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 Issue 300 | |
| Editor | |
|---|---|
| Categories | Role-playing games |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First issue | The Strategic Review March 1975 The Dragon June 1976 |
| Final issue Number | September 2007 (print), December 2013 (digital) 359 (print), 430 (digital) |
| Company | TSR / WotC / Paizo |
| Country | United States |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 1062-2101 |
Dragon was one of the two officialmagazines for source material for theDungeons & Dragonsrole-playing game and associated products, along withDungeon.
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 ofHasbro, Inc.), the publication's current copyright holder, relaunchedDragon as anonline magazine, continuing on the numbering of the print edition. The last published issue was No. 430 in December 2013. A digital publication calledDragon+, which replacedDragon magazine, was launched in 2015.[3] It was created by theadvertising agency Dialect in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, and its numbering system for issues started at No. 1.[4]
In 1975,TSR, Inc. began publishingThe Strategic Review. At the time, roleplaying games were still seen as a subgenre of thewargaming industry, and the magazine was designed not only to supportDungeons & Dragons and TSR's other games, but also to cover wargaming in general. In short order, however, the popularity and growth ofDungeons & 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 canceledThe Strategic Review the following year after only seven issues, and replaced it with two magazines,Little Wars, which coveredminiature wargaming, andThe Dragon, which covered role playing games. After twelve issues,Little Wars ceased independent publication and issue 13 was published as part ofDragon issue 22.[5]
The magazine debuted asThe Dragon in June 1976.[6] TSR co-founderGary Gygax commented years later: "When I decided thatThe 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 produceThe 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."[7]
Dragon is the launching point for a number of rules, spells, monsters, magic items, and other ideas that were incorporated into later official products of theDungeons & Dragons game. A prime example is theForgotten Realms campaign setting, which first became known through a series ofDragon articles in the 1980s by its creatorEd Greenwood. It subsequently went on to become one of the primary campaign "worlds" for officialDungeons and Dragons products, starting in 1987. The magazine appeared on the cover as simplyDragon from July 1980,[8] later changing its name toDragon Magazine starting November 1987.[9]
Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and its intellectual properties, includingDragon Magazine, in 1997.[10] Production was then transferred from Wisconsin to Washington state. In 1999, Wizards of the Coast was itself purchased byHasbro, Inc.Dragon Magazine suffered a five-month gap between #236 and #237 but remained published by TSR as a subsidiary of WotC starting September 1997,[11] and until January 2000 when WotC became the listed de facto publisher.[12] They removed the word "magazine" from the cover title starting with the June 2000 issue, changing the publication's name back to simplyDragon.[13]
In 1999 a CD-ROM compilation of the first 250 issues, calledDragon Magazine Archive, was released inPDF format with a special viewer. It includes the seven issues ofThe Strategic Review. TheDragon Magazine Archive is out of print because of issues raised with the 2001 ruling inGreenberg v. National Geographic regarding the reprint rights of various comic strips that had been printed inDragon over the years and Paizo Publishing's policy that creators of comics retain their copyright.[14] These comic strips includeWormy,What's New with Phil & Dixie,Snarf Quest, andKnights of the Dinner Table[14] which is covered in TSR's own statement in the first issue that "All material published herein becomes the exclusive property of the publisher unless special arrangements to the contrary are made."[6]
In 2002,Paizo Publishing acquired the rights to publish bothDragon andDungeon under license from Wizards of the Coast.Dragon was published by Paizo starting September 2002.[15] It tiesDragon more closely toDungeon by including articles supporting and promoting its major multi-issue adventures such as theAge of Worms andSavage Tide.Class Acts, a monthly publication with 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 forDragon andDungeon, instead opting for online publishing.[1] Paizo published the last print editions ofDragon andDungeon magazines for September 2007.
In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the fourth edition of theDungeons & Dragons game and thatD&D Insider subscriber content would include the new, online versions of bothDungeon andDragon magazines along with tools for building campaigns, managing character sheets, and other features.[16] In its online form,Dragon continues to publish articles aimed atDungeons & Dragons players, with rules data from these articles feeding the D&D Character Builder and other online tools.
In the September 2013 issue ofDragon (#427) an article by Wizards of the Coast game designer and editorChris Perkins announced that bothDragon and its sibling publicationDungeon would be going on hiatus starting January 2014 pending the release ofDungeons & Dragons 5th edition.[17] The final online version released is Issue #430 in December 2013.
