Dragon Magazine: Crunch vs. Fluff - What do you want?

[Nightfall]

Gly,

I want you to tell me everything that refers to Orcus in Dragon #346!

 

[Faraer]

I want to see stuff like the old Pages for Mages or the current Demonomicon articles. A good fluff story and background that is independant of setting and easily dropped into my world with crunch describing the items, creatures, and spells in the fluff.

Both your examples are clearly set in specific, known settings -- and no less easily dropped into your world for it.

 

[Swordsage]

Why is the fluff in a FR/GH/Eberron article not as useful as the fluff in my totally made-up Swordsagia world if I write an article for Dragon? Why is my Swordsagia stuff more easy to adapt than FR/GH/Ebrron content? Personally, I don't think it is. It always comes down to names - people and places mostly. So it's just as easy to change Elminster or Mordenkainen as it is to change Talroth of Swordsagia. If we do get more fluff (and I hope that we do - Erik & co. seem to be on the right track) then make it campaign-world specific more often than not. Let it have some utility to other fans - something a totally new, generic landscape simply won't.

The Swordsage

 

[Steel_Wind]

Honestly? Right now?

I want what Erik wants to give us.

I questioned the entire relevancy of Dragon here on this forum about 18 months back. Erick came in - heard me out - asked me (and others) to be patient and promised changes.

The man's turned Dragon around to the point where it has not been better since Kim Mohan and first edition.

Crunch v fluff? Meh. Do your thing Erik.

 

[Hussar]

I lean a little heavier on the crunch side. But, fluff is great as well. As Shade said, the Demonomicon articles are a fantastic balance. Unlike many of the detractors, I LIKE the class articles in the back. While I might not use all of them, I certainly get use out of one or two every issue. Since I don't buy books all that often, crunch heavy doesn't bother me. It's not like I have much to compare it to. Dragon is frequently the source for my new crunch.

Take the Staff Familiars article from a ways back. This was a pretty crunch heavy article, but, it was one of the best articles ever. Well developed and thought out. It's seen almost instant use in my games. That's how I judge an article. Does it get used?

Probably the absolute most useful thing to me would be a yearly index included in the subscription so that I could FIND the bloody articles later.

 

[chaotix42]

As long as fluff and crunch go hand in hand I'm happy. I like it when there's some crunch to represent things from the fluff for the game, and when there's some fluff for things that are purely crunch.

Just crunch is good too; I love the Class Acts articles and the feats they present. I love fluff as well; any fluff for Eberron will do, or generic fluff built to be integrated in any game is welcome. Fluff for other settings has to be particularly well written for me to enjoy it. For instance, the Forgotten Realms short stories do nothing for me. The Core Beliefs articles are excellent, however.

*EDIT* An index would make me a subscriber for life. And after that long, an index for all the indexes would be nice.

 

[pogre]

Honestly? Right now?

I want what Erik wants to give us.

I questioned the entire relevancy of Dragon here on this forum about 18 months back. Erick came in - heard me out - asked me (and others) to be patient and promised changes.

The man's turned Dragon around to the point where it has not been better since Kim Mohan and first edition.

Crunch v fluff? Meh. Do your thing Erik.

Do you happen to have a link to this thread?

I'm not trying to call Erik out, but I do want to read his response. My thread about why do people buy Dragon was an honest inquiry. I wanted to know about the changes and if folks were digging them. And perhaps most selfishly, I wanted to know if it would get me interested in Dragon again.

 

[Xyanthon]

I think right now the magazine is really got what I was looking fore (more fluff than crunch). The Demonomicon articles are fantastic and other staples like Ecology of the... that I tended to gloss over in the past are starting to capture more of my interest. I used to have a subscription about three years ago but I let it lapse. However, over the past seven months or so, I've been picking it up off the news stand and about a week ago I renewed my subscription and subscribed to Dungeon as well. I think Eric and the Piazo gang are really doing a great job and have really turned the magazine around.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I prefer a close balance. There are some really great mechanical elements appearing in Dragon these days, especially in the Class Acts feature, but I also really enjoy lengthy articles of flavour, like the Core Beliefs series which might have a spell or two, or a magic item, or a feat associated with the deity.

Actually, one of the best examples of the balance I love is the Demonomicon articles themselves: plenty of "fluff" on a demon lord's history and goals and relationships, but also a healthy dose of "crunch" in terms of a thrall prestige class, associated monsters, and magic items.

The only thing I might add to the Demonomicon format for general application would be switching out the thrall prestige class for substitution levels, alternate class features, or feats, as appropriate. Substition levels are excellent - they were used to great effect in the articles on the Sun and the Moon back in February.

 

[Shade]

Do you happen to have a link to this thread? .

Here ya go: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=123699