I don't miss the magazines (/ducks)

[Richards]

I still miss the print versions of Dragon and Dungeon. I refuse to look at the electronic versions - I don't like reading "magazines" on a computer screen. I'm not switching to 4E, so none of the WotC computer stuff is of any interest to me. Of course, had they allowed the magazines to remain in print form while moving on to 4E, I'd still miss the "good old days" of 1E, 2E, and 3E, and it's unlikely I'd have kept my subscriptions. (I may have kept my Dungeon subscription, as I could always convert 4E adventures to 3.5, the same as I do with 1E and 2E adventures from the magazine's early days.)

Johnathan

 

[Gothmog]

I'll probably get yelled at for this, but I was actually glad the print versions of Dungeon and Dragon got cancelled, and WotC took them over again. IMO, Paizo had royally dropped the ball with Dragon and Dungeon, and even though I was a subscriber, I got ZERO use out of them. In particular, I hated adventure paths- a huge segment of each magazine got locked into long adventures in Dungeon that I'd never run, because I simply don't like the concept of a railroaded single plotline through an entire campaign. I tend to use story arcs and inter-related events, but not back to back linked adventures such as the APs tended to assume.

As for Dragon, sometimes some ok articles were printed, but keeping track of the issues of Dragon I wanted to use something out of vs. the ones I didn't want to use made using Dragon a hassle. Dragon was also sorely lacking starting in about 2002 or 2003- it was just a neverending series of spells, prestige classes, feats, and crunch for the most part, with little quality inspring stuff in there.

IMO, the glory days of both Dragon and Dungeon had been from 1983-1995 or so. Yes, I even liked the 2e stuff! While it was a pain to keep up with the magazines during play, we used a TON of stuff out of them, and they actually inspired me to design, world-build, and incorporate what they had in them. I was a little saddened to see the print versions die out of nostalgia, but I knew their time had come and gone. I knew WotC was going to reboot both magazines in digital form, but I honestly didn't expect much- it sounded like a horrible idea to me. Plus I prefer to read a book or magazine in paper form (and I still do).

Boy was I wrong. Dragon is the best its ever been right now. The new fluff for 4e is great, and much more mythic and mysterious in feel than the over-the-top schlock of 3e (fiendish dire vampiric half-illithid west highland terriers anyone?) Tons of useful info per issue, lots of inspiring articles and ideas to build into your world, and the most solid new mechanics Dragon has ever had make Dragon a must have for a 4e player or DM. Dungeon is getting better, and some of the individual adventures have been superb (I especially like Ari's adventures), but I still hate the APs- they are a monumental waste of space. I want the glory days of Dungeon offering 4-5 short to moderate length adventures for a variety of levels again, not some 50+ page linear plotwagon each issue. Hopefully this will be remedied at some point in the future, but even in its current form, I like Dungeon much more now that during the Paizo era. Plus having the content from each available in the DDI, Character Builder, and Compendium makes it a million times more accessible and useful that the magazines ever were in the past. And if I want to have one article to use at the table, its easy enough to print off. While I still don't like reading articles on the screen, I can print off double-sided color copies of each magazine at the university I work at for free (one of the perks of being a professor).

So, despite my initial reservations, Wizards converted me. The best thing to ever happen to Dragon and Dungeon was to go digital. Great job WotC!

 

[Raven Crowking]

I have honestly enjoyed Dragon Roots (DRAGON ROOTS) more than the last issues of Dragon. OTOH, I've been writing for that magazine, so I am probably biased.

 

[Treebore]

I have honestly enjoyed Dragon Roots (DRAGON ROOTS) more than the last issues of Dragon. OTOH, I've been writing for that magazine, so I am probably biased.

Yeah, I wanted to get in on Dragonroots, but at over $11 per issue (after shipping) I just couldn't bring myself to sign up.

 

[Wormwood]

I'll probably get yelled at for this, but I was actually glad the print versions of Dungeon and Dragon got cancelled, and WotC took them over again.

Actually judging from this thread, you are more likely to be agreed with than not.

One of us. One of us.

 

[Zaukrie]

On line Dragon has been good. The only part I don't like as much as print is the art.

On line Dungeon stinks. The format is not user friendly, and a super lengthy adventure path is not as good as two medium length adventures. Also, the conversions in the first 4E Dungeon were great, great teases of things not to come. There have been some very good to great adventures, but I have no interest in this AP at all (which isn't all that APish, frankly). The fact that the content (monsters and NPCs) make the compendium is awesome, though.

Lack of an index is astounding. How hard would that really be?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I have no problem reading on a screen. If I want to relax, I pop up my macbook and lie down on the sofa. Works great.

I can't really miss the old magazines, since I never had them. Never really saw the appeal, considering that most of the rules content wouldn't fly in our campaigns anyway, and I didn't want to use published adventures, either.

Well, now I see how they could have been useful anyway. But the DDI seems a lot more comfortable to use. I can get them anywhere where I have internet or bring my USB stick or Notebook.

 

[Olli]

Blink blink... man... I even have gaming stuff on my cell phone. How does one operate without a cell phone these days? That's like saying you don't have teeth or something.

I print stuff out if I want to read it off the monitor. Yah I know someone will say stuff about shifting costs to the consumer or something, but the benefit I gain from digital dragon/dungeon + DDI far outweighs this concern in my opinion.

Easily and with much less interruption.

No kidding! I couldn't believe how much more relaxed my life became after getting rid of our cell phones! I have them again, and its the new Blackberry this time, but I am not giving my cell info to anyone this time around.

Now the blackberry is becoming very handy, but I have yet to put any RPG stuff on it, other than taking pictures of my RPG collection.

This hits the nail on the head. It was a decision made by me and I have yet to regret it (dumped it 5 years ago!!).

Olli

 

[Olli]

Oh, and on the subject of reading onscreen. I´m lucky to have the Dragon cdarchive and all dungeons up to 150 on a cd. But I still use the hardcopies i own over them....(there is nothing that piques my gaming nostalgia then a 15 year old ad...)

Olli

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I like the online versions much better.

It simply means that I can pull off the articles that I want and then upload them back to Google Documents, either for later reading or later ideas-plundering. Same with the adventures - I'm hopefully about to join a new group (or start one) and so being able to revisit a whole bunch of old information online is much easier than going through a years worth of 4e articles on paper.

I never really had the time of the money to go out and buy Dungeon or Dragon, but getting the articles in an RSS feed is massively easier.