Monday, November 03, 2008

Vintage Dragon Magazines are in our Pantry


Update on our CHShops.com Mall Store listings:

We have recently added a Vintage Magazine Section to our listings and are featuring several vintage issues of Dragon Magazine. See them at: http://pennysantiquesandwedgwoodpantry.chshops.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25_83_88

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products. 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 of Hasbro, Inc.), the publication's current intellectual property rightsholder, re-launched Dragon as an online Magazine, continuining on the numbering of the print edition.

Dragon was the launching point for a number of rules, spells, monsters, magic items, and other ideas that were incorporated into later official products of the Dungeons & Dragons game. A prime example is the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, which first became known through a series of Dragon articles in the 1980s by its creator Ed Greenwood. It subsequently went on to become one of the primary campaign 'worlds' for official Dungeons and Dragons products, starting in 1987.

Dragon magazine was mailed out in the early 1980s in an attractive envelope. Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and its intellectual properties, including Dragon in 1997. Production was then transferred from Wisconsin to Washington state. In 1999, Wizards of the Coast was itself purchased by Hasbro, Inc.

On April 18, 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced that it would not be renewing Paizo's licenses for Dragon and Dungeon. Scott Rouse, Senior Brand Manager of Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast stated, "Today the internet is where people go to get this kind of information. By moving to an online model we are using a delivery system that broadens our reach to fans around the world." Paizo published the last print editions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines for September 2007.

In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced their plans for the 4th edition of the Dungeons and Dragons game. Part of this announcement was the "D&D Insider" subscriber content on their Gleemax site that would include the new, online versions of both Dungeon and Dragon magazines along with tools for building campaigns, managing character sheets and other features.

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copperpenny22
cupenny@tds.net
www.pennyspantry.net

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