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Dragon Reflections #1: A New Arrival
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<blockquote data-quote="M.T. Black" data-source="post: 7750208" data-attributes="member: 6782171"><p>I've played <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong> and other RPGs for most of my life, but it is only recently that I've developed a deep interest in the history of the hobby. It's been a lot of fun learning about these early years - fascinating characters and dramatic events abound!</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98401[/ATTACH]</p><p>[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p>In this series of articles, I want to look closely at the most important periodical the RPG industry has ever produced, <strong>Dragon</strong> magazine. The premier issue (actually entitled <strong>The Dragon</strong> in this issue) was published in June 1976 by <strong>TSR</strong>, with a cover price of $1.50. The editor was Tim Kask, who was the first full-time employee of <strong>TSR</strong> and had edited a range of <strong>D&D</strong> supplements for the company. Kask explained the purpose of the new magazine like this:</p><p></p><p>"[HQ]This issue marks a major step for <strong>TSR Hobbies Inc.</strong> With it, we have bid farewell to the safe, secure world of the house organ, and have entered the arena of competitive magazine publishing. We have activated a new division of the corporation; <strong>TSR Periodical</strong>s. We are soliciting advertisers, and giving notice to the rest of the pack that we have arrived with a vengeance, with a mission to fulfill. That mission is to publish the best magazine devoted to Sword & Sorcery, Fantasy, Science Fiction and Role Playing gaming.[/HQ]"</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98402[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98403[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>For those unfamiliar with the term, a "house organ" is a magazine published by a company to promote its products and services. Preceding <strong>The Dragon</strong> was a house organ called <strong>The Strategic Review</strong>, which lasted only seven issues.</p><p></p><p><strong>TSR</strong> squeezed an impressive amount of content into <strong>The Dragon's</strong> thirty-two pages. For <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong> players, there are expanded rules for the illusionist class, a system for making attribute checks, statistics for science-fiction weapons, an essay on <strong>D&D</strong> languages, DM hints for wilderness adventures, a new monster (the bulette), and several new Tolkien-inspired elven sub-races.</p><p></p><p>The magazine covers other games as well. There are rules for simulating the <strong>Battle of Five Armies</strong> using <strong>Chainmail</strong>, expanded rules for a Conan-inspired wargame called <strong>Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age</strong>, and new rules for the <strong>Dungeon!</strong> board game. Even though two of these games were published by <strong>TSR</strong> (<strong>Chainmail</strong> and <strong>Dungeon!</strong>), this reflects the editor's attempt to be a genuine cross-industry magazine.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps surprisingly, there are three pieces of short fiction in <strong>The Dragon</strong>. Fritz Lieber shares an amusing story, wherein the author tries to explain wargaming to Fafhrd and the Mouser. This seems to be a promotional piece for Lieber's wargame "Lankhmar," published by <strong>TSR</strong> soon after. There is a story by future editor Jake Jaquet, which is little more than a dungeon crawl write-up. And there is also the first part of a serialized novel with the uninspiring title of "The Gnome Cache," written by Garrison Ernst (actually a pseudonym used by Gary Gygax).</p><p></p><p>Production values are pretty crude, especially the somewhat infamous cover. The content is compelling, though, and includes some notable writers: Gary Gygax, James M. Ward, Scott Bizar (founder of <strong>Fantasy Games Unlimited</strong>), Lee Gold (editor of Alarums and Excursions), Fritz Lieber, and Lin Carter.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]98404[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And so <strong>The Dragon</strong> made its debut. But how would the fans respond? Had Kask hit on the right formula? And had the magazine really broken out of the "house organ" mold? Issue #2 would start to answer these questions.</p><p></p><p><em>M.T. Black is a game designer and DMs Guild Adept. Please follow him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/MTBlack2567" target="_blank">@mtblack2567</a> and sign up for his <a href="http://bit.ly/mtblacksignup" target="_blank">mailing list</a>.