A new and fully digital bi-monthly publication calledDragon+, was launched on April 30, 2015,[3] succeeding the existing versions ofDragon andDungeon magazines. Created by Dialect in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, the online edition ceased continuity with the printed and digital versions of both magazines, and restarted its numbering system for issues at No. 1.
The magazine branded itself as an app with content "showcasing what’s new in Dungeons & Dragons – from backstory and world information to discussions about what's coming next from the creators and developers of your favorite D&D products".[18] Articles included cover content such as: game strategies and insights; details of the current D&D storyline; interviews; ongoing comic series; lore; Forgotten Realms world information; community updates and fan submissions; and videos. Additional content in the magazine is also accessible through links to the magazine's content inFacebook andTwitter feeds.
Dragon+ ran for 41 issues in total with the last issue published in April 2022; Wizards of the Coast published an update in July 2022 announcing the cancellation of the publication.[19] On November 15, 2022, Wizards of the Coast announced that "Dragon+ will be removed from app stores on or around November 15th, and dragonmag.com will be redirected and its content will no longer be available".[20]
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 fromGeorge R.R. Martin's laterHugo-nominated novelA Feast for Crows. It also featuredbook reviews of fantasy and science fiction novels, and occasionally of films of particular interest (such as theTV movie ofMazes and Monsters).
From the magazine's beginning until issue 274, from August 2000,Dragon published articles for various versions ofDungeons & Dragons and, at various times, other gaming systems. With issue 274,Dragon published exclusively 3rd EditionD&D content, or content for other games published by Wizards Of The Coast's d20 System games. With the release of the 3.5 Edition update in July 2003, issue 309 onward published only Edition 3.5 content and carried a "100% OfficialDungeons & Dragons" masthead. The magazine switched to exclusively 4th EditionD&D content from issue 364 on the release of 4th Edition in June 2008.
Most of the magazine's articles provide supplementary material forD&D including newprestige classes, races, andmonsters. A long-running columnSage Advice offers official answers toDungeons & Dragons questions submitted by players. Other articles provide tips and suggestions for players and Dungeon Masters (DMs). It sometimes discusses meta-gaming issues, such as getting along with fellow players. At the end of its print run, the magazine also features four comics;Nodwick,Dork Tower,Zogonia, and aspecialized version of thewebcomicThe Order of the Stick. Previous gamer-oriented comic strips includeKnights of the Dinner Table,Finieous Fingers,What's New with Phil & Dixie,Wormy,Yamara, andSnarfQuest.
Dragon's "Ecology of ..." articles were initially written in the voice of the fictional sageElminster, who reviewed a D&D monster in-depth. Under Paizo's tenure such ecology articles became heavier in game mechanics than narrative and description. TheDragon submissions guidelines explicitly state that Ecology articles "should have a hunter’s guidebook approach, although it should not be written 'in voice'" and further specify the exact format of Ecology articles, leaving less room for artistic license by the author.[21]
In the early 1980s, almost every issue contains 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'sSnit's Revenge,The Awful Green Things from Outer Space andFile 13 all started as supplements withinThe Dragon. These bonus features are infrequent after the 1986 launch ofDungeon magazine, which published several newDungeons & Dragons adventures in each issue.
During the 1980s, after TSR had purchasedSimulations Publications Inc., the magazine had a subsection calledAres Magazine, based on SPI's magazine of that name, specializing inscience fiction andsuperhero role playing games, with pages marked by a gray border. The content included write-ups for various characters of theMarvel Universe for TSR'sMarvel Super-Heroes.
As noted aboveThe Dragon was preceded by seven issues ofThe Strategic Review. In the magazine's early years it also published five "Best of" issues, reprinting highly regarded articles fromThe Strategic Review andThe Dragon. From 1996 to 2001,Dragon Magazine published the "Dragon Annual", a thirteenth issue of all new content.
Print versions:
Digital (online/PDF) versions:
| Dragon Magazine Archive | |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Website | www |
A collection ofDragon was released as theDragon Magazine Archive in 1999. It was released as a CD-ROM with a Windows application and PDF files. TheDragon Magazine Archive was directed by Rob Voce, and published byTSR/Wizards of the Coast.Pyramid reviewed it, saying that the archive was "worth the price", but that its application's Windows-only format limits other platforms from being able to read the PDFs manually.[28] It was reviewed inBackstab [fr] #19.[29]
In other words, the December issues (#221 of Dungeon and #430 of Dragon) will be the last issues you see for a while.
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