A podcast about table-top RPGs from back in the day and today.
DragonLords Scrap Book
In the latest GROGPOD we discuss ‘zines in general and DragonLords in particular. Our guest contributor Ian Marsh edited the zine with his friends Mike Lewis and Marc Gascoigne and was remarkable for its irreverent coverage of the hobby. Its self-deprecating tag line “Yet Another Fantasy & Sci-Fi Roleplaying Magazine” reflected its satirical tone that earned it the reputation of the Private Eye of RPGs. There were 22 issues published with short print runs so it’s difficult to get your hands on copies. A dedicated collector like Ed in his Shed would turn his nose up at prices of £50 to £150 asked for on sites like eBay. The final issue is difficult to find as it had a short print run. Ian says that it was particularly eccentric and wild as he knew it was the last one.
You’ll find PDFs and copies of the covers if you search long enough, but I thought it would be good to feature some illustrative content, provided by Ian, to support some of the discussion we had on the GROGPOD.
Warning high nipple content. This was Dragon Lords after all!
Ducks and nipples were a recurrent subject of Dragon Lord’s artwork. “Dragon Lords of all they survey … ” touring the world, as far as their grants will take them … (by the way, the caption should read Ian, Mike, Marc!) Parodies of contemporary adverts were always great fun. Some were very controversial, such as the ‘Cit a bout’ miniatures featuring figures from the Israel/Palestine conflict which prompted complaints from Citadel The Scroll of Ol-Sen and the Curlers of Livingstone – a collection of magical items in The Rubbish Bin – a response to White Dwarf’s Treasure Chest. “Nagging at the gods …” it’s fine, there’s no way anyone will be offended and write in about this article. Unleash the ‘tongue parry’. Ian Gibbs, who would later contribute Vop to Imagine, wades into the Nipple campaign Artists like Peter Martin developed their skills in Dragon Lords, he later contributed to White Dwarf during the Ian Marsh years.
My favourite covers were those done by April Lee as they always featured moments of drama. Nipples and … …ducks!
Host of The GROGNARD RPG Files podcast. Talking bobbins about Runequest, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, T&T, AD&D and others from back in the day and today.
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7 thoughts on “DragonLords Scrap Book”
I am oh so close to finishing collecting the print run on this.. still looking for issues 2 and 3..
I am oh so close to finishing collecting the print run on this.. still looking for issues 2 and 3..
Has anyone posted pdf scans of the magazines? I’m surprised that the original publishers haven’t done this and posted them for sale on DriveThruRPG.
If all three of us can agree to publishing PDFs, then it might happen. Ian
I would buy them!
That’s great. Thanks, Ian!
Shannon