Just want to hear everyone's thoughts on it. Who reads it, who uses it, who suscribes to it, who has tried stubmitting stuff to them and gotten a reply...and if you have, please tell me your secret, I'm tired of them ignoring me.
For me, I've tried submitting. I read it for free from the local library, and when I se an issue I like, I go and buy it. (or any issue that has new True Dragons. I'd buy a pile of manure if they wrote the stats to a new true dragon on it.)
Well, I almost subscribed to it, but I've been told that much of the material contained is difficult to use. The catch is that most everything is interesting. Since I can't read it at the library, or browse it at a bookstore, I just go without.
Just as soon as I have the extra money though, a subscription will be mine, muahahaha!!!
I bought one issue of Dragon and wasn't really impressed... #293 or something. It was the one that featured ECLs for MM creatures (many of which were too high or too low), the elemental wolves (this part I liked), and the rules for managing campaigns on a national scale (Birthright revival attempt, anyone?) I thought the magazines were suppost to be a lot better and useful. Maybe it was just that issue, but I haven't even looked at another one since.
The issues can be rather hit or miss. I never saw 293 (I missed wolves? *sniff*), but the latest one is about half useful (but it has true dragons....gasmic.) The one before that was mostly stories, but again, new planar dragons. Other ones can be better or worse, depending.
I had a subscription, but let it lapse somewhere around #150.
I do not currently buy it, because the layout has gone all Vogue/Cosmo.
Yeah, I stopped subscribing because in the last few years, the articles have just been very unimpressive. I usually read thru the next issue at Barnes and Noble when it comes out, but only buy it if is has things in it I'll actually use for something.
My hobby store usually has it, though I've only occasionally browsed through a few issues. Never really felt like being interested...
Dragon Magazine makes me go "meh."
Quote from: Luminous CrayonDragon Magazine makes me go "meh."
It lost its punch around 130. #80-100 are the best.
It lost it's punch around #130... Except for the following five articles, that is!
"101 Evil Schemes" in Dragon Annual #5
"101 Wondrous Whereabouts" in Dragon #281
"Tag Team Terrors" in Dragon #288
"Psions of the Orient" in Dragon #303
"The Master Astrologer" in Dragon #340
Not that I'm biased because I wrote them or anything...
But ever since Dragon went over to Paizo, they've gotten into this nasty habit of ignoring people who query stuff without even so much as a polite, "no thanks," so I'm not going to trumpet the virtues of their magazine all too loudly these days.
@Xathan: Not that I'm biased because of a secret project I'm working on or anything... :evillaugh:
Meeps, I didn't know you wrote for them... got any other things coming up with them (other than said secret project)?
I also had my own supplement published with Bastion Press a few years back.
But I've got nothing new planned with Paizo at the moment, not since they became uncommunicative about what they're looking for. And I'm not sure that Bastion Press even publishes stuff anymore.
So all I've got going at the moment is the secret project that I've mentioned to you and Xathan. I won't get any money for it, but I'll get the satifaction of working as a magazine publisher...
I enjoy reading Dragon. I don't think I have ever used anything directly from it, but I have taken the occasional idea. Mostly I read it for enjoyment alone.
At the moment I do not subscribe, but I have had a subscription on and off for several years.
It lost its edge when they dumped Yamara *sigh*
I'm letting my subscriptions run out.
I've gotten more than enough adventures from Dungeon, and the Dragon content of late has been yawn-inducing for me.
crossed by this thread in search of another, but....
Quote from: Epic MeepoIt lost it's punch around #130... Except for the following five articles, that is!
"101 Evil Scemes" in Dragon Annual #5
"101 Wondrous Whereabouts" in Dragon #281
"Tag Team Terrors" in Dragon #288
"Psions of the Orient" in Dragon #303
"The Master Astrologer" in Dragon #340
Not that I'm biased because I wrote them or anything...
