Best ever Dragon issues?

[Plane Sailing]

What were your favourite/best ever issues of "The Dragon"?

I think my favourites were probably

#4 (my first RPG magazine, and got me interested in Tekumel)

#12 (my first introduction to Lovecraftian Mythos)

... then I didn't collect it for a long, long time!

So what are your best ones?

 

[RangerWickett]

I though #200 was pretty cool. I've still got it somewhere, in a sleeve (because it's "collectible," what with it's hologram dragon cover).

I recall it had an article on adding flavor to your spells, so like Web might be strands of ice, and magic missile might be fists. Obvious stuff now, but cool back then.

I need to pull it out to remind myself what else it had.

 

[DMH]

I don't think any issues are best, just specfic articles like 211's Ecology of the Dungeon, 89's Survival is a Group Effort, 102's A Thousand in One 138's The End of the World, 174's Bugged About Something and 200's The Color of Magic.

 

[S'mon]

The period ca 136-148 - coincidentally also when I started reading it! Hmm...

 

[Grazzt]

What were your favourite/best ever issues of "The Dragon"?

I think my favourites were probably

#4 (my first RPG magazine, and got me interested in Tekumel)

#12 (my first introduction to Lovecraftian Mythos)

... then I didn't collect it for a long, long time!

So what are your best ones?

#39 (Good Hits, Bad Misses article, Anti-Paladin article)
#75, #76 (Nine Hells articles, Death Master NPC class)

Couple of earlier issues too with the NPC classes in Lenard Lakofka's "Leomund's Tiny Hut" articles

Most of the ones actually between issues #82 and the early #100s (including #114, the Witch).

(Still have them all actually, starting with the Strategic Review, and then The Dragon #1 to probably late 2006/early 2007 (issue #3xx??)...lost interest in the mag and let my subscription lapse)

 

[sckeener]

Here are some of my classic quickies...as a kid I poored over these:

#75 for the Nine Hells

#76 for the Nine Hells

#78 for the psionicist

#93 for Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut

#86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92 for the Suel pantheon
#87 for the ecology of the dryad

#90 for the Norse articles

#91 for the Nine Hells

#110 for better or Norse

#114 for the cover and the Witch (I got into more discussions in Highschool about this cover)

#116 for all the sea articles

 

[Greg K]

My favorites include:
58 Dwarves
59 Halflings Point of View;
60 Elves Point of View;
61 Gnomes Point of View;
62 Half-orcs/orcs Point of View;
63 Humanoids
--- "Plan before you Play" by Ed Greenwood
65 "Law of the Land" by Ed Greenwood
66 Thieve's Cant
67 Greyhawk Deities
68Greyhawk Deites (Celestian, Farlanghn,Ehlonna, Pholzus, Tritheron)
--- Weather in Greyhawk
---Thrills and Chills
69 Greyhawk Deities (Istus, Obad-hai)
70 Greyhawk Deities (Boccob, zagyg, Oldimarra)
71 Greyhawks World (Heward, Keoghtom,Murlyand, Kelanen)
--- Greyhawk Deities (Erythnul, Incubalos, Nerull, Ralishaz, Wastri)

