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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Hope" data-source="post: 2895698" data-attributes="member: 27051"><p>To some degree, Dragon caters to players and Dungeon caters to DMs, although the dividing line isn't quite that cut and dried. I subscribe to both. I've been buying and reading Dragon for years and years, but only started getting Dungeon once they added content beyond the adventures.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I have a huge supply of adventures from various sources and write most of my own, so the adventures in Dungeon aren't a great draw for me (although, that said, there have been some cracking pieces in the last couple of years and, of course, the Adventure Paths are top-notch, so that makes a big differences as far as I am concerned).</p><p></p><p>Dungeon also has the Campaign Workbook, however, which is a series of articles that provide plug-in elements for your game. These might be things like a dozen encounters on the road, sample NPCs for a city, a selection of different types of magical fountain, books from a library etc etc. Easy to use, always good quality and simple to drop into any game. These are a big plus for me. There is also the occasional Critical Threat, which is an NPC to use in-game - normally a cool concept fleshed out fully and sometimes an iconic figure of D&D lore (like Warduke or Evard or the Lord of Blades). Additionally, Dungeon sometimes features Backdrops, which are large-scale detailings of campaign areas (the city of Alhaster, the Isle of Dread etc). And, of course, there's Monte Cook's Dungeoncraft column, which is a neat bit of DMing advice from one of the best.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, a year or two ago, Dragon had loads and loads of crunch. That has ameliorated somewhat since the relaunch, and for the better imho. It still has the editorial, coverage of current gaming releases and the occasional bit of fiction (I like the former, skim the second and can't be bothered with the latter). Dragon does have flavour bits, but these are now always tied into some crunchy game element (article on mythology giving game stats for gods and monsters of Sumeria or Beowulf, for example). Dragon features two wonderful columns on a semi-regular basis - Core Beliefs, which thoroughly covers a core/Greyhawk deity, and the Demonomicon, which goes into gorgeous detail on a demon lord. Both have plenty of fluff supported by massively crunchy game elements - a great balance, if you ask me.</p><p>Dragon also features regular articles with new magic items, spells, equipment and ecologies (which are not the fluff-ridden types of yore, but far more focussed and useful - love the new ecoloy style!). Prestige classes and feats have been scaled back and now only appear when supported by solid context (such as demon-worshippers in the Demonomicon articles). There are also articles each month giving material that supports each of the four iconic class groups (adventurer, arcane, divine and warrior). These two-page spreads give class variants, feats, equipment, spells, domains and other cool crunch, as well as sometimes featuring more fluffy elements (sample barbarian totems, paladin codes, ranger wilderness techniques etc). Dragon also regularly has feature articles that cover various game elements in detail (giants, dragon hunting, bardic colleges, necromantic academies).</p><p></p><p>So, at the end of the day, it depends on your needs. If you are a DM looking for new game content to use and offer your players, I'd say go for Dragon. If you want stuff to build a campaign around and insert directly into established games, then go for Dungeon. Or get both <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />. Either way, you won't regret it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Hope, post: 2895698, member: 27051"] To some degree, Dragon caters to players and Dungeon caters to DMs, although the dividing line isn't quite that cut and dried. I subscribe to both. I've been buying and reading Dragon for years and years, but only started getting Dungeon once they added content beyond the adventures. I have a huge supply of adventures from various sources and write most of my own, so the adventures in Dungeon aren't a great draw for me (although, that said, there have been some cracking pieces in the last couple of years and, of course, the Adventure Paths are top-notch, so that makes a big differences as far as I am concerned). Dungeon also has the Campaign Workbook, however, which is a series of articles that provide plug-in elements for your game. These might be things like a dozen encounters on the road, sample NPCs for a city, a selection of different types of magical fountain, books from a library etc etc. Easy to use, always good quality and simple to drop into any game. These are a big plus for me. There is also the occasional Critical Threat, which is an NPC to use in-game - normally a cool concept fleshed out fully and sometimes an iconic figure of D&D lore (like Warduke or Evard or the Lord of Blades). Additionally, Dungeon sometimes features Backdrops, which are large-scale detailings of campaign areas (the city of Alhaster, the Isle of Dread etc). And, of course, there's Monte Cook's Dungeoncraft column, which is a neat bit of DMing advice from one of the best. Well, a year or two ago, Dragon had loads and loads of crunch. That has ameliorated somewhat since the relaunch, and for the better imho. It still has the editorial, coverage of current gaming releases and the occasional bit of fiction (I like the former, skim the second and can't be bothered with the latter). Dragon does have flavour bits, but these are now always tied into some crunchy game element (article on mythology giving game stats for gods and monsters of Sumeria or Beowulf, for example). Dragon features two wonderful columns on a semi-regular basis - Core Beliefs, which thoroughly covers a core/Greyhawk deity, and the Demonomicon, which goes into gorgeous detail on a demon lord. Both have plenty of fluff supported by massively crunchy game elements - a great balance, if you ask me. Dragon also features regular articles with new magic items, spells, equipment and ecologies (which are not the fluff-ridden types of yore, but far more focussed and useful - love the new ecoloy style!). Prestige classes and feats have been scaled back and now only appear when supported by solid context (such as demon-worshippers in the Demonomicon articles). There are also articles each month giving material that supports each of the four iconic class groups (adventurer, arcane, divine and warrior). These two-page spreads give class variants, feats, equipment, spells, domains and other cool crunch, as well as sometimes featuring more fluffy elements (sample barbarian totems, paladin codes, ranger wilderness techniques etc). Dragon also regularly has feature articles that cover various game elements in detail (giants, dragon hunting, bardic colleges, necromantic academies). So, at the end of the day, it depends on your needs. If you are a DM looking for new game content to use and offer your players, I'd say go for Dragon. If you want stuff to build a campaign around and insert directly into established games, then go for Dungeon. Or get both :D. Either way, you won't regret it. [/QUOTE]
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