What do YOU Want to See in Dragon/Dungeon

[ShadowDenizen]

Not sure that I'm subscribing to the DI.
I'm leaning towards "Not" unless it REALLY knocks my socks off.

What would I like to see to draw me in to the DI (and 4E in general)?

1) Adventre Paths in Dungeon. Given the new medium, they should be able to produce copious amounts of stuff to enhance these paths.

2) Fiction: Again, no space restrictions, so bring the fiction back!

3) Support for older settings (perhaps even updating them to 4E?)
Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Birthright.. The list goes on of quality older settings. (THough I do appeciate all the hard work the folks at Planewalker, Athas.org, etc. have put out over the years!!)

4) A PDF download at the end of the month of all the Dragon/Dungeon content. I'm NOT a fan of "CHeck back three times a week for content" deals. (Actually,while it's not terribly likely given the insistence of "Web-only" supplemental material, a "Print-on-demand" type option wold be ideal, and might mitigiate some of the fallout about the cancellation of the print magazines.)

5) Some non-WotC type stuff. (Given we don't know the status of the new OGL, or who, of anyone will buy in, that may be a pipe-dream, though.) What I liked about the Paizo incarnations was that they were not really a "WotC-only" publication.

6) Keep the ecology articles, with a good mix of fluff and crunch.

 

[Scribble]

4) A PDF download at the end of the month of all the Dragon/Dungeon content. I'm NOT a fan of "CHeck back three times a week for content" deals. (Actually,while it's not terribly likely given the insistence of "Web-only" supplemental material, a "Print-on-demand" type option wold be ideal, and might mitigiate some of the fallout about the cancellation of the print magazines.)

Ahh you are in luck my friend. They plan to consolidate it all as a PDF mag at the end of the month. (very other month to start until 4e hits...)

You could probably do POD through like mimeo or that other one people on here seem to like.

 

[Rechan]

Dungeon

Three Adventures A Month Minimum.

Eberron adventures. That don't take place in Sharn.

Some non-dungeon crawls. Give me Event based adventures. Site based adventures. Also maybe some goal-based adventures that don't revolve around "Kill that thing" or "Take that thing from the lair of the thing you'll have to kill".

Situations that are unique, exciting, and climactic. Rather than fighting zombies in a hallway, I want to fight zombies on a rope bridge suspended over a cavern filled with centipede swarms.

 

[Greg K]

1. continued 3.x support especially covering the following
2. Demonicon articles by James Jacob
3. Greyhawk Pantheon articles by Sean K. Reynolds
4. articles on different cultures (e.g, the old David Howery articles in Dragon for running Native American and African settings).
5. support for Al Quadim, Darksun, and Ravenloft
6. Monster Ecology
7. Bazaar of the Bizarre
8. alternate magic systems
9. Class variants and variant class abilities.

 

[Scribble]

1. continued 3.x support especially covering the following
2. Demonicon articles by James Jacob
3. Greyhawk Pantheon articles by Sean K. Reynolds
4. articles on different cultures (e.g, the old David Howery articles in Dragon for running Native American and African settings).
5. support for Al Quadim, Darksun, and Ravenloft
6. Monster Ecology
7. Bazaar of the Bizarre
8. alternate magic systems
9. Class variants and variant class abilities.

Ooooh yes count me in on the different cultures articles! I loved those.

 

[Treebore]

Hey man, I can understand people being upset that the format of the magazine has changed, however, thats not what I'd like this thread to focus on.

I'd like this to remain about the content.

Thanks!

Well, it is. I want my Dungeon and Dragon to contain paper. So I am not going to be happy with the content until its published on paper, as a magazine, again.

So I, as a consumer, want to make sure any WOTC employer who reads this, and is involved in marketing, knows that the demand is still there, and will know that is why I don't subscribe to the electronic version once it requires payment.

As for the content so far? Not as substantial as it felt under PAizo, but the Dungeon lead in by Ari is good. Still, we have a couplle of weeks to go. Hopefully it will fill in well.

As for what I find most helpful from Dragon:

Write ups of NPC personalities and monsters, including gods, demons, etc... I also like write ups of guilds/organizations. I also mean simple NPC's, such as various merchants, craftsmen, bread makers, etc...

I really don't care for more classes and feats. I like write ups of magic items and new spells. I would like to see a "flavorfull" creation process written for them as well. Meaning formulae, not how much gold and XP it costs. Formulae for items, scrolls, and spell ink.

For Dungeon, more adventures by Ari would be good. But since this is electronic only I would also like to see a "print cheap" version which is totally black and white, with simple lines, that minimizes ink cost as much as possible. Including, and especially, the maps.

I would also like digital counters, like Fiery Dragon does, for the Dungeon monsters and NPC's, and the art done for them. Simple though, like the Fiery Dragon Counters. See if Claudio can handle the art chores.


Same for the Dragon articles, since I'll have to print out the ones I like and want to use.

These are what I would like to see, print or PDF.

 

[Glyfair]

1) Regular support for the main campaign settings (right now FR & Eberron) with regular rotating support for out-of-print settings (this month a Planescape articlem next month Dark Sun, etc). Greyhawk fits somewhere between the two.

2) "Behind the Screen" articles showing how the system works and why. Just like those after 3E launched.

3) "Giants in the Earth" column. Reach out to fantasy authors to get permission to publish D&D stats for their characters. Sell it as promoting their books. I know I have tried many series just because of the old GitE column.

4) Adventure series: Tie together 2-3 adventures together as part of a storyline without them being set back-to-back. Nick Logue's "Chimes at Midnight" series is a good example of that.

5) DI-enhanced articles: Introduce new feats? Have them appear in the character generator (or at least the option to activate them). Discuss techniques of designing dungeon rooms, have the rooms be part of the Virtual Tabletop.

6) New monsters and alternate monsters: And I don't mean as part of a Dungeon adventure. Maybe even have the new monsters appearing in Dungeon also appear in a separate article. Consider giving alternate builds for classic monsters, especially those with major changes.

What I don't want to see:

1) Long adventure paths: I don't want a significant amount of the Dungeon content tied up in one storyline. I hate knowing that 1/3 or more of the content I'm paying for be wasted because I'm not interested in the storyline. Especially when that storyline lasts for a year straight, like Paizo's.

2) Unrelated systems: I hated the early Dragon tendency of writing subsystems for D&D that were "alternatives" that had no strong ties to the system. It didn't work well in AD&D/OD&D which had no strong central system, it's even worse in the more cohesive 3E and, presumbably 4E, system.

3) Fiction: I liked the best fiction in TD (I'd buy a Niall of the Far Travels story). I won't read it as online content.

 

[Lord Zack]

I want support for old settings, especially Planescape. Including Dungeon adventures.

 

[The Merciful]

First, ink on paper. A print magazine just is more portable, easy to use, gives more prestige and visibility to D&D brand and promotes the hobby far better than some articles buried in WotC web-site.

Second, specialiced articles on things not directly D&D, but related to it in a way or another. Like the articles about different cultures mentioned before. Could also be about literature, myths, history of warfare and arms, extinct religions etc. At the end you might have a part where some ideas are given how to tie the article mechanically to your game.

Thirdly, just plain good grunt work. I want my articles written well, rules designed well, my art drawn and painted well, and my magazine laid out well. It's the simple, basic, things that truly matter.

 

[Alnag]

I want to see Robin D. Laws articles back. Those were great.