Dragon magazine is considered official!

[greymarch]

I sent an email to Customer Service at Wizards of the Coast, asking them if the rules that appear in Dragon Magazine, Polyhedron Magazine, and Star Wars Gamer magazine are considered part of the official ruleset for their respective games. Here is the response I received from WoTC Customer Service:

Yes. Everything produced for the D&D, D20 Modern, and Star Wars RPG by
Paizo Publishing is 100% official.

**Please quote this e-mail in any reply.**
******************************************************************
Darrin
Wizards of the Coast - Customer Service
Website: http://www.wizards.com
Game Support Phone: 1-800-324-6496
Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 7 PM PST
Corporate Phone: (425) 226-6500
******************************************************************

My gaming group had always avoided the stuff in Dragon magazine, because much of it is spurious or could imbalance the game. I guess its time to go back through all my dragon magazines, and start collecting all the rules that my gaming group could use.

 

[jgbrowning]

My gaming group had always avoided the stuff in Dragon magazine, because much of it is spurious or could imbalance the game. I guess its time to go back through all my dragon magazines, and start collecting all the rules that my gaming group could use.

I'm not sure why you care if a rule is official or not. Every rule is only as official as the DM wants it to be. I've seen some terrible "offical" stuff and some amazing "non-offical" stuff.

joe b.

 

[greymarch]

My gaming group only uses the official rules and we try to use all the official rules. We run a tight ship, and we like it that way.

Anyways, I digress. Spread the word...Dragon magazine, Polyhedron magazine and Star Wars Gamer are considered part of the official rules-set.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Except that it's widely believed that Customer Service often doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

Also, there may be some confusion around the word "official". It could mean many different things to many different people.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Except that it's widely believed that Customer Service often doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

Also, there may be some confusion around the word "official". It could mean many different things to many different people.

Well, there is a huge stamp on the cover of every Dragon that reads "100% Offical Dungeons and Dragons."

 

[Darrin Drader]

Except that it's widely believed that Customer Service often doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

And there's also the widely held belief that certain gamers and message board posters take themselves entirely too seriously.

 

[The Sigil]

My gaming group only uses the official rules and we try to use all the official rules. We run a tight ship, and we like it that way.

Anyways, I digress. Spread the word...Dragon magazine, Polyhedron magazine and Star Wars Gamer are considered part of the official rules-set.

The "official" ruleset for me is the SRD. Everything else is unofficial - if it was playtested and approved by both R&D and Legal, it would be in the SRD. End of discussion, as far as I'm concerned.

That said, in my games, "official" is the set of books/magazines that the DM (me) allows. And to be blunt, 90% WotC stuff outside of the PHB, DMG, and MM does NOT make that cut, while many 3rd-party products - with better balanced rules and superior content - DO make that cut.

IOW, WotC may be "official" but IMO it's generally "noticeably lower quality" compared to third-party stuff (in terms of game balance, not production value) and therefore has no place at my table.

--The Sigil

 

[kreynolds]

Well, there is a huge stamp on the cover of every Dragon that reads "100% Offical Dungeons and Dragons."

Yeah, you'd figure that would be the first clue.

 

[TiQuinn]

My gaming group had always avoided the stuff in Dragon magazine, because much of it is spurious or could imbalance the game.

Just because it's official doesn't mean that it couldn't be unbalancing. There's some good stuff in Dragon but you still want to consider its effects on your game.

 

[Tsyr]

My gaming group only uses the official rules and we try to use all the official rules. We run a tight ship, and we like it that way.

There are plenty of official rules that are absolutely unbalanced or stupid. You use them anyhow, even knowing that, just because they are official?