That is the third in a collection of articles making an attempt to reply the query: How a lot D&D stuff is there anyway? Within the first two articles, we appeared on the variety of RPG merchandise and pages for every version and the variety of merchandise and pages for every main setting. A hypothetical collector, shopping for all the pieces we’ve coated thus far, would have spent near $25k, and we haven’t strayed past table-top RPG materials but.
This time, we’re taking a look at numerous D&D magazines and periodicals. Which means we’re nonetheless sticking principally with TTRPG materials, however there are additionally loads of pages protecting video games aside from D&D, in addition to loads of adverts, so the depend of journal pages doesn’t equate immediately with “pages of D&D”. Happily we are able to nonetheless make some fairly graphs of the numbers. Since later problems with Dragon and Dungeon (and Dragon+) exist solely in digital kind, we’re additionally going to stray into digital-only content material for the primary time on this article.
Half 3: Magazines and Periodicals
TSR experimented with a lot of totally different newsletters throughout its time because the custodian of D&D. Most of those had been little greater than product catalogs and advertising and marketing for upcoming releases. For the fanatic collector, the Acaeum has a superb overview of the varied newsletters. For this text, we’re contemplating magazines, periodicals and newsletters that include some D&D content material past product advertising and marketing.
The Strategic Overview
The Strategic Overview ran for seven points from February 1975 to April 1976, and whereas it’s typically (appropriately) thought-about to be the precursor to The Dragon, it had a personality of its personal, because it tried to attraction to each wargamers and D&D gamers. The significance of TSR’s periodicals to the early improvement of D&D is emphasised by that February date for the primary situation, which suggests it was printed three months earlier than Complement I: Greyhawk. This makes The Strategic Overview #1 successfully the second “product” TSR put out with any D&D content material.
A second measure of the significance of early TSR periodicals is the checklist of D&D monsters showing for the primary time in simply the seven-issue run of The Strategic Overview: catoblepas, clay golem, ghost, leprechaun, lurker above, thoughts flayer, naga, piercer, rakshasa, roper, shambling mound, shrieker, slithering tracker, trapper, wind walker, and yeti. Maybe the wind walker has a lower than spectacular footprint on D&D lore, however lots of the others are foundational monsters.
When The Strategic Overview was cancelled, it was changed by two totally different magazines; The Dragon targeted on the quickly rising base of D&D gamers whereas Little Wars coated wargaming. Heralding the shift of the gaming group from wargaming to role-playing, Little Wars lasted for under 13 points earlier than being folded again into The Dragon #22.
For the aim of this text, we’re counting all the pages in every journal, and utilizing the quilt value to calculate the price. (Our hypothetical collector wasn’t savvy sufficient to get the 25% subscriber low cost and purchased every situation from their native recreation retailer because it got here out.) Listed here are the totals for The Strategic Overview:
The Dragon, later Dragon after which Dragon Journal after which Dragon once more, was in print from June 1976 to September 2007, a run of greater than thirty years. Within the decade from 1976 to 1985, TSR launched about 5 and a half thousand pages of D&D books. In that very same decade, greater than seven thousand pages of Dragon journal content material was printed. Not all of it was D&D materials, however journal pages exceeded ebook pages for nearly a decade. Solely in 1985 did RPG ebook output (in pages) rise above journal output for the primary time since The Dragon #1.
From 1996 to 2001, TSR (later WotC) put out a thirteenth situation of Dragon every year. The primary 5 bonus magazines had been styled as Annuals 1-5, whereas the final one targeted on d20 content material and was titled d20 Particular (however subtitled Annual 6 inside). The annuals had been deserted as soon as Paizo took over publication which they did in August 2002 with Dragon #298. Paizo held the licence from WotC to publish Dragon till September 2007, when the ultimate print situation—Dragon #359—was launched. Together with the six annuals, there have been 365 problems with Dragon printed.
Including all these Dragons up offers the next numbers:
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Points: 365 (Jun 1976 – Sep 2007)
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Shelf house: 1,960mm (77 inches)
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Pages: 36,809
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Value: $1,532.81
Earlier than transferring on from Dragon, we have to take care of a shocking variety of collections and spin-off releases. The primary of those is Dragontales, printed in 1980. This can be a fiction assortment, however it doesn’t have any particular D&D content material, so our hypothetical collector skips it.
