Dungeon (magazine)

Dungeon Adventures

The red dragon Flame strikes a menacing pose while standing guard over a substantial treasure hoard in his cavern lair.

"Into the Fire" by Keith Parkinson
Cover of Dungeon Adventures Issue 1
Dated September/October 1986
Editor
Categories Role-playing game
Frequency Print
Bimonthly (1–97)
Monthly (98–150)
Online
Bimonthly (151–154)[1]
Monthly (155–current)
Publisher
Total circulation
(October 2005 –
September 2006)		 31,465[2]
First issue September/October 1986
Final issue
— Number		 September 2007 (print)
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] Starting in 2008, Dungeon and its more widely read sister publication, Dragon, went to an online-only format published by Wizards of the Coast. Both magazines went on hiatus at the end of 2013, with Dungeon Issue 221 being the last released.

Each issue featured a variety of self-contained, pre-scripted, play-tested game scenarios, often called "modules", "adventures" or "scenarios". Dungeon Masters (DMs) could either enact these adventures with their respective player groups as written or adapt them to their own campaign settings. Dungeon aimed to save DMs time and effort in preparing game sessions for their players by providing a full complement of ideas, hooks, plots, adversaries, creatures, illustrations, maps, hand-outs, and character dialogue. It was a resource containing several modules per issue, significantly cheaper than standard-format modules.

TSR

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, elaborated on 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 first anniversary 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 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]

Paizo and Polyhedron

In late 2002, Paizo Publishing acquired publishing rights to both Dungeon and Dragon magazine titles as part of a move by Wizards of the Coast to divest business ventures not related to its core business.

Polyhedron, the monthly membership publication of the Role-Playing Game Association, was combined with Dungeon into a single magazine beginning with Issue 90 (January 2002) and lasting until Issue 111 (June 2004).[11] Many of the Polyhedron sections presented complete mini-games for the d20 system in genres other than fantasy.

Editor Erik Mona changed the format in September 2004, starting with Issue 114, discontinuing the Polyhedron component and focusing solely on Dungeons & Dragons.[12] Each issue included three adventures, one each for low, medium, and high levels. A few issues each year also contained another substantial article which provided further details on the setting of one of the adventures. (Previously, Dungeon almost never had features other than modules.) Following the adventures and articles, many issues 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]

Dungeon magazine online

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 DMs. Mainstay columns such as "Dungeoncraft" (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 shifted to a landscape format with the intent of making the articles and adventures more readable onscreen. Content was released daily and gathered into PDF compilations on a monthly basis. In May 2011, Wizards of the Coast stopped the monthly compilations and left content in single article format. In October 2012, Wizards of the Coast resumed monthly compilations.

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 the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition product line.[13]

Adventure Paths

Beginning in 2003, Dungeon magazine has featured episodic, multi-part adventures, referred to as "Adventure Paths", which are designed to take a group of player characters from the beginning of their adventuring careers (1st level) through epic levels (20th and above). As of April 2013, four such serials have been published: Shackled City, Age of Worms, Savage Tide, and Scales of War.[14] In addition, several shorter campaign arcs (typically consisting of three parts) and various sporadic, open-ended series and side treks were featured in these later issues. The Shackled City Adventure Path was collected into a hardcover edition in 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.

