shadowlight
First Post
I had the same thing happen to me (I was just complaining about it to my wife). I've already renewed (Dungeon), but now I'm afraid I'm going to miss an issue.antpasq said:
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The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Why _DON'T_ You Buy Dragon Magazine?
- Thread starter Erik Mona
- Start date
Unfortunately, I cannot speak to the renewal problem posted above. I strongly suggest a post to the following forum:
http://www.paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/general/customerService
Someone should be able to help you out promptly. I should note, however, that the office closes at the end of the day tomorrow and will not reopen until January 3rd, so tonight and tomorrow are good days to raise this issue there.
Again, sorry I can't personally be more helpful, but we've got folks who know exactly how to deal with this, and they'll be able to help you out ASAP.
Thanks,
Erik Mona
http://www.paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/general/customerService
Someone should be able to help you out promptly. I should note, however, that the office closes at the end of the day tomorrow and will not reopen until January 3rd, so tonight and tomorrow are good days to raise this issue there.
Again, sorry I can't personally be more helpful, but we've got folks who know exactly how to deal with this, and they'll be able to help you out ASAP.
Thanks,
Erik Mona
Drachenherz
First Post
What about more reader input?
If I remember correctly, wasn't there a policy in effect for the reading public to submit ideas back in the days before TSR canned Dragon? I think it would be a good idea to reinstitute this, in effect giving the readers a voice, more than just a Q&A session from the Sage.
I really like the Ecology and Class Act features, as well as Zogonia (it kicks major buttocks). Nodwick is OK, but Dork Tower honestly is boring.
As another suggestion, how about having a "Painter's Corner" type of feature, where the miniature painting readers can show off their works, and the pro-painters among us can give advice to those who want help?
*Jumps up and down, waving hands wildly, yelling "Volunteer!!!!!" *
If I remember correctly, wasn't there a policy in effect for the reading public to submit ideas back in the days before TSR canned Dragon? I think it would be a good idea to reinstitute this, in effect giving the readers a voice, more than just a Q&A session from the Sage.
I really like the Ecology and Class Act features, as well as Zogonia (it kicks major buttocks). Nodwick is OK, but Dork Tower honestly is boring.
As another suggestion, how about having a "Painter's Corner" type of feature, where the miniature painting readers can show off their works, and the pro-painters among us can give advice to those who want help?
*Jumps up and down, waving hands wildly, yelling "Volunteer!!!!!" *
HHH: Hopefully-Helpful Hints...
Ugh! Meum no read twenty-three pages of stuff! Me read TWO, but here some ideas!
1). All Content MUST Pass The USABILITY TEST!
The main objection to fiction in Dragon (it seems to me) is that it fails the "Usefulness Test". Likewise, an article on Hammered Dulcimers would be of interest to SOME readers, and could easily ties in to Bards, made game-related... but how much USE would the average player (or GM) get out of it?
If your answer is "About zero!", then articles on Hammered Dulcimers have no business being in Dragon. Save it for The Antiques Corner, or some magazine focused towards Renaissance Musicians. It will better serve its readership, there.
Likewise, ALL Dragon articles should be subjected to the same test. Those that fail should be removed, and replaced with more USEFUL content.
2). What's useful to me may be trash to you... and vice-versa!
Forgotten Realms? What are those (apparently, I've forgotten)! Eberron? No thanks! Greyhawk, even? No, thank you... not anymore! None of these are of interest, to me. THEY ALL fail the Usability Test!
Now, what I loathe, others may love... BUT NOT ALL OF THEM! The key, here, is Focus vs. Variety. In an issue focused on Eberron, I will not be interested... ALL articles will fail the Usability Test, for me. Therefore, Dragon needs MORE Variety, and LESS Focus!
Say you have an Eberron issue, a FR issue, and a GH issue, a Halloween and April Fools isue... That's about half the year that I probably won't be buying your mag! I bet I'm not the only one, either!
Perhaps you could have one big Eberron-themed issue a year... but it would be a mistake! Better to have one much smaller piece an issue, an occasional FR, GH, DS, etc., piece in an occasional issue, and a bunch of crunchy bits, and them some stuff of interest to some, but not all, on a VARIETY of topics. That way, you might have some people who skip the one Eberron (or FR, or GH, or DS, or...) article, but still get hooked by one or more of the others!
3). Variety, not Focus! (Or, No Theme Issues!)
I don't care if it's April Fools' month! Does everything in the mag hafta be foolishness? If so, there's no reason for me to subscribe (or buy the April issue)! Halloween is much the same. Pretty much every theme you can name works the same way. Go back to #2, now...
4). Dungeon notwithstanding, bring back DMing material!
There is no reason for DMs to buy Dragon, apparently... None, whatsoever (unless they're also players). CHANGE THAT! (Please).
Now apply the Usability Test to this suggestion... See how that works?
5). More non-D&D (even non-D20) material.
