Dragon(magazine)

This article is about the American gaming magazine. For the Japanese light-novel magazine, seeDragon Magazine (Fujimi Shobo).

Dragon

Issue 300
Editor	Editors Timothy J. Kask Jake Jaquet Kim Mohan Roger E. Moore Wolfgang Baur Pierce B. Watters Anthony J. Bryant Dave Gross Jesse Decker Chris Thomasson Matthew Sernett Erik Mona Chris Youngs Steve Winter
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.dragonmag.com
ISSN	1062-2101

Dragonis one of the two officialmagazinesfor source material for theDungeons & Dragonsrole-playing gameand 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.Shortly after the last print issue shipped in mid-August 2007,Wizards of the Coast(part ofHasbro, Inc.), the publication's current copyright holder, relaunchedDragonas 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 replacedDragonmagazine, was launched in 2015.It was created by theadvertising agencyDialect in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, and its numbering system for issues started at No. 1.

History

TSR

In 1975,TSR, Inc.began publishingThe Strategic Review.At the time, roleplaying games were still seen as a subgenre of thewargamingindustry, and the magazine was designed not only to supportDungeons & Dragonsand TSR's other games, but also to cover wargaming in general. In short order, however, the popularity and growth ofDungeons & Dragonsmade 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 Reviewthe 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 Warsceased independent publication and issue 13 was published as part ofDragonissue 22.

The magazine debuted asThe Dragonin June 1976.TSR co-founderGary Gygaxcommented years later: "When I decided thatThe Strategic Reviewwas 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. "

Dragonis the launching point for a number of rules, spells, monsters, magic items, and other ideas that were incorporated into later official products of theDungeons & Dragonsgame. A prime example is theForgotten Realmscampaign setting, which first became known through a series ofDragonarticles in the 1980s by its creatorEd Greenwood.It subsequently went on to become one of the primary campaign "worlds" for officialDungeons and Dragonsproducts, starting in 1987. The magazine appeared on the cover as simplyDragonfrom July 1980,later changing its name toDragon Magazinestarting November 1987.

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coastpurchased TSR and its intellectual properties, includingDragon Magazine,in 1997.Production was then transferred from Wisconsin to Washington state. In 1999, Wizards of the Coast was itself purchased byHasbro, Inc.Dragon Magazinesuffered a five-month gap between #236 and #237 but remained published by TSR as a subsidiary of WotC starting September 1997,and until January 2000 when WotC became the listed de facto publisher.They removed the word "magazine" from the cover title starting with the June 2000 issue, changing the publication's name back to simplyDragon.

In 1999 a CD-ROM compilation of the first 250 issues, calledDragon Magazine Archive,was released inPDFformat with a special viewer. It includes the seven issues ofThe Strategic Review.TheDragon Magazine Archiveis out of print because of issues raised with the 2001 ruling inGreenberg v. National Geographicregarding the reprint rights of various comic strips that had been printed inDragonover the years and Paizo Publishing's policy that creators of comics retain their copyright.These comic strips includeWormy,What's New with Phil & Dixie,Snarf Quest,andKnights of the Dinner Tablewhich 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."

Paizo

In 2002,Paizo Publishingacquired the rights to publish bothDragonandDungeonunder license from Wizards of the Coast.Dragonwas published by Paizo starting September 2002.It tiesDragonmore closely toDungeonby including articles supporting and promoting its major multi-issue adventures such as theAge of WormsandSavage Tide.Class Acts,a monthly publication with one- or two-page articles offering ideas for developing specific character classes, were also introduced by Paizo.

Return to Wizards of the Coast

On April 18, 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced that it would not be renewing Paizo's licenses forDragonandDungeon,instead opting for online publishing.Paizo published the last print editions ofDragonandDungeonmagazines for September 2007.

In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the fourth edition of theDungeons & Dragonsgame and thatD&D Insidersubscriber content would include the new, online versions of bothDungeonandDragonmagazines along with tools for building campaigns, managing character sheets, and other features.In its online form,Dragoncontinues to publish articles aimed atDungeons & Dragonsplayers, with rules data from these articles feeding the D&D Character Builder and other online tools.

Cessation

In the September 2013 issue ofDragon(#427) an article by Wizards of the Coast game designer and editorChris Perkinsannounced that bothDragonand its sibling publicationDungeonwould be going on hiatus starting January 2014 pending the release ofDungeons & Dragons5th edition.The final online version released is Issue #430 in December 2013.

Dragon+

A new and fully digital bi-monthly publication calledDragon+,was launched on April 30, 2015,succeeding the existing versions ofDragonandDungeonmagazines. 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".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 inFacebookandTwitterfeeds.

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.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 ".

Content

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-nominatednovelA Feast for Crows.It also featuredbook reviewsof fantasy and science fiction novels, and occasionally of films of particular interest (such as theTV movieofMazes and Monsters).

From the magazine's beginning until issue 274, from August 2000,Dragonpublished articles for various versions ofDungeons & Dragonsand, at various times, other gaming systems. With issue 274,Dragonpublished exclusively 3rd EditionD&Dcontent, 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&Dcontent from issue 364 on the release of 4th Edition in June 2008.

Articles

Most of the magazine's articles provide supplementary material forD&Dincluding newprestige classes,races, andmonsters.A long-running columnSage Adviceoffers official answers toDungeons & Dragonsquestions 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 versionof 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. TheDragonsubmissions 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.

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 SpaceandFile 13all started as supplements withinThe Dragon.These bonus features are infrequent after the 1986 launch ofDungeonmagazine, which published several newDungeons & Dragonsadventures 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 fictionandsuperherorole playing games, with pages marked by a gray border. The content included write-ups for various characters of theMarvel Universefor TSR'sMarvel Super-Heroes.

Special issues

As noted aboveThe Dragonwas 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 ReviewandThe Dragon.From 1996 to 2001,Dragon Magazinepublished the "Dragon Annual", a thirteenth issue of all new content.

Editors

Print versions:

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

Digital (online/PDF) versions:

• #360 – 387:Chris Youngs,Editor-in-Chief
• #388 – 430:Steve Winter,Editor-in-Chief
• (Dragon+) #1-7 Matt Chapman, Editor-in-Chief; #8-13 John Houlihan, Editor-in-Chief; #14-present Matt Chapman, Editor-in-Chief

Awards

• 1984:Origins AwardforBest Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1984
• 1986:Origins AwardforBest Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1985
• 1987:Origins Awardfor "Special Award for Outstanding Achievement of 1987".
• 1990:Origins Award forBest Professional Adventure Gaming Magazine of 1989
• 1994:Origins Award forBest Professional Gaming Magazine of 1993
• 1995:Origins Awards forBest Professional Gaming Magazine of 1994,Origins Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame
• 2004:Origins Award forBest Game Related Periodical 2003
• 2007:Origins Award forBest Non-Fiction Publication of the Year 2006

Other releases

DragonMagazine Archive

Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Website	www.wizards.com/dnd/tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/dragonmagazine

A collection ofDragonwas released as theDragon Magazine Archivein 1999. It was released as a CD-ROM with a Windows application and PDF files. TheDragon Magazine Archivewas directed by Rob Voce, and published byTSR/Wizards of the Coast.Pyramidreviewed 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.It was reviewed inBackstab#19.

External links

• DragonDex– a complete, exhaustive index of the contents ofDragonmagazine through the final printed issue #359 (last updated in 2007)
• Dragon+ digital magazine
• Dragon+ digital magazine iOS app
• Archived Dragon Magazineson theInternet Archive