D&D General What articles would a good & free, fanmade D&D magazine have?

[Maenalis]

I wouldn’t read a free magazine. If someone goes to the effort to make something for free it’s because they have an axe to grind.

I would be interested in a modestly priced magazine that paid its contributors.

What is your opinion about :
Threshold Magazine and Wayfinder Magazine? Both of them are excellent and are free fanzines?
In a way I like them better than Arcadia even.

What articles would a good & not free, fanmade D&D magazine have?​

In your opinion?

 

[aiouh]

There is more first party content and 3rd party content with serious cred published than I will ever be able or willing to read. It's not like Elf Games have received any extremely meaningful technological advancements in the past decade.

Amid gas prices, familial obligations and an uncertain economy, the only way I will shell out money for something is if it is truly novel and something that hasn't been done before. But you can't ask me what is novel and interesting to me, because if I already knew then I would have already made it.

 

[Morrus]

What articles would a good & not free, fanmade D&D magazine have?
In your opinion?

If it’s not free, it’s not fan made (unless you count all publishers as fans, which they usually are). If it’s not free, it’s published, and whoever published it is a publisher.

(Technically a free product is published also, but you get my meaning!)

 

[aco175]

To be good and free might mean different things to everyone. To call it a D&D magazine may also mean different things. When I hear a D&D magazine, I want things that help my game of D&D and not movie reviews or video game stuff- unless it is a way to help play D&D. We have seen Dragon Magazine articles where they take magic items from a video game and turn them into playable magic items and that it fine. Maybe outline a movie to turn it into a campaign or something, but tie everything back to D&D.

To be free might also mean to have free writers and more fan articles. These might come in many different abilities and talents. So some articles I might not find good for my game others might. Maybe you get 50 articles a month to choose from or maybe you get only 5.

Maybe you get advertisements to make things free but also pay for writing. Seems like a good split for both free to consumers and be able to pay for some stuff.

Some stuff I would like might include;

Organizations and how it relates to a place or game.

Religions and how NPCs can interact with the PCs. Maybe more general that made up gods and such, but a local church and why it is there and how the NPCs can help or hinder.

Campaign or adventure ideas. Some sort of starter to help develop things. Maybe you start with a location such as an inn and then provide more ideas.

Small dungeons or side quests such as a 5-room thing or even something to help out the DM when the players want to go left and you planned for them going right.

 

[Morrus]

I’d also note that free D&D magazines (fanzines) have a long and illustrious history. There have been hundreds, if not thousands of them. Heck, even we here at EN World used to make one back in the early 2000s. So looking at past magazines might be a good inspiration—and looking at why few of them last long might be instructional.

 

[Maenalis]

If it’s not free, it’s not fan made (unless you count all publishers as fans, which they usually are). If it’s not free, it’s published, and whoever published it is a publisher.

(Technically a free product is published also, but you get my meaning!)

I rephrased the sentence for him/her.
Care to elaborate on the original question?

What articles would a good & free, fanmade D&D magazine have?​

 

[Maenalis]

I’d also note that free D&D magazines (fanzines) have a long and illustrious history. There have been hundreds, if not thousands of them. Heck, even we here at EN World used to make one back in the early 2000s. So looking at past magazines might be a good inspiration—and looking at why few of them last long might be instructional.

Care to point me to them?

 

[Morrus]

I rephrased the sentence for him/her.
Care to elaborate on the original question?

What articles would a good & free, fanmade D&D magazine have?​

No, it’s not a topic that holds much interest for me. Sorry. I’ve given what insight I have in case it’s of any use. If not, feel free to ignore.

 

[bedir than]

I wouldn’t read a free magazine. If someone goes to the effort to make something for free it’s because they have an axe to grind.

Do you not read blogs, watch youtube, browse social media or read EN World?
That's all free content similar to what would be in a 'zine

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Do you not read blogs, watch youtube, browse social media or read EN World?
That's all free content similar to what would be in a 'zine

Not really, no. I only go to known well established sources. Far too easy to be sucked down a rabbit hole if you aren’t very careful.

EN World is not free of course, it exists to sell stuff.