Fear!

[The_Universe]

Polyhedron was puny in this months Dungeon/Poly....really felt jipped due to the low amount of content there--and the space that WAS devoted to Poly was MORE D&D info! ARGH! Can't you put the Living Greyhawk stuff in the Dungeon side? DMs not doing the living thing can use it as a regular adventure, while those that are can have their living greyhawk fun! Yay! A few measly pages for Non-D&D D20 is NOT enough!

However, the pages that WERE devoted to "real" Polyhedron stuff were great! My compliments to Moridin for the great throwback to '80s cartoons like GI Joe and MASK. FEAR may be a direct ripoff of COBRA, with the Overlord a cross between COBRA Commander and Skeletor, but that article was a blast to read--and it gave real support to a major part of D20 that has practically nothing going for it in the industry. Thanks to Rodney Thompson! Paizo, keep hiring him--he writes stuff I want to read!

That's all, really--I want more FEAR, less Greyhawk! Who's with me?!?!

 

[JPL]

Dungeon/Poly tries to be a lot of things to a lot of people. The balance of coverage, no matter what it is, will always be too much X and not enough Y for some folks' tastes.

Me, I'd buy a full magazine of minigames and d20 Modern every month and not miss the D&D stuff at all.

But there's some guy out there who wants nothing but Greyhawk. And he cancels me out.

I am looking forward to FEAR. I can only hope Rod will do a followup with the good guys...

Edit: Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like that idea. A special multibranch task force with strange backgrounds, unusual skills, and catchy nicknames, with bleeding-edge technology. A commander with a blonde buzzcut [Strong 5 / Charismatic 5 / Soldier 10], a mysterious ninja [Strong 2 / Fast 2 / Infiltrator 6 / Martial Artist 10] to serve as mentor ot all the PCs ninjas [and there will be many]...

Mr. Thompson, America needs your help.

 

[The_Universe]

I'll vote for a write up of the good guys, as well. I wonder how close to GI Joe it will be...?

As for the state of the magazine as a whole, it's really not an issue of Polyhedron trying to be a lot of things for a lot of people, I think it's a matter of the now-combined Dungeon/Polyhedron trying to be all of those things. Unfortunately, it seems like Paizo has decided that all of the give in the give-and-take equation has to come out of Poly, and none from Dungeon.

If you're the kind of DM/GM that likes to run games out of Dungeon (but doesn't really care if it's a generic, it's in the realms, it's in greyhawk, or whatever), why not run one that's also serving someone's Living Greyhawk fix?

If you're a big greyhwak fan, one of the hardcore living gamers that needs his or her fix, do you really care if that fix is on the Polyhedron side, and not the Dungeon side?

It seems a little silly to me to say that Polyhedron has to be a lot of things, and Dungeon doesn't--especially since for better or worse, it's all just one magazine, now.

It really seems like Paizo is killing one brand (Polyedron) without really strengthening the other (Dungeon).

Any thoughts?

PS--I would also by a monthly magazine that was all D20 minigames. I thought last month's DarkMatter treatment was awesome, but WAY too short...V for Victory seemed to have a lot more pages, and there were already a couple of D20 RPGs out there with a WWII theme! I want more stuff I can't get elsewhere! I may never use Deathnet or the Scooby Doo/Josie and the Pussycats ripoff from a few months ago, but I liked that it was something different--somebody doing something really creative with D20.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Thanks for all the comments, guys! I'm really glad you liked the FEAR article, I worked really hard on it. If you want to see more, just tell Erik Mona (polyhedron@paizo.com). I really like the idea of doing an organization for their antagonists -- the GI Joe to FEAR's COBRA. I'll see what I can do about that.

Yes, FEAR is an homage to COBRA and MASK, and the old 80's cartoons. If you didn't know already, I grew up in the 80's as one of those kids with a bunch of toys and an imagination based on cartoons. Erik and I actually discussed it at GenCon and I think it turned out well. Obviously, since you liked it, it did!

As for the nature of Polyhedron, I don't know what to think. The folks at Paizo seem to think that the magazine couldn't stand on its own, nor could Dungeon. I'll buy that; they have no reason to lie to us, readers or freelancers. But you know what, I'd buy a subscription to JUST Polyhedron if they did it right.

Here's what I envision as a Polyhedron that works on its own. Every month you have a d20 minigame; stuff like Dark*Matter, DeathNet, etc. Not changing anything about that format. In addition to the minigame, every month you have an article for d20 Modern, Star Wars, Spycraft, Mutants and Masterminds, and any other big time d20 games that are not D&D. You make those regular columns, with one of each of those every month. Then you keep some of the big, popular features like Global Positioning as well. I don't know how much room that leaves in the magazine, but you find articles to fill in the gaps. Leave the Living Greyhawk Journal to Dungeon. But if you have all these features every month, fans of those games will pick it up or get a subscription. At least, I know I would.

