Only ten articles in Dragon this month?

[frogged]

Well into the second week of February and they finally posted the table of contents for Dragon 396 and it isn't pretty. There is a total of ten articles this month, including the editorial, ampersand, confessions, and alumni, leaving just six containing actual game content.

Looking back, the table of contents for last January lists twenty-two articles. To be fair, that does include a design & development article which are apparently no longer listed as a part of Dragon. Still, the difference a year makes is a bit staggering. I'm finding it hard to remain optimistic.

 

[Sonny]

Well into the second week of February and they finally posted the table of contents for Dragon 396 and it isn't pretty. There is a total of ten articles this month, including the editorial, ampersand, confessions, and alumni, leaving just six containing actual game content.

Looking back, the table of contents for last January lists twenty-two articles. To be fair, that does include a design & development article which are apparently no longer listed as a part of Dragon. Still, the difference a year makes is a bit staggering. I'm finding it hard to remain optimistic.

Even last month, there was around a 20 page drop in the size of each Magazine.

I guess it's good for them they are no longer compiling magazines, or else more people would have noticed how anemic Dragon and Dungeon magazines have become.

I'm still a subscriber. But really, there's no getting around the fact that I'm now paying the same for less content. I really hope things turn around soon.

Oh well, It's not like it's the end of the world. But if this keeps up it may be the end of my subscribing days. I hope not, I really do want Wizards to succeed here.

 

[renau1g]

Sadly, I think it's worse in Dungeon. They still don't have the Feb. adventure hooks up (which why have them any time but the beginning of the month? They also didn't have them in Jan.) and they'll only be 1 adventure this month, their worst yet...

 

[moxcamel]

I was looking at the magazine contents this morning, and was thinking the exact same thing. This can no longer be written down to efficiencies in the process, as they have claimed. Something larger is going on, and I suspect nobody is going to like it when they finally have to fess up about it.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I was looking at the magazine contents this morning, and was thinking the exact same thing. This can no longer be written down to efficiencies in the process, as they have claimed. Something larger is going on, and I suspect nobody is going to like it when they finally have to fess up about it.

At the risk of sounding like a member of the Sky-is-falling-so-put-on-your-tinfoil-hat crowd, I'm inclined to agree.

I have a feeling that there is something unwholesome just beneath the surface over at WotC.

I would love for that feeling to be wrong.

 

[MrMyth]

Yeah, I noticed this as well. They announced last month that their current word goals for the magazines was 50,000 - 60,000 words a month, a significant drop from before.

Now, number of articles alone isn't everything. In terms of main content articles (which is to say, not editorials, fiction, D&D Alumni, etc), 8-10 core articles was the usual for Dragon, both when the magazines went online and in more recent months. We had a period were we would see more ilke 12-18 per month, when Dragon switched to having lots of very short articles.

Unfortunately, these days, it looks like we are down to getting a small number of short articles. The two articles this month have been quality stuff - but 6 total Dragon articles? Ugh.

 

[MrMyth]

Sadly, I think it's worse in Dungeon. They still don't have the Feb. adventure hooks up (which why have them any time but the beginning of the month? They also didn't have them in Jan.) and they'll only be 1 adventure this month, their worst yet...

I think Dungeon still has two 'adventures' in it - just one of them (Andok Sur) is an adventure locale designed for sandbox play rather than a linear story-based adventure. Which would seem to be in line with presenting more types of adventures, which is what people have specifically asked for. So you can't really blame them for that.

At least, not yet - that's my theory based on the article description. Andok Sur could turn out to be a 5 page article with one encounter in it, and then, yeah, you'd be right to criticize. But I'd wait and see before jumping to any assumptions, here.

 

[moxcamel]

At the risk of sounding like a member of the Sky-is-falling-so-put-on-your-tinfoil-hat crowd, I'm inclined to agree.

I have a feeling that there is something unwholesome just beneath the surface over at WotC.

I would love for that feeling to be wrong.

Maybe they brought Lorraine Williams back on board?

(was that sufficiently tin-foily? )

 

[GameDoc]

Initially, Dungeon was mostly for players and Dragon mostly for DM's. It's not like you get to pick one or the other anymore. You pay your subcription and get both or you don't subscribe and get neither.

Given that the main reason for the separation is no longer really functional (especially if they aren't going to bundle them up separately in any way) AND they have greatly cut content, why not just combine the contents into one?

At this point they are just seperate sub-sections of the same section of the same website.

Just call it "Dungeons & Dragons Insider Magazine." Start runnning it more like an online periodical.

At this point I don't think they can capitalize on any nostalgia for the old titles.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Maybe they brought Lorraine Williams back on board?

(was that sufficiently tin-foily? )

She's probably on Hasborg's Board of Directors. It's a 25-year-old personal and corporate VENDETTA!!!