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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6153878" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 325: November 2004 part 2/8Scale Mail: Unsurprisingly, we start off with a letter from someone who's really happy with their new direction. They might even subscribe after more than 20 years as a regular reader. Do you realise how much money you'd have saved over the years if you just did it in the first place? Another regular subscriber intends to keep it up, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it. You've got to keep reaching out if you want to grow your market. On the other hand, two people are annoyed by Samurai vs Knight, which had no solid conclusions and no gaming material in it. One person really liked it, but It still means it's touch and go if they'll do any more articles like this soon. Another point of contention is the new title font for the magazines. Designing it for maximum readability means it loses a little of the atmosphere of previous versions. They make no apologies for that. Similarly, they make no apologies for trying to get people buying both Dragon and Dungeon, for renaming Bazaar of the Bizarre as Magic Shop, or getting rid of the society of monster hunters. Dry, clear and packed with mechanical info are their targets at all points in the process now. It'll take some pretty serious complaining to get them to shift on that. On the other hand, when people point out factual errors, they're still willing to take them on board. That's good to see. In years past, it wasn't easy to get a truly anonymous letter into the magazine, and with the advent of email, it's even harder, since they always have a return address. However, not everyone gives their actual location. This is a bit of a pain for the staff. I'd send in a physical letter anyway. It's more likely to be published because it'll stand out. And finally, we have two letters from people who are skeptical about D&D changing to modernise itself, but still interested in Eberron. D&D has always followed the fashions in fantasy. If it didn't it wouldn't have hobbits, dwarves and elves in a form that was published less than 2 decades prior. You're just noticing it now because you're not a kid any more, and new stuff is being added that isn't so familiar. This stuff never stops moving forward, even if it claims to be going backwards as part of the marketing. Player initiative: We're reminded in here that it's the US elections this month. You may not be able to be a big damn hero and singlehandedly rid the country of tyranny and corruption, but voting is still important, and being politically active in your own community even more so if you want to live in a decent place. Don't get too engrossed in fantasy worlds because it's the easy option and forget to make a difference to reality. Also, don't get too worked up about the RPGA ranking systems. There's always going to be some obsessive who goes to more cons than you, and gets more player and DM points. The important thing is that your recreation remains fun, not beating everyone else, especially since there's no financial reward no matter how good a gamer you are. Under command: With the power levels doubled in minis land, it's the perfect opportunity to talk again about running a campaign with character development and continuity using the system. This does mean assigning one person as the DM, and letting them dictate the rough course of the campaign, but if you've played regular D&D I'm sure you can make that concession. You also have to accept that even more than 3e, the advancement under this system will be relatively closed-ended, and should plan your campaign around this advancement rate, with the scoring of victory conditions setting the pace. Still, you will probably get to change your warbands more between battles than most PC groups, given the greater numbers of pieces and corresponding attrition rate, which'll give you a chance to experiment with different group compositions and tactics within a single campaign.  Just don't expect to get any credit if you come up with a nonviolent solution to the campaigns problems, unlike in D&D.</blockquote>

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