Rate 4E Dungeon Magazine
- Thread starter El Mahdi
- Start date
Festivus
First Post
Too many errors in editing, bland adventures with predictable plots, nothing that made me to Ooooh! unlike the last three years of printed Dungeon magazines where almost every issue had at least one interesting adventure.
The only thing I like so far is the price... free.
The Online Dragon is far superior in my opinion.
The only thing I like so far is the price... free.
The Online Dragon is far superior in my opinion.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
As I said over in the poll for Dragon, I would rate Dungeon a 2. They still don't make maps full page and in high definition, nor do they include keyed and unkeyed versions. They also won't make their artwork full page (better for handouts or "color" for players). The adventures themselves have been, IMO, poor to good, with most of them predominantly poor. The one lone standout for me was The Last Breaths of Ashenport by Ari Marmell (available here). That adventure was a 5 by itself, and one of the reasons I gave the magazine a 2 rather than a 1. The adventure Sea Reavers of the Shrouded Crags (available here), although not a great adventure IMO (definitely has some writing issues), at least had enough interesting plots (and a wicked cool submarine
) for me to at least be able to use this after some story/plot modification. Other than those two, there hasn't been a whole lot that impressed me. I have stacks of old adventures (modules and old Dungeons) and downloaded free adventures (old ones from WoTC and other free download sites), so many in fact that I probably couldn't use all of them in a lifetime. The majority of them are at least as good as what the new Dungeon has provided, or better, that I just can't see a reason to spend money on it (even as good as the subscription price is). Once the free trial is over, the main reason for my even visiting the WoTC site at all is pretty much gone.-(edit: Mustrum_Ridcully shared some info over on the Dragon poll thread that may have changed my mind about this aspect a bit.) I'll just have to spend more of my time gaming again
, rather than at WoTC site (my game has been on hold for health reasons, but that should finally be resolved in the next few weeks).
P.S.: I figured out how to set up a poll, Yeah! (I'm kind of excited about that, but I probably shoudn't be. It was so easy a fifth grader could have done it.)
) for me to at least be able to use this after some story/plot modification. Other than those two, there hasn't been a whole lot that impressed me. I have stacks of old adventures (modules and old Dungeons) and downloaded free adventures (old ones from WoTC and other free download sites), so many in fact that I probably couldn't use all of them in a lifetime. The majority of them are at least as good as what the new Dungeon has provided, or better, that I just can't see a reason to spend money on it (even as good as the subscription price is). Once the free trial is over, the main reason for my even visiting the WoTC site at all is pretty much gone.-(edit: Mustrum_Ridcully shared some info over on the Dragon poll thread that may have changed my mind about this aspect a bit.) I'll just have to spend more of my time gaming again, rather than at WoTC site (my game has been on hold for health reasons, but that should finally be resolved in the next few weeks).P.S.: I figured out how to set up a poll, Yeah! (I'm kind of excited about that, but I probably shoudn't be. It was so easy a fifth grader could have done it.)
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I don't remember where the first month articles were for KoTS in the FR and Eberron, but, if Dungeon ran articles of that quality every month, they'd get a 4 or 5. As it is, I've not found one of the adventures a sure run adventure yet, and that is disappointing.
Where is the cool terrain? Where is something different and original? It all seems kind of generic to me. The adventure in the Feywild could have happened in any world, what made it Feywildish?
It also needs to run articles every month with small encounters (give me 4 or 5 pre-built encounters, maybe showing me how to build an interesting ambush with human enemies encounter at 4 different ELs). Nothing in there really helps me in a concrete way be a better DM.
Where is the cool terrain? Where is something different and original? It all seems kind of generic to me. The adventure in the Feywild could have happened in any world, what made it Feywildish?
It also needs to run articles every month with small encounters (give me 4 or 5 pre-built encounters, maybe showing me how to build an interesting ambush with human enemies encounter at 4 different ELs). Nothing in there really helps me in a concrete way be a better DM.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
I have used very little of the Dungeon so far, and because I don't know who in my group will use any of the adventures, that won't change much.
The little stuff I saw was hit and miss. I liked quite a few ideas for skill challenges and the story.
What I didn't like is that they use the format where the encounters are at the end of the adventure, instead of where they take place in the flow following the adventure.
The rest I haven't seen enough of. I think there is far more improvement possible, but I will still give 3 stars.
The little stuff I saw was hit and miss. I liked quite a few ideas for skill challenges and the story.
What I didn't like is that they use the format where the encounters are at the end of the adventure, instead of where they take place in the flow following the adventure.
The rest I haven't seen enough of. I think there is far more improvement possible, but I will still give 3 stars.
Shemeska
Adventurer
At the moment a 1/borderline 2. That's primarily because of the hazy updates and the severe lack of editing I've seen up to this point. However things have improved in that area a bit as they've moved closer to charging people, when that sort of quality issue just won't fly. A few more months and I might revise the score up if things improve.
Of course if they ever got Mount Zogon back in print (electronic at least) again for the online magazine, my score would jump a few points on that alone.
Of course if they ever got Mount Zogon back in print (electronic at least) again for the online magazine, my score would jump a few points on that alone.
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
Like I said in the other thread:
Classic Dragon (early 80s)>Best of Paizo Dungeon>4E Dragon>Paizo Dragon (and much Dungeon)=WotC Dragon>4E Dungeon>TSR Dungeon>Craptasic Dragon (much of late 80s and 90s, though there are exceptions).
And this is not such high praise.
The old Dungeon rellied on people just sending stuff in, and I never got great use out of it (but didn't really need it either). Paizo profesionalized the whole thing and broadened the audience, and so I would actually buy those once in a while. Dungeon 4E does seem to be a bit of a flop, and doesn't seem to know what model to use, inspite of the fact that it has some Dungeon veterans associated with it. (Even James Wyatts colum has gotten weak...it would be good if he was actually running a game!).
Hopefully more resources will kickstart things.
Classic Dragon (early 80s)>Best of Paizo Dungeon>4E Dragon>Paizo Dragon (and much Dungeon)=WotC Dragon>4E Dungeon>TSR Dungeon>Craptasic Dragon (much of late 80s and 90s, though there are exceptions).
And this is not such high praise.
The old Dungeon rellied on people just sending stuff in, and I never got great use out of it (but didn't really need it either). Paizo profesionalized the whole thing and broadened the audience, and so I would actually buy those once in a while. Dungeon 4E does seem to be a bit of a flop, and doesn't seem to know what model to use, inspite of the fact that it has some Dungeon veterans associated with it. (Even James Wyatts colum has gotten weak...it would be good if he was actually running a game!).
Hopefully more resources will kickstart things.
