"Classic" Dragon Articles

[Ariddrake]

There was an article I remeber seeing that had the stats for Satan in an old dragon mag. He\she had like 666 hitpoints and a successful attack did 1d10damage+death ( I thought that was really funny).

I also like the ecology of articles.

 

[WayneLigon]

One very good short story where a girl was playing in an online dungeon/labyrinth. This was a years before the advent of the internet.

I'm going to have to fire up the magazine archive CD and re-read that one. I loved it, and still do. It was amazing prophetic, as well

There was a lot of good fiction. 'The Gun That Shot Too Straight' comes to mind. The story of the trial of the doctor who removed people's sensory abilities (They came to me!). The story about the evil-tainted swamp. John Gregory Betancourt's 'Slabs' stories. Certainly Niall of the Far Travels. Child of Ocean by Eluki bes Shahar. The one about the kid who tries to bind a dragon as a familiar.

The Ecology Of.. articles. The fiction bits about the Will-o-the-Wisp and the Harpy still give me creeps. The more recent one on the Feyr had the same effect

A second shout-out to the Leomund's Tiny Hut, esp. for the Cloistered Cleric and the Deryni articles.

Greenwood's first article (I think): From the City of Brass to Dead Orc Pass, about gates and D&D. I think this is the first mention of any FR location; others appeared in his articles on gems and designing a fantasy calendar (The Merry Month of... Myrtul?), and you first began to realize 'man, this guy has a tremendously detailed world behind these articles...'.

Katherine Kerr's articles (She'd later go on to write the Deverry series of books)

 

[Desdichado]

I don't know if they're "classics" or not, but I especially seem to hear a lot about Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft run from a few years ago.

Heck, I'd like to see Aris (or whatever he called that setting) developed a bit more, updated to 3e (grumble, or 3.5 I suppose) and published as a book.

 

[Faraer]

For me, all the best Dragon material is tied to a specific world: Ed Greenwood's 200-odd Realms articles, everything by Gary Gygax, Bruce Heard's Mystara work, and others. Good stuff too from Robin Laws and Ray Winninger, but mostly the 'idea' articles and the pieces not anchored to a named setting are ephemeral and not the sort of thing you refer to later. Building memorable depth and emotion in an isolated non-narrative article is just too hard.

 

[Omand]

Hello,

It looks like my memories/experiences with Dragon are a bit different from the majority posting here. For what it is worth, here are some of my favourites (I will post more as I think of them).

- "Charging Isn't Cheap" forget the author & issue, but between #120 and #170 I think. Great ideas article on spicing up magic items.

- "Whaddya Mean Jack the Samurai?" another article I forget the author and issue # of, but a great name generator for Oriental campaigns.

- There was also an article, who's title I have forgetten, that gave the folk properties of gemstones, and general values of the gemstones as well. It was a great flavour article in that you could then use gems for reasons other than wealth in the game with some built in "known" properties. Things like rubies attracting lightning, moonstones causing/influencing lycanthropy, etc.

- Another article whose title I have forgotten detailed fantasy cities/medieval cities and adaptations required for sieges, etc. For example, how woould a higher magic D&D setting have influenced Minas Tirith in the LotR? Umber Hulks chewing through the foundations, etc. Great article on how to adapt cities to the high magic fantasy standard without having them become death traps for citizens when an enemy army marches up to the gates. This one was in around the #170-180 range, I believe.

- The Ecology articles, generally enjoyed them, but prefer the new (3E) format to the old format, except for the Monster Hunters Association ones. I LOVED the Monster Hunter Association take on Ecology.

Ray Winneger's Dungeoncraft articles on the WotC website were one of the main reasons I started subscribing again. I enjoy the column in its new form as well, but the old version hooked me.

- Snarfquest, Wormy, Nodwick, loved them.

Cheers

 

[DaveMage]

As was said earlier in the thread, the "Deck of Many Things" was a sweet bonus. I'd love to see more stuff like that.

Also, I'd love a monthly feature highlighting locales/info on the various planes of existance.

 

[Arnwyn]

For myself, I'd list Ed Greenwood's overview of the Nine Hells (way back in 1st edition days) and the critical hit article "Good Hits and Bad Misses" as articles I'll remember forever,

Holy crap. You mentioned the first two that popped into my mind (which I had cut-out and *still* use to this very day. Yes, really).

Others:
- the Nine Hells articles from around the same time
- "Horses Are People, Too" - detailing rules, stats, and guidelines for horses
- Deck of Many Things bonus
- Wizards Three
- Elminster's Notebook/Guide to the Realms/etc
- Roger Moore's demihumans article
- update of older campaigns for 3.5 (this one is destined to be a classic)

 

[frankthedm]

Hello,

- "Whaddya Mean Jack the Samurai?" another article I forget the author and issue # of, but a great name generator for Oriental campaigns.

who woulda thunk

 

[mearls]

When you and your friends talk about Dragon Magazine, what articles do you always mention? Which, from any period in the magazine's history, stand out as "classics" to you?

Keeping in mind that I didn't buy Dragon from 93 to 99, I really liked:

* The PC and NPC classes. They provided a nice change of pace, particularly the jester, archer, death master, and anti-paladin.

* The article on playing aarakocra as characters, though this might be influenced by the old computer RPG Knights of Legend, which allowed you to created winged characters.

* The Warhammer FRP review from back in the day. This might seem like a funny choice, but it was very thorough and even gave an overview of all the fantasy RPGs on the market. It really give me a clear idea of what was out there.

* Wormy.

* I liked the articles that had a theme tying together new spells and new magic items. I can still remember the spells of Odeen clearer than a random jumble of druid spells.

 

[the Jester]

'The Politics of Hell.'

The articles on the Nine Hells already mentioned.

The "Point of View" racial articles by Roger Moore.

'The Ecology of...' articles.

Wormy!!!