But ever since Dragon went over to Paizo, they've gotten into this nasty habit of ignoring people who query stuff without even so much as a polite, "no thanks," so I'm not going to trumpet the virtues of their magazine all too loudly these days.
@Xathan: Not that I'm biased because of a secret project I'm working on or anything... :evillaugh:
You wrote that? I just recently got that issue, and that's not a half-bad article. I think I'll have to check out the rest...
Quote from: sdragon1984- the S is for penguinthat's not a half-bad article
Dungeon[/i] as well. That's where the real action is.
I currently subscribe. I think they've been doing a lot of fun stuff recently that appeals to the Old Schooler in me. The Demonomicon series, for example.
I've also had letters printed in Scalemail in the last year.
RIP Dragon and Dungeon
http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=22895
Quote from: Epic Meepo"101 Evil Scemes" in Dragon Annual #5
Evil "scemes"?
QuoteROM THE PUBLISHER
Dear friends,
Today, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing announced the conclusion of Paizo's license to publish Dragon and Dungeon magazines. The magazines will cease publication following the release of the September issues, which ship to subscribers and newsstands in August. The final issues will be Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150.
Wizards of the Coast will be moving the kind of content currently found in Dragon and Dungeon to an online model. Both companies remain on good terms and continue to discuss future opportunities for publishing partnerships.
Today also marks the official announcement of Pathfinder, a new monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, OGL-compatible full-color softcover Adventure Path book printed on high-quality paper for use with the world's most popular roleplaying game. Over the last several months, the same editors who bring you Dragon and Dungeon have been developing the next evolution in RPG campaigns, and we hope you'll take some time to look at what we have to offer. Pathfinder will debut in August at hobby retail stores, bookstores, and here on paizo.com, and?though it's a book, not a magazine?we'll be offering a subscription service for gamers eager to add a vorpal edge to their campaigns. In fact, you can subscribe to Pathfinder right now and receive a free bonus Player's Guide to the first Pathfinder Adventure Path: Rise of the Runelords.
Speaking of subscriptions, the discontinuation of Dragon and Dungeon will leave many of our valued subscribers with excess subscription credit. Paizo has set up a special Transition Page that offers multiple options to these subscribers.
We're sure many of you have questions about this development, so we've developed a special Frequently Asked Questions page that covers many of the issues you'll wonder about. If you don't see your question listed there, drop by the new Magazine Transition forum on our Customer Service messageboards, which we will be monitoring closely.
If you're concerned about the future of Paizo, you can relax. We're very excited about Pathfinder, our GameMastery line of RPG modules and accessories, our Titanic Games line of deluxe board games, and Planet Stories, our recently announced line of classic science fiction and fantasy novels. No Paizo staffers have lost their jobs as a result of this development?in fact, we're so enthusiastic about our future that we've recently hired several new employees. However, if you're wondering what you can do to help Paizo succeed in our new ventures, please visit our What Can I Do to Help? page.
Dragon and Dungeon have been the backbone of Paizo Publishing for five years since we spun off from Wizards of the Coast's periodicals department in 2002, and both magazines have been an integral part of the RPG publishing world for decades. Bringing the magazines to you every month has been a true honor, and we in the Paizo family look forward to the continuing honor of serving your gaming needs for years and years to come.
Sincerely,
Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC
April 19, 2007
Wow....
I've bought Dragon on a regular basis in my FLGS. It had - imho - quite some good points. Demonomicon, Class Acts, Ecology of XYZ, stuff about other planes (demiplanes, shadow plane, ...), and so on. This mag was a good way to get some ideas for settings or adventures, or to try out something new regarding classes or mechanics.
I'm thoroughly disappointed by WotC, that they drop both mags (although I'm not a "longtime gamer" and just started with DnD when 3.0 came out). It seems the $$$-heads that make most of the decisions over there have no interest in the fanbase. :-/ Other than that I have no explaination on why WotC would drop a print mag in favor of "online content". x.
