OGL Magazine?

[Ghostwind]

Fair enough.


Okay, then the question becomes would a FREE, fan-based OGL (PDF) Magazine be a viable alternative? Think how Action Check was for Alternity after that game system was cancelled.

I did one for awhile called d20Zine! that has been fairly well received. The biggest hurdle was getting the articles from folks since everything was done on a volunteer basis. You can still get issues of d20Zine! at RPGNow.

 

[tadk]

I have done a couple of total volunteer zines, I call them productions. Working on a 3rd one in fact, has some OGl stuff in it as well as other systems. Has a real horror focus, but yes the energy to do them takes a lot.

 

[Man-thing]

Do you think third-party publishers like Green Ronin, Paizo, etc. would be willing to give official (non-financial) support to a fan-based OGL Magazine? This would be a magazine that is 99% open source and that anyone can submit an article too.

Mongoose already produces a free PDF magazine called Signs and Portents. It supports all their games.

 

[Kvantum]

Mongoose already produces a free PDF magazine called Signs and Portents. It supports all their games.

That's the problem, though. It's only their games. I think the idea here is for something that's publisher-independent and yet still supports all (or most) OGL games.

 

[Knightfall]

Mongoose already produces a free PDF magazine called Signs and Portents. It supports all their games.

I've looked through several issues of Signs and Portants and I can honestly say I wasn't impresed. Mongoose's in-house magazine is little more than an advertising tool. And since I've never bought a Mongoose product and I'm likely never to do so, the magazine doesn't appeal to me at all.

That's the problem, though. It's only their games. I think the idea here is for something that's publisher-independent and yet still supports all (or most) OGL games.

Exactly.

 

[Man-thing]

Mongoose's in-house magazine is little more than an advertising tool.

Compared to Dragon?

 

[Knightfall]

Compared to Dragon?

Yes, IMO.

 

[Greylock]

Spoken for truth. Tried it twice, both in print and PDF. Gave up on that idea long, long ago!

I bought every issue of the ENWorld Gamer Magazine I ever saw in the Memphis metro area. At that time, Memphis had four [count 'em! Four!] stores that sold RPGs and RPG magazines. And I still have that magazine. Yep. Only ever found one issue - #2 January 2005. Bought every copy I saw, and gave them to my friends, many of whom posted here at the time, such as alsih2o.

Yep. Fond memories. I really felt like I was contributing something to the greater good of the world of RPGs. Rather saddened when I found that there was never going to be another chance to contribute in such a way again.

 

[Greylock]

Speaking of which, I've only ever seen one print copy of Kobold Quarterly for sale at the one main FLGS left in Memphis. One copy, and it sold. Haven't seen KQ since. So my experience suggests that it's not the consumers that aren't supporting OGL magazines, but the distributors, the merchants, or, in the case of ENWG, the publisher.

 

[jezter6]

Ask Roudi how his attempt at a d20 Modern based mag went. Sure, it was a smaller niche of the market, but like this thread - people chimed in with support, but not enough people contributed articles to make it float, and it was free.