Dragon (magazine)

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products; Dungeon is the other. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The final printed issue was #359 in September 2007.^[1][2] Shortly after the last print issue shipped in mid-August 2007, Wizards of the Coast (part of Hasbro, Inc.), the publication's current intellectual property rightsholder, relaunched Dragon as an online magazine, continuing on the numbering of the print edition. The last published issue was No. 430 in December 2013.

A digital publication called Dragon+, which replaces the Dragon magazine, launched in 2015.^[3] It is created by Dialect in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, and restarted the numbering system for issues at No. 1.

History

The last issue of The Strategic Review

In the early 1980s, The Dragon was mailed in an envelope like this one

In 1975, TSR, Inc. began publishing The Strategic Review. At the time, roleplaying games were still seen as a subgenre of the wargaming industry, and the magazine was designed not only to support Dungeons & Dragons and TSR's other games, but also to cover wargaming in general. In short order, however, the popularity and growth of Dungeons & Dragons made it clear that the game had not only separated itself from its wargaming origins, but had launched an entirely new industry unto itself.

TSR canceled The Strategic Review after only seven issues the following year, and replaced it with two magazines, Little Wars, which covered miniature wargaming, and The Dragon, which covered role playing games. After twelve issues, Little Wars ceased independent publication and issue 13 was published as part of Dragon issue 22.^[4]

The magazine debuted as The Dragon in June 1976.^[5] TSR co-founder Gary Gygax commented years later: "When I decided that The Strategic Review was not the right vehicle, hired Tim Kask as a magazine editor for Tactical Studies Rules, and named the new publication he was to produce The Dragon, I thought we would eventually have a great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan."^[6]

Dragon was the launching point for a number of rules, spells, monsters, magic items, and other ideas that were incorporated into later official products of the Dungeons & Dragons game. A prime example is the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, which first became known through a series of Dragon articles in the 1980s by its creator Ed Greenwood. It subsequently went on to become one of the primary campaign 'worlds' for official Dungeons and Dragons products, starting in 1987. The magazine appeared on the cover as simply Dragon from July 1980,^[7] later changing its name to Dragon Magazine starting November 1987.^[8]

Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and its intellectual properties, including Dragon in 1997. Production was then transferred from Wisconsin to Washington state. In 1999, Wizards of the Coast was itself purchased by Hasbro, Inc. Dragon remained published by TSR as a subsidiary of WotC starting September 1997,^[9] and until January 2000 when WotC became the listed de facto publisher.^[10] The magazine changed its name to Dragon starting June 2000.^[11]

In 1999 a compilation of the first 250 issues was released in PDF format with a special viewer including an article and keyword search in CD-ROM format. Also included were the 7 issues of The Strategic Review. This compilation is known as the software title Dragon Magazine Archive. Because of issues raised with the 2001 ruling in Greenberg v. National Geographic regarding the reprint rights of various comic scripts (such as Wormy, What's New with Phil & Dixie, Snarf Quest, and Knights of the Dinner Table) that had been printed in Dragon over the years and Paizo Publishing's policy that creators of comic retain their copyright, the Dragon Magazine Archive is out of print and very hard to find.

In 2002, Paizo Publishing acquired the rights to publish both Dragon and Dungeon under license from Wizards of the Coast. Dragon was published by Paizo starting September 2002.^[12] It tied Dragon more closely to Dungeon by including articles supporting and promoting its major multi-issue adventures such as the Age of Worms and Savage Tide. Class Acts, monthly one or two-page articles offering ideas for developing specific character classes, were also introduced by Paizo.

On April 18, 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced that it would not be renewing Paizo's licenses for Dragon and Dungeon. 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."^[1] Paizo published the last print editions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines for September 2007.

In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced plans for the 4th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. Part of this announcement was that D&D Insider subscriber content would include the new, online versions of both Dungeon and Dragon magazines along with tools for building campaigns, managing character sheets and other features.^[13] In its online form, Dragon continues to publish articles aimed at Dungeons & Dragons players, with rules data from these articles feeding the D&D Character Builder and other online tools.

