[Magazines] Dungeon or Dragon?

[Halivar]

Okie-dokie. Having picked up Dungeon #102 and Dragon #313, I'm going to have to say that I must find space in my wallet for both.

Dragon has too many crunchy bits to pass up. I'm planning on introducing a half-fey creature as an NPC into an upcoming campaign, and, lo and behold, Dragon has a half-nymph, made to order. Other than that... well... it's so dang... crunchy.

Dungeon just really impresses me with their adventure layout. While I couldn't give a rip about Star Wars ship plans, Poly gives me a good option for a random one-off game (we game several times a week, since I'm fortunate enough to live with my game group).

So, the verdict, for me, is in: an extra $6 a month ain't that bad.

 

[barsoomcore]

I had a big post here about how when I was starting out Dragon was super valuable to me -- that would have been issues #50 - #100 or so -- and taught me a HUGE amount about DMing and running games and designing encounters, stuff I still use every time I run a session of Barsoom, but that I haven't read it since then mainly because I've learned those lessons and while I moved on, it seemed like the magazine didn't.

Got issue 304 (the one with the 3.5 screen) and it was okay.

But Dungeon was the magazine that, when it first came out, I wasn't much interested in. Now, however, it's a godsend -- Erik, thank you thank you thank you. It is, as I've said before, the single most massively useful RPG aid I ever buy. As a harried DM, there's nothing better.

 

[Ranger REG]

I honestly wish I could recommend you to buy Dungeon but for a different reason (i.e., POLY).

 

[diaglo]

I honestly wish I could recommend you to buy Dungeon but for a different reason (i.e., POLY).

don't start that again.

that is not a recommendation for many.

 

[Altalazar]

Speaking as someone with a brain disorder that caused me to have every single issue of both Dungeon and Dragon ever published, I really recommend both.

In the short term, the new Dragons have lots of interesting little tidbits that are useful in running the game.

In the long term, if you look back at old Dragons, a lot of material there probably isn't very useful anymore.

However, in the long term, with Dungeon, in the short term, you have probably hundreds of 3.0/3.5 adventures ready-made, for a variety of levels and settings - that is a TREMENDOUS resource.

And if you want to make your own adventures, you can still mine the older adventures for plotlines or just ideas - I took a map and a kernal of an idea from an ancient Dungeon and used it as the basis for two really fun adventures in 3.0.

Sometimes when I need inspiration, I'll just grab a stack of old Dungeons and flip through them until it hits me.

I'm glad to hear that you go them both. In the long run, a subscription is also a cheaper way to go than the newsstand - and you don't need to trouble yourself to drive to the store. And these days, the price of a single book is equivalent to a two year subscription anyway, so it isn't a bad deal.