In 1987, I was playing a lot of Car Wars. I was also dreaming of writing role-playing games. I found an address in the back of one of the books and sent off a letter. A few weeks later, I received a packet. I was 13 years old.
Recently cleaning out boxes from my childhood, I found the packet.
Steve Jackson Games Cover Letter 1987
Writing for Steve Jackson Games 1987 (4 pages)
GURPS Writer’s Guidelines 1987 (4 pages)
Writing for Car Wars and Autoduel Quarterly 1987
Did I Send a Submission to SJG?
The end of the story is I never sent anything to Steve Jackson Games. I tried to design some items for gasoline cars I intended to submit to Autoduel Quarterly.
However, I never finished anything. I second-guessed everything and couldn’t decide what to focus on. It didn’t matter, though. I had no way to create a word processor file in 1987.
I did become an RPG creator. It only took until 2015.
All my Car Wars books? Uncle Albert’s Catalogs? Dueltrack? All gone. A friend begged me to let him borrow them in 1993 or 1994. I never saw the books again.
Disclaimer
No copyright infringement is meant by posting these papers. I’m merely posting them for informational and entertainment purposes. If you wrote these or work for Steve Jackson Games, I would love to interview you on my podcast.
More Car Wars and SJG Promos
Just for fun, here are a few more Car Wars promos and Steve Jackson Games catalogs.
Love GURPS, a great toolbox. Btw I didn’t know that Isaac Asimov backed a tabletopgame! Now i need it!
Car Wars was the first RPG I tried in H.S. I didn’t even know the term “RPG” at the time. Sadly, I did not get into RPGs again until about 3 years ago and I;m so glad I did! I wish I still had my Uncle Albert’s Catalog!