Monster Ecologies due in April

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I like the idea of this book but have all the individual issues. Is there any additional content?

Cheers


Richard

 

[Erik Mona]

If I can find it on Amazon. I dont pay full price for books anymore.
I still cant find the Dragon Compendium on Amazon so I have yet to pick it up. I doubt it's really worth the 40 bucks cover price in stores?

I humbly submit that it _is_ worth the cover price, but I understand living on a budget. The book absolutely should be on Amazon.com, though they appear to be out of stock currently. I'm going to nudge our book trade distributor and see if I can't fix that.

A number of Amazon affiliates are offering the book for around $30, which is a good deal. I have dealt with Amazon affiliates dozens of times and have never run into any problems.

You will not find the Monster Ecologies special issue at Amazon, however, as it is being sold exclusively through the magazine channel. Your best bet is to pick it up wherever you see Dragon and Dungeon sold (including at your FLGS). Barring that, it will be available online at Paizo.com.

--Erik Mona

 

[Erik Mona]

Erik, that's an interesting strategy. Why the more recent articles? Wouldn't the older articles be more likely to sell? My theory is that many of the older articles aren't owned or are "out of date" and would sell more. Does reprinting recent stuff really sell that well?

And, why did WotC let you do this, but not another compendium?

Or, you can choose door C, but I don't have a third question right now.

Why the more recent articles? A few reasons.

1. All of them are already written to the modern rules set, making the editing a lot easier.
2. All of them are already layed out in the modern program we use to put together magazines, making execution a lot easier.
3. All of them were illustrated by the same artist, bringing a similar look and feel to the whole project.
4. All of said art is bought and paid for, meaning we don't have to spend thousands of dollars on new art.
5. All of them were written to the same format, meaning we don't have to spend weeks rewriting stuff to make it seem consistent with the other articles in the collection.
6. We like these articles a lot and think they will be a hit with readers. The column remains Dragon's most popular non-cartoon offering.
7. The ownership status of all the writing and art is clear.

As for why we were allowed to do this while we're still waiting on approval for several hardcover book products, I suspect it comes down to the fact that this is a magazine, being sold through magazine channels, and thus obviously falls within the confines our our existing license with Wizards of the Coast, which covers magazines. Other projects must go through a special process (since they are books, and not magazines), and have been caught up somewhere in that process. Putting this out as a magazine sidesteps that process altogether, and is a comfortable space for both parties involved.

The Dragon Compendium and Art of Dragon hardcovers, both of which contain essentially re-issued material, have been tremendous sales successes for us, so I think it's safe to say that reprints of certain material works very well in the marketplace. Will _this_ set of reprinted material sell? It's too soon to tell, but my gut tells me it will. You'd have to own just about every issue from 323 to 350 or so in order to own all of these ecologies. If you're a subscriber, all I can really offer is some fun anecdotes from game designers and fantasy fiction authors about the influence of D&D monsters on their work, some retrospectives of how certain creatures have looked throughout the years, and the convenience of having all these great articles between a single cover.

But lots of our readers are not subscribers, and given the rules-light approach the Ecologies articles take in general, I'm hoping to sell a significant number of these to members of the general audience who used to play D&D, or who are simply interested in neat stories about compelling monsters.

It's a bit of a gamble, but I think it's a safe one and I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

--Erik

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I somehow managed to miss seeing this. I loved the Monster Hunter ecologies articles by Jonathan Richards (like I love most of his work). I know that the new ones aren't quite the same but I still think I would be interested in getting it, especially since I let my Dragon subsciption lapse in the mid-310's. I imagine I'll buy this the next time I put in a big order to Noble Knight Games (which will probably be in the middle of the year).

I would really love it if the brought back the Jonathan Richards style Monster Ecology articles. From what I understand, Paizo are willing to publish the ecology articles in that particular style at the moment and Jonathan is unwilling to change the format, hence no Richards ecology articles.

Erik, or anyone else at Paizo, am I correct in regards to Jonathan Richards style Monster Ecology articles? If not, can you tell me what the actual situation currently is?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Zaukrie]

Thanks again for your participation in these boards.

If I weren't a subscriber, I'd be all over this. As it is, I'll look at it in the store and then make up my mind. The articles have been very good, not Monster Hunters' good, but very good (I don't know if you remember which obscure posters have what views, but you and I have chatted on ENWorld about those articles.....)

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Is this out yet? Does anyone have it? Any good?


Richard

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Last I heard it was bumped to a May release.

But the product page still has it as an April release.

 

[Nightfall]

Well I'd better email Erik and tell him to send it to my home address instead of college cause I won't be here after the first week of May.