Variety vs. Focus. Sure, some people will object, but as long as it's an occasional piece, it'll fly. Just don't make a theme out of it! This will fail the Usability Test for some readers (especially those used to a steady diet of D&D, alone), but older readers will appreciate it (remembering the older Dragon), and most will enjoy more Variety!
6). Content, Content, Content!
If the content isn't to my taste, I won't buy. It's as simple as that... Now, you don't know my tastes, and you can't please me all the time... And even if you could, that shouldn't be your goal! You have a lot of other customers, besides me!
But obviously, you are going to have to have interesting content, or no one will be buying! Instead of trying to please everyone with every article (and failing), try to please everyone with at least one major, and several minor, articles in every issue! Much easier to do, and not fore-doomed to failure!
Now if this means changing editorial policy to get new writers, then DO IT! Why do you need Word for Windows format when most word processors, these days, can take in ASCII text and/or HTML, anyway? Why do you have to buy ALL rights to articles? (I won't be submitting, under those terms!)
Content should always be heavily slanted towards usability, as well. Now here's a piece I did, on wilderness survival, geared towards players. It was the second-to-the-last post to A Voice from the Wilderness thread. Kindly take a look at it, and see if it passes the Usability Test, for your magazine... THIS is the kind of articles I'd be interested in! Lots of ideas to use (or not), variety, general applicability to any setting, and any class could benefit. YMMV. Here's another one, on "Quick Adventure Ideas". All useful stuff, IMHO.
7). Subscription/Delivery Problems
Overseas subscribers have often complained of poor service. Have those issues been resolved? (If so, then good job!) American subscribers have complained about getting their subscriptions AFTER their FLGS do. (Bad job! But I understand that that has been/is being fixed!)
Also, any magazine which is not mailed sealed inside a Tyvek envelope will never get my business... I am tired of ripped, crushed mags, with coffee stains on pages 119-20, and arrive without their covers! Fuhgeddaboudit!
8). Customer Service
You can see complaints as complaints, or as opportunities to improve your products and ingratiate yourself to your customers... I assume you're a businessman, and realize that only one of these is acceptable. I leave it as an exercize for the interested to determine which is which.
When 3.5e was announced, I wrote and asked WotC Customer Service how we could give input to the new edition. I was told that all design decisions had already been made, and it was "too late". After 3.5e's debut, questions about this-and-that were asked, and the WotC folks told us "Well, that was back in the days when..., and we've since changed that!" Obviously, things were changed since the Update Conversion Guide was published (magical armour only adding to maximum Enc., not weight, for instance), so it shouldn't have been too late.
Anyway, I did a looooooonnnggg piece on what was wrong with the 3e Ranger, and how to fix it, right here on these boards... even though it was "too late". 99% of those suggestions seem to have been incorporated into 3.5e, oddly enough...
Anyway, WotC (and Dragon) need to do better in opening channels for feedback, and making them known. Not just to subscribers, either!
Ugh! Meum no read twenty-three pages of stuff! Me read TWO, but here some ideas!
1). All Content MUST Pass The USABILITY TEST!
The main objection to fiction in Dragon (it seems to me) is that it fails the "Usefulness Test". Likewise, an article on Hammered Dulcimers would be of interest to SOME readers, and could easily ties in to Bards, made game-related... but how much USE would the average player (or GM) get out of it?
If your answer is "About zero!", then articles on Hammered Dulcimers have no business being in Dragon. Save it for The Antiques Corner, or some magazine focused towards Renaissance Musicians. It will better serve its readership, there.
Likewise, ALL Dragon articles should be subjected to the same test. Those that fail should be removed, and replaced with more USEFUL content.
2). What's useful to me may be trash to you... and vice-versa!
Forgotten Realms? What are those (apparently, I've forgotten)! Eberron? No thanks! Greyhawk, even? No, thank you... not anymore! None of these are of interest, to me. THEY ALL fail the Usability Test!
Now, what I loathe, others may love... BUT NOT ALL OF THEM! The key, here, is Focus vs. Variety. In an issue focused on Eberron, I will not be interested... ALL articles will fail the Usability Test, for me. Therefore, Dragon needs MORE Variety, and LESS Focus!
Say you have an Eberron issue, a FR issue, and a GH issue, a Halloween and April Fools isue... That's about half the year that I probably won't be buying your mag! I bet I'm not the only one, either!
Perhaps you could have one big Eberron-themed issue a year... but it would be a mistake! Better to have one much smaller piece an issue, an occasional FR, GH, DS, etc., piece in an occasional issue, and a bunch of crunchy bits, and them some stuff of interest to some, but not all, on a VARIETY of topics. That way, you might have some people who skip the one Eberron (or FR, or GH, or DS, or...) article, but still get hooked by one or more of the others!
3). Variety, not Focus! (Or, No Theme Issues!)
I don't care if it's April Fools' month! Does everything in the mag hafta be foolishness? If so, there's no reason for me to subscribe (or buy the April issue)! Halloween is much the same. Pretty much every theme you can name works the same way. Go back to #2, now...
4). Dungeon notwithstanding, bring back DMing material!
