Why _DON'T_ You Buy Dragon Magazine?

[jaerdaph]

Simply put, I'm not your target audience. I don't play D&D or fantasy RPGs anymore. I play d20 Modern/Past/Future almost exclusively.

You do put out a heck of a beautiful (and I'm told, more importantly, useful) magazine, though.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Whatever happened to this series of planned articles?

The Swordsage

Well Travis Stout is listed as the author of Lost Empires which released two months after this comment from Eric. Eric Boyd's book (Waterdeep, Champions of Ruin) released that summer so probably got dropped for two much overlap with the LEoF and Eric was busy with other projects (Dragons of Faerun and Power of Faerun).

 

[jodyjohnson]

Well in the 18 months since this thread died I have once again become a subsriber.


2 Reasons:

1. Demonomicon articles 3 times a year.

2. $1 increase in the cover price without a similar change to the subscription price. Just over 4 issues a year is enough to cover the subscription.

 

[DethStryke]

I'm not really part of the target audience either... I don't play Eberron at all and as a DM I dislike feats/PrCs that are not from the core books on principle.

Dungeon, like everyone else says, is awesome.

Dragon strikes me like a piecemeal "Complete Book of..." from 2E days, which lights the burning hatred in my soul once again. This is probably not fair, and quite possibly not accurate, so I don't recommend anyone listening to it. That is just my guy feeling on it, and the (baseless?) reasons why I don't subscribe.

For reference, these are/were the subscriptions I have/had and enjoyed immensely!

Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips Weekly (http://www.roleplayingtips.com)
Polyhedron (Back when it was a separate mag for RPGA members)

Yes, I know I am contradictory and arbitrary in my views, which makes me difficult or impossible to please on this topic. The way I look at it, this is like TV shows. I'm a minority in my tastes for entertainment. So anything that I enjoy, it is probably not liked by the majority at all and will be cancelled or changed/basterdized until I don't like it any more. The problem is that those changes will make ALOT more people like it instead... so it's considered a "good" change. *shrug* This is why I don't watch TV anymore and didn't own one for seven years before I got married (the wife demanded one. heh). But that's just how life works, and the cost of being eccentric.

Until I'm poor. Then I'll be crazy.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I was a subscriber to Dragon from 1982 until 2004. I didn't renew after my last three-year subscription ended large due to the fact that I was angry with Paizo Publishing. This was because I had also been a long-time subscriber to Dungeon and had just sent in my three-year renewal a few weeks before you announced a special subscription discount offer. I asked you if I would be included in that since I had just renewed and hadn't even received my first issue of the renewal but was given an abrupt "No" by you Eric. It didn't seem like a very fair way to treat long-time loyal fans so I opted to not support your other publication when that renewal arrived.

Something like that happened to me with my ISP. I was quite annoyed and dropped them since apparently new customers were more important than keeping old ones.

I have no idea if I replied to the topic before but I quit reading Dragon when it really became an house magazine. I bought a few issues when I was running 3.0, but beyond a couple Greyhawk Journal articles I found the content to be lacking. Same with White Dwarf. I used to read that then it went GW only and it became useless to me. I wish there was a good RPG magazine these days.

 

[Emirikol]

I still subscribe to Dungeon, however I let my 20-year Dragon subscription finally lapse last year. I still purchase the occasional issue in store.

Here are a few reasons:
1. I DM and allow everything from Dragon (nowadays) but my players (98% of them) were never subscribers so no one ever used anything.
2. The "extra work" involved in putting this stuff in our campaigns simply wasn't going to happen, so none of it ever got used. - see my solutions below
3. There is less 'virginity' in Dragon, since I've been subscribed over many years
4. I DM, therefore I Dungeon

How would I change it:
* Make the presentation more "drop-in house rule" friendly. The articles are written as if they're being presented to someone who just likes 'pretty things.' Think about what a "drop-in house rule" friendly format would look like.

* I'd put in more arguments and controversy (that's not me talking is it Erik? that is game-related. You want more readership? Give them something to talk about at the gaming table and at ENWorld. Great articles won't cut it. Hey look! It's pretty. It has a nice layout. So?

