Tell me about those old 'zines

[Woas]

So I'm aware of what's going on with the Dungeon and Dragon mags. I never subscribed though for one reason or another... but I still want them. It was always something I'd put off, "Oh, I'll ask for a subscription for Xmas." that sort of thing. What I really want are those copious amount of adventures actually. Which one of them had the adventures? While scanning the boards here and there I've read mention about some sort of CD Archive and perhaps .PDF archives that are available. How can one get a hold of these?

 

[thedungeondelver]

So I'm aware of what's going on with the Dungeon and Dragon mags. I never subscribed though for one reason or another... but I still want them. It was always something I'd put off, "Oh, I'll ask for a subscription for Xmas." that sort of thing. What I really want are those copious amount of adventures actually. Which one of them had the adventures? While scanning the boards here and there I've read mention about some sort of CD Archive and perhaps .PDF archives that are available. How can one get a hold of these?

Early issues of THE DRAGON are your best bet for adventures, as well as WHITE DWARF from the UK.

The CD archive of which you speak is long out of print, and if you locate one it will cost you a pretty penny unless you're very, very lucky.

I paid cover price for mine in 1999; now they go for upwards of $150-$200.

 

[grodog]

You can find the Dragon Archive CD on eBay for $80-150 or so; it's quite the collectible now, unfortunately, but it is absolutely worth buying, even at that price. The archive covers issues 1-250, as well as the seven issues of The Strategic Review, The Dragon's predecessor.

The online Dragon index that I use is Dragondex @ http://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/ It's thorough and accurate, so it gets my vote. There are others, though, and you can always just google on author names, article titles, etc., and generally find which issue has what you're looking for, too. That said, I still tend to use the Dragondex (the only thing that it really lacks is a cover scan, and the dates for the issues, which I always have to look up in the .pdfs when I'm citing an article source).

 

[Riley]

Which one of them had the adventures? While scanning the boards here and there I've read mention about some sort of CD Archive and perhaps .PDF archives that are available. How can one get a hold of these?

Dungeon Magazine is pretty much all adventures. Dragon Magazine is monsters, classes, fiction, feats and all kinds of other goodies, including some adventures in approximately issues 1 to 100 (of 359), before Dungon came into existence.

If you're looking for 3e adventures, you'LL find them in Dungeon issues 82 to 150. If you're looking for specifically 3.5e, that'd be 100 to 150. You can usually get a bunch of these more recent magazines for not too much on eBay.

 

[Woas]

Thanks for the info.
I'm not looking for any specific adventures for specific rules (3e vs. 3.5e, etc), just complete ideas. As it is, my group an I don't really even play Dungeons&Dragons as such but lately been really into Iron Heroes. So yeah, its pretty much whatev... just the plots and complete ideas is what I'm really looking for.

So I guess my goal here is to pick up old copies of Dungeon then. Other than eBay, which I'm kind of finicky about is there anywhere else to get them for a reasonable price?

 

[Stormborn]

www.paizo.com has limited supplies avaible direct from the source for issues they published. Some FLGS have back issues - but its hit and miss even at the best of times.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Paizo sells PDFs of truly sold out issues. I would ask about invidual issues that strike your fancy and buy the appropriate PDFs. I'd also consider grabbing Paizo's remaining copies of Best of the Dragon, which are full of great old school coolness, including almost all of Roger Moore's Point of View articles. (They didn't include the humanoids article, alas.)

 

[kaomera]

A local game store (I'm in Seattle, the store is Gary's Games) often has a bunch of "grab bags" of old-ish Dragon issues, usually priced about half a buck per issue (10 for $5, or 20 for $10). The selection is pretty much random (you can see what issues are on the top and maybe the bottom), but they're cheap and a good bit of fun!

 

[Riley]

Thanks for the info.
I'm not looking for any specific adventures for specific rules (3e vs. 3.5e, etc), just complete ideas. As it is, my group an I don't really even play Dungeons&Dragons as such but lately been really into Iron Heroes. So yeah, its pretty much whatev... just the plots and complete ideas is what I'm really looking for.

So I guess my goal here is to pick up old copies of Dungeon then. Other than eBay, which I'm kind of finicky about is there anywhere else to get them for a reasonable price?

I think it's pretty much Paizo, eBay, or your local used book/game store.

If you're looking for good story ideas, I'd start with stuff from the last 50 issues or so (Issues 100-150). The recent editors have done an amazing job with the magazine, and it really is going out at the top of its game. Anything from the early issues or the 3e/3.5e era should be pretty good, but there was a period in the 90's where the adventures were a bit too tightly scripted for my own taste.

 

[Woas]

Now, I understand that the for awhile now Dungeon was the home to several Adventure Paths with a new 'chapter' in each issue of the most recent Dungeons. Those aren't the only adventures in those issues correct? There are other random adventures found along side of the Adventure Path issues?

I'm not a big .PFDer normally... and at just under $5 a pop, I'm not sure what to do yet. They seem to have issues #85 -- #135 in pdf format and promise more when able. But I could just order the actual mag for $7-$9. Hmmmmmm.....


In addition, could you guys suggest some issues to me that had particular adventures that seemed interesting to you? It could help me pick out specific issues like you mentioned, instead of just wantonly grabbing ones blindly.

Tanks.