New issue of Dragon+ (April '16)

The new issue of the Dragon+ app is out in your favourite mobile app store. If you don't have the app on your phone or tablet you can access it from your computer. Most of the articles have already been released, but compiled in one convenient location. Also, it has an article on the MtG Zendikar setting (with link to the PDF) and one on Gale Force Nine's Strahd figurines. No new crunch in this one.

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[Zaran]

I feel like this is a waste of effort. Everything that is semi-interesting I see in other places. I don't need an app that gives me advertisements. Do newbies use this app to get their news? I find it hard to believe. I used to have a subscription to Dragon Magazine and it depressed me that this app has the same name.

 

[Arilyn]

I feel like this is a waste of effort. Everything that is semi-interesting I see in other places. I don't need an app that gives me advertisements. Do newbies use this app to get their news? I find it hard to believe. I used to have a subscription to Dragon Magazine and it depressed me that this app has the same name.

Yes, I hear you! It has little value, and if WOTC just wanted an advertising app, that's fine, but they shouldn't have used the Dragon name.

 

[Jester David]

I feel like this is a waste of effort. Everything that is semi-interesting I see in other places. I don't need an app that gives me advertisements. Do newbies use this app to get their news? I find it hard to believe. I used to have a subscription to Dragon Magazine and it depressed me that this app has the same name.

This isn't Dragon magazine. It's the D&D newsletter, which just happens to share a name with the now long defunct magazine. Comparing a mailing list with a magazine will always lead to dissapointment.

 

[Kramodlog]

This isn't Dragon magazine. It's the D&D newsletter, which just happens to share a name with the now long defunct magazine. Comparing a mailing list with a magazine will always lead to dissapointment.

It is a coincidence the mailing list shares the same name as the mag or is it a conscious act?

 

[Jester David]

It is a coincidence the mailing list shares the same name as the mag or is it a conscious act?

No. They opted for a familiar name, which kinda makes sense, but does lead to unfortunate comparisons.
It's just a little silly to judge thus small free newsletter solely based on the history of the name. It's not like people complain about Unearthed Arcana because it's not a 250-page book.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

At least I was able to extract some useful art from this issue of Dragon-.

(Boareskyr Bridge under a blood-tinged sunset or moon? Oh yeah, I can use that.... )

 

[Zaran]

This isn't Dragon magazine. It's the D&D newsletter, which just happens to share a name with the now long defunct magazine. Comparing a mailing list with a magazine will always lead to dissapointment.

I am well aware of this. But I do think that this APP is WotC's answer to our requests for the magazines.

 

[Jester David]

I am well aware of this. But I do think that this APP is WotC's answer to our requests for the magazines.

Kinda. It's also they're answer to our requests for a physical mailing list sent to our homes, or a D&D broadstreet sold on the corner by a shabby urchin in a newsy cap.

Dragon+ is filling the gap until another company puts in a licensing request for the magazines.
Which won't happen as no one is remotely interested.
Gygax Magazine closed up shop and Kobold Quarterly is long dead. Magazines are a giant financial dead end, and it's ridiculous to expect WotC to cling to an outdated delivery format because of nostalgia.
Magazines were already a dying format when WotC attempted to bring them in-house in 2008. Paizo had been struggling to keep the magazines afloat a good decade ago.

Even in magical and wonderous land of Theoretica where magazines flourish, Dragon and Dungeon occupy a weird space. What content would go in there? The D&D team seems uninterested in waves of new crunch, and Unearthed Arcana serves the content testing function. Advertising and hype is done through social media. Finding new talent and publishing short adventures have been subsumed by the DMsGuild. Regular advice and gaming tips have long since been replaced by gaming blogs. Even letters to the editor and feedback is now replaced by tweeting at the designers directly.
Why buy a magazine when you can hit-up any of a dozen websites for equivalent content for free? Why flip through endless pages when you could search through a website for the exact adventure you need?

 

[Reinhart]

Even in magical and wonderous land of Theoretica where magazines flourish, Dragon and Dungeon occupy a weird space. What content would go in there?

My own suggestion is that a lot of content could be generated just curating and previewing more of the content from the DM's Guild. That way it continues to serve as an advertising medium while providing a service to the D&D community. Unfortunately, I think that's still more effort than they're willing and able to put into the app for the moment.