I'd like to see an all-purpose d20 magazine because Dungeon and Dragon give us tons of D&D material and there's almost nothing for non-D&D games.

 

[The_Universe]

I certainly don't think that there's any conscious anti-Polyhedron conspiracy on the part of Paizo publishing. I just think that the formula they've chosen poorly serves the part of the magazine that I most care about.

I think your idea of a REAL D20 magazine is a great one, Moridin. I, like you, would get a subscription RIGHT NOW if such a thing existed. As it is, I can't help but wonder if a minigame that gets shorted on pages every other month is enough for me to renew my Dungeon/Poly subscription when the time comes.

As for the FEAR article (the original reason I posted), it REALLY brought to mind a 5-year-old The Universe BEGGING my dad to let me rent the GI Joe VHS one more time...Even though the show paled in comparison to the comic, GI Joe had really memorable good guys AND bad guys...everybody had a niche, and the bad guys sometimes fought eachother...Awesome.

...If only you had included guns that shot harmless beams of light, rather than bullets...the kind of guns that LOOK like regular firearms, but are in fact incapable of shooting people, only the precariously held rocks above them.

Come to think of it, THAT'S just begging for a Mini-game!

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, ever since late last summer when they decided to cut down the mini-games from 6 times a year to 4, while devoting more pages in the 100-page issue toward the Dungeon side, I can no longer support the magazine as I have in 2002. That is when I disgustingly add my voice to those who prefer divorcing Poly from Dungeon and vice versa. (Yeah, it's like siding with the enemy camp.)

With all due respect, Moridin, I now find myself being more reluctant to pick up any Dungeon/Poly magazine that does not have a mini-game inside. I mean it's bad enough I'm spending $7 per issue when I'm only getting $3 worth of good material in the form of a mini-game. It's worse when the non-mini-game issue does not have more Star Wars support material as promised.

As for the Dungeon readers, cry me a river. I'd like nothing more than to buy Paizo and stop printing Dungeon so I can reassign manpower and company resource to the "definitive d20" magazine.

 

[The_Universe]

I don't think you're disrespecting Moridin at all, REG. I don't think that any of us would disagree that even the best short article in Polyhedron could benefit from some additional material to support it.

It wouldn't be so bad if when the Minigames came out, they were really fleshed out--almost real games, instead of minigames. But, despite the decrease in yearly minigames, the games themselves get shorter instead of longer. Bad form, I say!

Isn't there SOMEONE out in the publsihing world that can give us a magazine for D20?!

 

[Stormborn]

Chiming in as both a subscriber to Dungeon/Poly and Dragon and an occasional gaming freelancer, I would fully support a non-DnD d20 based magazine. Articles and Minigames in combination. Not just d20 Modern either,although I am all for it, why not expand to other OGL or WotC material? FEAR stats for Mutants and Masterminds seems obvious.

 

[Ranger REG]

It wouldn't be so bad if when the Minigames came out, they were really fleshed out--almost real games, instead of minigames. But, despite the decrease in yearly minigames, the games themselves get shorter instead of longer. Bad form, I say!

Unless they plan to add new supporting articles to the mini-game of the season. For example, January issue we got a mini-game, followed by two more articles that support the mini-game in both February and March issues (one article each).

Isn't there SOMEONE out in the publsihing world that can give us a magazine for D20?!

Well, we have EN World Player Journal. If we can support the startup magazine, it can rival that of Dragon. Then there's Gaming Frontier magazine, which is ad-free but $20 an issue.

Lastly, Campaign magazine tried to be an independant d20 gaming magazine and tried every gimmick including theme of the month, despite the magazine's appearance is similar to that of Shadis (staple-bound, with interior pulp-like material). Fast Forward decided to turn it into an in-house magazine promoting their products (at least it is not as focused as Dragon). The same goes for Sign & Portent magazine, which supports and promote Mongoose products (not anyone specific).

 

[The_Universe]

Unless they plan to add new supporting articles to the mini-game of the season. For example, January issue we got a mini-game, followed by two more articles that support the mini-game in both February and March issues (one article each).

Okay--let's assume that this is a fair substitute for the now-gone longer minigames like Pulp Heroes. Where is Dark*Matter's support? My dungeon/poly for the subsequent month is in my lap as I type this, and I see no support article to make up for the quickly fading memory of Dark*Matter.

As for the Player's Journal, it's a good publication, and I laud everyone who takes part in its creation--but it's a competitor for Dragon, nto Dungeon. I'm looking for something that'll give me what Polyhedron was at its best...D20 minigames, and coverage of non-D&D D20 games on the market.