In the September 2013 issue of Dragon (#427) an article by Wizards of the Coast game designer and editor Chris Perkins announced that both Dragon and its sibling publication Dungeon would be going on hiatus starting January 2014 pending the release of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.^[14]

Content

Although Dragon provided coverage of fantasy and roleplaying games in general, it became primarily a house organ for role-playing games produced by TSR (or more recently Wizards of the Coast), with a particular focus on D&D. Its coverage of games created by other companies is often peripheral.

Most of the magazine's articles provided supplementary material for D&D including new prestige classes, races, monsters and many other subjects that could be used to enhance a Dungeons & Dragons game. A popular long-running column Sage Advice offered official answers to Dungeons & Dragons questions submitted by players. Other articles provided tips and suggestions for both players and Dungeon Masters (DMs). It sometimes discussed meta-gaming issues, such as getting along with fellow players. At the end of its print run, the magazine also featured four comics; Nodwick, Dork Tower, Zogonia and a specialized version of the webcomic The Order of the Stick. Previous popular gamer-oriented comic strips include Knights of the Dinner Table, Fineous Fingers, What's New with Phil & Dixie, Wormy, Yamara and SnarfQuest.

Many of the gaming world's most famous writers, game designers and artists have published work in the magazine. Through most of its run the magazine frequently published fantasy fiction, either short stories or novel excerpts. After the 1990s, the appearance of fiction stories became relatively rare. One late example was issue #305's featured excerpt from George R.R. Martin's later Hugo-nominated novel A Feast for Crows. It also featured book reviews of fantasy and science fiction novels, and occasionally of films of particular interest (such as the TV movie of Mazes and Monsters).

During various Dungeons & Dragons controversies, Dragon featured occasional articles from TSR spokespeople discussing issues from their point of view.

A regular feature of Dragon for many years was its "Ecology of ..." articles as sometimes discussed by the fictional sage Elminster, in which a particular D&D monster received an in-depth review, explaining how it found food, reproduced, and so forth. Under Paizo's tenure such ecology articles became heavier in "crunch" (game mechanics) as opposed to "fluff" (narrative and description) than previously.^[15] The Dragon submissions guidelines explicitly stated that Ecology articles "should have a hunter’s guidebook approach, although it should not be written 'in voice'" and further call out the exact format of Ecology articles, leaving less room for artistic license by the author.^[15]

In the early 1980s, almost every issue of Dragon would contain a role playing adventure, a simple board game, or some kind of special game supplement (such as a cardboard cut-out castle). For instance, Tom Wham's Snit's Revenge, The Awful Green Things From Outer Space and File 13 all started as supplements within The Dragon. These bonus features become infrequent after the 1986 launch of Dungeon magazine, which published several new Dungeons & Dragons adventures in each issue.

During the 1980s, after TSR had purchased Simulations Publications Inc., the magazine had a subsection called Ares Magazine, based on SPI's magazine of that name, specializing in science fiction and superhero role playing games, with pages marked by a gray border. The content included write-ups for various characters of the Marvel Universe for TSR's Marvel Super-Heroes.

Special issues

Best of the Dragon, Vol. 1

As noted above The Dragon was preceded by seven issues of The Strategic Review. In the magazine's early years it also published five "Best of" issues, reprinting highly regarded articles from The Strategic Review and The Dragon.

From 1996 to 2001, Dragon Magazine published the "Dragon Annual," a thirteenth issue of all new content.

Editors

• Timothy J. Kask - Editor of issues #1 – 34
• Jake Jaquet - Editor of issues #35 – 48
• Kim Mohan - Editor-in-Chief of issues #49 – 114; #199 – 217
• Roger E. Moore - Editor of issues #115 – 198
• Wolfgang Baur - Editor of issues #218 – 221
• Pierce B. Watters - Editor-in-Chief of issues #222 – 238
• Anthony J. Bryant - Editor of issues #222 – 229
• Dave Gross - Editor of issues #230 – 273; Editor-in-Chief #274 – 287
• Jesse Decker - Editor-in-Chief of issues #288 – 311
• Chris Thomasson - Editor-in-Chief of issues #312 – 315
• Matthew Sernett - Editor-in-Chief of issues #316 – 326
• Erik Mona - Editor-in-Chief of issues #327 – 359
• Chris Youngs - Editor-in-Chief of issues #360 – 388
• Steve Winter - Editor-in-Chief of issues #389 – Present

