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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Erik Mona" data-source="post: 3357999" data-attributes="member: 2174">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</blockquote>

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