Helm of Brilliance, 40 Watt
July 30, 2023 3:03 PM Subscribe
A complete index to the paper issues of Dragon Magazine. That's it. This is just an index; finding the issues themselves is left up to the reader.
I owned Boot Hill!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:27 PM on July 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:27 PM on July 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
I found my four articles in there, so I guess that's my immortality taken care of. :)
Oh man, old-school paper magazines with paper submissions processes and checks sent by surface post. I once waited a year for an article to finally cross the editor's desk (I sent it a birthday card, of course, which finally got me an acceptance).
posted by Mogur at 3:28 PM on July 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
Oh man, old-school paper magazines with paper submissions processes and checks sent by surface post. I once waited a year for an article to finally cross the editor's desk (I sent it a birthday card, of course, which finally got me an acceptance).
posted by Mogur at 3:28 PM on July 30, 2023 [31 favorites]
My brother has a from issue 12, perhaps earlier and I have no idea when he stopped getting it. He'd never part with a single one, that I know.
Does anyone remember the that short story about the doctor on trial? Creeped me out when I was 12! It was the only time they ran fiction, it's a very out of place horror story.
Also you must check out the late great Dave Trampier's Wormy, which ran in the back in the early days. (Yes, still hosted on angelfire.)
posted by Catblack at 3:37 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Does anyone remember the that short story about the doctor on trial? Creeped me out when I was 12! It was the only time they ran fiction, it's a very out of place horror story.
Also you must check out the late great Dave Trampier's Wormy, which ran in the back in the early days. (Yes, still hosted on angelfire.)
posted by Catblack at 3:37 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
aspirining Nazi M.A.R. Barkeroh god I had no idea
posted by Flunkie at 3:48 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
I’m sorry, but yes.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:53 PM on July 30, 2023
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:53 PM on July 30, 2023
If, like me, this article has you wondering if there's any particularly rare and valuable items amongst all your old D&D stuff, I found a site called The Acaeum that seems to have an extensive list of approximate sale prices and rarity. At the very least, it's a starting point for possible further investigation.
posted by chambers at 3:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by chambers at 3:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
He was also a member of the review board of The Journal of Historical Review, a Holocaust denial publication. F*ck my tween years.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:57 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:57 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
As it happens, every issue of Dragon has been included in the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801
This includes not only the original TSR issues covered by this index, but also the WotC run that lasted through December 2013. Enjoy!
posted by angrynerd at 3:59 PM on July 30, 2023 [27 favorites]
https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801
This includes not only the original TSR issues covered by this index, but also the WotC run that lasted through December 2013. Enjoy!
posted by angrynerd at 3:59 PM on July 30, 2023 [27 favorites]
The rest of that website is...uhhh...disturbing, so if you don't want to be repulsed you probably shouldn't click around to see what else is there. If you do want to check out the 'celebrity legs gallery', though, I guess you can go right ahead.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:31 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 4:31 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Which website?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:39 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:39 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I found my articles here. (And, yes, I still have the issues in which my work appeared.) It is a great good thing that this list does not include the accompanying illustrations I did. I thought myself a developing artist back then, before I understood what a real artist is capable of.
posted by SPrintF at 5:13 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 5:13 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
This index was last updated September 23, 2007 and is complete through issue 359.
so happens I have #364-386 in PDF.
just saying.
posted by clavdivs at 5:14 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
so happens I have #364-386 in PDF.
just saying.
posted by clavdivs at 5:14 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Speaking of great Dave Trampier artwork, last week I took this photo
https://dice.camp/@jameswallis/110769500643765201
posted by Hogshead at 5:15 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
https://dice.camp/@jameswallis/110769500643765201
posted by Hogshead at 5:15 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Could not easily find Tucker's Kobolds from #127. And for those who hate to read: YouTube.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:18 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:18 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I too had Empire of the Petal Throne. Didn't know he was a Nazi!
posted by Windopaene at 5:26 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 5:26 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Talking with a local bookseller recently re: books and magazines - he saw no value in magazines generally, but would be interested in issues of Dragon Magazine if they were available.
posted by rochrobbb at 5:27 PM on July 30, 2023
posted by rochrobbb at 5:27 PM on July 30, 2023
Which website?
Sorry, I should have been clear. This link goes to "https://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/", but if you remove the "dragondex" part to go to the main page there is all kinds of creepy stuff there. Weird pictures of Lara Croft, and a 'feminine beauty appreciation page' among other things.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:37 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Sorry, I should have been clear. This link goes to "https://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/", but if you remove the "dragondex" part to go to the main page there is all kinds of creepy stuff there. Weird pictures of Lara Croft, and a 'feminine beauty appreciation page' among other things.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:37 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
I was into D&D at just the right time (and age) that I would eagerly await each edition and pore over it front to back at least twice. No idea what happened to them since then, I might have given them away with the rest of my D&D stuff when I stopped playing in my early 30's.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:58 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:58 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Metafilter is the best because almost 20 years ago I was wondering about a prescient short story about MMORGs I had read in Dragon magazine in the mid-80s and was about to post an AskMe about it but then it turned out Nelson had already asked the question and of course, had it answered.
posted by gwint at 6:21 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by gwint at 6:21 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
One of my prides and joy is my complete collection of Yamara comics, signed by the authors.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 7:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by UltraMorgnus at 7:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just stumbled upon this while looking for something else: RPG Magazine Indices
Heavy on Traveller and RuneQuest.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:27 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Heavy on Traveller and RuneQuest.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:27 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
ⒶNNARCHIVE:
Dungeon Magazine index and PDFs.
posted by clavdivs at 8:06 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
Dungeon Magazine index and PDFs.
posted by clavdivs at 8:06 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
I had a letter published in an issue around 1987 about women who play d&d. I should see if I can find it again.