Recognition

Awards
Nominations

Notes

  1. ↑ "Dungeon Magazine Information". RPGnet. Retrieved January 18, 2011. Following their resumption of control over Dungeon in September 2007, Wizards of the Coast published Issues 151–154 as "a series of free web pages" before committing to a regular monthly release schedule and the use of PDF files starting with Issue 155 (June 2008). These four issues have since become unavailable, and a promised compilation has not yet materialized.
  2. ↑ Jacobs, J., ed. (January 2007). "Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation". Dungeon Adventures. Bellevue, WA: Paizo (142): 82. ISSN 0890-7102. This represented a decline of 35.9% from an average total distribution of 49,076 copies during the period October 2002 – November 2003, which was, in terms of circulation, the high point in the magazine's print publication history (Issue 107, p. 72). Data for the period October 2006 – September 2007, which would have likely been released in the January 2008 issue of Dungeon, are not available.
  3. ↑ "Dungeons & Dragons Archives—The History of TSR: 1966–1999". Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast. 2003. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2005.
  4. 1 2 "Paizo Publishing to Cease Publication of DRAGON and DUNGEON". Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast. April 19, 2007. Archived from the original on March 8, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Jacobs, J., ed. (July 2007). "All Good Things". Dungeon Adventures. Bellevue, WA: Paizo (148): 6. ISSN 0890-7102.
  6. 1 2 Mona, E. (August 2007). Jacobs, J, ed. "Statement from the Publisher". Dungeon Adventures. Bellevue, WA: Paizo (149): 7. ISSN 0890-7102.
  7. ↑ Mohan, K., ed. (March 1986). "Coming Soon: A Magazine Full of Modules". Dragon. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (107): 3. ISSN 1062-2101.
  8. ↑ Moore, R. E., ed. (September–October 1986). "Out of the Dungeon, into the Fire". Dungeon Adventures. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (1): 1. ISSN 0890-7102.
  9. ↑ Moore, R. E., ed. (November 1986). "Hello, Hello". Dragon. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (115): 3. ISSN 0279-6848. As the newly installed editor of both Dragon and Dungeon, Moore himself appeared in the "TSR Profiles" feature on page 82 of this issue.
  10. ↑ Rolston, K. (September 1987). Moore, R. E, ed. "Role-Playing Reviews". Dragon. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (125): 80. ISSN 0279-6848.
  11. ↑ Dungeon was assigned a different ISSN during this period, as is standard practice when a periodical undergoes a major title change: 1542-5401.
  12. ↑ Mona, E., ed. (September 2004). "Building a Better Dungeon". Dungeon Adventures. Bellevue, WA: Paizo (114): 6–7. ISSN 0890-7102.
  13. ↑ Perkins, Chris (September 2013). "Going Dark". Dragon Magazine (427): 1. In other words, the December issues (#221 of Dungeon and #430 of Dragon) will be the last issues you see for a while.
  14. ↑ Shackled City: Issues 97 (March 2003), 98 (May 2003), 102 (September 2003), 104 (November 2003), 107 (February 2004), 109 (April 2004), 111 (June 2004), and 113 (August 2004) – 116 (November 2004); Age of Worms: Issues 124 (July 2005) – 135 (June 2006); Savage Tide: Issues 139 (October 2006) – 150 (September 2007); Scales of War: Issues 156 (July 2008) – 168 (July 2009) and 170 (September 2009) – 175 (February 2010).
  15. 1 2 3 Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. "Origins Game Fair Awards Archive 1974–2007". Columbus, OH: Game Manufacturers Association. Archived from the original on June 4, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  16. ↑ Young, B. G., ed. (September 1990). "The More Things Change...". Dungeon Adventures. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (25): 1. ISSN 0890-7102.
  17. ↑ Young, B. G., ed. (November 1991). "Go Ahead—Make My Day". Dungeon Adventures. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR (32): 3. ISSN 0890-7102.
  18. ↑ "2002 Nominees and Winners". ENnie Awards: History of Winners. Seattle, WA: Gen Con. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  19. ↑ "2005 Nominees and Winners". ENnie Awards: History of Winners. Seattle, WA: Gen Con. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Paizo Publishing Wins Five ENnies!". Paizo News. Bellevue, WA: Paizo. August 20, 2005. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  21. 1 2 "2006 Nominees and Winners". ENnie Awards: History of Winners. Seattle, WA: Gen Con. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  22. 1 2 "2007 Nominees and Winners". ENnie Awards: History of Winners. Seattle, WA: Gen Con. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  23. ↑ Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. "Origins Game Fair 33rd Annual Awards Nominees". Columbus, OH: Game Manufacturers Association. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
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