Dragon & Dungeon

Dragon & Dungeon was an Italian magazine dedicated to the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, published by Nexus Editrice in collaboration with 25 Edition, which served as its official distributor. The magazine's name was not an inversion of the terms from the role-playing game's title, but rather the union of the two American magazines Dragon and Dungeon, which at the time were published by Paizo Publishing under license from Wizards of the Coast. The magazine was published for almost four years, for a total of 21 issues, and enjoyed moderate success among the Italian public. Dragon & Dungeon was an ambitious project by Nexus Editrice that translated some of the most interesting articles from the magazines Dragon and Dungeon and presented them to the Italian audience. Originally the magazine was to consist of 96 pages, of which 10 were dedicated to other games and game systems. It was the first Italian magazine entirely dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons, although it was composed almost entirely of translated material (the original Italian material presented was minimal and consisted of reviews). The first issue was announced for 10 March 2003, although the cover of the release officially refers to April 2003. Publications continued for almost four years, until 19 April 2007, when Wizards of the Coast announced the withdrawal of publishing licenses from Paizo, thereby also condemning Dragon & Dungeon to closure. The editorial by Federico Burchianti opened the twenty-first and final issue with the refrain of The End by The Doors, hoping that Wizards of the Coast's decision would not be definitive or could be renegotiated, but the hopes were vain and indeed no extension or exception was granted to the Italian magazine, which closed just like the American ones. The American magazines effectively moved their publication to D&D Insider, a paid tool within the Wizards of the Coast website, while the Italian magazine simply ceased publication. Each issue opened with an editorial, a space dedicated to upcoming releases on the market concerning the world of Dungeons & Dragons, 64 color pages of articles from Dragon, the sage's advice (i.e., FAQs and errata on the D&D rules), and to close, the Dork Tower comic. Exactly in the center of the first 12 issues, so that it could be easily detached from the rest of the magazine, there was a 16-page adventure taken from Dungeon printed on aged paper (the same type of paper used by the original American magazine). This choice changed starting from the thirteenth issue, in which the adventure from Dungeon was printed in color and inserted no longer in the center, but amalgamated with the rest of the magazine's articles. The distribution of articles from the American magazines was also revised, giving more space to articles from Dungeon. In every issue (except for issues 12, 18, 19, 20, and 21) a gift was included, usually consisting of 4 sheets of maps, tokens, and cardboard silhouettes that could be extracted and used on a gridded map, to better reproduce possible game situations. Being able to draw from a vast amount of already published material (the American magazines had hundreds of issues to their credit) resulted in the undeniable advantage of making the contents of the Italian magazine more homogeneous, often publishing thematic issues whose content was composed of articles on similar topics but taken from different issues of Dragon or Dungeon. It should be noted that Dragon & Dungeon was born at the time of the transition from the third edition to 3.5 (which was announced in July 2003), so the articles of the first issues still refer to the so-called "edition 3.0". In this regard, the Italian editorial team worked hard to translate many recent articles, sometimes only 1 or 2 months old, to avoid as much as possible a conflict between editions within the magazine. The cost of the magazine was €6.90 for the first 16 issues, increased to €7.50 for the last 5.

Dragon & Dungeon was an ambitious project by Nexus Editrice that translated some of the most interesting articles from the American magazines Dragon and Dungeon and presented them to the Italian audience. It was the first Italian magazine entirely dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons, although it was composed almost entirely of translated material; the original Italian material was minimal and consisted of reviews. The first issue was announced for 10 March 2003, although the cover of the release officially refers to April 2003. Publications continued for almost four years, until 19 April 2007, when Wizards of the Coast announced the withdrawal of publishing licenses from Paizo, thereby also condemning Dragon & Dungeon to closure. The editorial by Federico Burchianti opened the twenty-first and final issue with the refrain of The End by The Doors, hoping that Wizards of the Coast's decision would not be definitive or could be renegotiated, but the hopes were vain and indeed no extension or exception was granted to the Italian magazine, which closed just like the American ones. The American magazines effectively moved their publication to D&D Insider, a paid tool within the Wizards of the Coast website, while the Italian magazine simply ceased publication. At the end of the second year of publication, in May 2005, an issue of "Dragon & Dungeon: speciale" was also published, an issue consisting of 128 black-and-white pages (€7.90) with the editorial, 4 adventures, and 2 Critical Threats taken from Dungeon, and finally the Dork Tower comic. Despite the cover stating "Speciale numero 1", no further publications followed.

• First issue announced for 10 March 2003 (cover officially refers to April 2003).

• Publication of "Dragon & Dungeon: speciale" in May 2005.

• Wizards of the Coast announced withdrawal of publishing licenses from Paizo on 19 April 2007, leading to closure.

• Final issue (21) published with editorial by Federico Burchianti.

The first Italian magazine entirely dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons, offering translated content from the American magazines Dragon and Dungeon.

• Dragon & Dungeon magazine

  Monthly magazine with 96 pages, including 64 color pages of articles from Dragon, FAQs, errata, and Dork Tower comic.

• Dragon & Dungeon: speciale

  Special issue with 128 black-and-white pages, containing editorial, 4 adventures, 2 Critical Threats, and Dork Tower comic.

1. 1Nexus Games — Building and Measuring Collaborative Intelligence Through Gamesnexusgames.com
2. 2Dragon & Dungeonwikidata.org
3. 3Dragon & Dungeonit.wikipedia.org