Should I subscribe to DUNGEON?


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I had high hopes that the magazine was changing, especially after Erik Mona's comments. I'd been disappointed with the magazine's overall value, and was hoping to get more out of it- like many, I don't use much of the Polyhedron content (I'd estimate 95% of it is pretty much of no use to me in-game whatsoever), and the adventures themselves have been lacking. I was willing to give them a shot, though. Like Squire James, however, their shipping schedule for subscribers has been horrible- I still haven't received issue #110, let alone #111. I sent an e-mail to their customer service box (on their site) that's as of yet unanswered. Needless to say, I won't be subscribing again. It's a shame, too- I've been a subscriber for years, despite my growing dissatisfaction. *sigh*
 

Dungeon Saved My Life~!

My personal story: DUNGEON is the only reason I'm alive today. It saved my life.

It was early last year (2003) and I had suffered a crippling achilles and leg injury whilst trying to dunk over some punk 20-something-year-old and I was unable to work or 'function' for three months. My wife was tired of my constant whining and addiction to laying around the house and watching XPLAY on tech-TV. Well, even my kids got sick of me. I accidentally stepped on my daughter with my walking cast and she wouldn't come near me and would run from me when I would look at her. The only people that seemed to like me were my dog and my gamer friends (because I didn't shower as often, they felt less intimidated), but I couldn't DM anymore because of the agonizing reflex-symathetic dystrophy and necrotizing fasciitis from the complications from the surgery, so my group left me for an Eberron playtest downtown with some guy named Todd. My family despised me, I had no self-esteem and I was crippled. I was at wits-end and about to end it all...

...then it hit me...the whole kit-and-caboodle. Literally, while I was trying to climb up my shelves to get to my stash of Dragon magazines (to which I was horribly addicted), I slipped because I was a sniveling waste of meat and the ENTIRE BOOK_CASE came down on top of me. The only thing sticking out was my leg in the cast and my head was crushed between the corner of the coffee table and one of the shelves that had slid out and jammed through my right zygomatic and maxillary facial bones, destroying most of my teeth on that side in the process and causing me to choke on several of them along with the blood that I inhaled and crushed orofacial area. As you know, skull wounds bleed profusely and I was choking on the blood and teeth and my face was crushed. I was reaching around frantically when I felt my box of neglected Dungeons. I was able to get one and roll-it up and pry my mouth open to stabilize my fractured facial bones and cough enough up to breathe. If it wasn't for the glossy cover, study arena map and extra pages from Polyhedron, I would have been a goner-crushed under the addictive weight of Dragon. Ahh, good old issue #96. It looks now as if it was in the arena of Barachus itself! Smeared with my now dried fluids in a life-or death battle! A triumph of the DUNGEON staff and editors! Yay, it was that day that the true value of Dungeon became more than the high-quality magazine of over umpteen years. It became my lifesaver. I was hence transformed into a new man, loving life and loving Dungeon. Alas, it saved my life.

Thank you DUNGEON,

jh



Issue #96 ('Under the arena' map insert; paired with arena map in Drg#303.)
Provincial Prior Cause (1st) Cultists of Gruumsh have subverted one of the Soldiers of the Sun, and the PC’s must track the traitor down.
Pandemonium in the Veins (Gladiator: 5th) Life as a gladiator is deadly enough inside the arena. So it’s just unfair when something starts killing the prize fighters outside their matches. It’s up to the PC’s to go undercover as gladiators themselves and solve the mysterious deaths. Paired with Dragon #303.; ***
Beyond the Light of Reason (13th) The town of Rutherton has lived in peace for years thanks to the protective flame of the light of reason. When the flame is extinguished, the PC’s must race against time ot re-light it or the town will be destroyed.
Cold Storage (C.Threat: frozen room) This icy chamber will chill your PC’s to the bone.
Hollow Threats (S,Trek; 1st) A dragon turtle is headed the PCs’ direction, having terrorized towns up and down the coast. Is the small fishing hamlet of Fogly next on its menu.


...;)
 
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I'm probably in the minority, but even though I have a subscription (a 3 yr one right before they switched to the new monthly format), I will not be renewing it once it expires. To be honest, I haven't been all that impressed with the quality of content and I really don't need the adventures since I can cook up one of my own fairly easily and with about as much effort.

My advice, go to your retailer and buy the issues you want and can use rather than making an investment on something that you will likely not be able to use in its entirety. But that is only my opinion and based upon my own biases against the magazine and my needs. :)
 

Ghostwind said:
I'm probably in the minority, but even though I have a subscription (a 3 yr one right before they switched to the new monthly format), I will not be renewing it once it expires. To be honest, I haven't been all that impressed with the quality of content and I really don't need the adventures since I can cook up one of my own fairly easily and with about as much effort.

My advice, go to your retailer and buy the issues you want and can use rather than making an investment on something that you will likely not be able to use in its entirety. But that is only my opinion and based upon my own biases against the magazine and my needs. :)


you aren't the minority, you are the majority. ;)

Poly is a PoS.

and if you want to guarantee receiving a copy plus get it ahead of the subscribers... buy it off the rack.

subscribing is a Con not a Pro.
 




After reading the new changes to Dungeon & Dragon magazines, I've been convinced to change my decision and become a subscriber. The changes addressed the exact issues that I had problems with (eliminating Polyhedron and focussing on D&D only). Bravo Dungeon & Dragon! You've just earned a new subscriber!!!
 

I would say that unless you run an exclusively Greyhawk campaign and don't mind a paltry 2 adventures per issue go right ahead. Otherwise, it's a waste of money. I haven't seen an issue of Dungeon I can use since last summer. Around that time, they quit printing anything that wasn't completely Greyhawk. No more Forgotten Realms or generic adventures thanks to Eric Mona's personal grudge against FR. It's sad that one person's immaturity has ruined what used to be a great magazine.
 

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