Why _DON'T_ You Buy Dragon Magazine?

[Turjan]

I contacted customer service about this. Their response? It must be my post office.

I would not dismiss this comment as completely unfounded. I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, so mail delivery should not be a problem. Anyway, for more than half a year, I never got the account balances from my bank, although I got every other junk imaginable; it was always returned. The bad thing about this is that my bank took a fee of $10 each time, because my address was "invalid". I had numerous talks with the bank, checked the address countless times, all to no avail.

Then I called my post office and complained to the supervisor for mail delivery. From this day on, everything went fine .

 

[underthumb]

Brown Jenkin-

I guess I need yet more understanding of subscription deliveries. I subscribe to several weekly magazines and recieve them no more than 2 days after press (content covering current events shows when it had to be printed).

Erik stated that those who get their magazines first are usually very close to the printers. Isn't it possible that this is the case for your weekly magazines?

Granted, it may not be true, but it's one thing to consider.

 

[cyferwolf]

mostly play as a PC and the looks have never been what drew me to the magazine. Im purely looking for things to use. anything that gives me an idea, something new for my characters, something that i know a friend can use, or soemthing i want to use in a future character. not necessarily crunchy bits either, stories, roleplaying tips, anything that new and interesting. I don't buy it when I can't find anyhting I can use or would want to use. the style of th magazine doesn't really bare on what i get, its whether or not thew content is interesting. What I really like is when you guys go back into some of the older 1e and 2e stuff and update it, and when you just go way out into left field and try and create something new and weird.

hopefully some of this makes some sense.

 

[Nellisir]

Brown Jenkin-
Erik stated that those who get their magazines first are usually very close to the printers. Isn't it possible that this is the case for your weekly magazines?

Granted, it may not be true, but it's one thing to consider.

Option 1: The weekly mags may ship under a higher priority (read: faster) stamp than the general printed literature that most mags go under.

Option 2: The weekly mags may ship (overnight) to regional distribution centers, and then to customers, rather than from a single point in the nation, so they can speed up delivery.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Greylock]

I would not dismiss this comment as completely unfounded. I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, so mail delivery should not be a problem..

FWIW, received a card in the mail the other day, last week. It was mailed on and postmarked November 8th. From Raleigh, NC to Memphis. No marks or anything on the card to suggest where it had been waylaid. Don't want to make too much of it, 'cause when all is said and done I think our Postal service/system is one heck of a deal. But then...

 

[coyote6]

I know of several posters who have received Dungeon #118, for instance, and I am pretty sure it is not yet available in the stores.

FWIW, the FLGS in Monterey has copies. Someone in my group picked up a copy yesterday, and brought it to the game.

(The map rocks.)

 

[RFisher]

Yeah, but don't forget that SJG did d20 Weekly too and that tanked. The d20 market is a different animal. Pyramid maintains it's base by being the semi-house organ for GURPS and draws a wide crowd due to the quality of many of it's writers.

I believe the biggest problem d20 Weekly had finding an audience was that it was published by SJGames. I love SJGames, but they aren't the top of people's go-to list for d20 content.

Paizo, however, is publishing the official magazines of the most important d20 game published. A game published not only by the biggest d20 publisher, but by the biggest roleplaying game publisher. Dragon has access to (at least) an order of magnitude more eyes than those who probably ever even knew d20 Weekly existed.

And while a subscription-based online magazine might be a really tough business model right now, a traditional print magazine is becoming increasingly a tough business model. Combining a print magazine with a online subscriber-only archive might be a winning combination at the moment.

It would be interesting, however, to then give subscribers the option to not get the print mag & see how many just read it online. (Or download it & print it.)

The online edition could indeed endanger the print edition, but any print magazine is endangered these days. Of the few of my favorites from days gone by that have managed to survive, many have been reduced to mere pamphlets. Shadows of their former glory. If the print edition dies, the real culprit will be that there aren't enough people willing to pay for it to support it.

That being said, I would--if I were in charge--consider delaying online content a month or two or not giving the option to only subscribe online in order to give the paper edition a +1 bonus.

 

[Acid_crash]

IF they ever put in subscription ONLY stuff that the paying customer would not get at the counter than I will never buy the magazine. Why should the people who are paying MORE get LESS stuff?

 

[DragonLancer]

1. Why don't you buy the magazine?

2. What sort of changes would make you more likely to give it another look?

I very much appreciate your time and attention.

1. Because its too much new/optional rules based than helpful articles.

2. Drop the number of new rules/spells/feats/PrC's...etc, and go more helpful articles.

 

[JVisgaitis]

So Erik, we ever going to get a response to the changes your planning, or do I need to keep checking this thread every few days for nothing? Come on man, you said tomorrow like 5 days ago. What's the scoop?