Implications of Dragon being sold [2002 Thread]

[The Grumpy Celt]

It now appears to be official that the periodicals division - which produces Dragon, Dungeon and other magazines - have been sold off.

Let us table - for the moment - discussion of Stevens and the others who have acquired the magazines or whether or not this is a good idea.

What does this mean in terms of the settings that can be discussed in articles in these magazines?

For example, what will happen to Ed Greenwood's frequent columns about the Forgotten Realms?

What about any article that mention Grayhawk?

Will these stop (and thus all articles become generic)?

 

[Tonguez]

The implications are that the magazines will broaden to include more D20 stuff and generalised RPG material ie how to play dragons NOT how to play Dragons in FR.
It will be avaiable for other D20 companies to showpiece their work and not just the WOTC catelogue

The specific FR and Greyhawk material will remain IF the buyers demand it - since it would be suicidal to not include it

 

[frankthedm]

just as long as they take it easy on how MANY PrC they run. nothing wrong with a few here and there , but Dragon's been getting rediculus recently.

 

[Setanta]

I'm happy about this sale because I'm hoping it means less FR and GR, and less preview material for upcoming WotC books. That issue previewing the Stronghold Builer's Guide was just too much for me. I wasn't happy that they blew almost an entire issue previewing a fairly minor product. I always skip the FR and GH stuff. Spending more time on other D20 stuff would be great.

 

[Sinistar]

hey there grumpy...

I think if we are lucky it will become more of a magazine and less of a catalogue. For the most part I have been pretty happy with Dragon over the last couple of years, but when the "theme" had to do with a product I was not interested in, I really felt it was wasted on me.

But WOTC will still be the biggest player as far as marketing dollars are concerned. I would not be surprised if you see more articles about Non-WOTC products, but fewer advertisements for them as WOTC buys more of the advertising space.

Of course I could be wrong...

 

[buzzard]

The important question that no one is mentioning here is what happens to all the living campaigns? With polyhedron spun off what happens to Living Greyhawk?

Also what happens to my RPGA membership which included Dungeon?

Inquiring scavengers want to know.

Buzzard

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Well, part of the reason I ask is personal.

I just submitted to F.R. related villians for Dungeons Critical threats. When they were finished and mailed off, I danced around the house in Glee - then I read about the (then) impending sale. And, lo, I again was Grumpy.

That aside, some of the Grayhawk meterial is interesting. And Mr. Greenwood's material on the Realms was always entertainting. This is to say nothing of all the Living Campeign setting material that now appears in the magazines.

I was just wondering if this is all going away.

 

[Ashtal]

I'm guessing the best we can hope for, besides just waiting and seeing how the magazine changes, would be some sort of editorial statement from the new owners and/or current editors of each magazine on how (if at all) they plan to change. It would be really nice to get one of those.

As much as I want to see a broadening in coverage, I worry that it may also mean an end to official material in the magazine. (As much as I like topic diversity, there was something to be said for getting a sneak peak at new books, helping me make a decision whether or not it's something I'm interested in...)

I'm curious about their current crop of 'star' writers - they may have long term contracts that may or may not terminate with a transfer of ownership or they may submit articles on a per issue basis with no assurance that they will publish anything.

Whatever happens, the sale of Dragon, to me, has a definite ring of 'watershed mark' to it. It's hard to comprehend Dragon not being Wizards/DnD's, ya know? It would be like the X-Men suddenly not belonging to Marvel. Just ... weird.

 

[bolen]

Dragon has not always been just D&D. It had stuff for champions, traveller and other RPG in it as well. I just don't understand why they did this. wasn't dragon a great add for wizards?

 

[Ashtal]

By 'being', I meant belonging to. I fondly remember the days when my Dragon would have stuff like the stats for all the Doctors for the Doctor Who game, AD&D stats for the main characters of ElfQuest, and of course, Cthulhu stuff every Halloween or so.

*sigh* Those were good days.

But I wonder ... they phased out coverage of other games. Was it to maintain their own interests, or that the readership really wanted only D&D articles, since the vast majority play only that.

I just dunno.