I have some spare cash.

[Mr. Beef]

I have some spare cash left over from ordering Ptolus and was wondering which of Paizo Publishing's magazines, Dungeon or Dragon, would be good for me to get a 1 year subscription to.

Here's a little about me.

Long time on and off player of AD&D as well as D&D 3.0/3.5. Aspiring setting writer and aspiring Dungeon Master as well. I'm looking for stuff to add flavor to my setting as well as providing intresting reading material for those times when I'm stuck and can't think of anything for the setting.

I'm not as ambitious as Monte Cook about getting my setting out there, but who is? If someone looks at the setting I've created and wants to use it; then more power to them. Granted Ptolus is just Mr. Cooks final opus to the D20 world before he leaves. I'm just not that good at making things like Character Classes, Prestige Classes, Feats or Skills balanced. Either they are thought of as Overpowered or Underpowered.

I'm just concerned about using stuff that is not OGL; like the Warforged race and Artificer class from Eberron, and maybe stuff from the magazines is just a little too unbalancing.

My setting is just in the egg stage of life. Hopefully by the time the middle of next year rolls around, it will be in its fetus stage.

Help me turn this light drizzle into a thunderstorm.

Thank you,

Mr. Beef

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

I know which one I voted for.. but then again, I am biased. Dungeon is a good resource if you do not have time to write your own adventures or are just looking for adventure/encounter/npc ideas to swipe. Dragon offers more general rules articles, advice pieces, setting pieces, and other in-depth acticles pertaining to D&D.

That's the basics anyway...

Jason Bulmahn
Managing Editor of Dragon

 

[Harmon]

I noticed you do not have "send to Harmon" as one of the options.

 

[airwalkrr]

Based on the background you provided I wholeheartedly endorse Dungeon as the best buy for your buck. It is singularly the best money a DM can spend these days. Dragon is something I would recommend if you have even more cash lying on hand, but I wouldn't call it a necessity for anyone. Dungeon has tons of useful stuff for DMs. Three adventures every issue never hurts a DM (especially one who has little problem adapting, and it isn't hard). Plus, I have found the articles extremely helpful to developing my DM style and making my game better. Dungeoncraft is always the first article I turn to. The only really valuable stuff in Dragon magazine are retro articles (for those old grognards), comics, and flavor stuff that fleshes out other settings (likely something you won't get much benefit out of if you are looking to run Ptolus). The reviews of upcoming products are nice, but honestly, the best stuff from Dragon ALWAYS ends up being published in WotC books (and it gets refined and balanced in the process). Dragon is the kind of magazine I read once and be done with it. Dungeon is something I can keep coming back to for helpful hints.

 

[Glyfair]

Even given your background, it's not clear which is best for you. I'd recommend picking up an issue or two of each (borrowing is even better) and seeing which suits you better.

One caveat about Dungeon, if you aren't interested in the adventure path series, that's a good percentage of the value of Dungeon wasted. The rest of the magazine can be useful, and you can still get bits and pieces from it, but it takes up over a 1/3 of the magazine over a year (and they aren't giving much breathing room between paths) towards it. Keep that in mind.

On the other hand, if you are interested in the adventure paths (even if you don't intend to run it), Dungeon is hands down the best choice (with the occasional issue of Dragon for the support articles).

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I voted for Dragon. As great as the supplementary articles in Dungeon are for beginning and even experienced DMs, you don't seem to have a burning need for adventures - and that's Dungeon's real stock-in-trade.

With Dragon, you get articles like the Core Beliefs series, which will help you think about the sort of background depth you should give to your setting's religions; the Demonomicon series, which will help you think about powerful antagonistic individuals and organisations which can cause trouble in the world for PCs to solve; the Ecology series, which can help you flesh out the place various monsters might have in your world; the Class Acts series, which will help you with the prestige classes, feats, spells, and whatnot that you have trouble with; and a host of other articles with nifty flavour and mechanics both, like the recent articles about magical pollution and corrupted creatures.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I've heard time and again that Dragon is in a golden age, and if so I pity the fools that subscribed years ago. (Mr. T reference, not a serious slam)

I have bought a few dagons in the last couple of years and my attitude is just meh. Not bad, really but so much is not useful.

On the other hand Dungeon ahs ooodles of great stuff, maps, encounters, whole modules, so much to mine and getthe creative juices going. I used at least 5- encounters from the last adventure path and none of my players wre the wiser. Good stuff.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Dungeon

Not because I've read it, but because I bought a Dragon mag last year and did not like it (the layout, the articles, etc.)

But hanging around on ENWorld so long has shown me that a lot of people around here prefer Dungeon anyway as it can save them a lot of time and gives them a lot of ideas.

 

[Thanee]

I'm not as ambitious as Monte Cook about getting my setting out there, but who is?

I kinda doubt, that this was the initial intention, when he started working on it.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mr. Beef]

I know which one I voted for.. but then again, I am biased. Dungeon is a good resource if you do not have time to write your own adventures or are just looking for adventure/encounter/npc ideas to swipe. Dragon offers more general rules articles, advice pieces, setting pieces, and other in-depth acticles pertaining to D&D.

I am looking for tuff to flesh out my setting first before doing any adventures. Like new PrC's, Classes, Feats and new uses for Skills that I may not have thought of. Things like rules articles and advice pieces are good as well since we all can use those as well.

Thank you Jason Bulmahn

Mr. Beef