From 1980 to 1986, TSR launched 5 Better of Dragon collections, that are reprints of articles from earlier points. (There are revised variations of the primary two Greatest ofs, however our hypothetical collector settles for one copy of every.) Our collector skips The Better of Dragon Journal Video games boxed set—a fascinating assortment of early Dragon mini-games—as a result of it doesn’t embody any D&D content material.
Dragon had a number of international language editions: an 8-issue run (plus one “better of”) in German (as Drache from 1984-1985) adopted by an erratic second 17-issue run in German (as Dragon from 1994-2003), 46 points in French (from 1991-1998), 9 points in Hungarian, 4 points in Japanese (from 1986-1987, earlier than being renamed as Fantasy Gamer’s Journal), 14 points in Portuguese (the Brazilian model ran from 1995-1996), and two totally different runs of 27 and 13 points in Spanish (as Dragón from 1993-1997 and Dragon from 2003-2006). As well as, from January 1998 to August 1997 (points #129 to #234, plus Annual #1), there have been separate UK variations of Dragon with a unique cowl structure, however largely the identical content material because the corresponding US model. Our hypothetical D&D collector decides to disregard all of those different variations of Dragon, settling for a full-run of the US model.
Our collector does, nonetheless, choose up a duplicate of the Dragon Journal Archive, which comprises digital variations of the primary 250 problems with Dragon (in addition to the complete run of The Strategic Overview). Sadly the Archive was withdrawn from sale following a lawsuit from Kenzer & Co, whose Knights of the Dinner Desk cartoon WotC didn’t have the appropriate to incorporate within the archive, but when you’ll find a duplicate on eBay (and you’ve got someplace to place a CD-ROM), the Archive is nice solution to get entry to a big chunk of D&D historical past. Additionally added to the hypothetical assortment are the 2 compilations printed by Paizo: Dragon Compendium, Quantity 1 and Dragon: Monster Ecologies.
The artwork of Dragon has been collected twice, one in a TSR-era (1988) softcover assortment, and once more in Paizo’s 2006 hardcover. So too have the cartoons from the journal been collected in books of their very own, together with: The Fineous Treasury, SnarfQuest: The Ebook, Zogonia Quantity I: Slice of Loss of life, and Downer Quantity I: Wandering Monsters. The Order of the Stick materials was included in Snips, Snails and Dragontales and the aforementioned Knights of the Dinner Desk, after all, have their very own month-to-month journal and numerous collections. Our hypothetical collector can’t resist the 2 Dragon artwork books, however skips the varied cartoon collections.
Having accomplished that evaluation of the Dragon spin-offs, we’ve added ten objects to the hypothetical D&D assortment at a value of $170.79. All of those merchandise include recycled materials so that they don’t add something to our total web page depend.
Polyhedron
RPGA Information (or TSR RPGA), later The Polyhedron after which Polyhedron Newszine, was the official publication of the RPGA from 1981 to 2001. As a stand-alone publication, it had 148 common points, plus a particular introductory situation (first launched in 1989) and a 1999 Gencon particular. Polyhedron was initially despatched solely to members of the RPGA, however again points could possibly be ordered by way of the TSR Mail Order Passion Store. The newszine didn’t take pleasure in a constant high quality or launch schedule all through its historical past; early points had been typically launched delayed and the content material diversified considerably in tone and stability.
Polyhedron doesn’t have fairly the identical profile as both Dragon or Dungeon magazines within the historical past of D&D, however there may be loads of D&D materials inside that can not be discovered anyplace else, making Polyhedron of curiosity to any collector. When Paizo took over the publication of Dragon and Dungeon in 2002, additionally they gained the rights to publish Polyhedron. As an alternative of continuous it as a separate title, it was merged into Dungeon. Points #149 to #171 of Polyhedron thus solely exist as elements of the corresponding Dungeon magazines. Polyhedron was discontinued after situation #171, in August 2004.
Since particular person problems with Polyhedron didn’t have cowl costs, calculating the price to gather the newszine is barely difficult. We’re going to make use of the RPGA membership charges as a information. The primary situation of Polyhedron notes the 1-year membership price as $10. The annual value of membership jumped to $12 in 1985, $15 in 1989, and $20 in 1992 the place it remained till Polyhedron ceased publication in 2001. So, after twenty years of amassing, our hypothetical collector has spent $333 in RPGA membership charges and is left with a full set of Polyhedrons and a way of remorse for not having taken benefit of the $200 Lifetime RPGA membership supply within the first situation.
