An Open Letter to Dragon and Dungeon Readers

[AFGNCAAP]

I'd really like to see the Maps of Mystery/Global Positioning stuff continue, because it definitely makes my life easier when designing dungeons/locales on the fly.

I really liked the d20 Modern stuff because it allowed me to establish a new/unique location, and it limited player knowledge on the locale, as opposed to using/recycling an actual real-world place for an event ("Which mall are we at? Oh yeah, I know another way in, it's always been there."). Besides, I often used the d20 Modern maps for my Marvel game more often than for a d20 Modern game.

 

[Emirikol]

I'd really like to see the Maps of Mystery/Global Positioning stuff continue, because it definitely makes my life easier when designing dungeons/locales on the fly..

When I put campaigns together, I make a list of a couple adventures that will be run, as well as the issues of Maps of Mystery that I can quickly reference. The latter are placed on the list under "Emergency Maps!"

The latest MOM's have been awesome!

On another line, I'm getting excited to see this new stuff. If it's really as useful as it looks like it will be, maybe I'll require that my players purchase a subscription of Dragon magazine for the group reference library instead of me just buying it for myself. What is it? $45? That's about $6.40 for each player. Heh.

jh

 

[MarkAHart]

Kudos to Paizo Publishing

I have had nothing but positive experiences in all my interactions with Paizo Publishing -- specifically, DRAGON and DUNGEON magazine. I had a question regarding my DRAGON subscription, and Paizo's subscription fulfillment service contacted me back with the info only an hour later.

I also have nothing but high praise for the editors and staff at DRAGON and DUNGEON. E-mail queries are answered in a stunningly brief time -- sometimes in the same hour they were sent. Specifically, kudos especially to editor-in-chief Matthew Sernett, and assistant editor, Mike McArtor. These guys are doing a fantastic job.

Given the usualy tremendous, overwhelming workload of most magazines, the fact that the editors and staff respond so quickly is a very good sign. Judging from the time stamp of some of their messages, they put in some pretty lengthy hours in the office.

I believe the new direction of these two magazines will be worthwhile and hold great promise.

 

[johnnype]

I'm happy to say that I just resubscribed to both magazines for another year. I really don't understand some of the bellyaching on this thread. Does anyone really expect to find every single article in either magazine useful all of the time? That's unrealistic and simpleminded.

I see Dragon and Dungeon as a series of informative articles about my favorite hobby. Some of the articles I'll use right away. Others articles, later, when they become useful. A number of them I'll never use but I still enjoy. At least most of them. Silicon Sorcery, (I think that's what it's called) the articles that adapt computer RPG's for use in pen and paper D&D, is the only set of articles that I find a waste of ink. But I understand that others like the monthly feature and can see why they want to keep it. It's not for me but that doesn't invalidate the entire magazine.

I think readers need to realize that the magazines can not service each of our needs perfectly. Paizo needs to go with what makes the most people happy. They need to go with what sells. That might mean that ocasional issues are not specifically taylored to your interests. That hardly makes the magazine useless or otherwise not worth buying. I buy Dragon and Dungeon because I enjoy them. I also buy them to support the hobby.

 

[Ranger REG]

Most of us realized that already. I wish Paizo good luck in their endeavor. For now, the only useful thing I find worth purchasing from them is Dragon. Nothing more.

 

[Arnwyn]

Does anyone really expect to find every single article in either magazine useful all of the time? That's unrealistic and simpleminded.

A neither deep nor insightful comment. I didn't see anyone say (nor even imply) that throughout this entire thread - even from those who are "bellyaching".

I'm not entirely sure what your point is.

 

[Welverin]

I asked this question nearly a month ago and Was'nt given the courtesy of a official answer. I ask again, what will be done with Christopher West's maps? Does he, or Paizo, have the copyright on them

You might want to start a new thread, just make sure to use the Dungeon tag and maybe toss Erik's name in there.

This thread has gotten rather long, which may have something to do with the non-answer.

 

[Mapmaker]

Just stumbled across this old thread and thought I should chime in, however belatedly:

I have'nt read the entire thread yet so pardon me if this was already asked. What will happen to Christopher West's Global Positioning maps? The maps and the minigames were my favorite part of Poly. A few months ago, maybe longer, Eric Mona said in another thread that they had enough of his Modern maps for roughly another year and a half. Hopefully, they can be put on WOTC's website as a 'Map of the Week' feature

We never had a huge backlog of Global Positioning maps, but we did (and still do) have a list of map IDEAS so long that it could have kept the feature running for several years without recycling a location. It's actually longer now than it was when we started; new ideas for map locations would spring to mind or be suggested by fans faster than I could crank out the maps themselves.

All is not necessarily lost for this map series. Global Positioning may be in stasis for the time being, but I think it's safe to say that I haven't made my last modern map. I'll post news on my website if and when there is ever a continuation or collection of the series.

In the meantime, I'm quite pleased to be doing more fantasy work for Dungeon, and Wizards of the Coast has been keeping me knee-deep in Star Wars materials for the upcoming miniatures game.

I'm really honored that you folks think so highly of my work, and I hope that you'll continue to check out Dungeon and see what we've been up to.

I'm going to miss Polyhedron greatly, but I recognize the necessity of these changes and respect Paizo's decision. They have a lot of cool features in store for Dungeon, and I can't wait to start exploring the new content.