Good day, gentlemen. Has anyone noticed a striking change in Dragon magazine?

[ColonelHardisson]

Acutally that was the cuyahoga river in Cleveland that caught fire, and on multiple occasions too.

http://www.csuohio.edu/cestp/sol/history/pictures.html

The river empties into the lake, which is nearby, so that's where the notion of Lake Erie burning came from. The lake and the river have both been cleaned up. There are a lot of nice places along the river now, with a number of good nightspots.

 

[Yeoman]

It's been awhile since I was in Cleveland, but I do remember being an awfully nice town. They had a neat fireworks display out near the water I think. I have family that lives in North Olmstead, so we used to go out Cleveland (or Vermillion) for dinner.

 

[Dinkeldog]

[mod hat on]
1. Don't think of EN World as "politically correct" think of it as "politely correct".

2. Don't try to elude the profanity filter with phunk33 spe||ing, thanks.
[/mod hat off]

For me, Dave Trampier defined what D&D art should be.

 

[King_Stannis]

The river empties into the lake, which is nearby, so that's where the notion of Lake Erie burning came from. The lake and the river have both been cleaned up. There are a lot of nice places along the river now, with a number of good nightspots.

I went to the "Howl at the Moon" in Chicago and found it lacking. It made me wish for the one in the Flats. Good times, there.

 

[zug_zug]

LOL this thread cracks me up-but to the "critiques" of Dragon.

Maybe Im an old fogey too, but the covers have seemed a bit busy. But such is the state of the modern youth mag, most mags for that matter.

The art is often of a mixed quality, but looking back at the Dragon CDroms, it seems on par with what came before. Of a different type and perhaps appeallign to different demographic, but no "worse" (whatever the subjective term means.)

I would like to see fiction from time to time but its not a big thing for me. I want more cartoons and Nodwick though

On the other hand, I miss having a module in Dragon like the old days. I like/want more crunchy stuff. I dont want examples of cities through the ages- I want monsters. I'd like more 1 off minicampaign setting material like the Drow Vault from last year.

IMHO, alot of issues in the recent past havent had alot of useable (to me at last) content. After Dragon went thru all the classes, feats,etc.. and changes for 3e, it seemed it ran out of steam content wise. I still think 3.5 is a conspiracy to give Dragon something to put in its pages

I almost wouldnt mind a merge of Dragon/Dungeon or a Dragon/Polyhedron(or something else slanted to d20) in order to prevent the rehash of the old again and again.

/shrug

 

[d30]

I have been a subscriber for about 12 years, and I have been disappointed with Dragon for a good long time. The layout, fonts, and even screaming tabloid covers don't bother me, it is a lack of content.

Sure, I was disgruntled when KotDT disappeared (I realize there was a dispute of which I know nothing about, but I was still bummed) and replaced with that tripe comic on the back page (that guy in the white sweater) But one of the major gripes is the fiction which I always looked forward to, but has become sporadic and pretty uninteresting.

I had hopes that this would change when Pazio took the reins, but I have not seen improvement.

But I am letting economics speak my case, I have let my subscription run out, June was my last issue. I am keeping Dungeon for now, and I will keep my eye on Dragon via the game shop shelves to see if it makes any changes, but for now I won't be getting Dragon on a monthly basis for the first time in 12 years (except that time when they stopped printing or whatever that was all about).

Sad but true, Dragon has losts its charm. I don't need zombie prestige classes, more magic items for dragons, or one more article on how to make a dragon better. I guess I won't say it is bad, it is just that no much applies to me or my interests in gaming. I am sure Forgotten Realms junkies love it.

 

[LGodamus]

I like the mag......

thats all I have to say....lol

 

[Dagger75]

My long post if I ran Dragon

I like the magazine as well.

My favorite cover http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm143.html

As for covers, some of those older ones were pretty ugly IMHO, and artwork is like that.

As for all the crap splashed onto the front, it looks like an issue of Maxim or Cosmo, or Teen Beat.

Why couldn't the left hand side have a border column telling us whats in the issue and then the rest of the cover a nice clear image of the picture on the cover.

Content- Can't really complain about content. I have used the castle issue more than the halfling issue and haven't used anything from issue 300. Can't please everybody all the time. I also think I was one of the few people that like single topic issues.

As for short stories, I have read 2 in the 12+ years I have been reading Dragon. They were an RA Salvatore story about Bruenor Battlehammer and the one written by Gearoge RR Martin recently. Thats it. Because I don't read them doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the issue. They have been a popular feature and I never felt ripped off because they were in there.

Sage Advice, since the internet came about that section is almost useless to me. I get questions answered fast, and better than I ever would sending them to the Sage.

That Elminster thing where he describes a special locale in FR, I read it, never actually used anything from it but I read them all. Would I miss it if were gone, no. Would I ask Pazio to remove it no.

What I liked from way back when

Book reviews, I was never a big reader but I always read this.

Computer Game Review- Read this all the time. Looking at old issues its fun seeing an ASCII designed game getting high marks for great graphics. Today if you don't have Dynamic shadowing and reflective water those graphics are considered dated. I also like how they had tips and cheats at the end of this article. I really can't blame Dragon for dropping this. The internet killed this type of column. Its not hard for me to find a review of any game. They have reviews of games months before they are released.

I was never a big fan of the miniture painting section they had. I am not very good at painting them. But if 3.5 is going to be more miniture dependant they might want to reconsider and put this section back in.

Different games and systems- well since the magazine says its the official magazine for D&D I guess thats what WOTC or Pazio wanted. I don't know for sure. If I were in charge I would put at least other WOTC titles into the magazine. Why not a D20 Modern issue, or COC or Wheel of Time. Even dungeon could have D20 modern modules for it.
Some of my favorite old Dragon Magazines, The Star Frontiers issue, notably the power armor. The starship article for Marvel Superheroes. There were some Top Secret /SI and rarely there was non TSR stuff thrown in.

BRING BACK DRAGONMIRTH!!!!!

Oh and this might surprise some of you, Phil and Dixie; wasn't a fan then. still not a fan toady.

Thats if I ran things. I like Dragon Magazine and buy them every month.

Thats all

 

[Olive]

Re: My long post if I ran Dragon

As for short stories, I have read 2 in the 12+ years I have been reading Dragon. They were an RA Salvatore story about Bruenor Battlehammer and the one written by Gearoge RR Martin recently. Thats it. Because I don't read them doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the issue. They have been a popular feature and I never felt ripped off because they were in there.

I quite like the Thomas Harlan stuff too.

 

[bloodymage]

I'm not an art guy. I don't buy or even consider buying gaming materials, magazines included, based on the art.

Teamwork

I had "Companions of the Lance" and "Teamwork" hanging on my bedroom walls from 1986 to about 1992

I remember that one! And I thought it rawked!

I once tried to differentiate between the fantasy artists based on their works and I couldn't do it with any consistency. Like I said, I'm not an art guy; just doesn't make much of an impression on me. When it does, that's my sign that that particular artist in that particular piece has something. "Teamwork" rawked!