Listed here are the totals for Polyhedron:
Think about: Journey Sport Journal was an try by TSR UK to enter the UK gaming journal market. It ran for thirty points (plus one particular) from 1983 to 1985, however couldn’t compete with the extra established White Dwarf. Think about #30 was the final situation, printed in October 1985.
In case you are searching for new materials for Greyhawk (or maybe Dragonlance, the opposite setting Think about overlapped) you’re out of luck. As an alternative of supporting current D&D worlds, the journal developed its personal setting of Pelinore in numerous articles. Unusually for a D&D setting, Pelinore is situated on a flat world, with out recognized edges. After Think about folded, among the employees launched a successor GameMaster Publications. This lasted for under 5 points, and continued to develop the world of Pelinore, regardless of not technically having the rights to take action. Since there’s a first rate quantity of distinctive D&D materials in Think about, our hypothetical D&D collector provides the run of Think about to their assortment.
Listed here are the totals for Think about. For costing functions, an change price of £1=$1.50 (correct for the time) was used:
Dungeon: Adventures for TSR Position-Taking part in Video games (later Dungeon: Adventures and finally simply Dungeon) launched in November 1986. By the point the primary situation of Dungeon got here out, there had already been dozens of adventures printed in Dragon. These had been a well-liked characteristic, however demanded a big variety of pages. The answer was to spin off the adventures into their very own title and Dungeon was launched. It remained in print till September 2007, with a complete of 150 points printed.
The Full Dungeon Index within the ultimate print situation supplies an attention-grabbing breakdown of adventures per version and per setting. The version numbers are unsurprising, however the setting numbers paint a extra attention-grabbing image. The Forgotten Realms has, as anticipated, essentially the most adventures, however Greyhawk is available in a really sturdy second place, due to being the default setting for lots of the adventures printed below Paizo’s custodianship. Virtually all of the Greyhawk adventures are 3e, whereas the Forgotten Realms has principally 2e materials. Additionally shocking is Oriental Adventures tying Ravenloft for third place, and Eberron beating out all the different 1e/2e settings (together with Dragonlance) for fifth place.
Listed here are the totals for Dungeon:
Legends of the Lance
Legends of the Lance was a free publication that had 5 print points in 1998 and 1999. It was a ardour mission led by Sue Weinlein Cook dinner, who was managing the Dragonlance group on the time. The fabric was a combination of interviews, previews and recreation materials for the SAGA model of the setting, and prone to solely be of curiosity to Dragonlance followers.
Print copies of those newsletters are fairly uncommon, and thus a problem to gather, however all 5 points had been additionally made accessible on-line as PDFs, when you don’t thoughts digital variations. The journal had further points #6 by means of #9, however these had been by no means mixed right into a PDF or printed, so existed solely as a set of internet articles.
Listed here are the totals for the printed problems with Legends of the Lance:
Dragon wasn’t the one TSR publication to have international editions. Polyhedron UK launched in July 1998 and ran for eight points, with situation #8 printed in June 2000. Precisely what area this journal coated diversified between one nation and three continents, relying on the difficulty. Listed here are the complete titles (and subtitles) from the covers:
#1. Polyhedron UK: The official RPGA Europe journal
#2. Polyhedron UK: The official RPGA UK journal
#3-5. Polyhedron: Official RPGA journal for the UK, Eire and South Africa
#6-7. Polyhedron: Official RPGA journal for Europe, Australia and Africa
#8. Polyhedron: Official RPGA journal for Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa
Complicated issues additional is the truth that there was additionally a four-issue run of Polyhedron printed (erratically) by the German RPGA between July 1999 and October 2000. One assumes that “Official RPGA journal for Europe (besides Germany), Asia Pacific and Africa” was an excessive amount of even for the enthusiastic Polyhedron subtitler.
For the needs of counting, we’re going to imagine that our hypothetical D&D collector skips the German points, however collects the eight English-language points. The final three points have a canopy value (£3), so we’ll use that to estimate the price. Listed here are the totals for Polyhedron UK (and different locations):
The Residing Greyhawk Journal had six stand-alone points. Challenge #0 was given away free with Dragon #274 in August 2000, whereas points #1-5 had been mailed to RPGA members. From situation #6 onwards, the Journal was folded into Dragon (and later moved to Dungeon). Manufacturing issues meant that situation #5 was delayed by eight months, and points #6-9 had already appeared in Dragon by the point situation #5 was lastly distributed in March 2002.
