Issues

Issue 4

Somewhere on your shelf is a dark fantasy hero you would follow into any war and never, ever date. Somewhere in your group chat is a Thursday session that three people have stopped answering. And somewhere in your drafts folder is a finished book you cannot bring yourself to promote.

Enchanted Realms Issue 4 is for anyone who recognizes all three.

On the page and screen

• Five beloved antiheroes and the red flags that make them better on the page than in your life. Raistlin, Kvothe, and Locke Lamora are among them, and the jokes lead to a real question: why do we love characters this ruinous, and what happens when you play one at the table?
• Nine 1980s fantasy movies get the wand treatment, from Labyrinth to The Dark Crystal to a Princess Bride duel that remains one of the finest on film
• Does Fourth Wing, the dragon rider romantasy, earn its hype? A verdict on who will devour it and where the opening chapters test your patience

For writers

• Seven ways to do your marketing without feeling gross
• A plain-spoken guide to the craft of finding your own author voice instead of borrowing someone else’s
• The case for the two-minute review, which matters more to an indie author than most readers realize

For game masters

• The same honesty about your own voice
• An autopsy of why gaming groups die one skipped Thursday at a time
• The session zero habits that keep a campaign alive

And more

• A history of how kitchen table campaigns became open content
• A field guide to conventions
• A feature on why dark fantasy readers belong in a Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle, where you stop reading about the terrible choice and make it yourself

Open it anywhere. Argue with it at your table. Read it. Write it. Run it.

Issue 3

Roll for initiative. Turn the page. Do both.

Issue 3 of Enchanted Realms Magazine is a family-friendly meeting place for people who love imaginary worlds on the page and around the table. This autumn edition is packed with things you can use tonight, and every article is spoiler-free.

Inside this issue

• Running your debut adventure as the person in charge. What to plan, what to skip, and why your players will never notice the mistakes you are dreading.
• Five love-story formulas readers never tire of. Rivals who become partners, magical bargains with dangerous immortals, training-ground sparks, destined bonds, and morally gray heroes, and why the payoff works every time.
• Wish-granting spirits of Middle Eastern storytelling. The fisherman’s sealed jar, Aladdin’s lamp, the city of brass, and the cleverness that beats brute strength.
• Michael Stackpole’s Talion: Revenant. A novel that doubles as a blueprint for justice-minded adventures, plus the sequel readers may never get to see.
• Why novels set in shared game worlds read differently. Ensemble casts, borrowed lore, and what Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms taught the rest of the genre.
• Two kinds of creative block, two different cures. Why a stuck novelist and a stuck game runner need opposite advice.
• Ten must-own volumes for novelists and game runners alike. Plus how the two bookshelves overlap and where they split.
• Overthinking is the enemy of a good Saturday evening. Analysis paralysis, rules lawyering, endless planning, and the five-minute rule that fixes them.
• Find a seat at a virtual table. Paid pros, free community boards, and Paizo’s worldwide shared-story programs that track your hero with a single login.
• A month-by-month map of the road ahead. Gaming conventions, book festivals, and Highland games running through July 2027.
• An invitation to join a years-long quest. More than 200 modules from TSR’s golden age.

Whether you are curled up with a new release or rolling dice with friends, this issue is for readers, gamers, and storytellers of every age. No politics, no religion, no explicit content. Just the books, games, and worlds we love.

For anyone who has ever wished their favorite bookstore and their favorite game shop shared the same shelf.

Issue 2

Issue 2 turns its pages toward a bold announcement: one party of adventurers is setting out to play through every official 2nd Edition AD&D module ever published, from the fog-choked halls of Ravenloft to the scorched dunes of Dark Sun. Co-founder Anthony “Woodie” Woodward follows with a cautionary account of his own worst session ever, a level-one wipeout that took four rounds and left the whole table speechless.

For readers

• A roundup of four blockbuster romance-and-adventure sagas, including Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses
• The complete start-to-finish order for a decades-spanning, monster-fighting heroine’s saga
• A pair of companion essays on which storytelling staples land better on the page and which land better at the table

For session runners

• The case for slowing a long-running story’s pace
• An essay on how writing fiction and running sessions sharpen each other
• An even-handed look at software-assisted play versus a low-tech pencil-and-notebook style

Plan ahead

• A season-by-season schedule of gatherings and meetups across the United States through next summer
• A preview of a nine-part cottage-craft saga set in a warm, low-stakes valley community

Whether tonight’s plan involves a good read or a night of dice, this issue has something worth carrying to either one.

Issue 1

This issue opens with a game master’s confession: weeks of carefully plotted combat undone in one turn when a barbarian player rolled a natural twenty to seduce a dragon. From there, it moves between two worlds that speak the same language.

On the reading side

• A spoiler-free critical look at Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, breaking down its court politics and bargain magic for readers and worldbuilders
• What Netflix’s Witcher got wrong when it lost Henry Cavill, with six lessons for anyone adapting beloved fantasy for the screen

On the gaming side

• A guide to identifying your table’s actual play style, from high-power epics to puzzle-first dungeons
• A practical playbook for welcoming brand-new players into their first session
• Five habits that separate campaigns players remember from ones they merely attended

For writers

• A hard look at where writing time actually goes
• An essay on why creative doubt is a sign of growth rather than failure

Plan ahead

• A season’s worth of gaming conventions, renaissance faires, and fantasy gatherings to plan your summer around

Family-friendly from cover to cover, this issue is built for anyone who loves a good book, a good campaign, or both.

Special Preview Issue

Where the Dice Roll and the Pages Turn

For too long, fantasy readers and tabletop gamers have lived in parallel worlds, attending different conventions, reading different magazines, and missing the spectacular magic that happens when these passions collide. Enchanted Realms Magazine was built for the ones who live in both worlds at once.

This debut preview issue is your all-access pass to the full spectrum of fantasy storytelling. Whether you’re a GM mining novels for your next campaign, a fantasy author whose best ideas come from a character sheet, or a reader who just wants to know which books will make your heart race and your imagination soar, Enchanted Realms is your home.

For readers and writers

• Standout titles across every fantasy subgenre: epic fantasy, cozy enchantments, grimdark adventures, romantasy, YA, and urban fantasy
• Thoughtful reviews from The Way of Kings to Caraval, from Legends & Lattes to Red Rising

For the lore-builders

• World Building Checklist: 50 Questions Before You Write, a guide for every fantasy author and game master
• A deep dive into elves across literature and gaming, from Tolkien’s fading immortals to D&D’s mechanical subspecies to romantasy’s brooding love interests

For gamers and GMs

• Practical, hard-won advice on running better campaigns
• The cross-pollination between fantasy novels and tabletop play
• The announcement of an epic quest to run every AD&D 2nd Edition module ever published
• A candid roadmap for turning a passion for gaming into a career

Bonus features

• A complete 2026 events calendar: gaming conventions, renaissance faires, writing conferences, and fantasy festivals across North America and beyond
• A tribute to Charlaine Harris, the waitress from Bon Temps who helped birth modern urban fantasy
• The opening chapter of an original fantasy serial: meet the Elves of Nine Ashes, nine young survivors carrying the weight of a shattered world

Enchanted Realms Magazine is proudly family-friendly, ferociously fan-focused, and fiercely committed to one truth: the best adventures happen when reading, writing, and playing stop being separate hobbies and start being different doorways into the same magnificent obsession.

Join the realm.