When was the Dragon Magazine at it's best?

[Kilmore]

It seems that a lot of people are not satisfied with the Dragon Magazine. The consensus seems to be that it COULD be a good gaming tool, but it really isn't. I don't think it has always been this way. So I ask... what were the best times of the Dragon Magazine and why?

My best experience with the Dragon is the earliest. My first Dragon bought was issue 70. This was probably around '83 or '84 in the glory days of 1st edition. If I remember correctly, it had articles on giving orcs and other monsters a little common sense and relative speeds of ships, as well as the "Smith" class. Admittedly the smith wasn't very useful, but it did impress me with the versatility of the game and that I did not have to do everything out of the books. That and "Wormy" rocked my world. That, and the Dean Mullaney cover was awesome. That's one artist I'd like to see back in the fold.

Also, the Dragon wasn't nearly as colorful and glossy back then, being a bit more businesslike in format. Perhaps it's too distracting now? I'm sure that if they had the means, the Dragon would have been more colorful back then.

 

[Knight Otu]

Personally, I think that Dragon has improved over the past, although some of the recent issues can be accused of having too many prestige classes in it.

I like that they use color, and often enough, the art is very good.

I am quite surprised that people rant about issues being linked to books that WotC released. After all, that is their job (or maybe was). Advertising, drawing attention to the book.

I do not see Dragon going a route which takes it to being "evil" or "a bad influence", as some posts seem to imply, especially not with the Knights issue.

All IMHO, of course.

 

[LcKedovan]

I miss some of the old days articles.. nostalgia does after all have its place, that and the old Dragon had Star Frontiers, Top Secret and other games as well so I miss that (and those games to be honest) but I think the Dragon of today is a big improvement in layout etc. I think Dragon is doing fine and I'll continue to subscribe (Dungeon is even better these days IMO).

-Will

 

[Psion]

I think the pre-100 era was a pretty nice era... right around the time that they were putting out things like the Deryni articles, the psionicist, early Traveller articles, etc.

I think the first 10 or so issues after 3e were pretty good. Nowadays dragon is so much more hit-and-miss.

 

[JeffB]

When Kim and Roger ran the show it was at it's best. Dale did a pretty good job too, much better than his successors, IMO.

I find Dragon pretty useless in-game now(my opinion of course), the only things I look forward to being What's New, Ed's and Gary's articles, and anything by Robin Laws. Dunegoncraft used to be really good then went off on a tangent.

Dragon also used to do very little "tie-in" articles like they do now. They would advertise stuff in the mag (as advertisements), but not so many themed tie-in issues., not unless it was something major, like a big boxed set, or new Campaign setting. Now it's a monthly sales flyer with a $6 price tag. (yes, that's how they make money, but it doesn't have to be so blatant or narrowly focused)

The old mag used to be all about ideas with supporting rules stuff. The new mag is all about rules with a lack of supporting ideas.

#300 was the last straw for me. Not because of the "vile" stuff, simply because other than the flashback article, the issue was total blech. That was a horrid Anniversary issue....

I let my sub lapse..I have no intention of resubbing till I see some big improvements. I HOPE piazzo (sp) can do something to improve it.. since it's all the same crew though, I'm not betting on it.

 

[Erekose]

I agree with JeffB - particularly when Roger Moore was in charge. Some of his articles were classic reading for me (particularly the ones on the different races).

Speaking of which whatever happened to Roger? Is he still productive in RPGs/D20?

 

[diaglo]

pre-100 for me.

i still prefer it when it was The Dragon.

 

[LcKedovan]

Dragon also used to do very little "tie-in" articles like they do now. They would advertise stuff in the mag (as advertisements), but not so many themed tie-in issues., not unless it was something major, like a big boxed set, or new Campaign setting. Now it's a monthly sales flyer with a $6 price tag. (yes, that's how they make money, but it doesn't have to be so blatant or narrowly focused)

The old mag used to be all about ideas with supporting rules stuff. The new mag is all about rules with a lack of supporting ideas.

I have to say I do agree with you 100% on some of the latest being very "sales flyer". I don't mind "tie-in" so long as it is totally usable independantly, it's not even that a certain month has a tie in but how much of the issue is dedicated to that.

-Will

 

[Dinkeldog]

Nostalgia makes me say the best stuff was reprinted in the first Best of the Dragon. After that, the issue with the Deryni Psionicists was outstanding, and then not much for me until 3E came out. But the majority of possible generic topics took a year or so, and now it seems a bit specialized to me. I've wanted something along the lines of the Stronghold Builder's Guide for years, so the supporting issue was fine for me. I can see how other people might be tired of each issue supporting a single release from WotC.

Mixing it up again might be a good idea. I'm nowhere near dissatisfied, though.

 

[Henry]

The best times for dragon were when I first started reading it - and I expect that may be the answer for 90% of the respondents here.

I first discovered Dragon Mag at B.Dalton bookstores when it was around issue #87 or so - about 1984? Dragon was the king of variant classes, non-dungeon exploring rules, and variant rule systems for almost everything imaginable.

Dragon Magazine was where I first discovered how truly powerful a 1st edition Druid was (in an article in issue #110, I think); I discovered the "be aware, take care" articles by Lew Pulsipher (these are 2 articles which I believe even D&D players today should read! They are that good!) I also discovered Dragon Chess from Issue #100. (I still have dreams of one day building a set of dragon chess!) One of my favorite adventures of all time, "City beyond the Gate", was in issue #100 as well.