We’re going to imagine that as an RPGA member (to get Polyhedron) our hypothetical collector additionally acquired copies of the stand-alone Residing Greyhawk Journal points. Collectors who missed out and don’t thoughts digital copies of the Journal can choose up the entire set for $21.94 on DMsGuild. Points #6 onwards had been already counted as a part of Dragon and Dungeon, so we’d like solely observe the web page depend for the separate points. Listed here are the totals for Residing Greyhawk Journal #0-5:
The story of WotC’s numerous efforts to construct digital tabletops and different on-line instruments is a captivating one, however not one to get distracted with now. Our focus is restricted to Dungeons & Dragons Insider because the platform for delivering digital problems with Dragon and Dungeon.
As a part of the information that 4e was on the way in which, it was additionally introduced that Paizo’s licence to print Dragon and Dungeon had been terminated. In October 2007, WotC relaunched each titles on their web site. The early points had been launched within the window earlier than 4e launched, so that they contained 3e content material. Every article was an online web page, and every situation had a contents web page that consisted of hyperlinks to these articles. The articles making up Dragon #360 had been compiled and launched as a single PDF, however the identical was not achieved for the opposite 3e points; they consisted of nothing greater than a set of internet pages.
In June 2008, with the launch of 4e, the format modified. Articles grew to become landscape-formatted PDFs with month-to-month compilations launched for many (however not all) points. D&D Insider launched as a paid service in October 2008, so from that time onwards, the related content material was solely accessible after logging in as a subscriber. The final problems with the digital magazines (Dragon #430 and Dungeon #221) got here out in December 2013. WotC stopped accepting new Insider subscriptions in 2014 and it shut down completely in January 2020. Happily, many of the 4e problems with Dragon and Dungeon can be found to buy by way of the DMsGuild so these stay accessible to collectors.
D&D Insider was a subscription service, so to estimate the price of amassing the digital magazines, we are going to assume that our hypothetical collector had a month-to-month subscription, which was $4.95 on launch however elevated to $5.95 in July 2009. Points earlier than October 2008 had been accessible free of charge on the WotC web site, so we don’t have to value these. An Insider subscription additionally offered entry to different on-line instruments, however for the aim of this text, we’re going to deal with the complete subscription value as the price of amassing the magazines. Listed here are the totals for the digital problems with Dragon and Dungeon:
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Points: 2 x 71 (Oct 2007 – Dec 2013)
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Pages: 4,835 (Dragon) and 6,316 (Dungeon)
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Value: $365.85
Dragon+
In April 2015, 9 months into the discharge of 5e, WotC launched the free Dragon+ journal app. The journal was launched repeatedly each second month (aside from the previous couple of months). The ultimate situation, Dragon+ 41, was launched in March 2022. The journal consisted of an typically eclectic combination of product previews, comics, opinions, recreation materials, interviews, free stuff plucked from the DMsGuild, and recycled articles from older print (and on-line) magazines. There was considerably much less gaming content material than there had been in Dragon however that’s to be anticipated from a free launch. In addition to studying Dragon+ on the app, it was additionally doable to learn the journal on the dragonmag.com web site, however this now redirects to D&D Past.
The ephemeral nature of an app-based journal makes it difficult to gather. It was free to entry, so the price is nil. It’s exhausting to place a web page depend on Dragon+ points, since every article was an online web page that could possibly be a number of pages when printed. There have been additionally a lot of PDFs given away free by way of hyperlinks in Dragon+, however it doesn’t appear proper to depend these. We’re going to go together with a conservative web page depend equal to the variety of internet pages every situation had.
Listed here are the totals for Dragon+:
The ultimate periodical we’re contemplating for the needs of a hypothetical D&D assortment is the comparatively latest UK publication from Hachette Partworks titled Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer. It first launched a restricted 4-issue check run in late 2022, and relaunched a tweaked line a 12 months later in September 2022. D&D Adventurer is an 80-issue “partwork”, which suggests a subscriber regularly builds up a whole work by assembling all the points.
On this case, when you acquire all 80-issues, you find yourself with 4 binders stuffed with closely reorganised content material from the core rulebooks, supporting characters as much as degree 5, and a set of seven adventures distinctive to this collection. Though it launched earlier than the 2024 revised guidelines, the journal does have a couple of 2024 tweaks (corresponding to species and bastions).