I seem to remember they called my mom to see if they could publish it? Since you know, kids.
BRB
posted by fiercekitten at 8:16 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
I seem to remember they called my mom to see if they could publish it? Since you know, kids.
BRB
posted by fiercekitten at 8:16 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
If you want to know more about the vile political views of M. A. R. Barker, it became widely known after this Reddit thread. If you’d prefer not to read through the thread, Shannon Appelcline wrote a good summary, and so did Brian Scott Pauls.
posted by Kattullus at 1:36 AM on July 31, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 1:36 AM on July 31, 2023 [8 favorites]
Talking with a local bookseller recently re: books and magazines - he saw no value in magazines generally, but would be interested in issues of Dragon Magazine if they were available.
I regularly get Facebook ads from RPG-focused bookseller Chris Korczak, who buys game magazines in bulk and resells them in bundles, and seems to be doing OK w/it.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:58 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I regularly get Facebook ads from RPG-focused bookseller Chris Korczak, who buys game magazines in bulk and resells them in bundles, and seems to be doing OK w/it.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:58 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I used to read Dragon faithfully, even when I was too young to be in a regular gaming group.
In middle school we needed to bring in a picture to use for silk-screening in art class, and I used a cover picture of a wyvern from some back issue.
I gave away all my D&D stuff 20 years ago, including the magazines with all their pull-out games and whatnot. It was harder to do than I thought.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:06 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
In middle school we needed to bring in a picture to use for silk-screening in art class, and I used a cover picture of a wyvern from some back issue.
I gave away all my D&D stuff 20 years ago, including the magazines with all their pull-out games and whatnot. It was harder to do than I thought.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:06 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have the Dragon CD archive somewhere. The issues are just PDFs, so they should be viewable. I'll have to try to dig it up.
posted by Spike Glee at 6:17 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Spike Glee at 6:17 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Speaking of great Dave Trampier artwork, last week I took this photo
https://dice.camp/@jameswallis/110769500643765201
Wait, is that street famous (so to speak) for being the source for the Trampier drawing? Or did you just stumble upon it? I need to know!
posted by mark k at 6:53 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
https://dice.camp/@jameswallis/110769500643765201
Wait, is that street famous (so to speak) for being the source for the Trampier drawing? Or did you just stumble upon it? I need to know!
posted by mark k at 6:53 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Since I fell down a Trampier-hole yesterday, it's the Street of the Knights on the Greek island of Rhodes.
I also discoveredthat the famous DM screen artwork was meant to be the square back to a D&D pinball machine he'd designed. I wonder if his designs exists in someone's closet somewhere. I bet there's someone out there who would build it!
posted by Catblack at 7:17 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also discoveredthat the famous DM screen artwork was meant to be the square back to a D&D pinball machine he'd designed. I wonder if his designs exists in someone's closet somewhere. I bet there's someone out there who would build it!
posted by Catblack at 7:17 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Spike Glee, I just pulled up some of the files from the Dragon Magazine Archive CDs - they are indeed (nice formatted!) pdfs. I forgot that the CDs also included a proprietary viewer which includes a search engine. Surprisingly, the software - the Setup.exe has a Date modified of January 12, 1999 - installs and works in Windows 10. It doesn't have any options for Zoom level or scaling, however, so the text is tiny on my computer.
For those who didn't purchase the archive a few decades ago, they're a set of 5 CDs that include all issues of the magazine from 1 (June 1976) to 250 (August 1998). It also included all seven issues of The Strategic Review, a precursor publication that began in the spring of 1975. I was always tickled by the existence of this set of CDs and the pdfs they contained - it seemed really progressive of Wizards of the Coast to release all of this without any DRM or copy protection. (There is a registration option in the software that came with the CDs; I have no idea what that did but it doesn't work anymore.)
posted by ElKevbo at 7:41 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
For those who didn't purchase the archive a few decades ago, they're a set of 5 CDs that include all issues of the magazine from 1 (June 1976) to 250 (August 1998). It also included all seven issues of The Strategic Review, a precursor publication that began in the spring of 1975. I was always tickled by the existence of this set of CDs and the pdfs they contained - it seemed really progressive of Wizards of the Coast to release all of this without any DRM or copy protection. (There is a registration option in the software that came with the CDs; I have no idea what that did but it doesn't work anymore.)
posted by ElKevbo at 7:41 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
If I remember correctly, an issue with the CDs is that WoC and TSR had no electronic rights to any of the material published in the first 20 years or so and no good way to find the contributors even if they had wanted to. Which is a pity, since part of me would like to revisit those early issues (although another part of me is concerned that what I might find there would dismay me).
