A Different Take on Dragon #300

[cybertalus]

Forget the controversy for a minute, because that's not what this is about.

I remember Dragon #200. I remember anxiously waiting for it after seeing the preview of the cover. Elmore! Hologram! Cool! Man that was a long thirty days waiting for Dragon #200 to arrive.

And when it arrived, it lived up to my expectations. I don't remember the articles now, but I think Snarf made a one-shot return. I also remember enjoying the whole thing and thinking that this was what a centenial issue should be like. In fact, Dragon #200 so impressed me that I went out and bought a spare.

I won't be buying a spare Dragon #300.

The cover, like 98% of 3E art, didn't do anything for me. Except for the history of Dragon article, the articles didn't do anything for me either. They seemed like just more of the same stuff which has been boring me of late. Prestige classes.... snooze. D&D conversions of material from computer games..... snooze. Feature articles promoting WotC's Next Big Product..... snooze. The only thing missing was the three pages of not funny cartoons.

This was Dragon Number Three Hundred! It should have been special. It should have included innovatative ground-breaking material that would resonate for years. Or it should've brought back old favorites for some nice remembering. Or ideally, it should've done a bit of both.

For my money, it did neither.

 

[Darkness]

I agree about the cover, I think...

 

[Furn_Darkside]

This day is going to go down for how many locked threads happened.. haha.

FD

 

[Fast Learner]

I haven't seen 300 yet, but I remember eagerly looking forward to 100. When it came, with its gold ink cover and, IIRC, Carl Lundgren art, I was excited. I remember referencing it a lot over the next couple of years, so it must have had some good content, though I don't remember any of it.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I haven't seen 300 yet, but I remember eagerly looking forward to 100. When it came, with its gold ink cover and, IIRC, Carl Lundgren art, I was excited. I remember referencing it a lot over the next couple of years, so it must have had some good content, though I don't remember any of it.

Druid/Rangers, Pages from the Mages V, Battlesystem Basics (2 Articles, including many of the "whys" of the system, which was handy if you wanted to make changes), full-sized adventure (questing for a piece of the Rod of Seven Parts in 1980's London), and a pretty darn good Wormy.

200: Magic from the Gods, Wizards Three, Personalized Magic, Magic Items, Cryomancy, a miniadventure, Known World Grimoir (Mystara), module-expansion article, a one-shot adventure, expanding on Psionics, and vilainous Minions.

 

[JeffB]

Forget the controversy for a minute, because that's not what this is about.

I remember Dragon #200. I remember anxiously waiting for it after seeing the preview of the cover. Elmore! Hologram! Cool! Man that was a long thirty days waiting for Dragon #200 to arrive.

And when it arrived, it lived up to my expectations. I don't remember the articles now, but I think Snarf made a one-shot return. I also remember enjoying the whole thing and thinking that this was what a centenial issue should be like. In fact, Dragon #200 so impressed me that I went out and bought a spare.

I won't be buying a spare Dragon #300.

The cover, like 98% of 3E art, didn't do anything for me. Except for the history of Dragon article, the articles didn't do anything for me either. They seemed like just more of the same stuff which has been boring me of late. Prestige classes.... snooze. D&D conversions of material from computer games..... snooze. Feature articles promoting WotC's Next Big Product..... snooze. The only thing missing was the three pages of not funny cartoons.

This was Dragon Number Three Hundred! It should have been special. It should have included innovatative ground-breaking material that would resonate for years. Or it should've brought back old favorites for some nice remembering. Or ideally, it should've done a bit of both.

For my money, it did neither.

Exactly.

I had made this point (though not so well as you) in the thread that got closed (which one..I see they all got closed..heh).

It was just a REALLY, REALLY poor issue..except for the flashbacks from former editors.

As I said in the other thread, the Editor's of the new Dragon (And now Piazzo) should reallytake a good look at the old issues and see WHY the old magis so collectible and was so useful to so many different types of D&D gamers.

I miss Roger Moore and Kim Mohan..

 

[Grazzt]

Just like JeffB, I made a similar post in one of the many #300 threads earlier about the magazine itself (not the other crap that sparked the controversy earlier).

Overall, it was a piss-poor magazine for a #300 issue (and somewhat poor overall as well). I remember #100. I remember #200. And I was really looking forward to this one expecting it to be as great as the other "anniversary" mags. That is until I actually read through it.

Except for the article with the editors/former editors, I think the magazine was really, really poor (including the cover artwork).

And I agree with cybertalus's evaluation above (and reprinted below):

...the articles didn't do anything for me either. They seemed like just more of the same stuff which has been boring me of late. Prestige classes.... snooze. D&D conversions of material from computer games..... snooze. Feature articles promoting WotC's Next Big Product..... snooze.

This was Dragon Number Three Hundred! It should have been special. It should have included innovatative ground-breaking material that would resonate for years. Or it should've brought back old favorites for some nice remembering. Or ideally, it should've done a bit of both.

 

[cybertalus]

Glad it's not just me being nostalgic. (Not to say there isn't nostalgia happening, just that if there is, I'm not alone with it.)

I recognize that it's a different world now. I suspect that there are a lot of articles sitting on websites which a decade ago would've been submitted to Dragon. So I'll accept that it may be more difficult to get material.

I'll also accept that I'm older, crankier, and more difficult to impress.

But that still leaves my opinion that Dragon has gotten way too predictable. Too many columns run every to nearly every month and too much of a percentage of the overall page count is devoted to features which recur.

More than any one person's tenure, I miss the days of being excited about a new Dragon arriving, and being anxious to open it up and see what was inside.

Edit: fixed a typo

 

[Fast Learner]

I let my subscription lapse when (about a year or so ago) the mag became a monthly "half the mag is some kind of supplement or duplication of this month's new WOTC product." Seriously, if I'm interested enough I'll buy the product. I look for the magazine to contain something else.

Here's hoping the Paizo ownership changes this.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I let my subscription lapse when (about a year or so ago) the mag became a monthly "half the mag is some kind of supplement or duplication of this month's new WOTC product." Seriously, if I'm interested enough I'll buy the product. I look for the magazine to contain something else.

Ditto.

Don't forget the monthly power-plays, either.

Here's hoping the Paizo ownership changes this.

Doubtful, but there's always hope, isn't there?