D&D General Damn I miss Dragon Magazine

[el-remmen]

I miss it, in the nostalgic way that glosses over the fact that often enough, most of the content of any given issue wasn't terribly useful.

Speak for yourself! I found it very useful (until I didn't anymore).

 

[Umbran]

Speak for yourself!

I believe I was doing exactly that. Thanks.

 

[aco175]

I think it should be replaced with a monthly subscription that delivers physical props for D&D that help the DM build a better game (and a few articles / written supplemental materials).

That would make a cool, new, website- DMsBuild.

 

[Stormonu]

I've got a deep collection of the print runs of Dragon, Dungeon, and Polyhedron, which I still fill out with back issues every so often; I just picked up near-mint copies of Dragon issues #184 and #192 earlier this month.

At the very least, I wish WotC would make POD options for the digital versions of Dragon, since they're now on sale on DTRPG, but that doesn't seem likely to happen. As it is, they don't even have all of those issues up for sale; the last print issue was #359, but the DTRPG PDFs don't begin until issue #364 (affiliate link).

I'm lucky to have the Dragon CD set that came out years ago - basically up to #250 as PDFs. However, as I recall TSR/WotC got in trouble for producing that due to the inclusion of ads or somesuch from 3rd party without their permission; it was how Necromancer Games got permission to get Kalamar published as "official" product, as I recall. I imagine they are extremely reluctant to have a repeat of releasing any content that might lead to more legal issues.

 

[Blue Orange]

Don't they have the copyright to the actual magazine? (I don't fully understand this stuff, I admit.)

Ads seem like an odd thing to be complaining about, too--seems like free advertising for your company is a good thing.

As an aside, it was kind of amusing to see ads for Manhattan's Compleat Strategist dated before I was born.

You're a lucky man to have that CD!

 

[Lanefan]

Ernie Gygax tried to reboot a version of old-school Dragon with his Gygax magazine. It was great, except for two things:

1. Nearly impossible to get in Canada.
2. It only lasted 4 (?) issues and then someone (Gail Gygax? not sure) sued him for using the name, after which as far as I know it shut down.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm lucky to have the Dragon CD set that came out years ago - basically up to #250 as PDFs. However, as I recall TSR/WotC got in trouble for producing that due to the inclusion of ads or somesuch from 3rd party without their permission; it was how Necromancer Games got permission to get Kalamar published as "official" product, as I recall. I imagine they are extremely reluctant to have a repeat of releasing any content that might lead to more legal issues.

It wasn't ads. It was that Wizards of the Coast only had the first-run rights to the Knights of the Dinner Table (which is owned by Kenzer Co.) strips that were in some of their later issues. Kenzer filed suit, alleging that the CD-ROM (which featured digital copies of Dragon issues #1-250 in their entirety) constituted reprinting the strips, and was a violation of the "first-printing only" contract.

The case was settled, as such cases often are, and Kenzer Co. got several concessions from WotC:

1. They got to use a lot of D&D intellectual property for their HackMaster "4th Edition" game.
2. They got to print 3E-compatible Kingdoms of Kalamar books not only without using the OGL, but also with the actual D&D logo (though WotC would look at and approve these before they were released).
3. They got to publish several D&D comic books (all of which were mini-series).

Of course, those concessions all had expiration dates, which is why by the time D&D 4th Edition came out, Kenzer Co. was making a new version of HackMaster, and was releasing a 4E-compatible Kingdoms of Kalamar without any license with WotC (Dave Kenzer is an IP attorney, so the prospect didn't worry him).

Now, that's the story as I've heard it; someone else might have more details or better insight. I'll add only that, while I'm no lawyer, I've since heard that similar cases (about what constitutes a breach of a first-printing only contract) have gone to court, only to determine that such reprints actually don't constitute a violation. But that's something I heard third-hand, so take it with a fairly large grain of salt.

 

[Morrus]

Give it another decade or two I expect print magazines and newspapers won’t even exist any more.

 

[Retreater]

I was more of a fan of Dungeon.
These days, I've been getting some zines and magazines (some PDF and some physical). I feel like there's a lot of good content out there, especially if you broaden your horizons to indie designers and third party.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Were you thinking that Edward of Woodstock was the only Black Prince in world history?

No, but that was who the debate was about.