New Issue of Dragon+

Issue 4 of DRAGON+ is here! DRAGON+is an app from WotC available on iOS and Android devices (find it in the respective app stores). This issue contains Duergar information from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, a free Adventurer's League module, and more - plus tons of information on the various videogame projects for WotC.

Editor's Letter from Matt Chapman - "Matt Chapman gets tearfully nostalgic for old D&D videogames, overly excited for new D&D videogames, and a little bit scared by a newcomer known as Belaphoss, Devourer of Hope and Dread General of the Gibbering Hords. Gulp."

Discovering the Gold Box - "As Goog Old Games dusts off thirteen classic D&D titles, the original staff who worked on them and the videogame designers and producers they inspired share their favorite memories."

Winning Races: Duergar - "An in-depth look at these dark reflections of the more traditional Forgotten Realms dwarves."

Travel Talk - "Things get a little crazy when our intrepid reporter Melissande Calador dares to descend into the Underdark."

Imagining the Ampersand - "Lars Larsen, design engineer at LZX Industries, on creating a high-tech interpretation of the Dungeons & Dragons Ampersand."

Neverwinter Strongholds - "John Hopler, senior content designer at Cryptic Studios, shares the secrets to a successful PVP siege campaign in the free-to-play MMORPG."

Demononicon of Iggwilv: Belaphoss - "Everything you ever wanted to know about Sword Coast Legends' main baddie Belpahoss but were too petrified to ask."

Fiction: The Thweem - "A peace-loving Underdark inhabitant gets a brush with madness in D&D writer Adam Lee's short story."

Interview: Jay Turner - "The narrative director of Sword Coast Legends offers an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek at the CRPG."

Video & Audio Highlights - "Canadian rocker Matthew Good talks about his love of the world of Greyhawk and charity fundraising scores a critical hit with Extra Life 2015."

Beyond the Board: Dice Masters - "Dungeons & Dragons Dice Masters draws upon classic D&D elements to bring a fantasy touch to this dice building game."

Gauntlet Gophers - "Tavis Maiden's exclusive comic strip for DRAGON+ proves there are all kinds of crazy in the Underdark."

D&D Adventurers League - "Download the official D&D Adventurer's League module Shackles of Blood and investigate a string of disappearances in the Hillsfar region."


[h=4]Original Post[/h]
Not sure if this had been posted already, but the newest issue of Dragon+ is rolling out. Just downloaded mine a few minutes ago.

View attachment 71167

 

[delericho]

I have a laptop with Ubuntu on it. I don't have a smartphone, and I don't have a tablet. This is not accessible to me. So again, I say, Wizards hates people who don't have smartphones.

I'm pretty sure there are workarounds - ways to run Android apps on a PC.

Though, like you, I would prefer it if this were available in PDF - I'd much rather read on a PC and would prefer not to have to use a workaround. But it's their call, I guess - can't complain too much about their free e-mag.

 

[shadowmane]

The only workaround I found requires that I.... have an android or chromebook device. I have neither. That is the only workaround I have been able to find.

 

[delericho]

The only workaround I found requires that I.... have an android or chromebook device. I have neither. That is the only workaround I have been able to find.

Note that I haven't tried any of these, but for what they're worth: http://www.howtogeek.com/179691/4-ways-to-run-android-on-your-pc-and-make-your-own-dual-os-system/

 

[shadowmane]

I tried the browser workaround first. That failed because I needed a device ID. The third option in your link might work, but I don't have a usb drive laying around, and I've misplaced my blank dvd's. But it could be an option. I don't currently have VM software on my computer, which is a 7 or 8 year old Toshiba Satellite. Its not supported by Android x86, so that solution may not be accessible either.

 

[Mistwell]

I have a laptop with Ubuntu on it. I don't have a smartphone, and I don't have a tablet. This is not accessible to me. So again, I say, Wizards hates people who don't have smartphones.

I asked them and they said it was, for the most part, just you. They regret there may be others besides you inadvertently impacted by their hatred, but they felt the ends of frustrating you justified the means and collateral damage it entails. Apparently, they REALLY have it in for you - and just you. It sounded personal. Not sure what you did to incur their wraith to such a degree.

 

[shadowmane]

Well that explains EVERYTHING!!!!

 

[Shasarak]

Snark aside, it probably does boil down to this. Erik Mona and/or James Jacobs discussed this at some length when the license ended. Basically, the reality of the magazine business was that launching a new title was (and is) impractical - you're pretty much doomed to failure before you even begin. And, FWIW (and IIRC), they also said that resuming publication of a magazine was effectively the same as starting a new one - once Dragon 'missed' even a single issue people stopped looking for it on the news-stands, and so bringing it back was a non-starter.

So the end of the license for Dragon and Dungeon did indeed end Paizo's involvement in the magazine industry. Though it was larger economic factors that kept them out.

All that said, it's worth noting that if the license had been renewed, it's quite likely that the magazines would have failed by now anyway - although it was still doing pretty well at the time it was cancelled, Dragon had very significantly declined in the last three years of its print life.

According to your figures, the 2006 subscriber numbers were up 47% from the historical low point of 1999 and if you throw into the mix the increased number of players that a new edition brings in then there is no evidence to support the suggestion that Paizo would have chosen to stop producing Magazines based on subscriber numbers.

 

[Hussar]

I tried the browser workaround first. That failed because I needed a device ID. The third option in your link might work, but I don't have a usb drive laying around, and I've misplaced my blank dvd's. But it could be an option. I don't currently have VM software on my computer, which is a 7 or 8 year old Toshiba Satellite. Its not supported by Android x86, so that solution may not be accessible either.

Yeah, I gotta admit, I'm not feeling the sympathy quite as much. Good grief, there's a world of things that won't run on that device. How far back do they have to go to make things available? I mean, I just did a quick google search and hit this research from PEW that says, 64% of Americans have a smart phone so, I'm not really convinced that going with a smart phone format isn't all that bad of an idea.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Yeah, I gotta admit, I'm not feeling the sympathy quite as much. Good grief, there's a world of things that won't run on that device. How far back do they have to go to make things available? I mean, I just did a quick google search and hit this research from PEW that says, 64% of Americans have a smart phone so, I'm not really convinced that going with a smart phone format isn't all that bad of an idea.

Providing a phone app is a great idea. It just shouldn't have been their first target.

 

[pukunui]

Not sure what you did to incur their wraith to such a degree.

Yeah, you gotta watch your step or else WotC will send one of their wraiths after you, and the aftermath of that ain't pretty!