trancejeremy
Adventurer
There were some d20 magazines. Campaign, and Gaming Frontiers, IIRC. But none of them sold, and they all went under. Except Mongoose's Signs & Portents, and I think they bought ENWorld Player's Thingie
Why aren't there any non-WotC D&D magazines?
- Thread starter CombatWombat51
- Start date
Glyfair
Explorer
Funksaw said:
Well, according to WotC's marketing survery ( info at http://www.thegpa.org/wotc_demo.shtml ), 5.5 million people have played RPGs and 2.5 million play monthly. Of course, I don't see whether this survey was focused on worldwide numbers or U.S. numbers. It seems to be more limited based on the numbers given, though.
Last edited:
CombatWombat51
First Post
Anyone have some other light to shed?
moticon
First Post
Problems abound...
The problems are legion...
1) startup cost
2a) Marketing cost
2b) distribution cost
3) Generating revenue from advertisements.
4) Identifying talent for submissions, and producing a quality product people will pay for.
5) D&D/D20 world is small with very broad tastes, you'd have to find some target group that is not getting served, but is large enough to pay your bills and leave a little something to take home after it's all said and done.
I think the only way new magazines would occur is if they are online only, and then you immediately run into problems with 1 guy/gal sending copies to all their buddies who don't subscribe. Unfortunately, many people do not believe digital copying hurts anyone, but here is an example where it inhibits innovation and or expansion...
One possible solution would be if someone could get enough advertisers to underwrite the magazine, and make available for free to the community. Even that would not be easy.
Moticon
The problems are legion...
1) startup cost
2a) Marketing cost
2b) distribution cost
3) Generating revenue from advertisements.
4) Identifying talent for submissions, and producing a quality product people will pay for.
5) D&D/D20 world is small with very broad tastes, you'd have to find some target group that is not getting served, but is large enough to pay your bills and leave a little something to take home after it's all said and done.
I think the only way new magazines would occur is if they are online only, and then you immediately run into problems with 1 guy/gal sending copies to all their buddies who don't subscribe. Unfortunately, many people do not believe digital copying hurts anyone, but here is an example where it inhibits innovation and or expansion...
One possible solution would be if someone could get enough advertisers to underwrite the magazine, and make available for free to the community. Even that would not be easy.
Moticon
Ranger REG
Explorer
I don't know the current status of Gaming Frontier but I guess only a few are happy about paying $20 an issue, advertisement-free.trancejeremy said:
As for Campaign magazine, like Signs & Portents, it became an in-house magazine for Fast Forward Games.
I hear Mongoose will be the distributor, and that EN World Player's Journal will be changing format and be renamed EN World Gamer.trancejeremy said:
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
The magazine scene was much more healthy in many ways back in the late 70's early 80's. Dungeon and The Dragon were around then, but we also had White Dwarf (from GW) which was at that time a D&D and general RPG resource rather than the house-organ it eventually fell to. Different Worlds was another gaming magazine which often had some D&D elements to it.
Plus there was a huge number of great fanzines available. My favourites were News from Bree, The Oracle, Illusionists Vision (I think) not to mention the various APA's - Alarums & Excursions, The Wild Hunt and the one which I contributed to, Trollcrusher.
I guess that the fanzines have now been largely replaced by the Internet.
Plus there was a huge number of great fanzines available. My favourites were News from Bree, The Oracle, Illusionists Vision (I think) not to mention the various APA's - Alarums & Excursions, The Wild Hunt and the one which I contributed to, Trollcrusher.
I guess that the fanzines have now been largely replaced by the Internet.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Well, let's see...
d20 Weekly: An electronic pay magazine that had some good content but could not compete with all of the free material. The html thing also worked heavily against it. When people are paying for a 'magazine', they want something like a magazine via PDF.
Campaign Magazine: Independent magazine, bought by FFE and went under.
Gaming Frontiers: Digest, a massive sized book with some issues being better than others. Supposed to be out by Mystic Eye Games under Phil Reed but no lately word.
Signs & Portents: Apparently still going strong and more or less a house organ for Mongoose.
I remember a while ago when Shadis was out. AEG cancelled it and one of the reasons they quoted was, "It takes as much work to make a single issue of Shadis as it does to make a standard product."
d20 Weekly: An electronic pay magazine that had some good content but could not compete with all of the free material. The html thing also worked heavily against it. When people are paying for a 'magazine', they want something like a magazine via PDF.
Campaign Magazine: Independent magazine, bought by FFE and went under.
Gaming Frontiers: Digest, a massive sized book with some issues being better than others. Supposed to be out by Mystic Eye Games under Phil Reed but no lately word.
Signs & Portents: Apparently still going strong and more or less a house organ for Mongoose.
I remember a while ago when Shadis was out. AEG cancelled it and one of the reasons they quoted was, "It takes as much work to make a single issue of Shadis as it does to make a standard product."
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