Dragon 418 is out!
- Thread starter Klaus
- Start date
Echohawk
Shirokinukatsukami fan
I thought this was a particularly strong issue of Dragon.
For a start, it clocks in at 60 pages, which is nearly double the previous two issues (34 and 33 pages), and it certainly feels more substantial.
Next, it includes support for a whopping five different campaign settings, more than any issue since the "Campaign Classics" print issues during Paizo's run. As well as the expected Dark Sun, Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles, we also get a Greyhawk article (Claudio's "Backdrop: Hochoch") and Mystara support with Tim Eagon's "Ye Olde Creature Catalogue" which presents 4th Edition versions of some classic creatures from old D&D modules -- the decapus, magens, rhagodessas and thouls.
For 4th Edition fans, this issue contains a fair amount of new crunch: a new theme, eleven new monster stats blocks, six new magic items, one artifact and two traps. In particular, the article on magical tapestries (Jennifer Clarke Wilkes's "Wondrous Weavings") presents an interesting selection of items and does so with a solid, if short, back-story of the Caretaker who manages the hall of wondrous hangings.
For non-4th Edition fans, most of the content is just as useful for other editions of the game. The Dark Sun, Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles are very light on crunch. "Backdrop: Hochoch" is entirely crunch free, and while they do spend some time looking at the Tarrasque's place in the 4e cosmology, there is plenty of back-story in both of the Tarrasque articles which could inspire games for any edition.
I'd like to echo TavisP's opinion of "Inns in an Instant". I think this article is John Hasznosi's D&D writing debut, and it is a good one. The article consists mostly of tables for generating random inns, but those tables are packed with evocative and even amusing entries. Who wouldn't want to stop by the Boisterous Hedgehog to try their grilled crocodile and wild rose puree with sundew mead? That's certainly a better choice than the Shady Serpent Inn whose special today is lettuce, liver and lung pie with turnip wine!
Finally, the artwork in this issue is great, from Craig J. Spearing's picture of a rampaging tarrasque on the cover through to Hector Ortiz's stylishly elegant tapestry.
Since reverting back to a single monthly PDF, it has felt to me as if Dragon (and Dungeon) have been assembled with more care than they were as a collection of individual articles, and I hope that Stan!'s departure from WotC (mentioned in the editorial, and covered in more depth on his blog) doesn't mean that we'll see a dip in the quality again in 2013.
For a start, it clocks in at 60 pages, which is nearly double the previous two issues (34 and 33 pages), and it certainly feels more substantial.
Next, it includes support for a whopping five different campaign settings, more than any issue since the "Campaign Classics" print issues during Paizo's run. As well as the expected Dark Sun, Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles, we also get a Greyhawk article (Claudio's "Backdrop: Hochoch") and Mystara support with Tim Eagon's "Ye Olde Creature Catalogue" which presents 4th Edition versions of some classic creatures from old D&D modules -- the decapus, magens, rhagodessas and thouls.
For 4th Edition fans, this issue contains a fair amount of new crunch: a new theme, eleven new monster stats blocks, six new magic items, one artifact and two traps. In particular, the article on magical tapestries (Jennifer Clarke Wilkes's "Wondrous Weavings") presents an interesting selection of items and does so with a solid, if short, back-story of the Caretaker who manages the hall of wondrous hangings.
For non-4th Edition fans, most of the content is just as useful for other editions of the game. The Dark Sun, Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles are very light on crunch. "Backdrop: Hochoch" is entirely crunch free, and while they do spend some time looking at the Tarrasque's place in the 4e cosmology, there is plenty of back-story in both of the Tarrasque articles which could inspire games for any edition.
I'd like to echo TavisP's opinion of "Inns in an Instant". I think this article is John Hasznosi's D&D writing debut, and it is a good one. The article consists mostly of tables for generating random inns, but those tables are packed with evocative and even amusing entries. Who wouldn't want to stop by the Boisterous Hedgehog to try their grilled crocodile and wild rose puree with sundew mead? That's certainly a better choice than the Shady Serpent Inn whose special today is lettuce, liver and lung pie with turnip wine!
Finally, the artwork in this issue is great, from Craig J. Spearing's picture of a rampaging tarrasque on the cover through to Hector Ortiz's stylishly elegant tapestry.
Since reverting back to a single monthly PDF, it has felt to me as if Dragon (and Dungeon) have been assembled with more care than they were as a collection of individual articles, and I hope that Stan!'s departure from WotC (mentioned in the editorial, and covered in more depth on his blog) doesn't mean that we'll see a dip in the quality again in 2013.
Plaguescarred
Hero
I quite liked it. I enjoyed the History Check on the Tarrasque and the Bestiary of Ye Olde Creatures Catalogue, fun to see Thouls back in here. The Greyhawk Backdrop: Hochoch was really good and has a rather nice map of the city, but my favorite in the four-o-eight is the Inns In An Instant article to help generate Inns and Taverns names, bar keepers, patons and atmosphere with room prices and special menues for various Inns based on locations. Even gossips tables in there!
Klaus
First Post
Dungeon = adventures. Dragon = everything else.
And hey, the last page has a preview of next issue's contents, and I got a new one!
Shroomy
Adventurer
I did not write the article attributed to me in next month's Dragon, but I hope everyone enjoys the newly converted monsters!
Pour
First Post
Going to eat my words a little here from last week and say this month's Dragon was very solid and not at all how minimal it looked on the Table of Contents. Hopefully this level continues in perpetuity, if not increases. Still want every tier covered every month, though, in Dungeon as unrealistic as it may sound.
Sorry to see Stan! go, especially reading his blog, but I suppose that's just the nature of the beast in terms of modern intellectual and creative rights. Wish him well.
Sorry to see Stan! go, especially reading his blog, but I suppose that's just the nature of the beast in terms of modern intellectual and creative rights. Wish him well.
Will Doyle
Explorer
This is looking like the best issue in a long, long while. Though I've not read through everything, I'll raise my tankard to 'Inns in an Instant' right now. I love this article, and it'll definitely be sitting at my table from now on (in particular for the random racial name generator). Tonight we've had great fun just rolling through the tables and seeing what comes out. Good to see such a breadth of "Eyes On" articles too. Also, Mike Schley is fast becoming my favourite cartographer: the map for Hochoch is just fantastic.
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