GAMING FRONTIERS: A $20 magazine! Are they nuts?

[GF Jeff]

Howdy folks.

I'm not here to sway the conversation in one particular direction or the other, just to lay down some facts.

Gaming Frontiers Volume 2 weighed in at 160 full-color pages with a grand total of four-six (4-6) full page ads. It's published quarterly, and no, it's not a magazine - we call it a d20 publisher's digest for lack of a better name. Magazines traditionally "cover" news and material or present new material from freelancers, while we mainly provide material directly from the source - a host of d20 publishers. Gaming Frontiers caters to folks who can't get enough out of d20 and want to push their game into new directions. Most of the material we publish is brand new, and exclusive to the pages of Gaming Frontiers, which means you won't see it anywhere else.

Just wanted to throw that in there so folks knew what they were debating about. Rage on, and feed the monkey.

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com

 

[R.X.DIEM]

Howdy folks.

I'm not here to sway the conversation in one particular direction or the other, just to lay down some facts.

Gaming Frontiers Volume 2 weighed in at 160 full-color pages with a grand total of four-six (4-6) full page ads. It's published quarterly, and no, it's not a magazine - we call it a d20 publisher's digest for lack of a better name. Magazines traditionally "cover" news and material or present new material from freelancers, while we mainly provide material directly from the source - a host of d20 publishers. Gaming Frontiers caters to folks who can't get enough out of d20 and want to push their game into new directions. Most of the material we publish is brand new, and exclusive to the pages of Gaming Frontiers, which means you won't see it anywhere else.

Just wanted to throw that in there so folks knew what they were debating about. Rage on, and feed the monkey.

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com

So, ah, How much is a subscription? It does sound pretty cool.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

When I saw this sitting in a game shop, I was both amazed and delighted. This looked exactly like what I'd been hoping to see with d20 - thick books with a wide variety of material. Campaign magazine was along those lines, but I only saw the first issue and haven't seen another since. Anyway, I grabbed GF up, and was about to pay, and saw the price. I put it right back down.

Maybe it's a good value. It is only a quarterly publication. I'm just saying that I, too, balked at the cover price.

 

[GF Jeff]

R.X. DIEM:

We currently don't offer subscriptions. Ya know, trying to throw off the whole "magazine" thing - plus it'd be kind of pricey. You can find Gaming Frontiers at your local retailer, or online at places like RPGshop.com and Amazon.

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com

 

[EricNoah]

I bet there are a lot of people who would pay $18 for around 154 pages of supplement. But usually you're paying for a supplement that's all about the same topic (at least generally). I personally wouldn't want to pay that price for several smaller pieces from different companies about different settings, genres, even games. Too much of a chance of quite a bit of that stuff not being immediately useful to me. But I'm sure there are some people out there who might not mind having it that way.

 

[TalonComics]

Or at places like taloncomics.com, Jeff!

Sheesh... telling people buy games at amazon is like telling people to buy games at Wal-Mart.

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I don't see the difference between Gaming Frontier and any other gaming supplement out there. They both cost about the same price for what you get *and* Gaming Frontier is full color.

www.taloncomics.com/unitedplaytest.html

~Derek

 

[ColonelHardisson]

If it was a magazine, and was produced monthly (splitting the content up into 3 issues) at $6 a pop, I'd never hesitate in buying it. An issue one third the size for $6 gives me the opportunity to sample a variety and determine whether I'm going to buy the next issue. Most likely I would, but at least that way I could skip issues with content I didn't want.

 

[GF Jeff]

Derek:

You're absolutely right. As an avid console gamer, I'd feel obligated to propagate violence upon anyone who suggested I buy games at WalMart. Amazon's just the first thing that popped into my mind.

One free punch from everyone, I've got a TON of hit points.

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

One free punch from everyone, I've got a TON of hit points.

Oops. I think I just rolled a critical against you!

Seriously, though, you can say it's not a magazine all you want, but it looks and reads like a magazine, so it IS a magazine as far as most readers are concerned. And very few people in their right minds will pay $20 for one issue of a magazine... or "digest" or whatever it is you want to call it. I like GF--would buy GF--but I would never pay more for it than for WoTC's mags. United Playtest has priced themselves out of the market.

Each issue does feature exclusive content from a variety of d20 publishers for a variety of d20 games, which is kinda cool, but at the same time, kinda sucks. Those who are interested in getting more content for non-D&D games will be happy but left wanting more, and those who aren't interested in some of these less popular or more obscure d20 games covered will just be disappointed. There is no specific game "focus" to the magazine (aside from all things d20--which covers a lot of ground). It's basically a grab-bag of whatever various d20 publishers want to provide as a teaser to buy or play (if you already own) their game.

 

[JoeGKushner]

The problem is your thinking about it like a magazine when its more like the Rifter, a D20 sourcebook.

For a d20 magazine, try Campaign. Good stuff.