D&D 5E Dragon+ magazine is no more.
darjr
I crit!
Here’s the original thread from when issue 41 went up.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
As much as seeing a new print issue of Dragon magazine come out (preferably with a Larry Elmore or Daniel Horne cover) would bring me such joy, I agree.
After finishing Slaying the Dragon, I'll admit that I bought a complete run of Assassin 13. Set me back a whopping third of the cover price of the issues when they were new. More from curiosity than any idea of them becoming collectible.
After finishing Slaying the Dragon, I'll admit that I bought a complete run of Assassin 13. Set me back a whopping third of the cover price of the issues when they were new. More from curiosity than any idea of them becoming collectible.
We feel your pain. It is hard to find new releases, especially after they leave the front page of most sites. If you don't know what to search for, it's impossible to find them.
Every Friday we release a YouTube video covering up to 20 new releases from DM's Guild and DriveThruRPG. Here's the latest:
We also have free 5E content throughout the week on our Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @Splinterverse.
Every Friday we release a YouTube video covering up to 20 new releases from DM's Guild and DriveThruRPG. Here's the latest:
We also have free 5E content throughout the week on our Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @Splinterverse.
Aaaaand subbed.
And this is one of the reasons why there won't be a revived Dragon Magazine. And why even if there were it would likely not be the kind of thing that would make the folks who want a revived Dragon Magazine very happy.
Dragon Magazine in an interesting beast when you look at it over the course of its history. It started as a forum for players of the game to get their ideas out to other gamers as well as a house organ for TSR to publish content themselves. The quality of those ideas and implementations varied quite considerably, as you'd expect given that it was basically the wild west and they needed to push a magazine out every month. Over time the "house organ" aspect grew until by the time Wizards acquired TSR that's almost all it was, and what little non house organ stuff that was still around was axed by Wizards. But with that the articles took on a lot more "officialness" than they were actually worthy of - they still needed to get articles out every month so playtesting and quality control had to take a back burner to "getting a magazine out this month". That's just the nature of the magazine industry. (Nowhere did this become more apparent than in the 4e era, IMO).
DMs Guild has taken the place of the forum for players of the game to get their own ideas published, so the need for Dragon magazine from that angle has disappeared. And as they're opening up settings for third parties to publish with on DM's Guild that model becomes more useful to players than a magazine that Wizards is curating.
And Wizards has a website to act as a house organ - the days when a boutique magazine was a good way to spread word about your products is long past us. On top of that Wizards is not interested in cranking out books of content on a monthly schedule - they've explicitly moved away from that model for a lot of reasons and it's been really successful for them. Having to acquire, edit, playtest, and generally develop a product every month (which is what a new Dragon would be doing) is so far from their current successful model for D&D sales that I can't see them even suggesting doing it.
What we're likely to get are article drops on D&D Beyond periodically that tie into various upcoming or recently released products. That's the "house organ" bit that Dragon used to provide. That, combined with DM's Guild, is basically both prongs of what Dragon used to be.
(Maybe if the D&D Beyond article strategy works for them we'll eventually get a "Best of D&D Beyond" collection out of it. That's the closest to a Dragon Magazine analogue I suspect we're likely to get in print).
Dire Bare
Legend
I agree that WotC is unlikely to start up a revival of Dragon Magazine, in any format.
But I think you're reading a bit much into my post. The appeal of a D&D magazine published by WotC (or under license) over Arcadia, Warlock, or the other D&D 5E magazines is the official stamp of approval. But that doesn't mean that those wanting such a beast need to see something in the same format as the original magazine. Times certainly have changed.
You are right that the DMs Guild takes the place of one of the functions of the classic magazine, the gaming articles authored by the fans. You are also right that we don't need a magazine to give us the news and preview of upcoming D&D products . . . although WotC needs some improvement there IMO.
What would a new magazine do? What would be a good format that would work? It would have to be a different beast than classic Dragon Magazine, and even Dragon+. The uncertainty is one of the reasons WotC won't likely go there, but I do think there is possibility in this space.
Personally, I would love to see a magazine available both physically and digitally, catering to the hobby space rather than the supermarket magazine stands. It would be similar to Pathfinder Monthly, with an adventure and supporting articles. It could include content from the D&D staff, upgraded content from the DMs Guild (re-edited with new artwork), freelance articles, articles with new content, articles supporting D&D releases and settings. Heck, I'd put the digital version of the mag on the DMs Guild website. Would this type of format be successful enough for WotC to invest in it? Maybe, maybe not. I'd dig it though.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
The "official stamp of approval" is blindingly overrated. WotC is no better than any 3rd party company. Their holding of the IP is a paper shield at best.
MichaelSomething
Legend
People didn't like monthly book releases because of bloat but they want monthly releases of a magazine, full of stuff that is similar to what they would find in books? What's the difference?