Awards

• 1986: Origins Award for Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1985
• 1990: Origins Award for Best Professional Adventure Gaming Magazine of 1989
• 1994: Origins Award for Best Professional Gaming Magazine of 1993
• 1995: Origins Awards for Best Professional Gaming Magazine of 1994, Origins Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame
• 2004: Origins Award for Best Game Related Periodical 2003
• 2007: Origins Award for Best Non-Fiction Publication of the Year 2006

Other releases

Dragon Magazine Archive

Operating system	Microsoft Windows

A collection of Dragon was released as the Dragon Magazine Archive in 1999. It was released as a CD-ROM for Windows 95/98 or Windows NT with files in Adobe's PDF format.^[16] The Dragon Magazine Archive was directed by Rob Voce, and published by TSR/Wizards of the Coast.^[16] It was reviewed by the online version of Pyramid on November 25, 1999.^[16] The reviewer felt that the archive was "worth the price", but noted that it was not Macintosh compatible: "This product fails pretty badly in the Mac world. Because the actual archive is in Adobe's PDF format, the files can be read by anyone with a Macintosh and Adobe Acrobat. Unfortunately, the search utilities that make the archive accessible are not available to Mac users."^[16]

References

External links

• New Dragon magazine home at Wizards of the Coast
• DragonDex – a complete, exhaustive index of the contents of Dragon magazine through the final printed issue #359 (last updated in 2007)

Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and accessories   Original Dungeons & Dragons Core Dungeons & Dragons Chainmail Supplements Supplement I: Greyhawk Supplement II: Blackmoor Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes Swords & Spells   Basic Dungeons & Dragons Core Basic Set Expert Set Companion Set Master Rules Immortals Rules Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991) Rules Cyclopedia Supplements Creature Catalogue The Shady Dragon Inn Modules Adventures in Blackmoor Castle Amber Castle Caldwell and Beyond City of the Gods Combat Shield and Mini-adventure Curse of Xanathon Death's Ride The Duchy of Ten Earthshaker! The Endless Stair The Gem and the Staff Ghost of Lion Castle Horror on the Hill In Search of Adventure In Search of the Unknown The Isle of Dread The Jade Hare The Keep on the Borderlands The Kidnapping of Princess Arelina Legacy of Blood The Lost City Master Player Screen Mystery of the Snow Pearls Night's Dark Terror Palace of the Silver Princess Queen's Harvest Rahasia The Revenge of Rusak Sabre River Temple of the Frog Test of the Warlords The Tree of Life The Veiled Society War Rafts of Kron Where Chaos Reigns   Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Core Players Handbook Dungeon Masters Guide Monster Manual Supplements Deities & Demigods Dragonlance Adventures Dungeoneer's Survival Guide Empires of the Sands Fiend Folio Forgotten Realms Campaign Set Greyhawk Adventures Lords of Darkness The Magister Manual of the Planes Monster Manual II Moonshae Oriental Adventures The Savage Frontier Unearthed Arcana Waterdeep and the North Wilderness Survival Guide World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting Modules Against the Cult of the Reptile God Against the Giants The Assassin's Knot Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords The Bane of Llywelyn Beyond the Crystal Cave Blood of the Yakuza Bloodstone Pass The Bloodstone Wars Castle Greyhawk Conan Against Darkness! Conan Unchained! Danger at Dunwater Day of Al'Akbar Deep Dwarven Delve Descent into the Depths of the Earth Dragonlance modules Dragons of Despair Dungeonland Dwellers of the Forbidden City The Final Enemy The Forest Oracle Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun The Gauntlet The Ghost Tower of Inverness Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl Hall of the Fire Giant King The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords Isle of the Ape The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth The Lost Island of Castanamir Lost Tomb of Martek The Mines of Bloodstone Oasis of the White Palm Pharaoh Queen of the Demonweb Pits Queen of the Spiders Ravager of Time Ravenloft Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill Red Sonja Unconquered Ruins of Adventure Scourge of the Slave Lords The Secret of Bone Hill Secret of the Slavers Stockade The Sentinel Shrine of the Kuo-Toa Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Slave Pits of the Undercity Steading of the Hill Giant Chief Swords of Deceit Swords of the Undercity The Temple of Elemental Evil The Throne of Bloodstone To Find a King Tomb of Horrors Tomb of the Lizard King Treasure Hunt Under Illefarn Vault of the Drow The Village of Hommlet White Plume Mountain   Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition Core Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monstrous Compendium/Monstrous Manual Supplements Anauroch Arms and Equipment Guide Book of Artifacts The Code of the Harpers The Complete Book of Dwarves The Complete Book of Humanoids The Complete Psionics Handbook The Dalelands Demihuman Deities Draconomicon Drow of the Underdark Dwarves Deep Earth, Air, Fire, and Water Faiths & Avatars Forgotten Realms Adventures The Forgotten Realms Atlas Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting From the Ashes Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins A Guide to the Astral Plane Hall of Heroes Heroes' Lorebook Iuz the Evil Jungles of Chult Legends & Lore The Marklands Monster Mythology Old Empires Ruins of Undermountain The Shining South Tome of Magic Villains' Lorebook Adventures Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff The Bloodstone Lands Border Watch The City of Skulls Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad Die Vecna Die! The Doomgrinder Doom of Daggerdale Fate of Istus Five Shall Be One Gargoyle Greyhawk Ruins Halls of the High King House of Strahd Howl from the North Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure Night Below: An Underdark Campaign Patriots of Ulek Rary the Traitor Return of the Eight Return to the Keep on the Borderlands Return to the Tomb of Horrors Return to White Plume Mountain Slavers The Star Cairns Treasures of Greyhawk Vecna Lives!   Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition Core Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monster Manual Supplements Arms and Equipment Guide Book of Challenges Book of Vile Darkness Defenders of the Faith Deities and Demigods Enemies and Allies Epic Level Handbook Faiths and Pantheons Fiend Folio Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Ghostwalk Hero Builder's Guidebook Living Greyhawk Gazetteer Lords of Darkness Magic of Faerûn Monsters of Faerûn Manual of the Planes Masters of the Wild Monster Manual II Oriental Adventures Psionics Handbook Races of Faerûn Savage Species Song and Silence Stronghold Builder's Guidebook Sword and Fist Tome and Blood Adventures City of the Spider Queen The Fright at Tristor Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil   Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 Core Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monster Manual Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game Supplements An Adventurer's Guide to Eberron Book of Exalted Deeds City of Splendors: Waterdeep City of Stormreach Cityscape Complete Adventurer Complete Arcane Complete Champion Complete Divine Complete Mage Complete Psionic Complete Scoundrel Complete Warrior Draconomicon Dragon Magic Dragonmarked Dragons of Eberron Dragons of Faerûn Drow of the Underdark Dungeon Master's Guide II Dungeonscape Eberron Campaign Setting Elder Evils Expanded Psionics Handbook Faiths of Eberron Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells Five Nations The Forge of War Frostburn The Grand History of the Realms Heroes of Battle Heroes of Horror Libris Mortis Lords of Madness Lost Empires of Faerûn Magic Item Compendium Magic of Incarnum Miniatures Handbook Monster Manual III Monster Manual IV Monster Manual V Planar Handbook Player's Handbook II Races of Destiny Races of the Dragon Races of Stone Races of the Wild Sandstorm Spell Compendium Stormwrack Tome of Battle Tome of Magic Underdark Unearthed Arcana Weapons of Legacy Adventures Expedition to Castle Ravenloft Expedition to the Demonweb Pits Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk Fantastic Locations: Dragondown Grotto Red Hand of Doom   Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition Core Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monster Manual Supplements Arcane Power Divine Power Dark Sun Campaign Setting Dungeon Master's Guide 2 Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons Eberron Campaign Guide Eberron Player's Guide Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Manual of the Planes Martial Power Martial Power 2 Monster Manual 2 Monster Manual 3 Player's Handbook 2 Player's Handbook 3 Primal Power Psionic Power Adventures Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress Demon Queen's Enclave Keep on the Shadowfell King of the Trollhaunt Warrens Pyramid of Shadows Thunderspire Labyrinth   Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition Core Player's Handbook Dungeon Master's Guide Monster Manual Supplements Elemental Evil Player's Companion Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide Adventures Hoard of the Dragon Queen Rise of Tiamat Princes of the Apocalypse Out of the Abyss   General Dragon Dungeon