Fictional Reality was an online e-zine dedicated to role playing games and miniature war games. It included content from readers and the publisher, Mark Theurer. The original website, Fictionalreality.org, has been purchased by a web based gambling company. 39 issues of the e-zine were released from 2000 through 2009, starting with issue “0”. Notice of cancelation was made public January of 2010.
As with most e-zines that lose their web domain the issues became very difficult to locate. The site Dungeoncrawlers.com, had intended to host all of the issues but stopped at issue 6. Initially Chronopia and Warzone were the e-zine’s focus as they had been discontinued. Eventually the scope encompassed all aspects of the role playing and miniature war gaming hobbies.
The articles are written by players for players. This makes them accessible to the average reader. The e-zine contains various hobby related articles ranging from miniatures painting and sculpting, to table top terrain creation.
Product reviews are not specifically for product placement. Meaning that the reviews are not intended to generate funds for the e-zine, so there is more actual usable information with minimal hype. This is not a house organ like White Dwarf. The reviews can be mixed, and their quality can vary because they are actual opinion pieces not marketers hawking a product.
These issues contain a plethora of gaming materials. The only cavate to this publication is that it is designed for computer monitor viewing. It may not format correctly on pads or phones.
This type of e-zine, one with content written my multiple players, can be a serious challenge to produce. Contributors often over promise and under deliver. The fact this publication lasted 10 years is a testament to the persistence of gamers and the publisher. The depth and breadth of the games covered is staggering. I tried tagging all of the articles about games, manufacturers, and miniatures, but I may have missed a few.
– Dru
Dru's Den of Ill Repute 