The story of Gloranthan (and RuneQuest) fandom begins with the early UK fanzine, Pavic Tales (1987-1989). In issue #3 of that magazine, a British gamer offered up a "Unicorn Horn" plunder item for play. His name was David Hall.

Fast forward to 1989. Pavic Tales came to an end that spring, but a new fanzine, also produced in the UK, was ready to replace it. In the Summer of 1989, David Hall, Brian Duguid, and Matthew Tudor published the first issue of Tales of the Reaching Moon. The new periodical was clearly a fanzine, somewhat amateur, but full of lots of fun Gloranthan material.

Hall would remain the core of Tales throughout its run, as Duguid and Tudor soon faded away, but he would be joined by many others. One of the first was Australian Michael O'Brien (MOB), who even produced an "Australian Special!" for Tales of the Reaching Moon #4 (1990). Steve Thomas, Kevin Jacklin, Nick Brooke, Rick Meints, and many others would enlist in the crew over the next few years; while David Gadbois and Lars-Roger Moe would give the magazine international notice through their distribution in other countries.

The layout of Tales of the Reaching Moon improved after issue one. Content also swelled and became increasingly professional, with illuminaries like Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen also contributing. Two milestones were particularly important. The first was MOB's authorship of Sun County (1992) for then-RuneQuest publisher Avalon Hill. This followed a downturn for the game just as Tales was getting its start, resulting in Tales' famous "Ruined-Quest?" editorial in Tales of the Reaching Moon #5 (1991). But now Sun County marked the beginning of a "RuneQuest Renaissance" at Avalon Hill under Ken Rolston — and Tales staff was leading the way. More importantly for Tales itself, the fanzine (really, now a fully professional magazine) began sporting full-color covers with Tales of the Reaching Moon #12 (1994), the "Bumper Colour Special".

Beyond its magazine publications, the so-called Reaching Moon Megacorp behind those publications had also begun staging conventions, starting with Convulsion of a Trillion Tentacles (1992). Under the guidance of Kevin Jacklin, they also kicked off the tradition of Gloranthan LARPs, the first of which was "Home of the Bold" (1992) at that first Convulsion. A Rough Guide to Boldhome (1992) then marked the Reaching Moon's first publication beyond the magazine itself. More would follow, some of which, such as The Collected Griselda 1993), weren't directly connected to either the conventions or magazines.

The effect of Tales and the Reaching Moon Megacorp on Gloranthan fandom can't be overstated. The RuneQuest Renaissance had faded out by 1994 due to lack of interest from Avalon Hill and the fact that original publisher Chaosium faced a problematic rights situation as a result, but Gloranthan fandom itself boomed thanks to the enthusiasm of the Reaching Moon. Numerous other conventions and fanzines spun-off of the initial community created around Tales. Thus, new conventions appeared in the United States, Canada, and Australia and with them fund-raising publications such as Questlines (1995-1998) and Enclosure (1997-1998). Meanwhile, one of the greatest surges of fanzine publication in roleplaying fandom followed, including: RuneQuest Adventures (1993-1998), Codex (1994-1995), New Lolon Gospel (1995-1996), The Book of Drastic Resolutions (1996-1998), and Tradetalk (1996-2009). More would follow in the '00s, but these five fanzines were the most obviously a part of the community created by Tales.

Gloranthan fandom changed dramatically with the release of Hero Wars (2000), a Gloranthan RPG that was meant to replace RuneQuest, which remained in IP Hell as Avalon Hill headed out of business. However, Hero Wars was a narrative game where RuneQuest has been simulationistic, which meant that many existing fans were less interested in the new release. Perhaps more importantly, however, the Reaching Moon Megacorp was getting tired after nearly a decade of supporting their favorite game. In 1998-1999, the Reaching Moon began to announce the impending end of Tales, which would close shop after Tales of the Reaching Moon #20 (2002).

That is not the end of the Reaching Moon's story. Team member and layout artist Rick Meints formed his own publishing house called Moon Design as Reaching Moon came to an end. In the fullness of time, he'd license the rights to publish supplements for HeroQuest (2003), the successessor to Hero Wars, and eventually would acquire all the rights to Glorantha and a rebooted RuneQuest game. In 2015, Moon Design would then acquire RuneQuest's original publisher, Chaosium: the fans of the '90s had become the publishers of the '10s. Today, Rick Meints is the President of Chaosium and Michael O'Brien is Vice President while Nick Brooke is a Community Ambassador. Others fans of the '90s and '00s such as Jeff Richard and Neil Robinson round out the team, albeit from other offshoots of fandom at the time.

The Reaching Moon Megacorp was surely one of the most influential fan organizations in the roleplaying industry, from the '90s right up to the '20s. And it all started with a little fanzine called Tales of the Reaching Moon.

For more on The Reaching Moon Megacorp, see pages 133-145 of MIG III: The Meints Index to Glorantha.

Theme Issues

• #5 Humakti Special (1991)
• #7 HeroQuest Special (1992)
• #8 The Chaos Feature (1992)
• #10 Sea Special (1993)
• #11 Pamaltela: Great Southern Land (1994)
• #12: Bumper Colour Special! (1994)
• #13 Go West! (1995)
• #14 Prax Special (1996)
• #15 Prax Part Deux (1996)
• #16 Lunar Special (1997)
• #17: Catch-up Special (1998)
• #18 Sartar Special (1999)
• #19 Upland Marsh Special (2000)
• #20 Farewell Issue (2002)

About the Game Systems

Tales of the Reaching Moon was primarily a RuneQuest 3e Gloranthan magazine. A few variations are noted, including "RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha" (RQ: AiG), the finished by never published rules for what would have been "RuneQuest 4e".

One non-Gloranthan article appears in an Appendix.

Obtaining the Magazine

Tales of the Reaching Moon was well-distributed across the world, particularly for its later, magazine-quality issues. They occasionally show up in secondary markets for low collector prices.

This index is © Copyright 1994-2024 by Shannon Appelcline. It is released under a cc-by-4.0 license, allowing reuse with attribution. Map background is courtesy of Chaosium, used per their fan material policy.