Dungeon #99 - Is the end near?

[Mr. Lobo]

As far as I'm concerned the end has already occurred. As soon as Paizo bumped up the price from $5.99 to $7.99 for newstand price that was it for me.

And no, I'm not going to promise my money ahead of time for product I haven't seen so screw subscriptions. I would have been so pissed at myself if I would have subscribed. Their current product is not what I want.

Besides, there are so many user contributions (FREE) on the web that finding full adventures, adventure seeds, or throwing one together very quickly is fairly easy.

Mr. Lobo

 

[Belen]

I agree with the original poster. Dragon and Dungeon are expensive enough. The last two dungeons that I have purchased have been bad. The adventures are mediocre. Yeah, they weren't that great before, but you use to have a few to choose from. Now they're horrible.

I never wanted a subscription to Polyhedron in the first place. It was fine when it came with your RPGA membership, but now I have to PAY for a bunch of material that I do not want and cannot use in my game.

I still buy Dragon as it remains good. But Dungeon is atrocious, overpriced and with little bang for the buck.

Dave

 

[d12]

I've been an infrequent collector of Dungeon going back to the last days of 2nd edition. The magazine has generally improved in quality during that time. I enjoyed issue #99 a lot.

 

[King_Stannis]

Hey, I thought issue #99 was the best of all-time. Of course I may be a bit biased, as I penned one of the critical threats...

 

[jujutsunerd]

Subscription isn't an option, living in Europe, so those 'freebie' adventures are lost for me, as well.

Um. That's news to me. I'm a european too, and I'm subscribing from the US. (The dual Dragon/Dungeon subscription.) When I totaled the costs, it turned out to be about the same price as buying them at the local gaming store (~$7.5 per issue with my discount) and a *lot* cheaper than buying them at a newsstand (~$14 per issue.)

The subscriber section in Dungeon was a nice bonus too.

/Jonas

 

[SneakyB]

Count me amongst the masses who are getting really put-off by Dungeon. For me, Issue #99 was pure garbage. Although I will never use the content in Poly, I renewed the subscription several months ago for the Dungeon content. I'm sad to say that after this subscription period is over, I absolutely will NOT be renewing unless some things change.

The crux of the matter is that we have seen the price of the magazine increase by ~33%, go monthly, reduce overall page content and on top of all of that flip-flop between content mix. If 40% and alternately 60% of the content is completely useless to me, then I can see no reason to pay for such a subscription. For me, I suspect that after the end of my subscription, I will evaluate purchasing the magazine using the same criteria I do for gaming products, which is pretty stringent.

Additionally, it seems to me as if everyone that writes in to the editor with a letter that negatively comments on the mix, pricing, etc. gets shot down rather rudely with statements such as the following:

"You pay more now, but you still get more adventure material for your gaming dollar than buying nearly any module off the store rack. "

This USED to be the case. I disagree that you get more adventure material. IMO, the quantity and the quality of the content has gone downhill since Paizo took over. This does NOT include issue #100, but let's all keep in mind here that this is a special, anniversary issue and doesn't follow the norms of the other issues.

There's no right or wrong answer or mix here, but I think that Paizo is really frustrating people with their apparent unwillingness to listen to its customer base. Kudos are published as "Hey, we're doing great", but complaints are quickly shot down.

Just my 2 cp,

Dan

 

[Artimoff]

I violently rip the taint of Poli from my Dungeon every month. And then burn it.

I can't stand the thing. When my subscription ends, that's it. I can spend my money elsewhere and get better product.

 

[King_Stannis]

Personally, I like some of the D20 mini-games. My friends and I had a great time doing a "one-shot" game of "Thunderball Rally". Yeah, some of them are hit and miss. Seriously, I think they should cut down one or two of the mini-games and spend those issues supporting previous ones - either with adventures or other material. That way the games aren't just orphans, doomed to live out their waning lives in obscurity.

I heartily disagree about the quality of the adventures. While I can't use all of the adventures as written, I can use a good deal of them either in whole or piecemeal (NPC's from one, maps from another, etc.). So in a sense it is still a very good value to me.

As for them publishing negative letters and then *gasp* defending their efforts, well, what would you have them do? Some of you are saying that you think the quality is crap. Well, okay, but they beg to differ. Are they supposed to say "right you are!" when someone blasts them in a letter?

As with anything like this, you need to vote with your wallet. If enough people drop their subscriptions, then Paizo will know they have a serious problem. As for me, I'm still gonna subscribe because I like the magazine and I think it's a good value despite some "hit and miss" issues.

 

[jmucchiello]

Re: Re: Dungeon #99 - Is the end near?

FWIW, i think Hijinks is one of the best d20 games published to date, by anyone. definitely worth the price of admission. yes, the Dungeon side of things was a little scant this issue, but that's not what i bought the magazine for.

For me it was too incomplete. Hijinks is the world of Josie and The Pussycats: where's Alexander and Alexandria? How do you have a story about a band without ROADIES?!? Sheesh! At least the remembered to allow Handle Animal (I think) to let you speak with aliens, one of my favorite Melody feats.

 

[bwgwl]

I never wanted a subscription to Polyhedron in the first place. It was fine when it came with your RPGA membership, but now I have to PAY for a bunch of material that I do not want and cannot use in my game.

hmmm... i say the same thing about the Dungeon side. i've never used one of their adventures in any campaign of mine, and i most likely never will.

the Polyhedron mini-games are the only reason i buy the magazine.

i guess you can't please everyone.