Need opinion on Dragon/Dungeon
- Thread starter klofft
- Start date
DragonLancer
Hero
IMO, Dungeon is the magazine of choice. These (post 2nd ed) days I find Dungeon to be of much more use than Dragon.
Wow, this is like Sophie's Choice, which magazine do I give to the Nazis; Dungeon or Dragon?
Both magazines are excelent right now, (and have been under Mona's leadership). Dungeon, can be useful to a DM for for the stat blocks of creatures alone and maps. Need a sunken Labatory, I'm sure an Adventure in one of my Dungeon magazines has something usuable as a starting off point. Need stats for an 11th level Cleric, same deal. Dungeon can help cut the prep time for your own adventures by selectively "yoinking".
As a DM I get more bang out of Dungeon, but I personaly get more enjoyment out of Dragon.
Both magazines are excelent right now, (and have been under Mona's leadership). Dungeon, can be useful to a DM for for the stat blocks of creatures alone and maps. Need a sunken Labatory, I'm sure an Adventure in one of my Dungeon magazines has something usuable as a starting off point. Need stats for an 11th level Cleric, same deal. Dungeon can help cut the prep time for your own adventures by selectively "yoinking".
As a DM I get more bang out of Dungeon, but I personaly get more enjoyment out of Dragon.
atom crash
First Post
I have to agree completely. Let me first say that I am flabbergasted every time I see one of these threads pop up, because to me it's a no-brainer. I subscribe to both magazines, for the cost of $75 a year, or roughly $6.25 a month, otherwise known as "one trip to Taco Bell every four weeks."
Now, I'll admit that I don't use every article in every issue, and nor do I feel that I have to in order to get value from my subscriptions, but I definitely get my money's worth from both magazines. If you think you'd buy 5 issues during the course of the year, then it's worth it to get the subscription.
If I think about it real hard, I'd have to say that the main reason I subscribe to Dungeon is to mine adventure ideas (in the past four years I have used only about 4 adventures from the magazine wholesale, but I pick different elements from different adventures and adapt them to my homebrew all the time) and to rip maps and NPCs ready to use. If my PCs are going to storm an evil temple in my next game, I'll scan some issues for an appropriate temple set-up and use it, maps and NPCs and all.
I'd have to say that the overriding reason I still subscribe to Dragon is for the Bazaar of the Bizarre series (please guys if you're watching/listening give us more low-budget magic items in BotB), the Core Beliefs series and of course Class Acts. And you can't go wrong with the Demonomicon of Iggwilv series. But all in all, it's the shorter articles that sell it for me, rather than the longer focus articles each month.
The way I see it, if I use even just one article per magazine per month, I've gotten my $3.17 worth. If I use more than that, then I've gotten the best deal I could ever hope for. For me, every year when it's time to either re-subscribe or let it lapse, it's a no-brainer for me: keep 'em coming my way.
Of course, your ideas of a good value may be vastly different from mine, so it's hard for me to "sell you" on a subscription. But let me just say that I've been a subscriber to both mags since about 1998 (including several years in grad school when my budget was very tight), and they are without a doubt better today than they've ever been.
I subscribe to both and have for quite a while now.
Eric Mona has done a suberb job of guiding both magazines and they are both getting better.
Now I hadn't used very many adventure out of Dungeon in the past, but the ones I had were excellent. One of my favorites was an oldie "Seeking Bloodsilver" for the Birthright setting, better than almost all of the "published" adventures for the setting.
The recent onset of the Adventure Path concept has really made Dungeon much more tempting. I just started running Age of Worms.
If you had to choose only 1, I don't know which I would recommend.
If you are not using the adventures (or planning to) then I would guess that Dragon would be the most use to you.
Eric Mona has done a suberb job of guiding both magazines and they are both getting better.
Now I hadn't used very many adventure out of Dungeon in the past, but the ones I had were excellent. One of my favorites was an oldie "Seeking Bloodsilver" for the Birthright setting, better than almost all of the "published" adventures for the setting.
The recent onset of the Adventure Path concept has really made Dungeon much more tempting. I just started running Age of Worms.
If you had to choose only 1, I don't know which I would recommend.
If you are not using the adventures (or planning to) then I would guess that Dragon would be the most use to you.
Well, I'm mainly a DM, so I find Dungeon more useful. I subscribe to Dungeon because I've used every issue at some point in the last few years. By comparison, some issues of Dragon are simply spectacular (campaign classics, Demonomicon of Iggy) and some have nothing I find useful (e.g. aniversery issues with 90% flashback content). I order the Dragons I want individually online.
Both, however, are supurb products and are at least 100% better than they were in the 80s and 90s.
Both, however, are supurb products and are at least 100% better than they were in the 80s and 90s.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
Well if you like crunch, the modern Dragon is for you. It's full of crunch. Every issue has new spells, new items, new classes, new feats, etc. Some focus on one more than the other (like an issue with an article on spells being spell-heavy) but there is a pretty good balance.
Dungeon is by far the superior magazine however. The quality of adventures in that mag is outstanding, not to mention they are utterly inspiring. In addition, Dungeon now has several articles that are more than just adventures. They often include tables that are very useful to a Dungeon Master, sample NPCs, tips on DMing, new magic items, and other tasty treats. Dungeon is honestly the best bang for my buck, even though I subscribe to both. However, if you do not DM very much Dragon is probably better.
Dungeon is by far the superior magazine however. The quality of adventures in that mag is outstanding, not to mention they are utterly inspiring. In addition, Dungeon now has several articles that are more than just adventures. They often include tables that are very useful to a Dungeon Master, sample NPCs, tips on DMing, new magic items, and other tasty treats. Dungeon is honestly the best bang for my buck, even though I subscribe to both. However, if you do not DM very much Dragon is probably better.
Glyfair
Explorer
Dragon definitely sounds like it's more what you are looking for. Both are quality, but it really comes down to taste and what you are looking for.
You don't seem to be looking for a lot of adventures. That is Dungeon's strength. That isn't all it has, though. There is a section on DMing tools. Monte Cook has a column (usually about 3 pages) on general GMing skills (for example, a recent article was on winging an NPC stats on the fly). There are also columns with bits and pieces, a list of recurring NPCs, a list of tavern descriptions, etc.
However, the big focus of Dungeon has been on the Adventure Path's lately. They are a series of adventures that are tied in together and designed to take characters from level 1 to level 20 (or beyond). The existing two are of very good quality (the Age of Worms is the better of the two, IMO).
Of course, once it starts the next year will have 1/3 to 1/2 of the issue taken up with the adventure path. If you aren't interested in it (even as an idea source) you will probably find Dungeon a poor value. If you are interested, it should make Dungeon a must-buy.
You don't seem to be looking for a lot of adventures. That is Dungeon's strength. That isn't all it has, though. There is a section on DMing tools. Monte Cook has a column (usually about 3 pages) on general GMing skills (for example, a recent article was on winging an NPC stats on the fly). There are also columns with bits and pieces, a list of recurring NPCs, a list of tavern descriptions, etc.
However, the big focus of Dungeon has been on the Adventure Path's lately. They are a series of adventures that are tied in together and designed to take characters from level 1 to level 20 (or beyond). The existing two are of very good quality (the Age of Worms is the better of the two, IMO).
Of course, once it starts the next year will have 1/3 to 1/2 of the issue taken up with the adventure path. If you aren't interested in it (even as an idea source) you will probably find Dungeon a poor value. If you are interested, it should make Dungeon a must-buy.
Similar Threads
