Grey Worlds

Grey Worlds was a fanzine about Rolemaster that first appeared in 1989. It was eventually published by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) as a professional-quality magazine.

Contents
Grey Worlds started life in 1989 as a fanzine focussed on I.C.E.'s Rolemaster fantasy role-playing game, although occasional articles about Bladestorm, Cyberspace, Dark Space, and Space Master also appeared.

I.C.E. eventually took over production and created a professional-looking magazine that covered I.C.E. products, particularly Middle-earth Role Playing and Rolemaster, although articles about Shadow World and Silent Death also appeared.

Publication history
Grey Worlds was started as a Rolemaster fanzine in 1989 by Ross Henton and Lem Richards. They published it regularly, and by 1992, they had produced 15 issues. Although it began as a primitive-looking zine, the final issues were of increasingly better quality, albeit still stapled and with a black & white cover.

At that point I.C.E. took over production, with the plan to produce a regularly-scheduled glossy games periodical. Henton and Richards were retained as the Editor in Chief and Production Manager respectively. The numbering was restarted, and Issue 1, a professionally printed and saddle-stitched magazine, was released in June 1993 featuring a full-colour cover by Angus McBride and numerous advertisements. However Issue 2 was not released until January 1994, and Issue 3 did not appear until 1995. Production ceased after Issue 3.

As games historian Shannon Appelcline noted in his 2014 book Designers & Dragons, "ICE picked [Grey Worlds] up, with the intent to publish it at a more professional level, an experiment that failed after just three issues published over two years."

Reception
Herb Petro reviewed the magazine in the February–March 1991 issue of White Wolf. He stated, "I have been very pleased with Grey Worlds, receiving it since issue #4, and I recommend it to all ICE RPG fans." He rated it overall at 4 points of a possible 5.