</em><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&amp]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&amp]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&quot]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span><span style="color: #FFFFFF">[FONT=&quot]<strong>Save</strong>[/FONT]</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="M.T. Black, post: 7750208, member: 6782171"] I've played [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B] and other RPGs for most of my life, but it is only recently that I've developed a deep interest in the history of the hobby. It's been a lot of fun learning about these early years - fascinating characters and dramatic events abound! [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]98401[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] In this series of articles, I want to look closely at the most important periodical the RPG industry has ever produced, [B]Dragon[/B] magazine. The premier issue (actually entitled [B]The Dragon[/B] in this issue) was published in June 1976 by [B]TSR[/B], with a cover price of $1.50. The editor was Tim Kask, who was the first full-time employee of [B]TSR[/B] and had edited a range of [B]D&D[/B] supplements for the company. Kask explained the purpose of the new magazine like this: "[HQ]This issue marks a major step for [B]TSR Hobbies Inc.[/B] With it, we have bid farewell to the safe, secure world of the house organ, and have entered the arena of competitive magazine publishing. We have activated a new division of the corporation; [B]TSR Periodical[/B]s. We are soliciting advertisers, and giving notice to the rest of the pack that we have arrived with a vengeance, with a mission to fulfill. That mission is to publish the best magazine devoted to Sword & Sorcery, Fantasy, Science Fiction and Role Playing gaming.[/HQ]" [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]98402[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]98403[/ATTACH][/CENTER] For those unfamiliar with the term, a "house organ" is a magazine published by a company to promote its products and services. Preceding [B]The Dragon[/B] was a house organ called [B]The Strategic Review[/B], which lasted only seven issues. [B]TSR[/B] squeezed an impressive amount of content into [B]The Dragon's[/B] thirty-two pages. For [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B] players, there are expanded rules for the illusionist class, a system for making attribute checks, statistics for science-fiction weapons, an essay on [B]D&D[/B] languages, DM hints for wilderness adventures, a new monster (the bulette), and several new Tolkien-inspired elven sub-races. The magazine covers other games as well. There are rules for simulating the [B]Battle of Five Armies[/B] using [B]Chainmail[/B], expanded rules for a Conan-inspired wargame called [B]Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age[/B], and new rules for the [B]Dungeon![/B] board game. Even though two of these games were published by [B]TSR[/B] ([B]Chainmail[/B] and [B]Dungeon![/B]), this reflects the editor's attempt to be a genuine cross-industry magazine. Perhaps surprisingly, there are three pieces of short fiction in [B]The Dragon[/B]. Fritz Lieber shares an amusing story, wherein the author tries to explain wargaming to Fafhrd and the Mouser. This seems to be a promotional piece for Lieber's wargame "Lankhmar," published by [B]TSR[/B] soon after. There is a story by future editor Jake Jaquet, which is little more than a dungeon crawl write-up. And there is also the first part of a serialized novel with the uninspiring title of "The Gnome Cache," written by Garrison Ernst (actually a pseudonym used by Gary Gygax). Production values are pretty crude, especially the somewhat infamous cover. The content is compelling, though, and includes some notable writers: Gary Gygax, James M. Ward, Scott Bizar (founder of [B]Fantasy Games Unlimited[/B]), Lee Gold (editor of Alarums and Excursions), Fritz Lieber, and Lin Carter. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]98404[/ATTACH][/CENTER] And so [B]The Dragon[/B] made its debut. But how would the fans respond? Had Kask hit on the right formula? And had the magazine really broken out of the "house organ" mold? Issue #2 would start to answer these questions. [I]M.T. Black is a game designer and DMs Guild Adept. Please follow him on twitter [URL="https://twitter.com/MTBlack2567"]@mtblack2567[/URL] and sign up for his [URL="http://bit.ly/mtblacksignup"]mailing list[/URL].[/I][CENTER][COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT=&][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT=&][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT="][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#FFFFFF][FONT="][B]Save[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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