An Open Letter to Dragon and Dungeon Readers

[JoeBlank]

Regarding package deals, or discounts for multiple subscriptions:

It's something that we are working on now. I'm not sure when we'll have it all ready to go, but it's a great idea that we want to implement!

Keith Strohm
Vice President
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Great! Thanks! My Dragon subscription runs for a few more months, and I will just continue to pick up Dungeon from my FLGS, and then decide whether to do a combo subscription.

 

[Keith F Strohm]

Don't you mean mini-gamers and computer gamers?

Having read that letter I've decided I'll be saving some money each month as well. First of they are removing all the Polyhedron content (to be fair this has often been so Fantasy orientate in recent issue as to be near useless), and yet not significantly increasing the number of Dungeon adventures, so you pay the same for less. Then they are adding computer and wargame articles to Dragon, and so must remove RPG content to find the space, again pay the same for less.

We the good news is I won't have trouble with subscriptions anymore since I don't intend to have one.

Bagpuss,

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the "new" Dragon should continue to have generally the same amount of content devoted to D&D computer games, D&D miniatures, and other D&D-related games as it currently does. You won't be missing out on any of your RPG content.

I also believe that you'll find the RPG articles even more useful than you might now. To say that Dragon is the source of information and content related to Dungeons & Dragons is decidedly not to say that it's RPG content will be weaker or less apparent.

Check out Issue #324 and give us your feedback.

Keith Strohm
Vice President
Paizo Publishing, LLC

 

[Keith F Strohm]

While I'm not too thrilled about the added computer game material (I just don't have the time to play computer or console games), I can fully respect and understand why Dragon may want to take this rout. There are 180 million people that play computer games and it's a $10 billion industry. I don't think table-top games are even close to those numbers.

I think that Paizo just wants to tap into that market. Heck, who's to blame them. If a video gamer picks up Dragon to get some information and is drawn into playing table-top RPGs, then article has done its job.

However... If anyone has read Dragon for more than 10 years, we all know the magazine continues to change its format. (I still miss the Ares section.) This shouldn't be surprising, and it's just another indicator of how a specialty magazine can survive being around for a few decades.

The article where I got those numbers:
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,63449,00.html

Also, keep in mind that the computer game content in Dragon, which will stay about where it is now in terms of number of pages, will focus on D&D comouter games or games with some serious relevance to the D&D brand and RPG players.

Keith Strohm
Vice President
Paizo Publishing, LLC

 

[Piratecat]

This communication is very valuable, Keith; thank for letting us know ahead of time what your plan is.

 

[Keith F Strohm]

I like the changes to Dungeon. The minigames were kind of cool, but my group would never play them. I think some d20 modern adventures would have gone a long way toward getting me to play that game.

Dragon--Well, I don't currently subscribe, and don't plan to do so. Prestige class every issue? There are already 10000 of them, so who needs more? Same with feats, and character classes, etc. I would be more likely to pick up Dragon if it had more player advice, and sections on the different games (d20 Modern, d20 Future, etc).
IMO, I would like to see all "crunch" game content in Dragon/Dungeon be OGL. Why would you not do this, since the magazine shelf life is so short?

MrCharm,

The list of Dragon content in the open letter is illustrative and not exhaustive. Dragon will also have player advice content ad a balance between pure crunch and pure fluff.

Keith Strohm
Vice President
Paizo Publishing, LLC

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Great news for the D&D player in me...but horrible news for the Star Wars player. We lost Gamer(which was great) and now we've lost Poly...*sigh* Ah well.

 

[Piratecat]

Keith, can you explain the rationale for not including more OGL material in Dragon? I suspect that doing so would boost sales and good will, but there might be economics or politics that I'm missing.

 

[Painfully]

After reading the initial post, I'm excited to hear that many of the problems I've had with Dungeon/Poly be addressed. In fact, my initial reaction was to jump with joy and yell like a foreign football (aka soccer) announcer screaming, "SCOOOO...(keep going for about 30 seconds here)...OOOOOOOOOOOOORE!"

Now, after carefully reading ALL 8 PAGES of posts, I'd like to list my one, perhaps premature, complaint about Dungeon.

Adding articles in Dungeon is bad.

That's like putting a D&D adventure in Dragon every month which, while not bad, befits the purpose of Dungeon Magazine! Why does everything have to be a half-this or half-that these days?! This isn't a new half-race!

The thought of articles in Dungeon makes me reconsider the initial good news I had about the removal of Poly. I rely on Dungeon for the adventure material, not articles! The one and only series of articles I thought might be appropriate was the original Dungeoncraft, and still I prefered it in the pages of Dragon.

Dragon Magazine provides articles of interest related to the D&D game! Dungeon Magazine provides quality adventures for the D&D game! There's a very elegant simplicity involved here that doesn't need to be "redifined" every time a person at Paizo gets an itch. *sigh*

Unfortunately, this means I must reserve my jubilation over Dungeon Magazine.

The three adventures a month is definitely a plus. But if they are more like two adventures, and a critical threat, or some other "encounter" instead of an adventure, then I'll be reserving my subscription.

Is it really that difficult to understand what the fans of Dungeon want most?

Articles in Dungeon, bad. Adventures in Dungeon, good.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Thumbs Up

Keith, that is all great news, and I am impressed by the open communication. Thanks for all the hard work from you, Lisa, the editors and everyone else at Paizo.

 

[shadowlight]

Well, I'm definitely dropping my subscription to Dungeon. oh well. The end of an era I guess.