Fiction in Dragon magazine

[JustaPlayer]

I've never liked the fiction in Dragon, regardless of its author. If I want short stories, I'll buy a short story anthology. I was particularly annoyed by the 4 pieces of fiction in the anniversary issue.

You weren't alone. Over all it was IMO the worst issue to come out in sevral years. Very little was of use to me.

 

[Endur]

D&D related fiction

I'm in favor of D&D related fiction.

For instance, the first Tasselhoff story was published in Dragon before there was a Dragonlance setting or Kender. He was just a small thief who stole a ring that teleported himself over the map and he met Demogorgon.

It was a very cool story.

More of that would be cool.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

Do you realize how lucky you guys are? The reason why I enjoyed fiction in Dragon and read every story was this:

There are no magazines for fantasy / SF in germany.

Think about it. I can get Dragon, but not Analog. Dungeon, but not Wierd Tales[/]...

 

[Delta]

The early days of Dragon had a "big tent" philosophy. All kinds of mind-expanding stuff would go inside: D&D, other games by TSR, games by other companies, book reviews, software source code, mini-games, excellent fiction, academic discussions of medieval life, etc., etc. The writing was rich and dense, and assumed a highly educated audience. Sometimes there would be 2 or 3 concise articles on a single page!

Man, there's no going back to those days.

 

[Agamon]

I'd gladly welcome back stories along the lines of the Fool Wolf series or Ben Bova's Orion stories, both of which have given me ideas for new adventures or campaigns in the past.

Exactly. Those two examples were great reads. The fiction doesn't need to be "D&D related", whatever that actually means. That's pretty close-minded.

 

[Tsillanabor]

Eh-I can take it or leave it. I prefer gaming content in my gaming magazines, but if the story is appropriate for the issue I don't particularly mind its inclusion.

 

[Glyfair]

The early days of Dragon had a "big tent" philosophy. All kinds of mind-expanding stuff would go inside: D&D, other games by TSR, games by other companies, book reviews, software source code, mini-games, excellent fiction, academic discussions of medieval life, etc., etc. The writing was rich and dense, and assumed a highly educated audience. Sometimes there would be 2 or 3 concise articles on a single page!

Man, there's no going back to those days.

I've been going through the early issues of The Dragon in another thread, issue by issue. I think a lot of this is just looking back through a lens of nostalgia.

"Excellent Fiction" - Yes, clearly there was that. There was just as much poor fiction, too.

"The writing was rich and dense and assumed a highly educated audience" - sometimes. Just as often it was sophomoric and written to the lowest common denominator. Take a look at Len Lakofka's first credited article in The Dragon, it was incredibly sexist (I was really suprised when I read it recently that they would publish that drivel) and not worthy of his later writing.

The current issues certainly assume an educated audience in some articles. Look at the recent Demonomicon articles. These would easily slide alongside any of the quality articles of yesteryear and hold their own.

"Sometimes there would be 2 or 3 concise articles on a single page!" - It was pretty easy to do that when you could put a chart in the magazine and call it an article. Once in a while you might add a paragraph of explanation. Wow, what great writing!

Yes, The Dragon had some great stuff. Yes, the paradigm of the magazine was very different. Today it has to compete with the internet. A lot of the things that they published in those days would not fly today (the "charticles" is the obvious example), or you can easily get free with a quick search of the web. However, a lot of what was there in the old days is still floating around.

 

[satori01]

While I do not think I would want to see fiction in every issue, I do not mind a bit every now and then. The Fool Wolf series of fiction I found quite enjoyable. I was also glad to see a Gord the Rogue story in the aniversary Dragon. It was not the best story, but in anything Gary writes you get a sense of what Greyhawk was like with him at the helm.

 

[WayneLigon]

While I do not think I would want to see fiction in every issue, I do not mind a bit every now and then. The Fool Wolf series of fiction I found quite enjoyable.

The Fool Wolf series was excellent, and written by Gregory Keyes, a pretty popular new author.

 

[Glyfair]

While I do not think I would want to see fiction in every issue, I do not mind a bit every now and then. The Fool Wolf series of fiction I found quite enjoyable. I was also glad to see a Gord the Rogue story in the aniversary Dragon. It was not the best story, but in anything Gary writes you get a sense of what Greyhawk was like with him at the helm.

I agree with this. People that expect gaming fiction to be "great fiction" are setting their expectations too high. It could happen, but that's not the purpose of it. The purpose is the give a feeling of the setting, and a different view on the world of the setting. If it manages that, I'm satisfied.