One of the outcomes of that meeting was the enthusiastic establishment of a "Gamers for Isla" campaign. Late last year, there was some public news about the disappearance of Isla Bell, a young artist and environmentalist. Quite a few people in my friendship circle either knew her or her family or were close and promoting the campaign to find her. Alas, she had come to an awful tragedy. But this was no end; the family has established a charity for an art award and scholarship for young women that accord with Isla's passions. Through mutual friends, I have been in contact with members of the family who are also agents of the Foundation, and we're processing what will be a fundraising event to be held at the Conquest Games convention at the end of April. In the meantime, we're definitely encouraging people (and especially members and friends of the RPG Review Cooperative) to donate to the charity. Please let us know if you're doing so because you've seen our campaign; as always, we seek to make a difference. Rest in power, Isla.
