D&D Magazine Articles: ‘Idea’ or ‘Rules’ Articles Preferred?

[Methuslah]

D&D Magazine Articles: ‘Idea’ or ‘Rules’ Articles Preferred?

As some of you know, I am setting up a pay-PDF D&D magazine called Almanac (issue 1 coming at the start of July), and in this context I would like to ask the question: which is preferred, idea or rules articles?

In this context, I define ‘rules’ articles as things like new prestige classes, spells, weapons and the like, and ‘idea’ pieces as such things as DM advice, campaign ideas and concepts, thoughts on various aspects of the game. Obviously, there is almost always a great deal of overlap, but I was wondering which was generally preferred, because it will affect the way Almanac will go.

My thoughts at the moment are to proceed with more of an ‘idea-based’ theme, if only because there is already a preponderance of new rules material available on the net, whereas the other sort of piece is rather less common.

My thanks,
Richard Tongue,
Transfinite Publications,
http://www.transfinitepublications.com

 

[Eternalknight]

A mixture of both.

 

[pogre]

I almost never read and never use rules articles. I always read ideas articles.

 

[Psion]

I think magazines fit the "idea article" (better yet, the "utility article") role much better, but I base this on the Dragon and d20 weekly. I have used very few rules in recent dragons outside of the occasional prestige class (they have 4-8 every issue, I think I have used ONE in the last year) and the surprisingly good house rules article by Andy Collins. OTOH, ideas for campaigns and adventures are always welcome and frequently used. Owen K.C. Stephens "Six Dozen Dungeons" in d20 weekly is an awesome article I will use again and again.

In the vein of utility articles, the "name" articles in the dragon see frequent use by me.

 

[apocalypstick]

ideas. i'm always looking for something to stimulate inspiration - there's already such a preponderance of crunchy stuff out there that anymore i skip over everything but flavor text.

 

[der_kluge]

I don't use anything from Dragon, unless it's OGC. And that's rare.

But, I would probably lean more towards world-generic ideas that I could plug into my own game.

 

[der_kluge]

Wow. You're name is Dick Tongue.
Dude, I'm so sorry.

 

[arbados]

Idea's all the way!!! There are so many rules articles that I mostly just pass them by. The only time they get a glance is when they very neatly fit a niche that I need for a module or setting. Of course this is not very often and what I may want or need is not what another may.

Regardless of whether you even use ithe idea in an article it always inspires your imagination and adds to the element of a game.

 

[LostWorldsMike]

Ideas first, rules second... And monsters. I can always use more monsters! Tid bits are very cool; rather than a "complete" adventure, give me bits and pieces that I can drop into my campaign (e.g., an encounter, a location, and NPC, etc.).

 

[yennico]

Tid bits are very cool; rather than a "complete" adventure, give me bits and pieces that I can drop into my campaign (e.g., an encounter, a location, and NPC, etc.).

I always enjoy reading NPCs with a good background story.

Encounter which can be easily dropped into any campaign are always useful. I like unique uses of monsters.

If you want to sell many copies add also some magical items and monsters in each issue.

Just my 2 cents
yennico