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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesM" data-source="post: 1887468" data-attributes="member: 2762">My primary reason for not purchasing Dragon is its presentation. I don't like the way it looks and I don't like the way it reads. As so many others have said, it's bland and esthetically uninteresting. I'd like to see articles written with a lot more "flair" and a layout and graphic design that shows a little "verve" from time to time. So, punch it up all around.That said, don't make the mistake (IMO) of the early 3E issues, which to my mind seemed to imitate CCG magazines in their presentation. I don't want over the top "Build a Killer Fighter!!!" articles (and I certainly don't want that written across the front cover -- I like the newer covers, FWIW) and I miss the days when not every article was game mechanics-related. There are just way too many feats, spells, and prestige classes in the magazine now.I also find the tie-ins to WotC products tedious. Most of these articles amount to glorified web enhancements that I'd rather get from the website than in the pages of Dragon. If you're going to do a tie-in, it'd be nice if it'd fill in gaps in the products, namely how to use this new material in a fun way. More of what we already got is just utterly uninteresting to me.Let me add my voice to the "drop the fiction" vote. I never read the fiction and never have. Its existence doesn't bother me immensely, but a few more pages of gaming material would be preferable. More "fluff," which is to say non-mechanical inspirational articles that aren't necessarily tied to a specific setting. Even when it is tied to a specific world, it'd be nice if that setting were used primarily as an example rather than as the sole reason for the article. Ed Greenwood's old Realms articles from the days before it became an official setting are a good example of this genre.If you include more game mechanics, they should not simply reproduce stuff we could get elsewhere. One of the big problems is that, with the d20 STL, there is just an embarrassment of riches when it comes to mechanics. There are lots of things no one has covered yet, so go wild and do weird or exotic stuff no one has done. Likewise, it'd be nice if some of the mechanics were OGC. At present, very little is open content and that limits its utility to writers and designers.Theme issues are fine occasionally, but don't overdo them. I'd prefer a general mix of content each issue. Columns and regular features are fine and often terrific if you get the right authors. But, to be honest, it's been a while since I found any of your recent columns inspiring or even interesting in an academic way. I hope this helps.</blockquote>

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