Editing Alarums and Excursions (section)

==History==
In 1964, [[Bruce Pelz]] of the [[Los Angeles Science Fiction Society]] (LASFS) began a weekly amateur press association named ''APA-L''.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.lasfsinc.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=136 | title =APA-L | date =2019-01-14 | website =LASFS | publisher =Los Angeles Science Fiction Society | access-date =2019-07-15 }}</ref> In 1974, with the publication of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' by [[TSR, Inc.]], articles and comments about the new roleplaying game began to fill the pages of ''APA-L'', a development to which Pelz objected.<ref>[http://www.arielarchives.com/Brett/magazines/alarumsandexcursions.html Bretts RPG Magazine and Zine Index] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024220743/http://www.arielarchives.com/Brett/magazines/alarumsandexcursions.html |date=October 24, 2006 }}, entry on Alarums & Excursions, retrieved September 2007</ref>   [[Lee Gold]] took note of this and started a new APA, ''Alarums and Excursions'' (the title taken from an [[Elizabethan drama]] stage direction that moved soldiers across a stage<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/alarums+and+excursions|title=alarums and excursions|work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary}}</ref>), to focus entirely on roleplaying games, attracting such material away from ''APA-L''. The first issue appeared in June 1975.

In addition to removing roleplaying games discussion out of ''APA-L'', the initial aim of the publication was to prevent roleplaying games from becoming so divergent that people from different cities could not participate in games together.<ref>{{cite news| last= Mason| first= Paul| date= 2012| title= A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans| url = http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/444/350| journal         = Transformative Works and Cultures| volume= 11| access-date  = 2016-06-19| doi= 10.3983/twc.2012.0444}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last1= Mason| first1= Paul| date = 2004| title= In Search of the Self: A Survey of the First 25 Years of Anglo-American Role-Playing Game Theory| page= 2| editor1-last = Montola| editor1-first= Markus| editor2-last = Stenros| editor2-first= Jaakko| contribution  = Beyond Role and Play| location= Helsinki| publisher= Ropecon ry| url = https://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/84/2004-Beyond.Role.and.Play.pdf| access-date  = 2016-06-19| isbn = 952-91-6842-X}}</ref>

The June 2017 issue of ''Alarums and Excursions'' was number 500, with a color cover drawn by [[Lee Moyer]] and printed by [[Rob Heinsoo]].