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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 649038" data-attributes="member: 508">Zaukrie, bolen - Just a quick aside here, and then I'll get back on subject.  As the author of the aforementioned Monster Hunter "Ecology" articles, let me just say that I really appreciate your comments.  I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but Dragon has started printing "Ecology" articles again, the most recent being "The Ecology of the Mummy" and "The Ecology of the Troll."  Unfortunately - and bringing the discussion back to the fiction for a bit - the new format for "Ecology" articles does not include fiction (actually, that's not entirely true; you can still have a couple of "intro" paragraphs of fiction, but that's about it).Sadly, it looks like the days of the Monster Hunters are now behind us.  I, too, have often fantasized that it would be cool to do a Monster Hunters book.  I've even toyed with the idea of updating all of the Monster Hunters "Ecology" articles to Third Edition.  However, there are two problems with that: WotC currently does not accept printed product suggestions from freelancers, and many of the relevant monsters - osquips, jermlaine, etc. - are not Open Game Content, so I couldn't have a different company produce such a book.  Even sadder, I have a couple of new Monster Hunters stories in the old "Ecology as fiction with footnotes" format (hmm, tripping over the alliteration there, aren't I?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />) axed when Dragon switched to its "fictionless Ecology" format, that will probably never see the light of day.  Oh well.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> But, getting back to the subject of this thread, I'm of two minds about fiction in Dragon.  On the one hand, if the story doesn't interest me, many times I'll just skip right past it and not really miss it.  On the other hand, I've read some really good fiction in Dragon over the years.  I liked the latest story, mostly because I've been reading (and enjoying) the Sembia series, and Dave Gross' short story filled in a gap about that variant vampire that had been kind of bugging me.  (Plus, I got to tease him about the two instances of bad language.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />)I'm somewhat of the mind that the fiction doesn't really belong there - as many have already pointed out, there are other magazines devoted to fantasy fiction - but I have to admit to having enjoyed many of the stories I've read there, and wouldn't have read had they not been there.  So, I guess I'm pretty much okay with the status quo as far as fiction in Dragon goes (non-"Ecology" fiction, that is <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />).Johnathan</blockquote>

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