D&D 5E Kickstart Dragon Magazine or any other rpg type magazine?

[GameOgre]

It seems like the postings are FULL of people who miss and loved the old magazines. Evidently though, in the modern world of high tech the old paper game just doesn't pay off like it used to.

Perhaps it's just nostalgia and not enough people would actually buy the magazine to make it worth while(turn a profit) but maybe it would.

Has anyone seriously thought about what it would take to create 12 issues of a magazine and print them out? It seems (if you were far more knowledgeable that I) that you could come up with a number that would make it worthwhile and kickstart it.

You could even have stretch goals like This writer will write a story for issue 8 or That artist will create the cover for issue 10!

If you are good and have experience at this sort of thing(like WOTC or even Piazo) it seems like this method would be a no brainer.

If enough people really wanted this then the money gets raised well before that first magazine gets sold and indeed well worth it for the people/company putting it out. If the money doesn't get raised well, better to know right off the bat that the idea/product doesn't have what it takes to survive in todays market.

Heck, each year could be kickstarted ect..

I'm sure there are thousands of things I'm not thinking of and in no way am I suggesting that such a enterprise would be easy but my guess is that it never was.

Most of us really miss the old Dungeon and Dragon magazines and I read and hear every day people yearn for the old magazines.

Has anyone tried this with a magazine? Would it simply not work?

 

[Zaran]

I think everything Wizards does should be kickstarted. That way they can see what we want and don't want and they can't sit on their hands and not tell us anything until it's too late to complain.

 

[wedgeski]

ENWorld big cheese [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] is trying something himself: EN5IDER and TRAILSEEKER.

 

[Gecko85]

There's also Gygax Magazine: http://gygaxmagazine.com/

 

[Jester David]

In the days before Kickstarter was a thing, Kobold Press did a similar thing for articles and ideas and even parts of the world.
It still didn't save Kobold Quarterly.

Magazines are just no longer a thing.

 

[Riley]

ENWorld big cheese [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] is trying something himself: EN5IDER and TRAILSEEKER.

When will these Patreon listings go live? I am ready to stand up and be counted.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

There's also Gygax Magazine: http://gygaxmagazine.com/

I hope Gygax magazine starts supporting 5e. I enjoy it.

 

[Riley]

I hope Gygax magazine starts supporting 5e. I enjoy it.

I enjoy it, as well. Though I don't really care if they support 5e. I like my quarterly dose of OSR hodgepodge.

 

[DEFCON 1]

In the days before Kickstarter was a thing, Kobold Press did a similar thing for articles and ideas and even parts of the world.
It still didn't save Kobold Quarterly.

Magazines are just no longer a thing.

Kobold Quarterly was the very first thing I thought of when I read the original post's premise. It's occasionally tried, but doesn't seem to be able to be maintained.

 

[bmfrosty]

Kickstarter would be an interesting way to go about it. I like the kickstart each year idea. Lots of people sell PDFs online. Use them as a resource.

If I were to do it, I'd start by talking to all the guys who freelance and get some of them to commit to a 16 page adventure for a predetermined fee.

Put up a kickstarter with a $100k goal that has as it's baseline contribution a 12 month 12 issue subscription to said magazine in PDF format. Advertise your freelancers in the kickstarter. That cost? $50. That means you need to find 2,000 people interested in this. I don't know how much the 16 page adventures cost, but my guess is that they'd take up about $10-$20k of that $100k. Purchase freelance articles and art with the rest and do layout yourself. Aim for short (32-64 page) magazines and see where it goes.