My "Best of the Dragon"

[Eremite]

Wow Eremite, there were a scary number of similarities with your post and my thoughts. Are you from Australia? If so I wouldn't feel too bad about the late subscriptions, you weren't alone. That was the reason I didn't renew my Dragon and Dungeon subs. It started out ok. I was getting my issues a couple of weeks before my FLGS. Towards the end though I was 2 issues behind the one that they had on sale. At one stage I didn't get any issues of either magazine for nearly 2 months. (snip)

Yes, I'm in Australia; Brisbane to be precise. I used to feel bad about sending my "oh look it didn't arrive again" emails until I discovered that it was a problem that a lot of the international subscribers shared.

Again, I still don't believe in the 21st Century that there can be a class of mail that is both so slow and so unreliable. I think Paizo is paying the US postal service to sit on my copies and lose every third one....

 

[francisca]

That, on the other hand, I heartily agree with. I know some people who like it, but really have to wonder if the presumption of the appeal of the minis game is much less than the attention it receives in Dragon would indicate, and most mini-buyers are buying them for D&D.

That's me. I have zero interest in the D&D Minatures game. I have bought one starter kit, and a selection of singles off the net, soley for use with tabletop D&D.

 

[Richards]

Originally posted by Olaf the Stout:

Jonathan, are there any more "Challenge of Champions" adventures planned in the near future? What about any other adventures or articles? And while I'm asking, what other adventures or articles have you written for Dungeon or Dragon.

At the risk of being a thread hijacker, here's the full list:

Dragon
198 - The False Undead
200 - The Keys to Adventure
214 - The Ecology of the Owlbear
215 - Putting Evil to Good Use
215 - The Ecology of the Amphisbaena
219 - The Ecology of the Black Pudding
227 - The Ecology of the Osquip
232 - The Ecology of the Roper
234 - Lich Magical Items
240 - The Ecology of the Nymph
Annual 2 - The Ecology of the Shambling Mound
242 - The Ecology of the Mongrelman
243 - Magical Crossbreeds
244 - The Ecology of the Sphinx
245 - The Ecology of the Steeder
246 - The Ecology of the Flumph
247 - The Anurans
250 - Aquatic Creatures
251 - Missing Links
Annual 3 - Urban Pests
254 - The Ecology of the Cyclopskin
257 - 101 Paladin Quests
258 - The Ecology of the Flail Snail
259 - Symbiotes and Parasites
260 - Greater Drakes and Riders
260 - The Ecology of the Aspis
260 - Dragondoom
261 - The Ecology of the Dark Naga
262 - The Ecology of the Jermlaine
262 - Spielbuk Spayle's Book of Spellbook Spells
Annual 4 - The Ecology of the Gray Ooze
266 - Humanimals: New Hengeyokai Subraces
266 - The Ecology of the Xixchil
267 - Denizens of the Underdark
267 - The Ecology of the Carrion Crawler
269 - The Ecology of the Pseudodragon
270 - The Ecology of the Gorbel
271 - Riddles of the Rhyming Sphinx
272 - The Ecology of the Hydra
275 - Armor of Virtue
275 - The Ecology of the Darkmantle
276 - The Ecology of the Sheet Phantom
Annual 5 - Gorgoldand's Gauntlet
280 - Polymorphology
282 - Rogues Gallery: The Monster Hunters Association
282 - The Ecology of the Purple Worm
284 - Return of the Greater Drakes
291 - Good Things Come in Small Packages
302 - Arcane Armor
316 - I Scry

Dungeon
58 - Challenge of Champions
60 - Centaur of Attention
63 - Invisible Stalker
69 - Challenge of Champions II
78 - Peer Amid the Waters
80 - Challenge of Champions III
91 - Challenge of Champions IV
93 - The Statue Gallery
106 - Challenge of Champions V

As for the near future, I'm currently reworking an adventure that ended up being too big for Dungeon's new format, and am playing with ideas in my head for the inevitable "Challenge of Champions VI." I also sent in two "mini-adventures" (one page of adventure, one page of map) that may or may not make the cut. On the Dragon front, as you can see, half of my articles there have been "Ecology" articles, and I'm really not all that interested in writing "Ecology" articles under the current guidelines. If Dragon ever goes back to the old "fiction and footnote" format, though, I'll be there in a heartbeat (and so will the Monster Hunters).

Johnathan

(*Realizes that Erik Mona's monitoring this thread...keeps his fingers crossed....*)

 

[Olive]

If Dragon ever goes back to the old "fiction and footnote" format, though, I'll be there in a heartbeat (and so will the Monster Hunters).

See, I thik that they really, really should go back to the old fiction and footnote format, or ingeneral just include far more fiction in the articles. When I got the Dragon CD-Rom that was what really struck me about the old articles.

I think they gave a hook to the rules content that curent articles often don't. Warhammer 40K stuff is a good example of how this works actually. People get hooked on those games cos of the fluff as much as anything else.

So Erik, I'd love to know what your opinion on this is. I kow it's harder to find writers with good fiction writing skills as well as good rules content, but the fiction doesn't have to be long, just a few paras at the start.

 

[MerricB]

Yeowtch! I wouldn't go that far, but then again art is subjective. I like some aspects of his illustrations, but dislike others. His stuff has a certain clarity to it that I find nice, although some of them make my stomach sweat (and not in a good way). (Wait, there is no good way.) His Fossergrim (Fiend Folio) is a good example of this--creeps me right out, ick--goofy eyes, puffy lips, blech! On the other hand, his Bog Giant and Shadow Giant pics are quite nice.

Unfortunately, in every Cramer illustration he does goofy eyes and puffy lips. That's a technical defect of the highest order. If it was just for certain pictures - fine. However, in every illustration? The Hero Builder's Guidebook suffers dreadfully from this. It's not the "sleep-deprived evil villain builder's guidebook".

Cheers!

 

[Olive]

Yes, I'm in Australia; Brisbane to be precise. I used to feel bad about sending my "oh look it didn't arrive again" emails until I discovered that it was a problem that a lot of the international subscribers shared.

Again, I still don't believe in the 21st Century that there can be a class of mail that is both so slow and so unreliable. I think Paizo is paying the US postal service to sit on my copies and lose every third one....

Wow. To think I almost subscribed earlier in the year.

Now, I'm glad I didn't.

 

[MerricB]

Wow. To think I almost subscribed earlier in the year.

Now, I'm glad I didn't.

I feel the same way - I'm happily supporting my FLGS, and have bought every issue of Dragon and Dungeon since 3e came out.

Cheers!

 

[Olive]

I feel the same way - I'm happily supporting my FLGS, and have bought every issue of Dragon and Dungeon since 3e came out.

To be honest, I'm more worried about Paizo than I am about my very successful LGS. So I'd be happy to give my money straight to them in return for slightly faster service. But slightly faster service is the most important part of that for selfish old me, so until I stop hearing horror stories I'll jut keep getting my monthly phone calls from the shop.

But yeah, bought every single issue, even the dark sun ones.

 

[MerricB]

To be honest, I'm more worried about Paizo than I am about my very successful LGS. So I'd be happy to give my money straight to them in return for slightly faster service. But slightly faster service is the most important part of that for selfish old me, so until I stop hearing horror stories I'll jut keep getting my monthly phone calls from the shop.

Erik did tell me it was alright if I didn't subscribe - I could keep on buying every issue from my FLGS.

Cheers!

 

[Olive]

Erik did tell me it was alright if I didn't subscribe - I could keep on buying every issue from my FLGS.

How... generous of him.