Fun Fantasy Ads: Dragon Magazine - July 1985

Geeking out on old fantasy product ads is a guilty pleasure of mine. Of course, I love reminiscing, but there’s also something uber-cool to see how much things have changed . . . and also how much they’ve stayed the same.

Dragon Magazine #99, July 1985. Cover by Clyde Duensing III

Today, we’re going back to July of 1985 with some selected ads from TSR’s Dragon Magazine. There was a ton of cool stuff TSR had their hands in that year. Enjoy!

Dragonlance Chronicles, book 2 - such a special place in my heart

Dragonlance got your heart too? Then check this out:

DragonLance Calendars: What’s Old is New Again

Moving from Endless Quest to SUPER Endless Quest with simplified D&D rules!!!

My first Rediscovered Realms newsletter is about the Endless Quest series:

Reflections in the Mountain of Mirrors

Indiana Jones RPG boxed set! (Crystal Skull dice not included - thank god)

TSR also launched the Conan RPG boxed set around this time. Check out our article here:

Barbarian at the Gates: Old-School Conan Role-Playing Game Boxed Set

These came in a boxed sets of 2 books where you and your friend used one book (character) to battle each other! There were 10 different sets released

---

---

(Featuring artwork from Clyde Caldwell & Luke Eidenschink!)

---

---

This sounds like a horrible condition to suffer from. Better get that new DM screen now! (artwork by Jeff Easley, btw)

Though not a TSR product, it’s really cool to see how role-playing aids - even music! - was sold to enhance your experience. (Imagine how it must have been using a record player for these - “Battle formation - the dreaded Scratch Monster approaches!”)

LOVED this boxed RPG set and the Advanced set sequel - “It’s clobberin’ time!”

Into Marvel super heroes and other comics? You’ll definitely want to see our exclusive interview with Jeff Butler:

Jeff Butler, Fantasy Artist: Luck's Got Nothing To Do With It

Play By Mail (PBM) fantasy role playing games were hugely popular - never realized TSR licensed AD&D for one

Of course tabletop miniature war games were largely dominated then (and now) by Warhammer!

Book 8 in the beloved Xanth series, Crewel Lye. I recently started re-reading the entire series again and am loving these books . . . again!

“Gamers’ Guide” Classifieds - so fun to see what people were selling

$1 catalogs, $1 shipping . . . ahh, the good ol’ days. Send check or money order now!

If you like reminiscing about Dragon Magazine, make sure to check this out:

A Dragon is at Your Door

GenCon 8 ad with a badass illustration by Jeff Easley. Wouldn’t it be cool if Rediscovered Realms could get an EXCLUSIVE interview with him? . . . (stay tuned) 😉