D&D 5E Could 5E Use A Branded Magazine In Stores (Again)?

[Panda-s1]

This will be my last response to this thread because those who keep pushing "magazines are dead" can't be bothered to Google and find out they are wrong.

The Sci_fi/fantasy and Gaming magazines and comics that died were highly political in their content (Gamergate & Comicsgate anybody?). It's hard to succeed when you continually piss off 70% of your audience with your politics. The same is true for all media, from cable news to film and sports entertainment.

pretty sure Gamergate and especially "Comicsgate" (lmao) happened way after magazines started dying, try again.

EDIT: someone wildly missed the reply button and clicked the message button instead?

 

[Eltab]

I agree, the politics angle brought up a few times in this thread is perplexing. What politics? What exactly would WotC need to be careful of if they should publish a new magazine? I don't even know what these guys are talking about.

The politics angle came up as part of the reason formerly-dominant magazines are now struggling, not as a description of the in-RPG-genre magazines. Offhand, I can think of Time as an example but not any others (which may mean only that I don't read many magazines). The politics trap is better used as an example of the greater principle "do not antagonize big chunks of your subscribers" than a hard and fast description of content a genre magazine should include / avoid.

 

[HarbingerX]

It doesn't matter that there are magazines that make money. There is no enough money in it, nor does it help promote the game enough, for the investment required. There are better things for WotC to spend development effort and money on with much higher returns on investment.

Now, if they want to license someone for whom it is worth their while that would be great - but again it's probably too much trouble than it's worth. Look what happened last time they let someone else build a subscriber-base on top of D&D IP.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Well there is Gygax Magazine...

 

[Zardnaar]

Well there is Gygax Magazine...

I think it got shut down via Gary's wife.

You probably could make money with a D&D bagaxine, mostly black and white, back to basics etc.

Probably not worth worth the time and effort.

I wouldn't do it with my own money. Much like opening a flgs.

 

[GreyLord]

If we are talking about magazines in general (which about half the thread is doing) I still have a magazine subscription. I'm an old National Geographic subscriber and have been for a long time.

It may also be due to my age. It may be that a LOT of the older generation sticks with subscriptions (for example, National Geographic) and as we die off, so do our subscriptions...while the younger generation is not subscribing to these things.

 

[Stormonu]

I'd love to see Dragon and/or Dungeon in print again (especially the latter), but as others have noted, it probably wouldn't last 5 years in this day and age. People have really changed how they consume "printed" matter and we're already talking about a somewhat niche hobby to start with.

I think something that might be more successful would be a "Dungeon of the month" subscription like LootCrate - where you get a poster battle mat, a couple props/handouts and some figures or standees with a 16-32 page adventure that takes 6-10 hours to complete.

 

[Hussar]

Huh.

I was unaware that Asimov's, or F&SF were heavily political in their leanings.

Learn something new every day.

Of course, the fact that Gamergate was about ONLINE journalism, and not print, might also be relevant. Maybe.

 

[Marc Radle]

Well there is Gygax Magazine...

That was shut down by Gail Gygax early in the magazine's run (I think there were only 6 issues)
Fun fact, I had an article in the premier issue

 

[Taronkov]

I'll be honest I didn't read most this thread...

That said, yes I would love to see a Dragon and/or Dungeon magazine back on shelves. I love having physical copies of things like that. It's why I still by physical books and comics. I liked the fact that if I wanted a particular section of one I could rip it out and put it in a binder for actual use without having to save the entire magazine later. I love the quality you get from magazine grade images and paper. Something that is hard to replicate at home printing for a reasonable price.

We have made a point to remove electronics from our regular sessions and honestly the impact has been tremendous. We have a much more focused group, that really makes headway each session. Nothing else changed except the removal of a mindless distraction. So for myself and my other DM(Westmarches game) I think we would get a lot more out of the print magazines.