Poll/petition Sign the "KEEP DRAGON MAGAZINE' poll/petition

[Shadeydm]

Quote this to sign on-line petition
I sign this petition to keep Dragon and Dungeon magazine as they are!!!

No PDFs or on-line formats for me!!!

Feels like it's already way too late.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

The Thayan Krynnish chap is correct.

Fixed that for ya.

Back on topic, I realize that my previous statement was rather hostile. I'm sorry. Now, to clarify, I think the Digital Initiative should be an interesting thing. Personally, I don't like magazines. I don't like how flimsy they are, I don't like how easily damaged they are. I like pdfs because I can easily replace destroyed physical copies.

Then again, I only need a physical copy for airline travel.

So, no. I'm not going to miss Dragon/Dungeon. There was never a nostalgia factor for me, really. I didn't start getting Dungeon until Savage Tide, and I only really have an interest in the Adventure Path, not the stand alones. Paizo is going to do better with Pathfinder, plus no more of that comic that I hate.

-TRRW
(fake edit: No, I'm not going to say what that comic is. It isn't OotS or Zogonia/Mt. Zogon.)

 

[RFisher]

I'd like to see a print Dragon that--while focused mainly on D&D--covered more than that. Part of its mission should be to be a missionary for the hobby. I wouldn't mind a lower page count & lower production values than it currently has. (Though production values are important for it.) It's important to keep the price low enough that people interested in the hobby will be willing to pick up an issue or two impulsively.

I'd like to see a Dungeon more like it was originally. It should be 99% focused on adventures. It's perfectly fine if there's no other content. It should have at least 2.5 adventures per month. (It was originally 4-6 adventures every two months.) Only a minimum of effort should be put into production values rather than content. It should be a utility for the practical DM; nothing more. I suspect it would be better as a online subscription rather than a print magazine. (I'd like the option of downloading the module text in RTF or HTML. I'd prefer being able to print text, maps, & player hand-outs myself than having them bound into a magazine format.)

 

[DM-Rocco]

Where is the petition?

Just go the the second post and hit the quote botton to sign.

 

[DM-Rocco]

I voted other:

1. I am interested to see how Paizo does with unbridled writing. No longer does their content have to cross the desk at WoTC... this could be really good. From the previews I have seen at Paizo, I have little doubt it is going to be some top notch stuff.

2. I am interested in seeing this new Digital Initiative world. As long as I have an option to print whatever I bought I am fine with it. There are some really nice enhancements you get when going digital... most that likely have work around out there but none are "official". I anticipate similar levels of content to what we were seeing in Dungeon and Dragon, only more timely, and with nice bonus features... imagine scaling an adventure with a click of a button.

3. Change is good, technology is even better. I see stagnation all the time at my work, and when I come into a department that has been doing the same thing for 20 years because that's the way it's always been done, the first thing I think of is how can we leverage computers to make things more efficient? Of course, I work in IT and would naturally think of that

Yeah, I will miss Dungeon and Dragon after the September issues arrive, but that shock has worn off me now, and I am looking forward to the future.

Hmm, don't you get tired of looking at a computer screen?

I stare at a computer screen all day long, the last thing I want to do is stare at one to read the next "digital Initiative." Plus, if this even remotely works, the next step will be 4th edition all in PDF format, no more books. While it might be nice to have splat books on computer, the core books would blow in that format.

 

[DM-Rocco]

The magazines aren't going to be saved. And the changes in the magazine industry/distribution recently, along with the decline of physical game stores and the way gaming materials are handled by the big book stores and online ones, are likely to prevent a new one from rising in Dragon's/Dungeon's place, at least not for terribly long. This is what I predict anyway.

I'd certainly love to see the magazines remain in print, but it's not happening. Pathfinder is likely to be the closest thing to that sort of media we'll get (though my preference to run more freeform/homebrewed adventures means I won't be picking up Pathfinder myself). And I hope it does well. But Wizards is determined to make their Digital Initiative the only source for D&D content outside of actual, expensive game books and the occasional printed module. Not exactly the most portable or versatile reading material in gaming. -_-


I have little desire to bother with online content of that sort, but I'm not the majority demographic; I actually like printed books and magazines as a convenient medium, and I don't have a Palm Pilot or other thing to read digital crud while I'm away from the computer. I also have no desire to spend more time than I already do in front of computer screens. Print materials are easier on my eyes and a nice change of pace from the daily routine of staring at a glowing monitor while sitting on my rump.

I can read magazines on the bus or on the plane, or while someone else in the family is using the computer. But with Dragon going away and being absorbed into the Digital Initiative, my last 'zine of choice will be gone, and I'll have no more magazines to read; I'm not particularly interested in the few other, lesser choices out there, I have no reason to buy video game or anime related magazines, and I don't care for any other kinds of 'zine.


Anyway, Dragon and Dungeon are going. However much outrage the magazine-buying gamers may release, Wizards will still probably make more money from legions of folks who will shell out moolah for intangible, digital content that's cheaper for Wizards to produce in the first place.

'twould be nice if nanotechnology got really advanced really soon, though, so we could have cheap PDA-type devices to carry around that could wirelessly download articles and display them on a nice, non-glowing, easy-on-the-eyes screen of simple plastic, covering a nanite colony that adjusts its positioning to display nearly as well as a pixelated monitor.

Hmm, that really sums it up better than I tried, about why I would want print versus file formats.

 

[Storm Raven]

Quote this to sign on-line petition
I sign this petition to keep Dragon and Dungeon magazine as they are!!!

No PDFs or on-line formats for me!!!

I don't think it will do any good, but I'll sign anyway. I would like the magazines to continue, and signing can't hurt.

 

[Holy Bovine]

My solution?

Bring out 4th edition on paper napkins with Dragon magazine scattered in bits written on sugar packets.

It's how i learned history!

/obscure Simpson's reference

 

[DM-Rocco]

Rewritten for accuracy:
Well, WotC is not doing what I want. Just look at the poll of ENWorld poll responders. Granted, it is a skewed, opt-in, ask-in-passion, niche sampling, but even out of this very small, relatively homogenous sampling, there are still differences of opinion. It suggests that at least 80% of the traditionally say-nothing-positive-about-WotC crowd, 80% want something contrary to the decision WotC has made.
I believe you.

Okay Mr. Now generation. You just believe what you want.

 

[D.Shaffer]

Not trying to be a downer here, but I think you're wasting your time with this. To begin with, online petitions like this have never worked, you'd be better off with a hand written petition. Additionally, I believe WotC has already made up their mind on this, Paizo has gone on to other things, and I doubt they could reverse the decision now if they wanted to.

Time to move on, guys.