"Classic" Dragon Articles

[Qlippoth]

One of my long-time favorites is "A New Name? It's Elementary!" by Gygax. Gave a pair of tables with which one could generate names (personal, place-related, and the like) composed of Anglo-Saxon root-words (along with rough corresponding meanings). I've used that article for names, idea hooks, etc. ever since it was printed (well over 20 years).

 

[Swordsage]

So many favourites, but after having a good think I realised that most of them related to 'themes':

A better way of playing the game than existed in the current rules-set: "Two-fisted Fighting" and "Physics and Falling Damage".

Enhancing the bad guys articles: "Deathmaster" NPC class, "For Your Orcs Only".

New bad guys with back story and cool new monsters/items/spells: "The Cult of the Dragon".

Spells and magic items with 'substance', usually meaning back story: "Pages From the Mages", the first "Arcane Lore" article, "Six Very Special Shields", "Soargar's Legacy".

Commentary on the game itself and bad trends/habits (yes, a bit subjective but useful nonetheless): "History of a Game That Failed", "Nogard" (the tongue-in-cheek look).

World- specific material for the fans of those settings: "Dragotha", "Wyrms of the North", "Voyage of the Princess Ark".

New adventuring vistas material: "The Nine Hells".

IMHO, Dragon worked best when it catered to all the fans by giving them a breadth of material. That meant regular 'monster' stuff for the DMs who wanted to throw something new at their players ("Creature Catalogs", "The Ecology of ..."), regular FR articles for the fans of that setting without necessarily having to do a 'series' ("Rogue Stones and Gem Jumping", "City of Sunken Spires", "Seven Swords"), regular GH/DL/Mystara et. al. articles for the fans of those settings, and enough non-gameworld specific material to stop the griping from the anti-FR/GH/DL etc. brigade. I was always interested in material that could be instantly used in any campaign like new herbs, poisons, horses - even if that material was showcased in a gameworld specific vehicle (like GH or FR) - it was very simple to take it out of the 'fluff'. And at the very least, the 'fluff' was usually interesting and entertaining and with a bit of work could be transported to other campaign settings. Certainly better than a bland, dry schoolbook recitation of game stats.

I have high hopes for the new Erik-helmed DRAGON. I just pray that those hopes aren't submerged in a morass of flavourless PrCs/spells/magic items and monsters.

-- The Swordsage

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I brought the Dragon Archive CD at the time it was released and it was a great disapointment. There were historically interesting things here and there but, in the end, I figured out I don't appreciate Dragon that much.

Why were you disappointed? Had you not read Dragon very much before buying the archive? I ask because I see you're not in the US. I'd read Dragon since issue 45, and I love the archive.

 

[BOZ]

New bad guys with back story and cool new monsters/items/spells: "The Cult of the Dragon".

you've also reminded me of Ed Greenwood's original Incantrix article... another good one.

 

[Olive]

Why were you disappointed? Had you not read Dragon very much before buying the archive? I ask because I see you're not in the US. I'd read Dragon since issue 45, and I love the archive.

Prbably because everyone talks about the old dragons as if they were hugely different from the new dragons. And they're not!

Mostly people's nostalgia kicks in here: when I first started gaming (and actually when i restarted in my 20s) everything was cool and new. The people who are posting here and read this stuff as it came out are almost certainly jaded as all hell!

 

[S'mon]

The one I always remember is "The Highs & Lows of Fantasy" which explains how to run low-fantasy & high-fantasy campaigns, and what the difference is.

 

[S'mon]

I also think Dragons 136 (cities) & 145 (castles) are the bee's knees, I still refer to them frequently; 136 is likely to see a lot of use in my current campaign. For me Dragon between 136 to about 180 (or whenever they put the cover pic in a white border, *yuck* was the golden age, I had to throw out most of my Dragons but I kept all the pre-180 ones.

 

[RichGreen]

For me Dragon between 136 to about 180 (or whenever they put the cover pic in a white border, *yuck* was the golden age, I had to throw out most of my Dragons but I kept all the pre-180 ones.

Wasn't the white border a UK only thing? I agree -- *yuck*


Richard

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Claydonia.

Tom Wham games.

Cardstock structures. (Several castles, and a small ship.)

Dragon Chess.

The Divine Right column (I forget its name off hand).

Wormy.

The spiritualism rules for Call of Cthulhu.

The Auld Grump

 

[Thanael]

An article by Wolfgang Baur (?) on "Dark Zakhara" or similar (horror-tinged Al-Qadim)

Second that. I believe it was titled Dark Arabia.
A great way to tie the Complete Necromancer Guide together with standard AQ.

I also nominate:
Most of the other AQ articles.
Paths of Power (Path Magic) by Baur/Kuntz (still using it with 2E to flesh out MUs)
+ a letter from a later mag with 2 more bard paths.
The Ecology of the Ghoul by Wolfgang Baur (Doresain recently resurfaced in Libris Mortis!)

Dark Sun character Kits
Completing the complete Bard (2 nice Bard kits)
the one with the fighter assassin kit (also northman, and horsenomad?)
the Lost Orientals (2E oriental kits)

Of course the old Deities & Demigods of Greyhawk by Gygax
Suel deities by Leomund
the newer 2e Faith & Avatars style Greyhawk deities
Roger Moore's article on the Jermlaine and other Suelspawn
all the Greyhawk Grimoires
of course all the LGJ !!!

the lost seldarine

I also liked some of the articles on the old alignment debate, esp "Get your priorities straight", which introduced superstitions and principles according to AL.