Value of Dragon historically

[Glyfair]

I was doing a search of various things on eBay and I noticed a trend. Compared to other roleplaying products, Dragon magazine does very poorly on eBay. Lots of 50 issues go for $25 or less on a regular basis. Dungeon magazine, on the other hand, does seem to have a reasonable resale value on eBay. Even compared to other roleplaying products, Dragon has a pretty poor value.

Why do you think this is? Is it the release of the Dragon Archive? Are the articles in Dragon so horribly dated that there isn't much value? Are Dragons just so common that everyone has the issues they are interested in?

 

[francisca]

Why do you think this is? Is it the release of the Dragon Archive? Are the articles in Dragon so horribly dated that there isn't much value? Are Dragons just so common that everyone has the issues they are interested in?

Archive? Big part of it.
Horribly dated? Your Milage May Vary. To me, no. I think the older stuff is generally better written and more inspiring than current stuff.
Common? Pretty common. I have many old issues laying about.

 

[Steel_Wind]

1) Value in use. Dungeon adventures continue to be relevant in terms of maps, plots, encounter, story and characters even if it is for a different edition of D&D. The same is not true for Dragon. It publishes - largely - rules and variants for a specific system. Once that system is not in use,. it's value in use plummets.

Dungeon magazine remains relevant even if you use GURPS or Rolemaster in terms of the main sweep of an adventure. Can't say that for Dragon.

2) Dragon CD Archive: If you want it 250 of em - it's out there. Not so with Dungeon (pirated variants in illegal form excepted.

3) A lot harder to collect. If you actually wanted to collect all of Dungeon (as I have) it is possible to do so without too much diffculty. Collecting all of Dragon in print form? Good luck on that hobby - you'll be paying a lot relative to Dungeon. The lots of 50 for cheap tend not to include issues lower than #40.

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

I may be wrong, but I do believe that Dragon has a higher circulation than Dungeon, which may also increase the relative value of single issues of Dungeon compared to Dragon.

Although it is true that the first 3-4 years of Dragon are pretty expensive.

Thanks,

Taren Nighteyes

 

[Psychic Warrior]

DUngeon is always useful regardless of edition. Just because an NPC is stated in Basic D&D doesn't mean his personality and motivations are. Plots, storyline, places, maps etc all are reusable with minimal effort no matter what edition you like (some of my favourite Dungeon mag adventures were written in Basic/Expert D&D rules). Dragon, on the other hand, tends to recycle aritcles. How many 'how to be a good DM' or 101 Presitge Classes for a Rainy Day columns can your read before it becomes dull and lifeless? I gave up on Dragon quite a while ago simply because I don't want or need more of those things. New adventures I will always need (at least until they pry the dice from my cold dead fingers).

The really early issues of Dragon hold their value simply because there a less of them out there. Issues 1-20 probably had print runs of less than 10000.