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

[jester47]

When we are older and more cynical, we ussually find the things that caught our attention when we were younger and more naive to be better than what we have now. Welcome to being a grown up. In 10 years there will probably be a post about how dragon has gone down hill from back in the day of the early 2000's.

Oh by the way, where the heck is NODWICK!

Aaron.

 

[ThomasBJJ]

in days of yore, Dragon was more inclined to cover other games. Now if you do that, people yell their heads off. For some reason people feel a need to have every single article apply directly to their game. That's only going to lead to generic fantasy and lists of feats and PrCs. What would be wrong with the occasional d20 Modern article or even Weird West?

People feel a need to have every article apply directly to thier game because that is what they are buying it for.

I buy "Dragon" for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS content, nothing else. I'm not interested in any other game system, if I was I'd go read a magazine about that system.

What would be wrong with the occassional d20 modern or Wierd West article in DRAGON is that those games are not within the scope of the subject matter (DUNGEONS & DRAGONS). The vast majority of readers will not have any interest or use of the articles because it is not what they play.

 

[WizarDru]

I currently think the mag is at an all-time peak, with a higher percentage of quality content than most of it's history. I do wish they'd do something different with the covers, but that's really about it. I certainly don't want to return to the days of Jester NPC classes and the umpteenth article about falling damage. Ugh.

Elmore didn't define fantasy art for me. I'd say that Erol Otus, Dave Trampier, Jeff Dee and Bill Willingham did, although I consider Micheal Whelan and Elmore to be each excellent at times, and truly weak at others.

What kind of covers did I love?

Ones like these:
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm122.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm125.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm134.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm088.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm089.html The Chess Series...I always loved those.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot this one: http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm092.html

What kind did I not love?
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm132.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm08.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm087.html
http://www.rpgunited.com/mag/dm093.html I mean, ugh.


As you can see, Elmore makes both sides of the list. Most noticably, though, something is actually happening in all of these pictures. A story is there, not just a picture for Krusk's CV or publicity shot. Battle is joined, powers are invoked, trips are planned or something. The covers don't always have to be that way (I enjoy a good character study as much as the next guy), but since 3E, they've been nothing but, and I'd like a liittle more variety.

 

[Mandeville]

I haven't got over the fact that Dragon no longer has "The Marvel-Phile". I subscribe on the off chance it might make a return.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Remember that Flexor the Mighty! is decidedly biased against 3E, folks. I've been wondering why he posts here for over a year now

I like that they offer new feats, spells, prestige classes and whatnot; even if 90% aren't my cuppa joe, every now and then I find something I really like. These days, though, the best thing about Dragon is the cartoons. Not enough to warrant a subscription, but I'll happily pour over my buddy's copy

I can't recall posting anything bashing 3e in quite a while now. And while I admit that I cant stand the new Dragon cover styles if I enjoyed the content more I'd probably still buy it. The covers are just an annoyance, not a reason in itself to quit buying the mags. The emphasis is more mechanical stuff and less fluff so I'm just not as interested these days. Plus they got rid of the LGJ and that was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[the Jester]

I too prefer my covers sans big word bubbles obscuring the art. This seems to be a common theme here... The content itself lately is, I feel, very good; although I too sometimes pine for material for other games (even though I don't presently play any other games).

ThomasBJJ, Dragon Magazine has always been about more than just dnd. It's pretty much a house organ for WotC (and TSR before it), but it still has a long tradition of occasional articles for other systems. I like those- they not only give me ideas, sometimes they get me into a new game.

 

[CaptainCalico]

I really don't get the beef with the words on the covers - art is nice, but 6 months down the line when I want to find the issue with "X" in it anything that can help me find it faster is a plus.........

 

[bolen]

Personally I have never read the fiction,

I like the magazine but I have some gripes

I'd love to see articles for other games (even other d20 games would be a start)

secondly the comics were alot better when Wormy was in it then they are now

 

[zug_zug]

IElmore didn't define fantasy art for me. I'd say that Erol Otus, Dave Trampier, Jeff Dee and Bill Willingham did, although I consider Micheal Whelan and Elmore to be each excellent at times, and truly weak at others.

Erol Otus did rock-sweet old tymey DnD memories.

 

[troy812]

OK,
I agree. I also have been out of gamin g for well over ... 10 years ...Ouch and have just got back into it within the past year.

Last year I really thought Dragon was a Big Mess ! It just seemed to have to much going on; no real... sense of direction or purpose except to promote 3rd ed. (Which I am still not that sold on.)
Anyhow I started asking myself what was wrong. Why was this magazine not doing “it” for me. After a while I came up with 2 main problems.
1) The layout. It is just plain hard to read now. The pages are overly dense with small text and the pages are decorated with just ...crap. Stupid borders and background colors. Fonts so small I have to be into a well lit room to read. Can’t they just go back to black text on white paper. I think this might lower the overall cost and keep the magazine easy on the eyes. However this seems to be a problem with most of the current WOTC books. Why did they choose a “teabag and lines” background with the core books? Just seems to make it harder to read.
2) The second thing that makes Dragon “miss the mark” is it’s content. I prefer the content that focuses on the current content of the game or focuses down on the basics, (Sage’s Advice or Ecology of the ...) rather than material that ...expands the game in bold new directions such as “yet another prestige class”, “feat” or other topics. While these kinds of things are good for ideas in the game I really think that they tend to be read as material that “can’t be used in my game”. Also a lot of that stuff seemed to be just ...silly “...prestige races?”
Dragon was always there to help me learn the game or improve my game. I am not sure how they did it but they seemed to make D&D more accessible. As a first time player, I just don’t know what I would do with an issue of Dragon. I don’t think it would help me LEARN D&D. It would just confuse me more.

T