Accumulating this collection is dear, as a result of the hook is that every situation comes with an adjunct in addition to a few dozen journal pages. The pages are glued collectively and designed to be break up up and filed within the acceptable elements of the binders, relying on the subject. The equipment embody cube, a binder, a display screen, cube, maps, cube, battlemats, cube, notebooks, cube, plastic collectible figurines, cube, tokens and much more cube. So many cube. Fifty three of the eighty points include a set of cube!
A D&D Adventurer subscription is £8.99 per situation (with reductions on the primary two points to lure you in). Until you opt-out, additionally, you will be despatched (and charged for) three further binders. There are two further (optionally available) add-ons: a premium subscription (£100 additional!) will get you a set of 5 D&D cash and a show case, and a big steel d100 and wood case may be yours (and will likely be when you overlook to opt-out) for £24.99. We’re going to imagine that our hypothetical collector subscribes to all 80 points however takes solely the three binders as extras.
Listed here are the totals for Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer:
Oddities
Not one of the publications on this part tempt our hypothetical collector, however they’re nonetheless price a minimum of a point out:
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White Dwarf carried D&D articles in most of its first 93 points (1977-1987). A number of well-known D&D monsters, together with hook horrors and githyanki, had been printed in White Dwarf earlier than occurring to characteristic within the unique Fiend Folio, so points is likely to be of curiosity to a fanatic collector.
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Secret of the Sages was a single situation Forgotten Realms publication, despatched to purchasers of the 1987 Forgotten Realms Marketing campaign Set who joined the “Order of Heroes” utilizing the shopper response card. It was later launched as an 8-page PDF on the WotC web site.
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The Trumpeter was an digital publication for the Residing Metropolis marketing campaign from March 1997 to early 1999. Every situation contained details about the marketing campaign, and “in recreation” information articles about Ravens Bluff. There have been 24 points together with three particular releases.
What’s the total influence of this plethora of periodicals on our hypothetical D&D assortment? Our collector has added a complete of 985 points (802 printed) and 72,438 pages, at a value of $4,113.76. They’ve spent a further $230.78 on 5 Better of Dragons, two Artwork of Dragons, the Dragon Journal Archive, Dragon Compendium, Quantity 1, Dragon: Monster Ecologies, and the Shackled Metropolis Journey Path.
Right here’s a comparability of the problems, pages and prices for every publication:
It isn’t shocking that Dragon dominates with 37% of the entire points however a formidable 51% of the entire web page depend (58% when you add the digital points). Dungeon accounts for an additional 20% (or 28% with D&D Insider). Though it contributes solely 3% of the pages, D&D Adventurer accounts for a whopping 23% of the entire amassing value, however a minimum of our collector has sufficient cube to make use of a unique set each week of the 12 months.
How does the journal D&D output influence our hypothetical assortment total?
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It provides 802 print (and 183 digital) points to the 1,253 merchandise collected, an 80% increase.
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It provides 72,438 pages to the 124,057 we already had, a 60% increase (however do not forget that {a magazine} web page isn’t at all times a D&D web page).
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It provides $4,113.76 to the $22,918.47 whole value, a mere 18%, making it an financial addition and highlighting how a lot promoting helped hold the prices of early periodicals down.
A take a look at the worth of Dragon whereas it was in print additional illustrates the financial challenges of magazines. Whereas the quilt value of Dragon has solely climbed steadily over time (and most sharply within the 2000s), so has the web page depend. Which means the price per web page to the buyer really dropped from 5c within the Nineteen Seventies to between 3c and 4c through the Eighties and Nineties. Solely in 2001 did the worth per web page climb to its Nineteen Seventies ranges (after which swiftly previous).
It isn’t shocking that the one vital paid-for periodical within the final decade doesn’t depend on promoting, and makes use of a totally totally different enterprise mannequin (basically a cube subscription service disguised as {a magazine}). It appears unlikely at this level that D&D will ever have a print journal of the likes of Dragon once more, however predicting the longer term is tough. There would possibly in the future be a print resurgence, in the identical means that vinyl has made a comeback within the final couple of many years, and our hypothetical collector might want to discover extra shelf house.
For those who’ve made all of it the way in which to the tip, thanks for studying half 3 of this collection. The subsequent installment will check out D&D fiction, and the lots of of novels which have been launched through the years.
