Steel_Wind
Legend
I recall posting about five months ago a thread here exhorting Erik Mona and Co. to do *something* to rescue Dragon – to make it relevant for me again. (Search for “Is Dragon even Relevant Anymore?” for the blow-by-blow.)
At the time, I proposed that Dragon feature one adventure per issue – as that at least would make it relevant for me.
Erik showed up and listened. After several posts in support of my rant and a lot of posts by those who took my own post as a unmeritorious attack on them, Erik posted and demurred, suggesting there were other ways to make Dragon “relevant” that fell short of taking the step of publishing an adventure. At the time I said I’d keep an open mind and see which direction he’d take the magazine.
Well, since that time, Dragon has started to publish “Worm Food”, a companion piece in Dragon that is intended to be useful for players involved in the Age of Worms Adventure Path currently underway in Dungeon. This instantly made the magazine relevant to me (or at least, a small part thereof) and I resolved to buy it regularly (and even subscribe).
When issue #335 showed up on the newsstand today, I picked it up without even flipping through the pages. I had gone into the store for the purpose of buying it (my subscription has not yet started).
Not only was there a “Worm Food” article as promised (not the strongest one so far, but still, appreciated) but I saw that Paizo had become far more clever than that.
In addition to the Worm Food article on potential cohorts in the Age of Worms, issue #335 featured an Ecology of the Lizardfolk – the very villains the party must face in Blackwall Keep in this month’s Age of Worms adventure. Not stopping there, Bazaar of the Bizarre featured three pages of “swampy” themed magic items.
So, all told, there were 12-13 pages of highly relevant and usable material for me in Dragon. To top it off, First Watch seems to have been expanded and I enjoyed that too.
True, there was a lengthy article on Waterdeep that is not really my thing – but it surely is someone else’s here at ENworld, so I can live with that. An interview with Ed Greenwood was interesting so that gets a passing grade. There was an article on bard spells in the Realms that was cool enough – I might use some of those here and there. The remaining snippets, a Charlatan character class, a fiction piece and the various Class Acts are not greatly to my taste – but that’s not to say I might not ever use them – and the rest of the magazine more than made up for the parts that I did not find quite so tasty.
When it comes down to it, for *me*, I don’t need an entire issue of immediately relevant material to make me happy. I just need a few somethings and I’m content.
Given the Worm Food, Magic Items and Ecology articles – this issue of Dragon delivered on the “somethings” very nicely.
So Erik: I take it back. There is a way to make Dragon relevant without a radical departure. Publishing articles in Dragon which are relevant to the ongoing adventure path in Dungeon on the sly worked brilliantly.
Big Thumbs Up!
At the time, I proposed that Dragon feature one adventure per issue – as that at least would make it relevant for me.
Erik showed up and listened. After several posts in support of my rant and a lot of posts by those who took my own post as a unmeritorious attack on them, Erik posted and demurred, suggesting there were other ways to make Dragon “relevant” that fell short of taking the step of publishing an adventure. At the time I said I’d keep an open mind and see which direction he’d take the magazine.
Well, since that time, Dragon has started to publish “Worm Food”, a companion piece in Dragon that is intended to be useful for players involved in the Age of Worms Adventure Path currently underway in Dungeon. This instantly made the magazine relevant to me (or at least, a small part thereof) and I resolved to buy it regularly (and even subscribe).
When issue #335 showed up on the newsstand today, I picked it up without even flipping through the pages. I had gone into the store for the purpose of buying it (my subscription has not yet started).
Not only was there a “Worm Food” article as promised (not the strongest one so far, but still, appreciated) but I saw that Paizo had become far more clever than that.
In addition to the Worm Food article on potential cohorts in the Age of Worms, issue #335 featured an Ecology of the Lizardfolk – the very villains the party must face in Blackwall Keep in this month’s Age of Worms adventure. Not stopping there, Bazaar of the Bizarre featured three pages of “swampy” themed magic items.
So, all told, there were 12-13 pages of highly relevant and usable material for me in Dragon. To top it off, First Watch seems to have been expanded and I enjoyed that too.
True, there was a lengthy article on Waterdeep that is not really my thing – but it surely is someone else’s here at ENworld, so I can live with that. An interview with Ed Greenwood was interesting so that gets a passing grade. There was an article on bard spells in the Realms that was cool enough – I might use some of those here and there. The remaining snippets, a Charlatan character class, a fiction piece and the various Class Acts are not greatly to my taste – but that’s not to say I might not ever use them – and the rest of the magazine more than made up for the parts that I did not find quite so tasty.
When it comes down to it, for *me*, I don’t need an entire issue of immediately relevant material to make me happy. I just need a few somethings and I’m content.
Given the Worm Food, Magic Items and Ecology articles – this issue of Dragon delivered on the “somethings” very nicely.
So Erik: I take it back. There is a way to make Dragon relevant without a radical departure. Publishing articles in Dragon which are relevant to the ongoing adventure path in Dungeon on the sly worked brilliantly.
Big Thumbs Up!