72 The Real Barbarians by Katherine Kerr
73 Non Violent Magic Itemsby Lewis Pulsipher and Roland Getliffe
75 Beyond the Rule Book by Lew Pulsipher
---- Nine Hells Part 1 by Ed Greenwood
---- All games Need Names by Katherine Kerr
76 Nine Hells Part 2 by Ed Greenwood
79 The Fights of Fantasy Lew Pulsipher
80 Who Lives in that Castle Katherine Kerr
84 Never the same thing Twice: Scott Bennie
-A cast of strange Familiars by Stephen Inniss
85 Clerics must be deity-bound Frazer Sherman
87 Beyond the Dungeon by Katherine Kerr
88 Beyond the Dungeon part 2 by Katherine Kerr
91 Eight Devilish Questions by Ed Greenwood
91 Nine Hells Revisited by Ed Greenwood
93 The Making of a Milieu by Arthur Collins
94 An army travels on its stomach by Katherine Kerr
96 What good PCs are made of by Katherine Kerr
97 Blueprints for a Big Game by Jim Dutton
98 Detailing a Fanasty World by Jim Dutton
----Creative Magic Items
99 That's Life in the Big city by Kevin Anderson and Kristine Thompson
102 Creating a Cast of NPCs by Jim Dutton
104 The Well Rounded Thief by John C. Bunnel
---Race is ahead of Class by John C. Bunnel
---Was it Worth the Risk by Bruce Barber
105 The Well Equipped Victim by Ed Greenwood
---Travel works Both Ways by Paul Vernon
108 The role of Nature by Bruce Humphrey
109 Locals aren't all Yokels by Ralph Sizer
111 Welcom to Malachi by Becky Helfenstein
112 Armor Piece by Piece by Matt Bandy
115 Lords of the Night by Eric Oppen
---A Den of Thieves by Vince Garcia
---The Art of Climbing Walls by Vince Garcia
---Honor Among Thieves by Eric Oppen and Robin Jenkins
117 Fun without Fighting by Scott Bennie
122 Marshalling the Martial Arts by Wayne Goldsmith and Dan Salas
123 Just Making Time by Roger Moore
133 Notice Anything Different by Thomas Ruddick
148 Tracking down the Barbarian by David Howery
---- Corrected Cavalier by David Howery
171 Completing the Complete fighter by David Howery
175 Creative Campaigns: A New Recipe by Tim Schroeder
----Inventing the "Instant Adventure" by Arthur Collins
178 What not to Include by Arthur Collins
189 The Dark Continent by David Howery
---- Arms and Armor of Africa by Michael J. Varhola
----The other Orientals by Tom Griffith
----Completing the Complete Bard by Jon Winter
191 Open your MInd by Michael John Wybo II
----The Elven Pantheoen Completed by Carl Sargent
----An African Genesis by Brady English
196 Magic From the Gods: Wizard kits for an African Campaign by Michael John Wybo II
200 Familiar Faces by David Howery
----The Even More Complete Psionicist by Jon Winter
202: Mythic Races of Africa by Michael John Wybo II
205 The People by David Howery
209 The Priests of Africa by Michael John Wybo II
210 Primitive Weaponry
214 The Complete Half Elf
215 The Deities of Africa by Michael John Wybo II

Edit: More recent issues
I like both the Demonomicon articles by James Jacobs and Sean Reynold's Core Beliefs.

 

[Aus_Snow]

"King of the Jungle" was probably my favourite part of it - basically because I thought the Beastmaster was awesome when I got hold of this issue. Also, the issue in question (#119) was my first Dragon mag. So, it's kinda sentimental like that.

The best? I'll have to think on that. . .

 

[TerraDave]

...Sckeener and Mr. Snow...I think I just hit somekind of nostalgia high.

So many issues starting at around 120 and going backwards.

So many, that in all honesty my favorites are Best of The Dragon I and Best of The Dragon II. Read so much, and big sources of inspiration (though I can't really recomend many of the mechanics for your AD&D game, maybe your OD&D one).

It may be cheating...but thats my anwers

 

[Evilhalfling]

From what I can remember:

#99 - hugely expanded intelligent weapon powers, AND troops followers for fighters based on race or eniviornment.

more votes for 75, 76, 91 - the nine hells issues.

#96 best comedy - the whats new dragon, the Quazar draconis, wandering damage table (including "something invisible bites off your nose, lose 1d4 charaisma"

the issue on thieves that and guilds that was published later as the 2ed Thief's Handbook
it also had 101 door traps, and 50 uses for golems.

Although this whole thread is moslty a discussion of good articles, most of the Dragon maganzines not in a box at my parents house, are in play for a single article.

Hmm add the 2 magazines that more recently provided dragons with savage species progression. My gold wyrmling 15/rouge1 with a VoP would be impossible without it.
and it has seen use for anumber of npc dragons as well.