Dungeonaday.com My Take for 3.x and 4e

PeelSeel2 · Mar 19, 2009

I'll start by saying that I have never bought any product done by Monte Cook (exclusively). I have always felt, however, that he is creative and an innovator. It has been fun watching (with envy) his gaming career.

What hooked me about Dungeonaday.com from the start is the concept, presentation, medium, and community. Once again, he has plugged into the future of gaming. The concept is a natural fit with the modern/future gamer. Hyperlinked adventure, updated everyday (mostly, I'll get to that), easy access to the writer, and a community built around it.

I looked at it like this. I get 365 encounters to an adventure I paid $84.00 for. Good price, by todays standard. Anything beyond that is a bonus. So far, I think we have got 19 encounters, and 6 articles, plus he posts on the forums.

The adventure itself is so far well developed, interconnected, and immersive.

I DM 4e exclusively (although if I could get a group for Moldvay/Cook D&D I would LEAP at it!). The fact that this product is for "3.x" does not bother me. I wish it was for a better system B-)

, but you cannot have the world. I figure I can convert easily on the fly. It also helps that in the community, their is a 4e conversion thread. It is comprehensive enough to make winging it even easier.

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the fact that it is called dungeon a day, and it is actually dungeon a business day. However, I cannot really fault that so far, as the weekend was made up in articles and hooks. Hopefully that continues; I will continue to feel right. I am type of obsessive person who will go to the site eveyday looking for new stuff from Monte and the community. When I don't get anything (like on the weekends) I am like a junkie without a fix.

I think it is an outstanding product that heralds (along with DDI) the future of gaming.

That is pretty much my review.

Alzrius · Mar 19, 2009

PeelSeel2 said:
I looked at it like this. I get 365 encounters to an adventure I paid $84.00 for. Good price, by todays standard.

Actually, Monte only posts new material on weekdays. Hence, you're only getting 261 encounters (or 260, depending on whether the last day of the year is on a weekend or not).

MacMathan · Mar 19, 2009

I am hoping that the 4e dual-stating becomes integrated and official. With the digital medium there are fewer and fewer reasons to stay tied to one system.

Heck Monte could probably even farm it out to some young aspiring-types.

Cergorach · Mar 19, 2009

MacMathan said:
I am hoping that the 4e dual-stating becomes integrated and official. With the digital medium there are fewer and fewer reasons to stay tied to one system.

Heck Monte could probably even farm it out to some young aspiring-types.

4E by 3pp is currently done trough the GSL, the GSL doesn't allow you to publish 4E websites. Fan sites are currently tolerated (unless the use 4E content verbatim). I think WotC would crack down pretty hard on a website pay for service. There could of course be a separate agreement, but I doubt WotC is going to allow that...

avin · Mar 19, 2009

Cergorach said:
4E by 3pp is currently done trough the GSL, the GSL doesn't allow you to publish 4E websites. Fan sites are currently tolerated (unless the use 4E content verbatim). I think WotC would crack down pretty hard on a website pay for service. There could of course be a separate agreement, but I doubt WotC is going to allow that...

Unless Wotc think from a business view that MC can attract more people to 4E... I don't know.

Mournblade94 · Mar 19, 2009

avin said:
Unless Wotc think from a business view that MC can attract more people to 4E... I don't know.

I doubt that, because WOTC is the monolith of marketing in gaming. I think people that are going to use Monte's site that are not already 4e players have a preference for another system.

I don't think anyone unfamiliar with 4e would 'discover' it through monte's site.

It is a better value than Marvel Digital at least. I signed up with them for $50 a year and they have alot of incomplete story arcs. Really chaps me.

Cergorach · Mar 20, 2009

Mournblade94 said:
It is a better value than Marvel Digital at least. I signed up with them for $50 a year and they have a lot of incomplete story arcs. Really chaps me.

I think Marvel Digital has great value for $60 a year (that's only $5 a month), sure there are some incomplete story lines, and that irks me a bit as well. But there are more then 5000 comics already on there and you'll get ~110 new comics a month, that's a lot of new material and there has to be something good in there for everyone to be worth that $5 a month. It's less then $0.05 a new comic a month, and that's not counting the ones already available.

I'm not even a big Marvel fan, the Marvel comics I actually have aren't even on there (GI Joe), but there is enough interesting stuff in there (even partially complete) to keep paying that $60 a year. I think it's probably some of the best money I spent in a year (even if in some months I don't read any comics).

avin · Mar 20, 2009

Ok, I subscribed to it and it's really not for me, but if you love dungeons it's worth the price.

Good ideas, explanation why creatures are there, pictures of the dungeon using Dwarven Forge... worth the money.