"Into the Fire" by Keith Parkinson Cover of Dungeon Adventures Issue 1 Dated September 1986 |
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| Editor |
Editors
Roger E. Moore Editors-in-Chief
Kim Mohan |
|---|---|
| Categories | Role-playing game |
| Frequency | Print Bimonthly (1–97) Monthly (98–150) Online Bimonthly (151–154)[1] Monthly (155–current) |
| Publisher |
Publishers
Michael H. Cook |
| Total circulation (October 2005 – September 2006) |
31,465[2] |
| First issue | September 1986 |
| Final issue — Number |
September 2007 150 (Vol 21 No 9) |
| Company | TSR (1–62) WotC (63–93, 151–current) Paizo (94–150) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Lake Geneva, WI (TSR) Renton, WA (WotC) Bellevue, WA (Paizo) |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0890-7102 |
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical.[3] It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150.[4][5][6] Its sister publication was the more widely read Dragon. Both magazines are now published by Wizards of the Coast in an online format.
Each issue featured a variety of self-contained, pre-scripted, playtested game scenarios, often called "modules" (now more commonly referred to as "adventures" or "scenarios"). Gamemasters could either enact these adventures with their respective player groups as written or adapt them to their own campaign settings. By providing a full complement of ideas, hooks, plots, adversaries, creatures, illustrations, maps, hand-outs, and character dialogue, Dungeon aimed to save gamemasters a great deal of time and effort in preparing game sessions for their players. Plus, as a resource containing several modules per issue, it was significantly cheaper than standard-format modules, which perhaps explains its enduring popularity.
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Dungeon Adventures first received mention in the editor's column of Dragon Issue 107 (March 1986). Lacking a title at that point, it was described as "a new magazine filled entirely with modules" made available "by subscription only" that would debut "in the late Summer or early Fall" of 1986 and "come out once every two months."[7]
The publication's original editor, Roger E. Moore, later elaborated upon this basic outline:
Dungeon Adventures is a new periodical from TSR, Inc., in which you, the readers, may share your own adventures and scenarios from AD&D and D&D gaming with the legions of other fantasy gamers. Each issue offers a number of fairly short (but often quite complicated and long-playing) modules, selected from the best we receive.
What kind of adventures do you want to see? We're going to offer as broad a spectrum of material as possible: dungeon crawls, wilderness camp-outs, Oriental Adventures modules, solo quests, tournament designs, Battlesystem scenarios, and more.[8]
The premiere issue of Dungeon: Adventures for TSR Role-Playing Games was undated, but "November/December 1986" appears on the cover of the subsequent issue, and Moore stated that it had been released prior to the November issue of Dragon.[9] The magazine's format consisted of 64 pages of short D&D and AD&D game adventures of various lengths, themes, and tones, written by both amateur and professional fantasy role-playing writers.
In conjunction with the debut of Dungeon Adventures, Ken Rolston included a brief review in Issue 125 (September 1987) of Dragon. Regarding the modules themselves, he called them "[c]heap and cheerful, full of the basic fun of D&D games", and said that they reminded him of "the selection of game sessions you find at gaming conventions or in old-fashioned modules." Rolston further commented on the anthology format, which allowed writers to "publish fine little bits" and provided "great training grounds for new writers" that offered "an opportunity to experiment with offbeat themes and tones". Rolston concluded that "sophisticated gamers will find a lot to snicker at here, but there are some cute ideas", and added that the "writing ranges from young and enthusiastic to polished, and when compared with some of TSR's current modules...the quality of the layout and graphics is quite decent."[10]
In late 2002, Paizo Publishing acquired publishing rights to both Dungeon and Dragon as part of a move by Wizards of the Coast to divest business ventures not related to its core business.
Beginning with Issue 90 (January 2002) and lasting until Issue 111 (June 2004), Polyhedron, the monthly membership publication of the Role-Playing Game Association, was combined with Dungeon into a single magazine.[11] Many of the Polyhedron sections presented complete mini-games for the d20 system in genres other than fantasy.
In September 2004, starting with Issue 114, editor Erik Mona changed the format, discontinuing the Polyhedron component and focusing solely on Dungeons & Dragons.[12] In addition to three adventures per issue (one each for low, medium, and high levels), a few issues each year contained another substantial article which typically provided further details on the setting of one of the adventures in that issue (previously, Dungeon almost never had any features other than modules). Following the adventures and articles, many issues also included the three-page "Dungeoncraft" column, at the time written by Monte Cook, as well as a handful of shorter articles on various subjects, collectively titled the "Campaign Workbook".
On April 18, 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced that Paizo would cease publication of Dungeon in September of that year.[5][6] Scott Rouse, senior brand manager of Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, stated, "Today the internet is where people go to get this kind of information. By moving to an online model we are using a delivery system that broadens our reach to fans around the world."[4]
Coinciding with the release of the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons in June 2008, Wizards of the Coast launched a website that included online versions of Dungeon and Dragon magazines for subscribers. In this new format, Dungeon retained its mandate to deliver adventures of varying lengths and levels as well as articles with information and advice for dungeon masters (DMs). Mainstay columns such as "Dungeoncraft" (now written by James Wyatt) were retained, and DM-focused articles that formerly appeared in Dragon magazine (like "Save My Game") were incorporated into Dungeon, making it a "one-stop shop" for DMs. The magazine also shifted to a landscape format with the intent of making the articles and adventures more readable onscreen, and content is released daily and gathered into PDF compilations on a monthly basis. As of May 2011 Wizards of the Coast has stopped compiling the issues every month and instead decided to leave them in single article format.
A notable feature of Dungeon magazine from 2003 to the present day has been its use of episodic, multipart adventures, referred to as "Adventure Paths", which are designed to take a group of player characters from the very beginning of their adventuring careers (1st level) up through epic levels (20th and above). Four such serials – Shackled City, Age of Worms, Savage Tide, and Scales of War – have been published.[13] In addition, several shorter campaign arcs (typically consisting of three parts) and various sporadic, open-ended series and side treks figured in these later issues. The Shackled City Adventure Path was later collected into a hardcover edition (August 2005) with various revisions and corrections, new background information, and a bonus adventure meant to fill a gap near the beginning of the series.
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