began publishing Ares in 1980 as a science-fiction companion to Strategy & Tactics.Ares magazine was similar to Strategy & Tactics, with a game every issue, but it focused on science-fiction and fantasy. SPI suffered financial problems and went into debt, and TSR bought the company and is assets in 1982. Shannon Appelcine stated that " TSR did very little with SPI's roleplaying games. Ares Magazine #12, which was prepared by SPI and published by TSR, included a game called 'Star Traders,' which was for use with Universe; it was the last support for that game system As TSR turned further away from SPI's origins, Ares magazine soon became an Ares section in Dragon magazine. However, it didn't focus on the SPI RPGs, but instead became a place to talk about TSR's own science-fiction games, such as Gamma World and Star Frontiers. TSR published SPI's science-fiction and fantasy magazine, Ares, from issue #12 through issue #17, then incorporated it into Dragon Magazine from issue #84 to issue #111. There were a total of seventeen issues printed, plus two special issues. The SPI company published the first eleven bimonthly issues before financial difficulties led to the company being bought out by TSR in 1982. A further six issues, published quarterly, were put out by TSR and then publication of the magazine was ceased. However, the Ares legacy lived on for another couple of years; a large new section called the "Ares Section" was added to Dragon magazine starting with issue #84 and was treated as almost a magazine within a magazine. This special section provided support for science fantasy and superhero roleplaying games such as Gamma World, MarvelSuper Heroes and Star Frontiers. The "Ares Section" ran through Dragon issue #111 after which it too was discontinued.
Reception
Jerry Epperson reviewed the first issue of Ares in The Space Gamer No. 28. Epperson commented that the first issue, and its game WorldKiller "was a disappointment. It's uneven. Expectnothing but the best in serious science fiction writing here, and nothing but the worst from the games."
