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Best of Dragon Magazine #1
Best Of The Dragon - From The Strategic Review and The Dragon Vols. I & II (Revised Edition)
Paperback
First published February 1, 1986
About the author
Kim Mohan
184 books4 followersKim Rudolph Mohan (born May 4, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American author and editor.
Mohan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Williams Bay, Wisconsin when he was five. He became an avid science-fiction and fantasy reader and occasional wargamer, and graduated third in his high school class. He attended Beloit College, switching majors between philosophy, mathematics, and other subjects. "I decided that what I really wanted to do was write, so I sort of fell into a job working for the Lake Geneva Regional News as a reporter, and dropped out of college. That lasted for a few months, then I joined the staff of the Beloit Daily News, where I stayed for nine years." During that time, Mohan worked as everything from a sports writer, an editorial writer, the state editor, and the wire service editor. After nine years, he had grown tired of the newspaper business, and became a freelance writer for various newspapers.
Mohan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Williams Bay, Wisconsin when he was five. He became an avid science-fiction and fantasy reader and occasional wargamer, and graduated third in his high school class. He attended Beloit College, switching majors between philosophy, mathematics, and other subjects. "I decided that what I really wanted to do was write, so I sort of fell into a job working for the Lake Geneva Regional News as a reporter, and dropped out of college. That lasted for a few months, then I joined the staff of the Beloit Daily News, where I stayed for nine years." During that time, Mohan worked as everything from a sports writer, an editorial writer, the state editor, and the wire service editor. After nine years, he had grown tired of the newspaper business, and became a freelance writer for various newspapers.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 18, 2024
This was fun. I got into Dungeons & Dragons around about 1980ish. I soon learned about The Dragon magazine and quickly got a subscription, which I kept going for many years. Over time, I also acquired the Best of the Dragon compilations, featuring articles from well before my subscription began.
I daresay, it's been decades since I last read this. What prompted me to explore the dungeon–okay, the basement–and reacquaint myself with this collection was a YouTube channel devoted to exploring the history of D&D. It made me nostalgic enough to want to reread the Best Of collections.
In these pages are articles that later became incorporated into the rules of the game itself, character classes like the Illusionist and the Ranger, notes on the creation of towns and wilderness areas, tables for generating random dungeons, articles by legendary creators of the game like Jim Ward and Gary Gygax himself.
Considering how long it's been since I last read this, I'm impressed by how well I remember some of it, particularly the humorous essays. Whole chunks of dialog and description from “Search For the Forbidden Chamber” were as fresh in my mind as if I'd read them yesterday. Clearly the funny stuff made a huge impression on my younger self.
This probably isn't for everyone. You pretty much need to already be interested in D&D, Metamorphosis Alpha, Dungeon!, and other titles from the early days of role-playing games to get much out of these articles. Fans of RPGs and their history will love this, but that's likely about it.
I daresay, it's been decades since I last read this. What prompted me to explore the dungeon–okay, the basement–and reacquaint myself with this collection was a YouTube channel devoted to exploring the history of D&D. It made me nostalgic enough to want to reread the Best Of collections.
In these pages are articles that later became incorporated into the rules of the game itself, character classes like the Illusionist and the Ranger, notes on the creation of towns and wilderness areas, tables for generating random dungeons, articles by legendary creators of the game like Jim Ward and Gary Gygax himself.
Considering how long it's been since I last read this, I'm impressed by how well I remember some of it, particularly the humorous essays. Whole chunks of dialog and description from “Search For the Forbidden Chamber” were as fresh in my mind as if I'd read them yesterday. Clearly the funny stuff made a huge impression on my younger self.
This probably isn't for everyone. You pretty much need to already be interested in D&D, Metamorphosis Alpha, Dungeon!, and other titles from the early days of role-playing games to get much out of these articles. Fans of RPGs and their history will love this, but that's likely about it.
August 17, 2017
Old Dragon magazines can be hard to find and expensive. I think most of them have been digitized and you can buy a CD of them. Well before all that tech stuff happened the only way to get some of the good back issue articles was the Best of Dragon reprints. Even through D&D has evolved several generations beyond the rules these articles were written for they are still good gaming resource reads for players and GMs. Recommended
April 23, 2020
Dragon magazine! Wow! One of the major influences of my love of fantasy and D&D as a teen. I must pick up this whole series.
December 9, 2010
Most of the articles in this magazine I either found interesting or anticipate making use of at some point. I love how the focus back in the 70s is on creating all of your own material, and a fair amount of this magazine is focused on tips and randomizers to help you do it. The classes (bard/ranger/illusionist/witch/lycanthrope) are also highly useable in-game.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews