Good day, gentlemen. Has anyone noticed a striking change in Dragon magazine?

[MeepoTheMighty]

I'm with ya on Elmore. His work defined fantasy art for me. Elmore's pictures drew me into the fantasy world it represented and sent my imagination flying. His picture at the front of the old 2nd ed AD&D PHB always served to draw me right into the book and involve me in the worlds of fantasy D&D could create.

Flip open your Monster Manual to the Titan, and tell me that he defines fantasy art for you. Open up a Soverign Stone book, where every other picture is three people clustered together in the "put us on a novel cover, please" pose. While I'll agree that his older stuff was good, I really don't care for his newer art.

 

[JPL]

Funny...I go back about 15 years with Dragon.

I recall the good old days as involving articles about Gamma World, Boot Hill, and Gangbusters....none of which I played.

Book reviews! Huzzah!

A monthly feature on mini painting!

Give me Campaign Components over that stuff every day of the week.

 

[dsfriii]

Well I have been one of the vocal people on the fate of Dungeon. But I have to say Dragon is not bad. I think you have to look at Dragon as a whole it it has its ups and downs.

Zogg: EN World can be oversensitive and politically correct at times. I don't see how that's harmful overall, but if it really bugs you, take a gander over at rpg.net. Those guys pull absolutely no punches and it may have the edge you are looking for.

I have to agree EN World tends to be both oversensitive, politically correct, and a bit on the pro-publisher side. (This is not a bad thing and it its needed especially on the internet. But sometimes they go to far IMHO)

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

on these two points they are right. the rivers were cleaner. and the soda tasted better. the soda also had real cocaine in it.

Well, if you go far enough back...

But actually, the point I was trying to make specifically, is that a lot of really badly polluted waterways of the 70's have been significantly cleaned up, like Lake Eerie (I think that's teh one that used to always catch on fire), the Hudson River, and Boston Harbor. But it takes time for perception to catch up with reality.

 

[ForceUser]

Dragon has fallen a long way. Back in the 80's and early 90's I bought the mag even if I wasn't playing D&D at the time. They had a small amount of coverage of other games and they had interesting articles. Now when I read the cover I get the image of a Monster Truck Rally announcer, "This ISSUE...ISSUE...issue! MORE NINJA PRESTIGE CLASSES...CLASSES...classes!" It looks like a video game mag cover. But that's just the cover, the content doesn't suit me much anymore.

Plus..I need more feats and PRC's like a hole in the head.

Remember that Flexor the Mighty! is decidedly biased against 3E, folks. I've been wondering why he posts here for over a year now

I like that they offer new feats, spells, prestige classes and whatnot; even if 90% aren't my cuppa joe, every now and then I find something I really like. These days, though, the best thing about Dragon is the cartoons. Not enough to warrant a subscription, but I'll happily pour over my buddy's copy

 

[Hardhead]

I, too, have noticed a change since Paizo took over.

Dragon has gotten better. It's got much more stuff I'm interested in now.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Flip open your Monster Manual to the Titan, and tell me that he defines fantasy art for you. Open up a Soverign Stone book, where every other picture is three people clustered together in the "put us on a novel cover, please" pose. While I'll agree that his older stuff was good, I really don't care for his newer art.

I haven't seen his Soverign Stone works, so I can' t comment. I'll agree his MM work wasn't the best of his career, but I don't find it that bad. I'd also like to say that for me he defined fantasy art. I'm not saying he is the definitive fantasy artist. I just like his work is all. I'm not trying to put down anyone else's favourite artists. This is really all just IMO, but that goes without saying I would think.

Ummm...and sorry for hijacking the thread. I'll stop now.

 

[Enceladus]

Flip open your Monster Manual to the Titan, and tell me that he defines fantasy art for you.

He looks as if he's in the prejudging part of a body building contest in the "relaxed" pose.

 

[Mirth]

I am just mentioning in passing that if people are upset with the text and balloons marring the appreciation of the art on the cover of Dragon, that there is a full page of the front cover art without the ugly text and balloons inside the magazine.

Word, brutha. Word.

 

[Henry]

Flip open your Monster Manual to the Titan, and tell me that he defines fantasy art for you.

Larry Elmore defines fantasy art for me.

Death Of Sturm
Avalyne the lifegiver
Companions of the Lance
Teamwork

I had "Companions of the Lance" and "Teamwork" hanging on my bedroom walls from 1986 to about 1992

Elmore, Easley, Caldwell, and Dee defined fantasy for D&D 1st and 2nd edition in a way that nothing else has ever done for me.