A Replacement for DRAGON?

[Mark CMG]

I'd love to see a dozen eZines come out to fill the void and let the best rise to the top, perhaps becoming a print/subscription magazine when they've proved their worth.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

I think it's, at best, an uphill battle, and at worst a fool's errand.

That said, I respect a particularly determined fool.

Gareth, if you were to try to get such a beast up-and-running, I'd not only take a gander at it as a fan, I might be willing to be a part of the process. If this ever gets past the "pipe dream" stage and you're looking for help and/or words, shoot me an e-mail.

I like it when someone else sums up my feelings so well for me.

What Ari said, with my name instead of his.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'd love to see a dozen eZines come out to fill the void and let the best rise to the top, perhaps becoming a print/subscription magazine when they've proved their worth.

So far, nothing stands out.

 

[Ghendar]

So tell me: With DRAGON and DUNGEON gone the way of the Dodo, would you be interested in an OGL-based magazine that attempted to fill that niche? Should someone give it a go?

Well, anyone is free to give it a shot but without those two magic words, (Dragon and Dungeon) brand name recognition and all that, not to mention ties to WotC, any new mag will be hard pressed to build and maintain a viable readership. Paizo has the best shot with Pathfinder. They have the track record of producing (for the most part in general terms) high quality D&D magazines in the form of Dungeon and Dragon. This should give Pathfinder the edge in becoming a viable longterm mag. The only drawback I'm seeing right now is the price.

 

[Xyanthon]

I would love to see a replacement for Dragon. I think a general OGL magazine is just what the market has been needing. I know that D&D is far and away the most widely known and played RPG and Dragon benefitted from the official content. However, there is so much more going on in the industry. Remember when Dragon had supporting articles for games other than D&D? I'd love to see a return to that. For instance, a M&M feature, an indy gaming scene feature, an OGL Fantasy feature, and a modern feature, a board game feature, reviews and comics all in one mag would be awesome. As much as I love D&D, I'd love to see someone like Paizo do a mag that threw some attention to others like Green Ronin and Fantasy Flight (not to mention Necro, Troll Lords, Goodman and oh so many more). I really think it could be pulled off right now.

 

[Ranger REG]

I would love to see a replacement for Dragon. I think a general OGL magazine is just what the market has been needing.

Many have tried in the past, Campaign and Gaming Frontier are just two examples of OGL-supported print magazines. Mongoose circulates Signs & Portents, which is its own in-house magazine.

 

[philreed]

Someone would have to run a trademark search but "DRAGONS" sounds like a good name to me.

 

[Ghendar]

Remember when Dragon had supporting articles for games other than D&D? I'd love to see a return to that. .

My recollection is that most people who read Dragon didn't want that. They wanted D&D focussed material. Every time they tried it, it failed and in the end the focus of the mag was brought right back to D&D.

[imo]
The magazine you describe would likely suffer from not having enough of a focus. Fewer people will be interested in a magazine with such broad appeal.
[/imo]

 

[JoeGKushner]

Many have tried in the past, Campaign and Gaming Frontier are just two examples of OGL-supported print magazines. Mongoose circulates Signs & Portents, which is its own in-house magazine.

Not to mention two versions of En World in print.

People love to talk and hate to pay.

 

[Mark CMG]

So far, nothing stands out.

Well, obviously both Dragon and Dungeon magazines stood out.

People love to talk and hate to pay.

That's why I suggested a different model when I posted on this subject elsewhere (pardon me for self-quoting) -

The best bet is for anyone who has the resources to set up some sort of periodical as a mouthpiece for their lines of products, sold if you can, free if you cannot. With the Internet, the ability to get it into the hands of more customers than you need to make your bottom line is well within your reach. Those with the highest quality and/or the most useful content will be given a share of the market's time.

It is, again obvious IMO, that trying to be an RPG magazine that appeals to all people in the RPGing community is an especially difficult thing to do, particularly without the "Official D&D" seal of approval on the cover, so the model of the magazine would need to be different even if the focus and purpose were to remain.