* You can only gear this to players if DM's are willing to allow players to use it. DM's will only allow it if it follows two rules:
** Easy-to-assess "impacts on your campaign" notes. Dm's don't have all day to read up on every article. They just want to see IF it works first.
** Side-bar that says that it's been playtested and found to be pretty balanced

* Remember "tidbits" of Greyhawk? There need to be something like this for DM's to use in every article for the big three worlds. Obviously an Eberron article is not something that's readily crossover, but other articles (for example: Ecology articles).

* A note on Ecology articles: I think they're dry, even with fluff. The more fluff there is, the more trouble there is on utility. As a DM, I want the Ecology articles with the "actual map" and "actual encounter." I can drop that into my campaign. I can't drop in some old-geezer telling a story about an encounter with a Stroper-smurf. If it's going to be geared towards players, have some tactics or play-by-play..SOMETHING useful for players rather than "just another story about just another guy's character." Really? When I go to a game store and some guy starts telling me about his character, I glaze over pretty fast

* You need to have something on your website called "How to put together your own House Rulebook from Dragon articles." Have a format, some print-outs and all the pictures of ones that have been created and some sample artwork (maybe?). I can't tell you how much USE something like this would get and how much more utility you would get out of EVERY Dragon magazine. Just give DM's that extra help so they can more easily use the magazine.

* Dragon is the sister/brother magazine to Dungeon. You have the opportunity to get players to say to their DM's "Holy cow, I want to play that scenario I heard about in Dragon. ." I'm sorry, but a one-sentence question-blurb on a side-bar isn't enough. Be an opportunist. Make it happen. Think of the kind of text or pictures it would take and make it happen. You guys are great at finding a format and once you've got that, it's easy to plug in details. TELL players they NEED to ask their DM to play that scenario based on THEIR WANTS AND NEEDS Are you familiar with NLP? http://www.nlp.com/ http://www.nlpu.com/whatnlp.htm

* Gamers are aging and have less time to prepare scenarios and campaigns right? We should see that in any mission statement or promotion for DUNGEON or DRAGON. "A must for time-crunched DM's."

Thanks for the great job on Dungeon and Dragon BTW. This is surely the golden age.

Anyways, I gotta get back to work

Jay Hafner
Lakewood, CO









..

 

[JustaPlayer]

I have no idea if I replied to the topic before but I quit reading Dragon when it really became an house magazine. Same with White Dwarf. I used to read that then it went GW only and it became useless to me. I wish there was a good RPG magazine these days.

That's why I liked Campaign. Then Fast Forward got their hands on it. It was more a d20 Mag but still it covered lot's of people's stuff.

 

[smcrey]

Not enough Greyhawk and Dungeon Master articles.

i am a current subscriber to the magazine and felt like i had a stake in the opinions expressed in this thread. there are some things about dragon magazine that i like and some things that i do not. i have played the game since the mid 80's and i love most everything that has been made for dungeons and dragons.

My first complaint is that I dislike the artwork currently in the magazine. I miss artists like Larry Elmore. The magazine at times appears to come across as juvenile and not appealing to veteran players. I do not disagree with the philosophy of writing Dragon magazine for newcomers, but you should try to maintain interest in the demographic that has played and spent tons of money on Dungeon and Dragons products in general for years. I am dissapointed also with the lack of Greyhawk coverage. Eberron may be the new kid on the block and should be given some coverage but not at the expense of settings that have an established fan base. No setting should be allowed to whither away. This applies to Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, etc not only Greyhawk.
I stopped my subscription to Dungeon magazine because of its excessive overrelliance on adventures. i wanted to see an increase in the amount of Dungeon Master content. i do not need an excess of additional prestige classes and rules tweeks, but i would like an article on how to inspire you players to become better players without resorting to power gaming. the characters in my opinion are not just numbers on a sheet of paper but are an opportunity to bring life to a chracter through role playing.

thanks for your time.

Greyhawk lives!!!

Scott McReynolds

 

[Erik Mona]

I am dissapointed also with the lack of Greyhawk coverage.

::boggle::

 

[Mouseferatu]

::boggle::

It's now official, Erik. You cannot win. Ever.