Fiction in Dragon magazine??

[Blue_Kryptonite]

Fiction and "What's New" should be banned and all those who supported should be trapped in a room with and endless loop of the the D&D movie forever.

I really like the D&D movie. Its a lot of fun. I was really hoping that there would be a second, but it looks like all the dark-grim-gritty masses have spoken. Those of us who enjoy lighter, more upbeat entertainment have nothing left once all the Buffy drones and "I want to play evil" monkeys are done making sure there's no real place left for us. This is kind of why I'm not buying the new books... their focus has gone to that segment of the new core audience. I've moved my gaming to Silver Age Sentinels. Those guys get it. That said...

I don't think there's a need for fiction in Dragon either. I've ben reading since the early teens and mostly ignored it.

Phil & Dixie coming back, though, was the reason I re-susbcribed.

 

[JeffB]

As someone else said, I wouldn't shed a tear if the fiction was gone, I've never read it, and I started reading the mag in the teens issues. I also think it's a waste of space that could be devoted to gaming articles.

I also don't care for the SW fiction in SW insider..If I want to read a book, I will.

However, I think there is big diff between Fluff gaming content and Fiction...I like fluff ala Ed Greenwoods Elminsters Guide articles and would love to see more articles like that.

Other WOTC games stuff doesn't bother me at all, and I enjoy What's New more than 90% of the articles in Dragon.

IMO of course.

EDIT:Yikes, I cannot type a sentence today.

 

[NeuroZombie]

In my 17 years of gaming, and most of them reading dragon, I think I started one short story over all of that time, and didn't even finish it. I pay for a gaming mag. If I wanted short fantasy fiction, there are still a few high quality fiction mags out there, and thats what I would purchase.

As a side, I DO read fantasy fiction all the time, with a little horro and sci-fi thrown in, I always have a speculative fiction book of some sort on my nightstand.

 

[KnowTheToe]

Soon the fiction in Dragon is going to tie with thread counts about the Ranger!

 

[ced1106]

I can't stand reading fiction, low-brow as that statement may seem. However, I've read comments that gaming fiction isn't as good as other published fiction (so there! My main problem with game fiction is that I'd rather have more game material to read. If I wanted to read fiction, I'd buy a comic book, lol.

**BUT** with the web, the Dragon certainly has an outlet for fiction (plus anything else that couldn't be put in the magazine). Mebbe that's where the fiction should be put.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Welverin]

IMO, if there is so little fan base/demand for a d20modern/GamaWorld/WWII d20 system that is can't support it's own magazine, then there aren't enough people who want to read it.

Funny you say this, because Erik has mentioned that the only way Dungeon or Polyhedron could survive is to combine the two into one magazine. So everything I quoted above can be applied to D&D adventures as well and I'm willing to bet you don't want Dungeon to go away.

[BThose of us who enjoy lighter, more upbeat entertainment have nothing left once all the Buffy drones and "I want to play evil" monkeys are done making sure there's no real place left for us.[/B]

What the hell is wrong with evil monkeys!?

 

[jdavis]

Why do I let myself get dragged into these things...... Ok so for thread 50 zillion on why the fiction in Dragon Magazine causes cancer and is the most horrible thing the world has ever seen.

"Because they have always done it and because it must have support from somewhere".

You see if everybody hated it then it wouldn't be there but if everybody loved every part of everything then the world would explode, everyone will never like 100% of the magazine. Besides who's to say that if they took it out the magazine would just be 10 pages shorter. Obviously there are enough people who like the fiction and probably a lot of people who love the fiction or it wouldn't be there. Just because you see no value in it doesn't mean that there is no value in it and just because it doesn't fit your definition of a gaming magazine doesn't mean that it doesn't fit everybody's definition of a gaming magazine. It's a big world out there full of people who like different things. For me 50% of every Dragon magazine I buy is worthless crap, I don't care for lots of it, I don't have a subscription to it, I buy the magazines that have articles I like or that could be useful to me. Heck I'm not a big fan of the fiction myself but I don't expect the magazine to 100% cater to my wants or taste, I get what I like out of the magazine and just don't read the rest of it, I don't feel cheated at all I buy it for the content I want whether that is 10 pages or 50 pages or even 1 page.

I guess the answer to why the fiction section is there is: "because people want it to be there" When it becomes unwanted then it will go away so I guess that means that enough people want it still.

 

[Agamon]

Sigh. This arguement is only 25 years old. In summary: Fantasy gaming has a basis in fantasy fiction. Fiction is good for generating ideas for campaigns, adventures and characters. Good fiction makes for good reading*. Fiction's been in Dragon since Day 1.

*Granted, the fiction isn't always good, but I've read pretty much every peice in every Dragon since the mid-80's, and, IMO, about 60% of it is quite good, 20% decent, 20% not very good.

 

[Tetsubo]

I have to throw in my two coppers.

I wish the fiction in Dragon would go the way of the dodo. I want more gaming conrent, less filler. And that's how I am seeing the fiction.

 

[Gizzard]

.....

Why must there be {ART} in Dragon magazine?

I'm not argueing about the quality of any of the {ART} that has been published. Just the reason it is included in a "Dungeons & Dragons" magazine.

There are many, many, many outlets for {ART} and {PICTURES}. Anyone looking for fantasy {PICTURES} have an overwhelming selection available to them.

....

Hopefully this didnt come across as sarcastic, but doesnt the above seem silly? It might be possible to publish a magazine with nothing but stat-after-stat and text block after text block but it would be as dry and boring as a stale crust of bread.