I haven't been buying dragon for that long (first issue I bought was #310), but recently I've started buying backissues. Since it would be a good idea for a thread anyway, I'm starting this thread to get info on what you think were some of the best issues ever (and conqequently help me with my shopping list).
Note: Magazines that cost only $6.00 are the best (#286 and more recent).
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Just have the Back Issue Order page from #323 with me here at work, so I've got to go with cover art to jog my memory...
If I remember correctly, #305 was one of my favorites. A friend of mine utterly devoured the Spies issue (#316). There was an issue back in the 270s that detailed the ecology of Halflings that was so full of great info, I bought two copies so that one could get torn up in the wear and tear. Similarly, #291 gave Gnomes the same star treatment and that was another great issue. And #298 (or was it #297?) was Drow-centric, and a good one... though it's sold out just about everywhere.
Great question. If I can find the time, I'll go through my last four or five years and see what other precious gems are there.
And yes, Mike. Step away from da bomb... yo. ;)
Its wrong of me, but #311 as it had my first published game related work, Arcane Ancestry. But, I also like all 3 of the 3.5 class books and use them frequently.
I have to say my favorite issue I think is #305 because it gives the information on running a campaign in Westeros. Selfishly, those are my favorite books and I am currently using that information as the basis for a new campaign. God I hope thats the right issue number!
Favorite Issues:
Dragon 280: It had an article with a bunch of cool Alchemy items.
Dragon 289: The article about Leveled Treasures is a favorite in my group.
Dragon: 297: It had an article about para-elemental planetouched.
Dragon: 298: A Drow issue. Now I am one of the first to say that Drow usually get too much attention and I was thinking it when I got this issue in, but it was a really good issue all together.
Dragon: 300: The Minions of Darkness article was awesome. It had monster cultist prestige classes. My favorite was the Deep Thrall.
Dragon 313: It had an article about a new race--Ghost Elves.
Dragon 317: Lots of great articles. True Names and Fetishes, Using Power Components, Body of Knowledge, and the Urban Druid. I love the artwork for the Urban Druid. I really gave me a sense on what the class was. Also the ability to eventually have a gargantuan monstrous spider as a companion is just awesome.
I will stop there. There are many more that I would label my favorite articles and issues but these are the ones that came off the top of my head.
Best of Dragon, gold cover.
Alternate 1st edition monks, intro of the demihuman gods, alchemist, Gem dragons, the Archer.... That issues was pretty amazing back in the day.
I wish you would bring back the Best of Dragon yearly anthologies. They were pretty awesome in general.
TA
Contributor
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Best of Dragon, gold cover.
I wish you would bring back the Best of Dragon yearly anthologies. They were pretty awesome in general.TA
Believe me, we agree with you. Those anthologies were da--no, no, I promised myself I wouldn't type that again--they were sweet. ;)
It would indeed be excellent to do one of those again (or well, for Wes and I, for the first time). Unfortunately, that would mean editing a thirteenth issue every year. Frankly, there aren't enough hours in the insufficient days of the all-too-short weeks of each month to squeeze in another magazine. :(
As a usually depressing exercise, I count up the number of editors who work on other comparably sized magazines whenever I come across them (doctor's office waiting room, parents' coffee table, or wherever). The lowest editor count I've seen is seven. Dragon has three. I'm not complaining, mind you, because obviously Matt, Wes, and I are able to do all the work, but that's just one way of pointing out how impossible it is for us to wring extra minutes out of our days in order to conceive of doing another issue each year. ;)
Now, if someone were to win the lottery and give Paizo enough money to hire another editor or two, we might be able to give y'all Dragon annuals again. Until then, however...
We heartily hope you continue enjoying the twelve issues we do put out each year. We know we certainly love working on them. :)
My favorite issues were before Paizo: the chess cover issues in the 80-somethings, particularly the one where the white knight is being blasted by the black queen's staff, channeling power through her deity in the background. Fantastic!
I also really like the white and red color scheme of issue 323 with the Red shredding the cover. Nice!
Well, here's my list:
Of the issues covering the 3.x rules, I have three.
Issue 303 - Gladiator. Before this issue, doing an adventure or even a campaign with Arena usually was normal mundane combat with a crowd watching the character. I found the information in this article to be invaluable and truly made the arena combat sequences of my campaign unique and flavorful.
Plus. . . Gladiators are cool.
Issue 309 - The Githyanki Incursion was simply amazing. Aside from those articles dealing with the Githyanki, though, the whole issue dealing with War Spells and Beasts of the Battlefield really makes for some fun and fresh new elements for mass combat.
Issue 315 - I am a huge fan of the various campaign worlds TSR put out in its hayday. I understand that it was exactly those many campaign settings that sunk TSR, but the diversity was fantastic and I owned nearly all of them. This issue was nostalgic and fresh at the same time.
Add the winner is (drum roll): [Fighting with envelope, curses start flying, finally the envelope is ripped into many pieces in a rage and the announcer picks up the pieces and tapes them together] . . .ISSUE 315!! The old school campaigns along with a preview to my now favored Eberron simply made this issue one that sits in my bathroom more frequently than the others.
Of the issues covering 1st and 2nd edition Ad&d, I have only one favorite (though I loved them all for the most part):
Issue 212 - Staggering amounts of advise to the DM. How to make adventures more like epic novels, how to rerun adventures after the heroes have completed them once already (My most successful campaign was the time I had the PC's play a rerun of Night Below. They played the children of the adventurers who came 2/3 the way of completing the campaign and gave up in shame when the odds seemed too overwhelming.)
Whew. The tension at the first favorite was a bit much, huh?. Well, thanks for tuning in. See you next time at Favorite Dungeon Issue!!!!!
For me, #178. I have no idea why. Just sentimental reasons, I guess.
313. The Mind mage was just that cool.
[Edit] 280, with the Eldritch master is a very close second. [/Edit]
Issue # 66. First isuue I ever purchased.
As I was playing a thief at the time, I needed the Thieve's Cant Dictionary that was inside.
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Two particular issues come to mind. First, is an old issue from way back I cant remember the number but what made it memorable was the "Fedefencer adventure" I was a sophmore in high school and playing the paladin in our group. Needless to say we/I played the adventure every lunch/study hall. It is a great memory.
It should be "Fedifensor" in issue #67 which introduced Astral adventuring. (also my second issue i purchsed).
For the issues before #250 you should purchase the Dragon Archives containing all of these issues as PDF's, even though they were for 1st or second edition, they have also some other really great articels about Oneiromancy (the magic of dreams), architecture in an age of magic and dragons (how would you defend a castle against air attacks),
The first dragon issues for third edition (#274+) had great racial themes for Dwarves (#278) and Elves (#279). The early 290's were a bit of a letdown, because they focused too much on supporting the new product available and now life of their own. That changed with the inclusion of the Campaign Components and with the switch to Paizo. From that point on Dragon was a real keeper.
My favorite issue of all time, is, and was Issue #100. The cover was amazing, the content very cool indeed. I also agree that the gold covered Best of Dragon was very cool.
I haven't been buying dragon for that long (first issue I bought was #310), but recently I've started buying backissues. Since it would be a good idea for a thread anyway, I'm starting this thread to get info on what you think were some of the best issues ever (and conqequently help me with my shopping list).
Note: Magazines that cost only $6.00 are the best (#286 and more recent).
Sorry to be JUST out of your range, but my current favorite issue is #278 (or 279?) the Elves issue with the awesome Drizzt artwork on the cover. I've just recently finished an Elf Druid character and a great deal of his character background came from this magazine, as well as a lot of the Elf terminology (place names, etc) came from playing with the Elven Lexicon in the issue. Just a very rich episode.
I would love to see similar Pidgin Racial Language Lexicons for other races (Gnome or Sylvan, perhaps?) in future issues.
Senior Software Developer
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Personally, issue #320 is my favorite cuz my dragon progression article is da bomb, yo. :D
Because we sold out the back issue, Dragon 320 is now available as a PDF download.
(Note to self: Editors shouldn't publicly write "da bomb, yo." Ever.)
Word.
:-)
315, because I love all (well, most) of the unique worlds from D&D's past.
323 because of the seven deadly sin domains.
Both gave great ideas.