Dragon #360 and Dungeon #151

[MerricB]

This is a utility thread to keep track of the contents of the first e-issues of the D&D Magazines.

Dragon #360 - link

Editorial: How Did We Get Into This? by Kim Mohan
The longest-tenured editor-in-chief in Dragon's history weighs in with some thoughtful words about the transition from print to electronic media.

Columns
Design and Development: The Core Mechanic by Matthew Sernett
Fundamentally, it's still the same: Grab a d20. Roll high. On the other hand, the core mechanic is also vitally different in ways that make the game more fun.
Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard: How Shelly Got Her Game Back by Shelly Mazzanoble
Who's afraid of the New DM? Shelly Mazzanoble, author of Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress. That's who. Check out Shelly's new column in Dragon, right here!
Playtest Reports: Prophecy of the Priestess, part 1 by Greg Bilsland
A woman, clad in little more than rags, stands chained upon the statue of a dragon, sticks piled below her.... So begins the first chapter in the Prophecy of the Priestess, Greg Bilsland's playtest campaign!

Features
Fortress of the Yuan-Ti: The Lost Portals of Castle Serastis by Ari Marmell
Three additional encounters to use with the "Fortress of the Yuan-Ti" adventure, or to insert into your own campaign.
Ecology of the Death Knight by Matthew Sernett
Warriors who wish to fight beyond the limitations of flesh and blood can seek a forbidden way to steal their souls from fate.... Matthew Sernett introduces the 4th Edition death knight, who rides to wage war upon life itself!
4th Edition Designers Discuss Their Roots and Inspiration by Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins and James Wyatt
Every form of art draws inspiration from somewhere, and game design -- especially RPG design -- is no different. 4E's lead designers share theirs.
Dragons of Eberron: Dragon Hoards by Amber E Scott
Dragons in Eberron possess unique cultures and histories that lend them a different flavor than typical fantasy dragons. Different flavors can mean different treasure hoards, and we have several sample treasure hoards for your game.
Dragons of Eberron: Lethal Locations by Scott Fitzgerald Gray and Nicholas Logue
One of the important aspects of any adventure is location. Now you can brainstorm some new adventures for your Eberron group with these added locations. Take a look.
Infernal Aristocracy: the Dukes of Hell by Robert J. Schwalb
The courts of Hell abound with powerful, unique devils, each vying to attain new heights of power in Baator's strict hierarchy at their rivals' expense. Here are some of Hell's most successful upwardly mobile denizens.

Dungeon #151 - link

Editorial: We get by with a little help from our fans by Chris Thomasson

Adventures
Iggwilv's Legacy The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - Chapter 1 by Ari Marmell, Edward Albert, C.A. Suleiman, and ARI MARMELL!
A classic 1st Edition adventure returns, newly updated and expanded for 3rd Edition. Delve into Chapter 1 of the Lost Caverns here!

Columns
Save My Game: I'm Stephen. I solve problems by Stephen Radney-MacFarland
We're talking about those days that, after everyone has left the gaming table and are well on their way home, you raise a fist in the air and scream, “Someone, please, save my game!”
Dungeoncraft: It's never too Early by James Wyatt
Sure, a new edition is coming out, and you probably don't have the final rules for it yet (and if you do, please let us know ASAP, because, well, wow...), but does that mean you can't plan ahead for your first 4th Edition campaign? Of course not! Come see some dungeoncrafting in action.

I'll try to keep this updated for easy reference.

Cheers!

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Merric, do you know when Dungeon 151 is scheduled to appear? WotC's site states "October."

 

[MerricB]

Merric, do you know when Dungeon 151 is scheduled to appear? WotC's site states "October."

No - well, I do know that all the articles will be collected into a PDF edition that will appear at the end of October, but - apart from the previews - I don't know how many articles/adventures nor how often they will appear.

My guess is that we'll see one adventure per week. We might get more if they get a lot of good Side Treks.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Wow. Are ALL those articles getting that kind of artwork? And you can get the pictures in original size! I don´t know how long i wanted the old "death knights ride out" picture that big. Big cudos to WotC - that´s what i call added value.

 

[direrodent]

Fortress of the Yuan-Ti: The Lost Portals of Castle Serastis by Ari Marmell
Three additional encounters to use with the "Fortress of the Yuan-Ti" adventure, or to insert into your own campaign.

Seems odd to me that they put this in Dragon instead of Dungeon.

 

[Bagpuss]

To me it looks like they rushed that out Monday (because people were asking were stuff now it's October), when they really should have launched with the Death Knight article. They didn't even update the Dragon page when they put the Fortress article out. So the real launch was yesterday. They are supposed to do articles (at least for Dragon) every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, according to one designers blog. So far Monday and Wednesday have been hit so that's looking good.

Dungeon I think I'd expect around one article a week, you tended to get three adventures, and a couple of articles, if they do three times a week for Dungeon I'll be pleasantly surprised but I doubt we'll be getting much more than three or four adventures a month, if it is less than three I will be very disappointed. If they did Dungeon Tuesday, Thursday that would be cool.

I agree about the image sizes it makes them much more useful than the Map and Art Galleries, they needed to do something like that to make the online version at all worthwhile.

 

[DaveMage]

I think it's pretty sad that we need a thread to keep up with this. Shouldn't this be easily seen on the WotC site?

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[Eridanis]

Never mind.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I think it's pretty sad that we need a thread to keep up with this. Shouldn't this be easily seen on the WotC site?

:\

I enjoy Merric's updates and news. He's good about consolidating information, usually without bias, and he backs it up with links. I don't have enough time to browse the net to dig and dig and dig for tidbits, so it's nice and I'm appreciative when I can simply come here and enjoy the fruition of someone else's hard work.

 

[DaveMage]

I enjoy Merric's updates and news. He's good about consolidating information, usually without bias, and he backs it up with links. I don't have enough time to browse the net to dig and dig and dig for tidbits, so it's nice and I'm appreciative when I can simply come here and enjoy the fruition of someone else's hard work.

Oh nothing against Merric - he's been a great source forever.

I just wish this was as easily spelled out on the WotC site so browsing was easy and this thread wasn't necessary to have it presented so well.