Check it out, every back issue of Dragon magazine (when it was being printed on paper, not after they brought it back with 4th edition as web-only) is now available on Archive.org.
Note: The Internet Archive hosts pdf collections of other defunct magazines, like Compute! or Omni Magazine. I assume that Dragon is hosted as being in the public domain, or the rights were granted by TSR, or something more than a sense of “it’s abandonware, let’s share it.” If this post isn’t cool, I will overwrite it with a public domain image of a sad panda.
I a) hope so, since that would be really really cool and Dragon was a great roleplaying resource (assuming you played TSR games), and b) really doubt it because they’ve sold digital versions of the magazine in the past and WOTC/Hasbro are currently engaged in trying to sell the full spectrum of D&D supplements in PDF form over on DriveThruRPG for prices that indicate they’ve had some sort of head trauma.
Doesn’t surprise me. The Internet Archive is very limited, once you realize that the most significant part of the public domain stuff has already been posted elsewhere, and that all that’s left is someone’s video of something that they think is worthy of preservation for the ages. Occasionally someone will try pulling stuff like adding something in copyright, only for it to be deleted later on.
As for Dragon Magazine, I had a look at some of the more recent issues. Very well made, and I have no doubt I would have enjoyed reading this thoroughly at a younger age; but now I cant prevent my eyes from glazing over. D&D is a social game, and now that my old circle of friends has stopped playing, I don’t see much of a reason to delve into this anymore.
