Agnostic Paladin
First Post
First off, I buy Dungeon (well, try to; 99 still hasn't shown up) for Dungeon. I read Poly, skim the minigame, and then flip it over to see what I can use in Dungeon.
I dislike the idea of subscriber only content, if only because I feel ripped off when I consider grabbing it off the newstand when it fails to arrive.
I do like the glossy maps and full page artwork, but would give them up if b&w production saved Paizo money. As to Erik's comment that it would hurt newstand sales, I ask only: what newstand sales? I'm only aware of one newstand in my entire city of 600,000 people that carries it, and they're a specialty shop - magazines are all they sell, and they get in 6 copies each of Dungeon and Dragon and usually have one left the day before the next issue hits. No bookstores carry it either. I can get it at comic and game shops, but that's a different story from newstands and convienience stores selling it. (Which some were a year and half ago).
I understand that Mr. Wilson felt that combining the magazines was the only way to save them, but I have to wonder if they couldn't survive individually if they each had more content?
The minigames (as far as I know) didn't exist before the merger; with those, support for earlier mini games, material for the entire d20 market (as the RPGA isn't supposed to be about just D&D is it?), improved LG material and perhaps the reviews that Dragon gave up on long ago, Poly could be a proper magazine instead of the pamphlet it was before the merge. Even now, it must be filling that page count increase from the new monthly format somehow.
Likewise, Dungeon could be expanded to a more widely useful product. Keep 3-5 adventures of varying setting and power levels, then add critical threats, side treks, maps of mystery (a favourite of mine), allies, town settings, single interesting buildings, odd natural locations (a magical glade or somesuch); the ideas for new sections are endless, and many have been mentioned in this very thread. The existing adventures can be beefed up with new types of sidebars as well. Right after the adapting the adventure sidebar, have a "expanding into a campaign" sidebar detailing ideas on expanding the plot of the adventure into an ongoing campaign story arc or complete campaign; include ideas on other adventures (from prior and future Dungeons, print and online adventures, both from Wizards and other d20 publishers), have notes on suggested changes for people with various non-core rulebooks, like the Fiend Folio does.
Every action that Paizo has taken with these magazines seems to have been made from a siege mentality as an attempt to delay what the publisher seems to have always felt was the inevitable cancellation of the magazines. What is needed is an effort to thrive, as the desperate attempts to merely survive aren't helping. The Hasbro axemen aren't there anymore, so Paizo should stop ducking.
I dislike the idea of subscriber only content, if only because I feel ripped off when I consider grabbing it off the newstand when it fails to arrive.
I do like the glossy maps and full page artwork, but would give them up if b&w production saved Paizo money. As to Erik's comment that it would hurt newstand sales, I ask only: what newstand sales? I'm only aware of one newstand in my entire city of 600,000 people that carries it, and they're a specialty shop - magazines are all they sell, and they get in 6 copies each of Dungeon and Dragon and usually have one left the day before the next issue hits. No bookstores carry it either. I can get it at comic and game shops, but that's a different story from newstands and convienience stores selling it. (Which some were a year and half ago).
I understand that Mr. Wilson felt that combining the magazines was the only way to save them, but I have to wonder if they couldn't survive individually if they each had more content?
The minigames (as far as I know) didn't exist before the merger; with those, support for earlier mini games, material for the entire d20 market (as the RPGA isn't supposed to be about just D&D is it?), improved LG material and perhaps the reviews that Dragon gave up on long ago, Poly could be a proper magazine instead of the pamphlet it was before the merge. Even now, it must be filling that page count increase from the new monthly format somehow.
Likewise, Dungeon could be expanded to a more widely useful product. Keep 3-5 adventures of varying setting and power levels, then add critical threats, side treks, maps of mystery (a favourite of mine), allies, town settings, single interesting buildings, odd natural locations (a magical glade or somesuch); the ideas for new sections are endless, and many have been mentioned in this very thread. The existing adventures can be beefed up with new types of sidebars as well. Right after the adapting the adventure sidebar, have a "expanding into a campaign" sidebar detailing ideas on expanding the plot of the adventure into an ongoing campaign story arc or complete campaign; include ideas on other adventures (from prior and future Dungeons, print and online adventures, both from Wizards and other d20 publishers), have notes on suggested changes for people with various non-core rulebooks, like the Fiend Folio does.
Every action that Paizo has taken with these magazines seems to have been made from a siege mentality as an attempt to delay what the publisher seems to have always felt was the inevitable cancellation of the magazines. What is needed is an effort to thrive, as the desperate attempts to merely survive aren't helping. The Hasbro axemen aren't there anymore, so Paizo should stop ducking.
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