"Classic" Dragon Articles

[qstor]

I liked Ed Greenwoods Hell articles as well, plus Issue #61 with the jester, eleven gods and the last jest bard ability, also the purple,orange and yellow dragon in Dragon 65 IIRC and updated to 2e in Dragon 248.

Being a Greyhawk fan myself I liked the bits of Ivid the Undying and the maps that appeared in Dragon around issue 205. Maybe you can do an article on eastfair for the LGJ.

As for Ed, I still hope Ed's articles appear in the new issues of Dragon. I like Elministers Guide to the Realms. David Day's artwork is fantastic.

Mike

 

[Michael Tree]

Probably the one article that I always wanted to dig up was from back in 1989. It was an article on little-known 0-level spells, like "Find Earth" (which causes the caster to immediately fall down face-first and take 1d4 points of damage) and "Fiery Breath" (with a material component consisting of jalapeno pepper). They were pretty hilarious. Wish I could remember them all.

That's probably my single favorite article. Drawmij's Instant Death (Drawmij, wherever he is and whoever he is, dies, instantly, with no saving throw). Detect fire (Range: touch).

My other favorites are the article about the Deryni and expanded 1e psionics to fit that setting, the NPC Witch article, the coupld of articles on new martial arts for the original Oriental Adventures, and the Marvel Super Heroes articles.

 

[Gallo22]

the main thing on my list!

Shorter articles...pure and simple.

A 4-5 page article is great. A 10-20 page article can get pertty convoluted. Many of the articles over the past year or so are just too long winded. I feel they are just put in to fill space. They could have gotten the point out with a much smaller article and left room for another. I want a magazine for articles not long drawn out "books". I don't know? Does this make sense?

As far as articles go, pretty much everyone is hitting the nail on the head.

I do miss the card stock "freebees". Especially the monster tokens.

Why not have an "Ecololgy of" article(s) with a small insert of tokens (maybe 4-5) for that monster. Or when you have an article or monster..etc, put in tokens that go with that particular article, monster, trap, magic item...etc. It does not have to be a whole sheet, but a small insert would we welcome!

Gallo22

 

[Xorial]

I like just about any of the articles that expand of the different races. Player character races or not. Ecologies have always been helpful. I cant remember the issues, but there was an issue for 2e that concentrated of half-elves that I liked.

Another arcticle that i cant rember the issue for is the Elven Cavalier. I always liked the different take that the elves would have vs human concepts of honor. I like these different views on classes better than a generic "one type fits all" approach to some classes.

But, just about my all time favorite was in issue #100. It was an adventure that I still have, and still pull out to run every now & then. The City Beyond the Gate. I wouldnt mind seeing it updated & republished sometime. Searching for the Mace of St. Cuthbert in modern day London is always a blast.

 

[reddist]

My group STILL makes jokes about the Wandering Damage Tables that appeared in an old April issue.

Two major components in my home brew use the articles that gave us the Urgulstastas (sp?) and other "desert undead," and the Sheens. Those articles have had a major impact on a very long-runnning campaign.

I'll READ the articles that center on a specific campaign world, but I prefer to USE articles that give me bits and pieces I can drop in to my own world with little or no tweaking.

-Reddist

 

[Sketchpad]

Personally ... I've always enjoyed alternate ideas ...new races, new classes, varient classes, new prestige classes, new feats and new uses for skills. I think that Dragon could use a regular article that introduces either a new class or varient class into the game. For example, I'd love to see another stab at a Knight class ... or maybe alternates for rogues. I think that WotC's site has a good thing with their Savage Species feature and maybe somethiing like that would be cool. I think my favorite article from Dragon (that wasn't in the long deceased "Ares" section) was the Archer NPC class for 1e ... I loved that class

 

[Naarg]

My friends and I still quote Roger Moore's "U 2 Can Ern Big Bux" quiz to this day. Classic stuff.

 

[inevitable]

For short stories, I'm particularly fond of two previously mentioned ones: "Abomination" (druid battles evil swamp, told from the swamp's point of view), and the one with the girl in the MMORPG. That author must have a crystal ball.

Game article I use the most? The chi-square test article. (Seems like everyone I play with is superstitious about their dice. Thanks to that article, I can prove that their "lucky" or "unlucky" 20-sider is just, well, random.

Loved the Fedifensor article, and I loved the mini-games that Dragon used to include sometimes; "Dragon chess" from one of the anniversary issues was my favorite.

Oh, and I fondly remember the years-long back-and-forth in the letters column about what "realistic" falling damage should be. And we think _we_ argue about D&D rules nowadays...

 

[Urbanmech]

I loved the old "Ecology of..." articles, they made you want to use whatever monster they were mentioning in your game.

I was also fond of any article that introduced new weapons to the game. It got boring always using a long sword over and over again.

Any of the Dark Sun and Spell Jammer content from the old issues were welcome content in my games.

In more current issues I've enjoyed the Incursion arc, Monte Cook's Dungeon Craft articles, and the Bestiary articles.

Dragon and Dungeon magazine are worth their weight in gold. While new books are only released every so often, I know that the magazines will come to my mailbox every month for a dose of gaming goodness.

 

[RFisher]

* Article on creating Anglo-Saxon names. (Similarly, the article on oriental names was appreciated, though I never had occasion to use it.)
* Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles.
* Gygax & Kuntz's recent Up on a Soapbox articles retelling stories from the early days.
* Wormy.
* Ed Greenwood's magic item articles. (Back before FR was a published setting.)
* Giants in the Earth.
* Len Lakofka's Leomund's Tiny Hut.
* Gygax's From the Sorcerer's Scroll.
* An interview with a Rust Monster.
* A bit after 3e came out, there was a series of articles that would focus on a topic for players. I forget the name of the series. (Although it wasn't the best of the series, the 1st that springs to mind was one on battle cries.)