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Solarian Games | Arcane Sword Press| Ham & Egg Publishing

Solarian Games

A Tribute to Tim Kask

On December 30th, we got the sad news that Tim Kask passed. It feels like a punch to the gut. Tim was a friend and a cantankerous mentor, funny, opinionated, brilliant, headstrong, wise, insightful, one hell of a writer and an editor, and the most honest person I’ve ever known.

Gamers know Tim first and foremost because he was the first employee Gary Gygax ever hired at TSR. In addition to his contributions to Dungeons & Dragons, he was the editor of The Strategic Review, and the creator and editor of The Dragon magazine. It was his insightful insistence that The Dragon be an independent voice within TSR that made it the success it was. It would have been easy to have a house organ like Avalon HIll’s The General, but Tim knew that readers needed a place to have honest and open discussions about the RPG hobby as a whole, and a place where ideas and even criticism about D&D could live in a real marketplace of ideas. The Dragon, and later just “Dragon” magazine, was the highlight of my month for years as a kid. It’s absolutely the reason that I love gaming as much as I do, and it’s even the reason I got into magazine publishing myself when I started making music zines as a teenager. Tim started the tradition of putting comics in the back of each issue, and I made sure that even though I was making music publications, there would be comics in the back of ours as well.

So it was only natural that when I had the idea to create Gygax magazine, as an homage to The Dragon, that the person I needed as a mentor was Tim Kask. I’m sure it helped that Luke & Ernie Gygax were involved, and Frank Mentzer gave Tim the “Jayson’s an okay dude” thumbs up, but the fact is that Tim was incredibly generous and kind to agree to come on board as “Contributing Editor” and mentor all of us through the process of making something worthy of the legacy he had begun. Tim didn’t just know about being an editor, he knew game design like nobody’s business.  He was ready, willing, and generous with his advice to younger game designers, and happily donated his time and experience to gamers in his hometown through the public library and on his own. His own game design was outstanding as well, I still play ships with the Master Mariner game he published in Gygax magazine.

It’s also because of Tim that I was able to bring back my favorite RPG of all time, Top Secret. I had no idea how to find Merle Rasmussen, or even where to begin. He seemed to be completely off the gaming map, certainly no one at the conventions knew. When I mentioned it to Tim, he found Merle, called him up, and put us in touch. Without Tim, I never would have reconnected with Merle and we wouldn’t be making Top Secret today.

I’ve read accounts of what Tim was like back in the early days of TSR, that some people called him “the enforcer.” It makes me laugh fondly, I can absolutely see that. Tim never suffered fools gladly, and he always spoke his mind. But that was one of the things that made Tim so endearing to me. He had so much integrity. You never got anything fake from Tim. If he gave you praise or a compliment, you could take that right to the very depths of your heart, because you knew he meant it. He was deeply funny, and had so much love for the people that were special to him.

I’m so very sad that I’ll never get another chance to talk to Tim. But I’m so utterly grateful for the joy and the friendship he brought into my life. God bless you Tim, and goodbye.

Arcane Sword Press

Magazine Madness Continues!

Magazine madness continues! This week- The Space Gamer by Metagaming Concepts and Steve Jackson Games!

Okay, so with this whole series of gaming magazines, both professional and independent there have been a few stand outs already. But for the old publications from the first decade of commercial RPGs, the two general gaming publications that really stand out to me in terms of quality of content are The Space Gamer (this week) and White Dwarf (Next Week). Why? Because the articles, reviews, and scenarios are far more interesting to me and insightful than the prior classic magazines i’ve looked at. While a lot of these magazines were mouthpieces for their own releases, there is something more to The Space Gamer beyond Steve Jackson promoting Melee/Fantasy Trip and microgames. A lot of this magazine was advice articles, game theory, and house rules for a variety of different RPGs at the time. There was an ongoing article by Steve Jackson and Nick Schuessler called Game Design: Theory and Practice Published in fifteen parts across issues 27-41 that’s a very cool look behind the screen of game writers around 1980-1981. The magazine also has articles on becoming a sci-fi writer, publishing your works, and other very cool information to help people get their material out there. That’s really awesome in my opinion. Plus, they did surveys, promoted conventions, and were very upfront about open submissions for readers to get their ideas out there. You can tell this was made by some passionate hobbyists and creators. In addition, each article also featured fantastic original art. I truly am baffled by the quality of this publication!

The Space Gamer also has a lot of great reviews from the time, along with expanded rules from popular RPGs while also highlighting less known games. Not only that, but they support content for popular war games, original fiction stories from known authors, and the emerging home computer market. A number of magazines I looked at featured ads for landmark computer games (Akalabeth and Ultima!) and articles on computer programming advice for tabletop games. Finally, there would be the occasional dedicated issue such as The Traveller Issue, The D&D Issue, The Star Trek Issue, The Miniature Issue, etc. One notable issue has a review article by Steve Jackson where he reviews contemporary gaming magazines, which I will be referring to as work throughout this series because so far I am in agreement with him!

I only had a chance to look at Space Gamer from 1981 and earlier (Purchased a lot of issues, as you can see) so I don’t have an idea or opinion on the later issues or the final phases of the publication when it merged with The Fantasy Gamer. But I will say I’m very excited to dig deeper into these old issues I have at home this winter! If you’re interested in checking out this wonderful publication but don’t feel like having a stack of stinky old magazines, the Internet Archive has you covered.

Next week, (Pre-Warhammer) White Dwarf!

• Bryan

On a Personal Note: I would like to acknowledge that this past week has seen a number of notable deaths, but the most difficult for me is that I personally lost one of my best friends to cancer. Ryan Duffy is the primary reason why I learned about DIY culture and independent music scenes, while appreciating the weird hometown we grew up in and the weirdos we befriended along the way. I’ve known him for 28 years and I’ll never forget our time together. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. If you’d like to show some support to his family and friends during this time, Please consider donating to Mass General Brigham Cancer Center organization, Caring For A Cure. He will be missed- Rest In Peace/Punk/Power.

Ham & Egg Publishing

“Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer.”

Yup, that’s me in the driver’s seat of a DeLorean, fat and happy in the summer of 2025. It wasn’t what I’d call a great year, but it had its bright spots. Since we are in a New Year (Year of the Horse!), I thought, instead of bemoaning what was and making arbitrary resolutions, I would set some actionable intentions.

First up, I am trying to stay off social media; the general negativity and ephemerality of it all are a massive bummer. So, with that in mind, I have been leaning more toward capturing moments with a point-and-shoot camera. It has been a pretty cool experience. I have been firing off shots here and there, and the tactile experience of it in my hand has helped with my addiction to my phone.

I have been using a Camp Snap for a while, and they are pretty cool. I don’t get a kick back or anything like that if you click this link, but here is where to find one. 

As for my other intentions, they are a little more personal. With that said, I hope you all find what you are looking for in 2026. 

 May this year be better than the last. 

-JHM

Your editor this week has been John Hambone McGuire of Ham & Egg Publishing.

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See you next week!

-JHM