I have some spare cash.

[diaglo]

Dragon is now more player territory. while Dungeon is for DMs.

 

[Shade]

I absolutely love both magazines, and you can't go wrong with either. Both are about the best value you can get for your gaming dollar, IMHO.

Between the two, I get more utility out of Dragon, as both a player and as a DM.

 

[Mr. Beef]

I was just thinking that, instead of a subscription you might want to shop for some back issues at www.paizo.com. Like I mentioned before, I don't have a subscription to either magazine, but I buy a few issues of Dragon every year. You can check out the back issues on the website and see which articles interest you.

It'll probably be more expensive (or you'll get fewer magazines for the amount you intended on spending), but at least this way you'll be sure about what you're getting. I'm sure folks here will be more than happy to suggest past issues of both magazines that are "must haves."

Yes it will be more expensive and I might be able to get 5 issues instead of 12, but at least I'll be getting things that will help me out rather than some stuff that might or might not help every month.

I went to paizo.com and it takes forver to load any of the pages. You would think that for a major RPG pubishing site they would have a half decent amount of bandwidth. Either that or the 512 meg of memory on one of the computers is just really slow.

Here's my pick of Dragon from the last five years:

#294 (April 2002) - Gods, vehicle rules, catchphrases, a couple of classes. A really fun issue. This was the first one I bought after getting involved with D&D 3.0e.

#313 (November 2003) - Playable lycanthropes, half-monster templates, ghost elves, dragon insanity...and more!

#315 (January 2004) and #319 (May 2004) - I list these together because they're both flashbacks of various settings from D&D history (although the latter focuses more on Dark Sun). Both are filled with classes, monsters, feats, and various other useful tidbits.

#329 (March 2005) - Myths and monsters! Describing both the origins of certain creatures of myth and delving into some serious literature (Beowulf), perhaps my favorite article here is the one on Mesopotamian deities. There's also a great bit on Pazuzu!

#340 (February 2006) - This issue gives you the sun, the moon, and the stars! Not only does it provide a zodiac, but feats that allow characters to make the most of their astrological sign. Also, an article for sun and moon worshippers as well as an astrologer prestige class.

I'll be sure to look at all of these. It'll have to be tomorrow since I'm busy tonight.
Looks like they spread their stuff out over the years to keep you buying them.

Thanks for the links ivocaliban.

Mr. Beef

 

[was]

I use a lot more from Dragon.

 

[Agamon]

A year ago, my answer would have been no contest. Dungeon's been absolutely great since the reformat, well worth the money, even if you don't use the adventures wholesale. NPCs, maps and plot ideas abound.

Now, it's tougher to answer. Dragon is a great magazine these days. As a DM, though, I enjoy reading Dragons, but I only use the odd tidbit from it once in a while, but I use my Dungeons a lot.

So if you're going for utility, go with Dungeon, for the best read, Dragon.

 

[ivocaliban]

I went to paizo.com and it takes forver to load any of the pages. You would think that for a major RPG pubishing site they would have a half decent amount of bandwidth. Either that or the 512 meg of memory on one of the computers is just really slow.

Yes, I should have warned you. Took me forever to do that bit with the links.

They do have both magazines divided by year, of course, so it might be better to take a look at each year and see if any of the covers or blurbs catch your eye, then open individual issues in another tab or window while you go live out the rest of your life.

Good luck!

 

[DragonLancer]

IMO Dungeon is the better option. Dragon just isn't what it used to be.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

...

I'm not sure what to think about the envrionment books put out by WotC. I've heard those are hit and miss, especially Cityscape. ..

I bought the first two books in the series, Frostburn and Sandstrorm. Not bad books, but just so focused, that unless I was DMing an extended campaign in one environment, they would not be used. And they haven't been. I enjoyed reading the various locations that were detailed ( great maps too ) and those are fairly plug and play, so one or more may see some eventual use.

To widen the customer base for these books, they were planned to be balanced in terms of content: the character options were less interesting to me.

I stopped buying them because I already have a bunch of similar books from Fantasy Flight Games. I use the "Seafarers Handbook" quite a bit, for example, for ship combat and underwater rules.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/llsource.html

They have run $5 sales on these books at least twice in the past that I'm aware of. Look out for the next sale, or find them cheap on eBay! Their "Cityworks" and "Dungeoncraft" books are excellent for novice DM's, helping you populate a city/dungeon with plausable components and ecologies; and run appropriately flavored encounters.

 

[Mr. Beef]

I bought the first two books in the series, Frostburn and Sandstrorm. Not bad books, but just so focused, that unless I was DMing an extended campaign in one environment, they would not be used. And they haven't been. I enjoyed reading the various locations that were detailed ( great maps too ) and those are fairly plug and play, so one or more may see some eventual use.

I picked up Frostburn at a used bookstore in town and I just cannot visualize using 50%-75% of the stuff the book offers. Some of the spells are good, but we already have some resist element spells in the PHB. Most of the prestige classes are good if you decide to run a game in a cold envrionment. I guess I was looking for something along the lines of the Complete series rather than the envrionment series.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/llsource.html

They have run $5 sales on these books at least twice in the past that I'm aware of. Look out for the next sale, or find them cheap on eBay! Their "Cityworks" and "Dungeoncraft" books are excellent for novice DM's, helping you populate a city/dungeon with plausable components and ecologies; and run appropriately flavored encounters.

I'll look into Cityworks and Dungeoncraft as soon as I stop posting. I've heard good things about FFG and I'll have to look at their web site.

Thanks BigFreekinGoblinoid.

Mr. Beef