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Amdy_vill
2019-02-20, 08:35 PM
i am mostly looking for what issues belong to AD&D, AD&D, OD&D, and if any BD&D. I known what issues belong to 3rd and 4th.

Mutazoia
2019-02-20, 09:12 PM
It should be easy enough to figure out. Check the publication date of the magazine in question, check the launch date of the edition in question, and do the math. If the magazine was published before the advent of the 3rd ed, for example, it's pretty obvious that the content is going to be geared for 2nd ed or earlier....

Scots Dragon
2019-02-21, 06:18 PM
Okay, let's do this.

The transition from late OD&D to early AD&D was pretty vague, with it being less of a single point of 'now it's all AD&D' and instead more of a general thing over the first thirty issues or so, since the game itself was released piecemeal over the three years. Note that it's all useful to AD&D regardless, since conversion from late Original to early Advanced is pretty seamless, as AD&D can be seen more as a refinement of what came before than an outright new game in its own right.

After that, similar effects can be found with the switch over to second edition, with that occurring between #140 and #160, with explicitly AD&D 1e articles continuing pretty late on even after the introduction of AD&D 2e as a game. The two editions are similar enough that a lot of the late-AD&D 1e material is still useful anyway, so once again this isn't a big radical departure and you can generally use a lot of material interchangeably from this period.

The switch from AD&D to D&D 3e however is way more sudden and drastic.

Dragon #273 is the last issue with AD&D 2e content, with it and a few issues before that having preview material for D&D 3e, but ultimately being focused on AD&D. Dragon #274 is not only entirely focused on D&D 3e, but even dramatically upends the overall layout, formatting and look of the magazine itself.


After that, Dragon #309 mentions a preview to the '3.5 Update', and the next three issues after that (#310, #311, #312) are actually pretty focused on being 'special update issues'.

This hits an ending with issue #359, the last print issue. The following four issues were online-only filler with D&D 3.5e materials, but ultimately just serving as a tide-over until the new shiny edition came out.


D&D 4e starts with Dragon #365 and ends with Dragon #430, which is actually the very last real issue of Dragon Magazine.


All of the Dragon+ issues have been D&D 5e based, but are really not the same thing as the old magazine.