Though dated November 1977, it didn't ship until January 1978 as Howard Thompson decided to wait until after Christmas to ship due to problems Metagaming was having with sending bulk mail. They were actually printed in 1977.
Table of Contents
Features
3 Nuts, Bolts, and Washers: an introduction to Rivets by Robert R. Taylor
8 On The Creation Of Star Maps by Christopher S. Spillman
14 Eldon Tannish & The War Of The Warp by Dana Holm
19 Creating A Consistent Universe by Norman S. Howe
21 Rational in SF Game Design by Tony Watson
23 Modifications in OGRE by Brian McCue
Reviews
39 Elric by Neil Shapiro
41 Star Empires by Norman S. Howe
42 All The Worlds Monsters by Clara Glowe
43 Down Styphon! by Tony Watson
45 Alpha Omega by Norman S. Howe
46 Space Quest by Robert C. Kirk
Fiction
32 The Master's Game by Bill Williams
38 Absolute Zero by Elrohir & Rahman
Columns
1 Where We're Going by Howard Thompson
24 News & Plugs
29 Designer's Notebook by Howard Thompson
31 Books (by C. Ben Ostrander)
47 Letters
This was the last issue in the tradeback format (5.5 by 8.5). All subsequent issues were 8.5 by 11.