Who will take up the Printed Game Magazine challenge?

[kenobi65]

Yeah, but that was a different enviroment/market. With Dragon/Dungeon gone its difficult to speculate one how succesful a non-official magazine would be, and lots have failed in the past few years because of that competition.

Indeed...but it's also different now (compared to when InQuest tried it the first time) in that the RPG market is not nearly as hot now as it was then.

Yes, they have deep-enough pockets, but I wouldn't be surprised if they looked at it and said, "nah, we tried that already."

Don't get me wrong...I would *love* to see a hard-copy gaming periodical rise up to take the place of Dragon, and succeed beyond anyone's expectations. I'm just very skeptical as to whether it's possible.

 

[Arnwyn]

Look to your fellow gamers for the reason. There are simply way too many who would not buy a d20 magazine, simply because it was not "official."

Without the D&D logo on it, a print magazine would be a money-losing exercise for any publisher.

I entirely agree with this.

Heck, I'm one of them - not so much for the "official" label, but for the WotC IP, which was valuable to my games. (One could do the freaky bit of internet stretching and say "official" = WotC IP, and if so, then that's fine. It's also admitting that there is discernable and explicit value to the "official" label. But like I said, that's stretching.)

In any case, I am one of those with no interest in some OGL d20 magazine. That's not what I purchased Dragon for.

 

[Mark CMG]

I don't see anyone stepping up at this point and printing Dragon/Dungeon type magazines. As others have already said, if it doesn't have the official seal it just doesn't sell.

I agree. And with the response above in regard to the Kenzer position, I do not see it successfully happening.

 

[Erik Mona]

I sense a disturbance in the Force...as if much money is about to be lost.

His midichlorian readings are off the charts! Not even Master Yoda has readings so high.

--Erik

 

[thedungeondelver]

I was all set to do a fanzine but my funding fell through.

 

[WhatGravitas]

...but for the WotC IP, which was valuable to my games. (One could do the freaky bit of internet stretching and say "official" = WotC IP, and if so, then that's fine. It's also admitting that there is discernable and explicit value to the "official" label. But like I said, that's stretching.)

In any case, I am one of those with no interest in some OGL d20 magazine. That's not what I purchased Dragon for.

Yeah, that's the main point (and most probably the reason, why a "Pathfinder" arises, but no Dragon-like magazine): The best articles in the Dragon were stuff like "Core Beliefs", "Demonomicon", "Creature Collections" or "Campaign Classics". These big articles are highly dependent on WotC-IP. In fact, if you cut everything of "official fluff", Dragon would shrink to half its size. And some new OGL-stuff, combined with generic RPG news... just don't cut it.

Especially not, if you get the same easier (i.e. internet and browsing trough your FLGS). The new IP-stuff set Dragon apart.

 

[Mark CMG]

I was all set to do a fanzine but my funding fell through.

Better to lose it before you sign for it.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Better to lose it before you sign for it.

The funding was due to come from my wife's promotion at work, so in this case, no. Generally speaking I can't say as I'd disagree with you however.

Still, I wanted at least a crack at it.

(And no, nothing on the scale of DRAGON or DUNGEON magazines...but still...)

 

[Mark CMG]

The funding was due to come from my wife's promotion at work, so in this case, no.

Look on it as a sign and do not invest your wife's promotion money when it finally arrives.

 

[JDJblatherings]

er.. i thought it lasted for 50 issues before some smart-a decided to rename the magazine from the highly informative 'White Wolf Magazine' to the nonsensical 'Inphobia' without bothering to tell anyone it beforehand, thereby causing an immediate 85% drop in sales..

I bought back in the early days, it was good stuff.