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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 6333604" data-attributes="member: 23484">I think perhaps the question is what does it mean to say something is official. Yes, Dragon was "official" in that (as part of its branding and marketing): it billed itself as the official magazine of the game (a claim that could not be made by White Dwarf, before it became all Warhammer). As a teenager buying the magazine at the time, I knew that meant that adventures were less likely to have kooky elements or new monsters that were not commensurate with those in the Monster Manual. But it certainly did not mean that anything published in the game was automatically in. Nothing in Dragon was automatically "in", and everything required DM permission for inclusion.That, I believe, is what Greg K is expressing -- the lived reality of how Dragon magazine related to the table.  This was a world before the internet, before specialized games stores being widely available, etc., and as a result even the language surrounding this issue that we use continually on these boards ("core rules", "game-breaking", even "house rules") were not widely employed because the opportunities to share them just didn't exist. Maybe your specific table successfully anticipated all of these terms, but it was not possible for them to be widely held, and certainly the relationship I describe (Dragon magazine required DM approval for inclusion, rather than were automatically in unless the DM excluded them) held true at every game I played in those early decades. Obviously, I'm sharing my own experiences, and they are no more valid than those of anyone else. As it turns out, though, they are also corroborated by Dragon magazine itself. Issue 41 (November 1980), p. 7, in the Editor's note before the introduction of the NPC class of the Witch, says:"Dragon's responsibility, as we see it, is not to set forth major rule changes or additions to the already complex D&D and AD&D game systems, but rather to suggest supplements to the game which can be used to add diversity, interest and excitement to an already exciting campaign. The anti-paladin, published in issue #39, was one such suggestion. This is another. And there will be more to come."Greg K's position -- with specific reference to a variant paladin -- is therefore supported by the editors of Dragon.</blockquote>

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