There is no reason for DMs to buy Dragon, apparently... None, whatsoever (unless they're also players). CHANGE THAT! (Please).
Now apply the Usability Test to this suggestion... See how that works?
5). More non-D&D (even non-D20) material.
Variety vs. Focus. Sure, some people will object, but as long as it's an occasional piece, it'll fly. Just don't make a theme out of it! This will fail the Usability Test for some readers (especially those used to a steady diet of D&D, alone), but older readers will appreciate it (remembering the older Dragon), and most will enjoy more Variety!
6). Content, Content, Content!
If the content isn't to my taste, I won't buy. It's as simple as that... Now, you don't know my tastes, and you can't please me all the time... And even if you could, that shouldn't be your goal! You have a lot of other customers, besides me!
But obviously, you are going to have to have interesting content, or no one will be buying! Instead of trying to please everyone with every article (and failing), try to please everyone with at least one major, and several minor, articles in every issue! Much easier to do, and not fore-doomed to failure!
Now if this means changing editorial policy to get new writers, then DO IT! Why do you need Word for Windows format when most word processors, these days, can take in ASCII text and/or HTML, anyway? Why do you have to buy ALL rights to articles? (I won't be submitting, under those terms!)
Content should always be heavily slanted towards usability, as well. Now here's a piece I did, on wilderness survival, geared towards players. It was the second-to-the-last post to A Voice from the Wilderness thread. Kindly take a look at it, and see if it passes the Usability Test, for your magazine... THIS is the kind of articles I'd be interested in! Lots of ideas to use (or not), variety, general applicability to any setting, and any class could benefit. YMMV. Here's another one, on "Quick Adventure Ideas". All useful stuff, IMHO.
7). Subscription/Delivery Problems
Overseas subscribers have often complained of poor service. Have those issues been resolved? (If so, then good job!) American subscribers have complained about getting their subscriptions AFTER their FLGS do. (Bad job! But I understand that that has been/is being fixed!)
Also, any magazine which is not mailed sealed inside a Tyvek envelope will never get my business... I am tired of ripped, crushed mags, with coffee stains on pages 119-20, and arrive without their covers! Fuhgeddaboudit!
8). Customer Service
You can see complaints as complaints, or as opportunities to improve your products and ingratiate yourself to your customers... I assume you're a businessman, and realize that only one of these is acceptable. I leave it as an exercize for the interested to determine which is which.
When 3.5e was announced, I wrote and asked WotC Customer Service how we could give input to the new edition. I was told that all design decisions had already been made, and it was "too late". After 3.5e's debut, questions about this-and-that were asked, and the WotC folks told us "Well, that was back in the days when..., and we've since changed that!" Obviously, things were changed since the Update Conversion Guide was published (magical armour only adding to maximum Enc., not weight, for instance), so it shouldn't have been too late.
Anyway, I did a looooooonnnggg piece on what was wrong with the 3e Ranger, and how to fix it, right here on these boards... even though it was "too late". 99% of those suggestions seem to have been incorporated into 3.5e, oddly enough...
Anyway, WotC (and Dragon) need to do better in opening channels for feedback, and making them known. Not just to subscribers, either!
Last edited:
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
I haven't read the entire thread, so I bet my answers are echoed elsewhere.
There is more content online than could possibly be contained in one issue of Dragon.
Having gamed for 20+ years, there are probably no new topics for articles that haven't already been done. Further, all the good advice online would fill several issues alone.
2. I can't think of any changes that would make me go back to Dragon. No print game magazine is going to be able to compete with the immediacy of the internet.
1. Any news the magazine contains almost certainly is available online earlier than when the magazine is printed and delivered.Erik Mona said:
There is more content online than could possibly be contained in one issue of Dragon.
Having gamed for 20+ years, there are probably no new topics for articles that haven't already been done. Further, all the good advice online would fill several issues alone.
2. I can't think of any changes that would make me go back to Dragon. No print game magazine is going to be able to compete with the immediacy of the internet.
thundershot
Adventurer
If it's even possible to have Order of the Stick in Dragon, (if the creator would even want to do more) I would hope it'd be like KODT. The strips in Dragon would be exclusive to Dragon, or eventually collected into a TPB like KODT did.
Chris
Chris
Just a quick message to say thank you for listening to us, Erik. I'm very pleased to hear there are FR articles by Ed Greenwood and Eric L. Boyd on the way. The numbers you suggest (4-6 a year of Ed) seem enough to encourage me to continue buying on a regular basis. This seems enough to keep me happy at least (and hopefully won't annoy non-FR readers).
Thanks!!!
Martyn
Thanks!!!
Martyn
Wraith Form
Explorer
As long as you're associated with Dragon (and actually implement the changes you've proposed), I'll go back to picking up the magazine. It's heartening to read that you've picked up the essence of what we're asking for and want to strive to include it.Erik Mona said:
Thank you. No, really--thank you.
You're a good man, Charlie Brown. Now excuse me--I have some Dragon to read.
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