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
Somehow, despite virtually all* of my D&D material going in a yard sale in the eighties, for reasons I cannot even fathom I held on to my copes of Dragon (and White Dwarf, and Adventure Gaming and Space Gamer and and and). They repose in a few boxes in my basement to this day. joined by another near-complete run of Dragon from a fellow gamer who moved across the country. And I have the entire run electronically as well.
I occasionally browse through them on this here very laptop. As with watching an ancient videotape of a TV broadcast, the ads are often the most engaging bit. SO MUCH HYPE for play-by-mail where you sent your move to a post office box in Virginia and waited three weeks to find out what happened.
As well, there are plenty of small ads for local games stores. The beauty of Google Maps Street View is that you can have a quick look at what is now at the location of Bayshore Hobbies or Leisure World or Riley's Hobbies and Crafts or whatever and see how many have still endured, forty years on.
Spoiler alert: few have.
*I still have the legendary first run of Deities and Demigods, Melnibonean and Cthulhu mythoi intact.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:26 AM on July 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
I occasionally browse through them on this here very laptop. As with watching an ancient videotape of a TV broadcast, the ads are often the most engaging bit. SO MUCH HYPE for play-by-mail where you sent your move to a post office box in Virginia and waited three weeks to find out what happened.
As well, there are plenty of small ads for local games stores. The beauty of Google Maps Street View is that you can have a quick look at what is now at the location of Bayshore Hobbies or Leisure World or Riley's Hobbies and Crafts or whatever and see how many have still endured, forty years on.
Spoiler alert: few have.
*I still have the legendary first run of Deities and Demigods, Melnibonean and Cthulhu mythoi intact.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:26 AM on July 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
ricochet biscuit: ...the ads are often the most engaging bit.
After several years of reading Dragon, when I was 13 we went to England. I went to the Warhammer store (was it a White Dwarf store back then?) in York. I bought a set of gaming miniatures to take home and paint, and I still have one of them.
Print advertising works, people.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:52 AM on July 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
After several years of reading Dragon, when I was 13 we went to England. I went to the Warhammer store (was it a White Dwarf store back then?) in York. I bought a set of gaming miniatures to take home and paint, and I still have one of them.
Print advertising works, people.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:52 AM on July 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
I was 24 the first time I went to the UK. You better believe I visited The Orc's Nest and Forbidden Planet in London. For that matter, a couple years later I was in New York City for the first time and at my first opportunity I hit The Compleat Strategist, that cheerily overstuffed and ramshackle store on East 33rd.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:30 PM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:30 PM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
mark k: Wait, is that street famous (so to speak) for being the source for the Trampier drawing? Or did you just stumble upon it? I need to know!
About thirteen years ago someone wrote a blog post identifying the real-world location of the Emirikol piece as the Street of the Knights in Rhodes Old Town. A week ago I found myself in Rhodes waiting for an evacuation flight, remembered the post, and realised that (a) I was within walking distance, (b) I had time to kill, and (c) I am a professional RPG geek, so a visit and photograph were inevitable.
posted by Hogshead at 12:42 PM on July 31, 2023 [11 favorites]
About thirteen years ago someone wrote a blog post identifying the real-world location of the Emirikol piece as the Street of the Knights in Rhodes Old Town. A week ago I found myself in Rhodes waiting for an evacuation flight, remembered the post, and realised that (a) I was within walking distance, (b) I had time to kill, and (c) I am a professional RPG geek, so a visit and photograph were inevitable.
posted by Hogshead at 12:42 PM on July 31, 2023 [11 favorites]
GenjiandProust: WoC and TSR had no electronic rights to any of the material published in the first 20 years.
It goes beyond that. WotC did not seek additional permission to reproduce the material on the Dragon Magazine Archive CDs, wrongly assuming--I'm told--that they already had full rights to it. David Kenzer of Kenzer & Co, who is also a lawyer, realised that the Archive included three years of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip that his company had the rights to. Kenzer threatened legal action, the companies settled, and as part of that Kenzer acquired an official licence for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that became the Hackmaster RPG.
posted by Hogshead at 2:14 PM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
It goes beyond that. WotC did not seek additional permission to reproduce the material on the Dragon Magazine Archive CDs, wrongly assuming--I'm told--that they already had full rights to it. David Kenzer of Kenzer & Co, who is also a lawyer, realised that the Archive included three years of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip that his company had the rights to. Kenzer threatened legal action, the companies settled, and as part of that Kenzer acquired an official licence for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that became the Hackmaster RPG.
posted by Hogshead at 2:14 PM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
Holy cow, this is my childhood.
I owned Boot Hill *and* Gamma World *and* Traveller, and we played campaigns in all three. And yeah, I took Dragon Magazine to middle school and share it with my nerd friends at lunch.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 3:41 PM on July 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I owned Boot Hill *and* Gamma World *and* Traveller, and we played campaigns in all three. And yeah, I took Dragon Magazine to middle school and share it with my nerd friends at lunch.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 3:41 PM on July 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 3:24 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]