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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 913016" data-attributes="member: 2013">Suggestions, nto just criticismHere is exactly what I want from Dungeon.  They're my opinions, and only my own, but rather than just offer criticism, I'll offer suggestions, too.Suggestion #1: Stop thinking of Dungeon and Dragon as Magazines in the sense that you think of Time or Newsweek or Csomo.  Dungeon and Dragon are NOT, repeat, are NOT "conventional magazines" and need not position themselves as such.  They are niche products, meant to appeal to gamers who are, on the whole, already familiar with the product.  New subscribers will, in virtual certainty in each case, be drawn from the ranks of existing gamers, not the public at large.  I would suggest that over 99% of the Dragon/Dungeon readership gets into Dragon/Dungeon because they're already into D&D - they don't get into D&D because they're into Dragon/Dungeon.Suggestion #2: With this in mind, the first thing that ought to go - at least in Dungeon - is full color.  As gamers, we don't expect much outside of the core rulebooks to be done in color.  It's a nice bonus, but we're used to B&W.  We don't feel ripped off by it.  If you feel like the maps deserve color, maybe put them in an insert section - I prefer clean, uncluttered B&W maps, myself, but I know some people prefer color with lots of flash (and thereby cluttered, IMO).  But the maps are a neutral decision, IMO. Color or BW are fine with me.  But the rest of the magazine doesn't need it - I don't pick up Module X from Company Y and expect a full-color interior.  This alone will drop costs immensely.Suggestion #3: Lose the Glossy Paper and for heaven's sake, lose the page borders!  I use the margins in my adventures to note my own little changes, or note what the adventurers have done, etc.  IMO, a little white space in the margins of an adventure is a good thing.  It lets me customize things for my campaign.  And losing the glossy paper lets me write in pencil for later erasure... and cuts costs.Suggestion #4: Cut the ads down a touch... and cut Polyhedron down to as little of the content as possible.  I am going to hazard a guess here, but my guess is that the vast majority of your *paid* subscriber revenue base upon merging the two magazines came from Dungeon, not Polyhedron.  If I'm wrong here, ignore this suggestion.  But focus on the Dungeon aspect, not the Polyhedron aspect of the magazine if this is indeed the case... don't go for an overall 50/50 split (60/40 alternating each month averages to 50/50); instead, aim for a 75/25 Dungeon/Poly split (and that may be too heavy on the Poly).  Cut the comics.  Cut anything "cute."  This is DUNGEON - we want DUNGEONS (and adventures in general, but anything that is not an adventure or directly related to one is pretty much worthless IMO).Swapping from full-color, glossy, bordered paper to B&W, no border, regular paper will drive your cost down considerably (I figure that B&W interior art will be cheaper than Full Color interior art, too - which drives production costs down even further).  Above all: remember, you're not really in the Magazine business with Dungeon - you're really in the "3 or 4 adventure modules per month" business - you just happen to have a core of subscribers who are those who will buy your offerings each month - treat Dungeon as such (i.e., not "magazine" but "module-producing company").If you consider the above changes, you're much more likely to make a product that (a) has significantly higher profit margins due to lowered production costs, (b) will return the focus of the periodical to Dungeons, (c) add little "value added" things that gamers don't usually consciously notice (e.g., the "notes in the margin") - and that you probably don't always realize are in fact value-adders (remember, adding too much actually can drive down value; cutting away excess stuff can in fact be a value-added feature) and (d) appeals to me personally. <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=";)" />--The Sigil</blockquote>

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