"Classic" Dragon Articles
- Thread starter Erik Mona
- Start date
I'd agree with the people who said they'd like more D&D theory articles. For example, an article explaining what qualities an exotic weapon should have, or how to balance a weapon by raising the starting price of it (thus making it so that characters cannot afford it until higher levels). The behind the curtain articles of the early 3.0 days were terrific.
As for more "classic" articles, I can think of two or three that were staples of my gaming for a while. The first was the frequently mentioned critical hit tables. The second was an article describing a good method for making random encounter tables that included everything from streams to monsters. The third was a random treasure generator that I used on every single random treasure I generated after reading the article. It was really basic and easy, but it saw a lot of use.
As for more "classic" articles, I can think of two or three that were staples of my gaming for a while. The first was the frequently mentioned critical hit tables. The second was an article describing a good method for making random encounter tables that included everything from streams to monsters. The third was a random treasure generator that I used on every single random treasure I generated after reading the article. It was really basic and easy, but it saw a lot of use.
Dark Psion
First Post
I'll go with all of the above, but..
The thing that makes some articles more memorable than others to me is how they are written.
I like it best whe the article is written from within the game. It's not Ed Greenwood and Monte Cook discusing magic spells, it's Elminster chating with Malhavoc at an inn about their favorite gnomish illusions spells.
One recent article that was very memorable was the Ecology of the Sheet Phantom. It took a very silly monster and made it feel like it was an undead creature to be feared by showing it to us through the eyes of it's victims.
Imagine if in the last issue of Dragon, the Spies in the pictures were describing their own chosen "Professions". What if the Gadgets and Gizmos article was presented as the Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog was, as items for sale, but by a D&D version of Q?
The thing that makes some articles more memorable than others to me is how they are written.
I like it best whe the article is written from within the game. It's not Ed Greenwood and Monte Cook discusing magic spells, it's Elminster chating with Malhavoc at an inn about their favorite gnomish illusions spells.
One recent article that was very memorable was the Ecology of the Sheet Phantom. It took a very silly monster and made it feel like it was an undead creature to be feared by showing it to us through the eyes of it's victims.
Imagine if in the last issue of Dragon, the Spies in the pictures were describing their own chosen "Professions". What if the Gadgets and Gizmos article was presented as the Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog was, as items for sale, but by a D&D version of Q?
Hmmm let's see:
Voyage of the Princess Ark: Gave much needed support and expansion to the OD&D game, both rules and setting.
Wyrms of the North: Still really surprised this material has never been collected together into a book (well okay some of it ended up in Cult of the Dragon, but still).
Campaign Classics: Not just the recent issue devoted to these (though that was a VERY cool issue and I hope it becomes an annual theme), but also the earlier installments, such as the three following issue #200 which were excerpts from the never published Greyhawk book Ivid the Undying.
Pages from the Mages: Themed collections of spells, with a spellbook to find them in. So much easier to work into a campaign than a random collection 10 new spells for this or that class.
Wizards Three: Alternating humourous and serious look at three game worlds from the point of view of three of D&D's most memorable characters. Shame that when Dragonlance finished we got that unknown apprentice of Mordenkainen's to fill in, it would have been so much better with a character from say Mystara (Terari or Jaggar come to mind).
Voyage of the Princess Ark: Gave much needed support and expansion to the OD&D game, both rules and setting.
Wyrms of the North: Still really surprised this material has never been collected together into a book (well okay some of it ended up in Cult of the Dragon, but still).
Campaign Classics: Not just the recent issue devoted to these (though that was a VERY cool issue and I hope it becomes an annual theme), but also the earlier installments, such as the three following issue #200 which were excerpts from the never published Greyhawk book Ivid the Undying.
Pages from the Mages: Themed collections of spells, with a spellbook to find them in. So much easier to work into a campaign than a random collection 10 new spells for this or that class.
Wizards Three: Alternating humourous and serious look at three game worlds from the point of view of three of D&D's most memorable characters. Shame that when Dragonlance finished we got that unknown apprentice of Mordenkainen's to fill in, it would have been so much better with a character from say Mystara (Terari or Jaggar come to mind).
Last edited:
Shadowdancer
First Post
Many of my favorites have already been mentioned.
There was an article or adventure I remember on Baba Yaga's hut. Very interesting.
Article on what PCs can do with their money. It included rules for running a tavern.
A short story "Everything Eats Everything on XXX's World," or something like that. I remember the entire story fit on just one or two pages in the magazine. A true "short" story.
I used to like the old Ares section, especially the articles on Traveller. I'm still a big fan of that game.
The article on non-magical healing herbs.
There was an article or adventure I remember on Baba Yaga's hut. Very interesting.
Article on what PCs can do with their money. It included rules for running a tavern.
A short story "Everything Eats Everything on XXX's World," or something like that. I remember the entire story fit on just one or two pages in the magazine. A true "short" story.
I used to like the old Ares section, especially the articles on Traveller. I'm still a big fan of that game.
The article on non-magical healing herbs.
First, thanks for asking for our input, Erik. I really appreciate how much you, the other Paizo people, and most of the WotC people have all been very attentive to the D&D community... In fact, I'd say most of the WotC/Paizo people have been more attentive ot their customers than the number one company in any other hobby I can think of.Erik Mona said:
Anyway, on to my picks. Now, I never read Dragon until the final days of 2nd edition, so I won't be mentioning any older articles.
. Ares. I like different game systems, and especially Alternity, so I wish the Ares articles would come back.
. Variant rule systems, or variants on the core game rules. A recent example would be the articles in issues #310-#312 that actually had variant core classes.
. Dungeoncraft. 'nuff said. Even experienced DMs can find notes they might not have thought of before.
. Ecology of...
. Prestige Classes - IF they're well-balanced. More prestige classes add more options, and everyone who complains about there being too many prestige classes should remember that no one has to use any of them. However, the better-balanced the class, the better it is.
I do also have one article type I am *not* particularly impressed by.
. Multiclassing progressions. The ones that don't add *any* new rules or new thoughts. It's just a waste of a half-page, IMO.
Wormy, although Downer now in dungeon is quite good.
The comedy 1/2 level spells from issue 72. My group jokes about detect evil 1/2 . We might have made it up, but if we did it is inspired by that article. It consists of point blank asking: "Are you evil?" This spell is reversable.
The Dungeoncraft series. It really should be required reading, while I don't agree with all of it, it is fantastic thinking material.
The third edition designing a monster article (I wish I had seen the designing a feat article).
The Archer Class article, man it was broken balance-wise, but super fun to a player. Largely superceded by Arcane Archer.
Any of the crazy board games in the magazine.
I might have to go look through my Dragon CD archive...
I'm all nostalgic now.
-E
The comedy 1/2 level spells from issue 72. My group jokes about detect evil 1/2 . We might have made it up, but if we did it is inspired by that article. It consists of point blank asking: "Are you evil?" This spell is reversable.
The Dungeoncraft series. It really should be required reading, while I don't agree with all of it, it is fantastic thinking material.
The third edition designing a monster article (I wish I had seen the designing a feat article).
The Archer Class article, man it was broken balance-wise, but super fun to a player. Largely superceded by Arcane Archer.
Any of the crazy board games in the magazine.
I might have to go look through my Dragon CD archive...
I'm all nostalgic now.
-E
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