Corsair Publishing, LLC is preparing to launch Campaign Magazine, a d20 system magazine that will focus specifically on producing original material for the d20 system, reporting news about new d20 initiatives, and reviewing and previewing new products that utilize the new roleplaying system.  Each issue will include two fantasy adventures and articles, all of which will be based around a common theme that changes every month.  The first issue, which debuts in August, features a science fiction theme and will carry a cover price of  $5.00.

 

Wizards of the Coast, the company that acquired the Dungeons & Dragons license, revised the basic D&D rules into the d20 system and then did something very innovative by allowing other companies to create games and adventures using the system -- a move that has similarities to what has happened in the videogame industry where companies with proprietary hardware systems have allowed outside companies to create games for those systems. WOTC has gone so far as to allow White Wolf, the industry leader in horror roleplaying games to create d20 games for Ravenloft, a former TSR horror RPG that WOTC acquired when they purchased TSR (see 'White Wolf to Publish Ravenloft').  The industry-wide benefits of having one basic roleplaying system have led other companies to create individual d20 games, or in some cases to switch their entire line of gaming products to d20 (see 'Sovereign Stone to Adopt d20 Rules').

 

The launch of Campaign Magazine should increase the interest in the d20 rules and the growing list of games that employ the new system.  It will take awhile, but the spread of d20-based games can only help to increase interest in roleplaying games.  Although collectible card games (CCGs) still dominate the game marketplace, the appearance of a few RPGs on the ICv2 Top Ten Cool Games list demonstrates that roleplaying games are far from moribund.