Dragon mag - December 1982

[Aeolius]

What's in the water
- Aquatic encounter tables
[by Mark S. Harcourt]

Ahh...the marine vodyanoi!

 

[JoeGKushner]

It's funny that much of the material in that mag is in the core rules. Two weapon fighting? High level spells? Gods? Yeah, it's all covered.

Maybe that's part of the problem Dragon has in that the core rules do a good job and any serious variants aren't going to fit the bill for most campaigns? I don't know. I've enjoyed Dragon but hate the tie ins.

I also liked Dragon when it supported other game systems, did the minis bit and the reviews. All good things.

 

[Dreeble]

Heya:

I have that issue, too. Wow, memories. I think I started collecting Dragon (was it The Dragon in those days?) at around #51 or #52, but my grandpa kindly bought me #45 thru #51 all at once. Bliss. That barbarian prince game sounded like it was fairly cool. Not enough solo games nowadays.

Take care,
Dreeble

 

[Quasqueton]

issue #

This is issue #68. My first.

I'll post the ToC for the following Dragons as the months move along.

Sort of a monthly stroll down memory lane, to consider what we were reading 20 years ago. (The Thief/Acrobat makes its debut next month.)

Quasqueton

 

[Henry]

A lot of people seem to be unaware of the fact that many of the ideas for Unearthed Arcana originally came from so many out-of-house and in-house contributors to Dragon Magazine. Roger Moore, David Howery, and dozens of names that escape me now. Gary, of course, came up with cantrips, many new spells, and several other well-loved additions; but sometimes the entire authorship of the book is contributed to one man, when in actuality the R&D labor of dozens of fans went into that book, all for the enjoyment of the hobby at large.

Funny how even only a few years of history clouds things. Dragon really was a lifeblood to the growth of D&D in those days. Now, the magazine struggles to survive with a new publisher.

 

[JoeGKushner]

How did we go from talking about Dragon to talking about how a lot of people are unaware of the stuff in Unearthed Arcana coming from lots of people? I do wish Rooger More stayed with the fantasy gaming though. He had some great articles.

And where are the numbers behind the 'struggle' for Dragon? Has there been an announcement or something that I missed?

 

[Erik Mona]

>>>
Funny how even only a few years of history clouds things. Dragon really was a lifeblood to the growth of D&D in those days. Now, the magazine struggles to survive with a new publisher.
>>>

Balderdash. The magazine is doing very well. The "new publisher" is made up of the exact same staff that worked on it at Wizards of the Coast, and the magazine's circulation is as high as it's been since TSR/WotC started taking reputable numbers.

So, while it's clear that not everyone in this thread is thrilled with the current direction of the magazine, it's doing well and is as popular as it's been in recent memory.

--Erik Mona

 

[Dagger75]

I am going to defend Dragon Mag

I am most definitly in the minority, but I like the way they are doing Dragon Magazine now. I like how each issue covers one subject in detail. The castle issue rocked, the dragons, elves, drow issues are all neat. I hated having to look through my collection of Dragons to find the one article in that issue, then jump to another.

Now not every issue is useful to me, that could change in the future, but you can't please all the people all of the time. As for different game systems being in the issues, in the past this was cool, but I see Dragon as a D&D 3E magazine. It even says that on the top of the magazine cover.

There are my 2 cents

 

[Seule]

I on the other hand, believe myself to be in the majority, and think the magazine is almost better than it has ever been, overshadowed only a little by the issues right after 3rd edition came out. I own almost every issue from #50 onwards, and I found that the quality was very hit and miss. Right after 3rd edition came out, they were covering great subjects in detail, and the magazine was the best ever. Now I find they are having to try a little harder to get a good theme going, and the supplemental material is a little thinner, and all the best stuff has already been said. However, it is still a great mag, and I love my wife even more for getting me a subscription every year.

--Seule

 

[Lizard]

I remember buying it off of my local hobby shop's shelf, just a day or two after it came out.

Ah, memories.

Ditto.

I still have it, in fact. I have issues back to 36 in my collection.

Neener.