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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="Darren" data-source="post: 1895656" data-attributes="member: 22701">Hmm...I replied on page 2 already, but I thought I'd add something, for what it's worth.After reading several people comment positively on issue #326, I went and got a copy for myself.  I had not purchased Dragon since the recent format change. It looked promising on the magazine rack.  I like the cleaner layout at least.Unfortunately nothing in Table Talk really grabbed my attention (well, ok, I liked Nodwick).  Under Command, Silicon Sorcery, and the two-page ad for the latest Realms novel were skipped entirely after a couple of paragraphs.Next came the Features articles.  The Dungeon Delver's Guide might be useful to new players just getting ready for their first delve, but most of the content seemed painfully obvious.  (On carrying supplies: "... dispensing equipment throughout the party provides the easiest way of dealing with such problems, with strong characters carrying more but weaker characters still taking on some of the load.")  Down the Drain suffered similar problems.  ("Unless the entire party has darkvision, you will need a light source of some kind.")  The Get Lost! article was better, though I think it could have benefitted significantly by including a few diagrams of the actual historical labyrinths that were discussed.Some of the stuff in Familiars caught my attention, but not for very good reasons.  The Shaper of Form prestige class was an interesting idea, but anything that grants the ability to Disjunction an item with no save is right out in my game, even if it doesn't come with full spell progression.  More of the obvious in class acts (Barbarians: "When focusing on power, make Strength your highest ability score."), as well as the obscure (I'm still trying to figure out why a Ranger with the Throwing Style combat option would want Quick Draw at 2nd level but wait until 6th to get Point Blank Shot.).It seems even more apparent after reading this issue that Dragon simply isn't written for me.  I think part of this is due to the length of the articles: they're just too short to get into a good, meaty topic.  For example, we got one page about the Historical Holy Knight.  We're told that these prototypical paladins "performed countless impossibly heroic feats," but if we want to know anything more apparently we will need to read The Song of Roland or Dante's Inferno.  The level of writing seems wrong too.  I've been playing D&D for only a few years, but I've figured out the importance of marching order, the utility of 10-foot poles, and the need for a light source in dark, creepy places.  I'm ready for more, to advance to 8th level and get some real power, so to speak.So what would get me more interested in Dragon?  Well, Dragon's biggest competitors for my seven gaming dollars right now are the PDFs on RPGnow and old AD&D supplements for sale on ebay that I can mine for ideas and fluff.  Recent PDF purchases include some of the more popular Ronin Arts PDFs like the 101 Collection and also a neat little document called Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns that several people from ENworld are well acquainted with.  A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe is probably also something I will pick up eventually.  If Dragon can somehow compare favorably with these and similar products, then I'll start making regular purchases.Perhaps a section just for new gamers would be nice, rather than having so many articles telling experienced gamers things they already know.  Sort of a Sage Advice Lite or something like that.  I'm not sure about this.  Balancing coverage for old and new gamers looks to be tough.  Good, useful content, exclusive to Dragon would be helpful.  It's a bit of a disincentive to buy when I know that the very best new rules are likely to end up in a Wizards hardback.  Also, bump up the entertainment value a bit.  For example, I was never a great Polyhedron fan when it and Dungeon were bundled together, but it did have a great article from time to time.  My very favorite happens to be Beasts of the Scarlet Brotherhood from Poly #165.  Why?  The neat little sketches of the beasts with the ghoulishly fun little commentary about each from the Fiend-Sage.  It's difficult to explain, but it just seemed like that was the perfect way for a magazine article to write up some new creatures.  It exactly nailed the style/substance ratio.  Or maybe I'm just a little strange that way.Anyway, good luck with Dragon.  I suspect that changes that would make me happy would upset quite a number of the people who enjoy the magazine now, but I'll keep checking it out from time to time.</blockquote>

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