<Volume 1 Review> The inevitable comparison

[GF Jeff]

We can say Gaming Frontiers isn't a magazine until we're blue in the face, but apparently folks wanting to compare us to Dragon / Dungeon is unavoidable. Fortunately, the comparison works in our favor. Jim Goings over at The 3rd Edition does the math for you in his full review of Gaming Frontiers Volume 1, which you can read at:

www.3rdedition.org

Volume 2 is at the printers and should be in stores by April at the latest.

Thanks!

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com
United Playtest, Inc.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Cool review! I for one love your magazine.

*runs away at his pathetic 15 ft. base speed*

 

[Erik Mona]

Congrats on the good review, Jeff. That said, the reviewer is a little too quick, in my opinion, to discount Wizards of the Coast for not covering d20 material in Dragon. Dragon is the official magazine of Dungeons & Dragons, not of the d20 system. For more coverage of the d20 industry (though certainly a different fish than Gaming Frontiers), folks should check out Polyhedron, which now comes as part of Dungeon magazine.

I'm not sure a straight comparison between GF and either of WotC's publications does a service to any of the pubs involved.

Still, it's nice to see you guys getting so many good reviews for what was, in my opinion, an extremely ballsy move (essentially marketing an $18.00 magazine). Yes, _I_ know it's not a magazine, but it's not really a normal product, either. I prefer to view Gaming Frontiers as a great way to "sample" from the d20 industry that can help gamers home in on companies and products that might be interesting to them, but that would otherwise have been lost in the glut.

Good luck, and I hope to see Gaming Frontiers continue for some time.

--Erik Mona
Editor, Polyhedron Magazine

 

[GF Jeff]

Thank you for the kind words, Erik. You correctly point out that Dragon is the magazine for D&D, not the d20 System, which is why we created Gaming Frontiers in the first place. Dragon is, and always will be, the standard by which all others are judged, even those products that skew a little sideways like ours. Dragon and Polyhedron are fine magazines, and ones which everyone in these offices reads monthly, just like every other D&D gamer out there.

Straight comparisons between GF and Dragon are definitely not something we would encourage, especially considering that we consider GF to be a d20 publisher's digest (and not a magazine - as Jim Goings points out - what magazine has 7 pages of ads?), but since several online reviewers and forum members don't seem to understand the concept, we were happy to see someone use the reverse argument for once.

What befuddles me most is when folks say, "Gaming Frontiers is too expensive. Get more money from ads to bring the price." I don't understand this logic. What are they saying? They want to pay less, but also have less content? If we charged upwards of $2000 for ad space like Dragon does (and rightfully so, it IS a magazine after all, with a reader base and circulation that justifies the ad cost), then we could certainly afford to bring down the price, but that would also mean compromising the amount of space we allot for content (not to mention sacrifice our business model). If you want more, you pay more, it's that simple. Asking us to include more ads in order to bring down the price is something I don't think I'll ever understand. It's like saying, "There's too much content. I'd rather pay less and have less stuff."

Your "sampling" idea is exactly how we (the United Playtest staff) think of Gaming Frontiers. Many folks have pointed out that they were turned on to new companies by way of Volume 1, and that was our intention.

I would like to congratulate you on the exemplary job you do, month in and month out, on your publications, as they continue to have a loyal following out here in the hinterlands. I wish good luck to you as well as you continue doing what you love. It shows.

Thanks again,

Jeffrey S. Carter
Head Writer / Assistant Editor
Gaming Frontiers
www.gamingfrontiers.com
United Playtest, Inc.