And although Pathfinder (Paizo's follow up product) looks interesting, it's just too expensive for me at ~$20. :( Seems that from now on I'll have some more bucks per month to spend on other things. :-| And I seriously won't get WotC's "online content". If this has the same quality as Mind's Eye was some time ago ("uhhh... look, you can take this thing and.. uhh... replace "magic" with "psionic"..." x. ) thank you very much. :-/
Damn the exchange rate. YOur $20 is our... um...
(Does calculations)
I don't wanna think about it! That's like half a freaking sourcebook!
QuoteI don't wanna think about it! That's like half a freaking sourcebook!
is[/i] about half a frigg'n source book. (96 pages). I'd imagine you could buy issues 1,4,8,11, and be spending about as much as dungeon would cost for about as much content.
Just found out about 'Dragon' and 'Dungeon' coming to an end a few minutes ago. I am kind of sad - I started buying Dragon twenty years ago, I have been buying it on and off in the past few years. The recent content has not been up to much, but it can have the odd good idea every now and again. I bought 'Dungeon' for the first time last week, for the Isle of Dread scenario. Its another end of an era I suppose.
Quote from: Ra-TielAnd although Pathfinder (Paizo's follow up product) looks interesting, it's just too expensive for me at ~$20.
Pathfinder[/i] products, Paizo will be forced to cut that price at least in half. And I'm sure Amazon.com will be selling
Pathfinder stuff at huge discounts.
QuoteAnd I seriously won't get WotC's "online content".
Dungeon[/i] magazine for value.
QuoteI actually have no problem with the free online PDF adventures that WotC has already posted. Some of them are a bit silly, but hey, they're free, so they beat Dungeon magazine for value.
I don't think wizard's makes much money off of free adventures man ;)
QuoteDon't worry. After a quarter or two of not selling any Pathfinder products, Paizo will be forced to cut that price at least in half. And I'm sure Amazon.com will be selling Pathfinder stuff at huge discounts.
It's 96 pages with no ads man. I don't think they CAN cut the price by that much. There's likely legal reasons preventing them from cutting page count or offering more ad space.
Having just heard of this, I'm rather upset; I had only recently gotten into Dragon, and I was hoping to start getting a few issues of Dungeon, as well.
My plan is to get one copy of each issue, from now until september, and then start looking into back issues. I already have a few ideas of where to start with the collection of back issues, too.
[Shatnerian Overwroughtness]NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I normally avoid the WotC boards like the plague these days, but all of the recent Dragon- and Dungeon-related tantrums have been too hilarious, and just I couldn't resist the temptation to be a total wise-ass:
URL (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=834761)
Well put. You didn't go far enough, though. Who even needs physical players these days? If everything is electronic, there's no need to meet up anymore, and once you get used to online gaming, you won't even need actual players anymore; an electronic DM and co-players will be much more efficient. So what does that give us? Exactly, a video game.
;) Túrin
co-players? just make all the players electronic! eDnD, the game that plays itself! It's evolved beyond its puny human participants!
On a related note, i've said before that i eagerly await the day when not only scenes, props, and characters are synthesized in movies, but voices as well: negating the need to hire any actors at all.
You mean, like... http://www.zshare.net/audio/digital-dnd-mp3.html
Quote from: Elven DoritosYou mean, like... http://www.zshare.net/audio/digital-dnd-mp3.html
That's creepy.... Brainface may be eagerly awaiting that day, but I find the implications kind of unsettling.
Um, I'm pretty sure he was joking there.
Just as I was when making that goofy thing, via a synthesizer program. ;)
Genius!
I'd like to throw in some ideas for those who obhect to the idea:
* Buy every issue you can afford of both magazines, from now until September.
* Boycott the online material.
* Order all of your backordered issues from Paizo, not your FLGS. (try filling out a collection this way!)
* Send complaint letters to WotC.
* Encourage others to do the same.
Any more ideas are welcome. :)
Hmmm... not sure it will really do anything. Wizards has shown many times in the past that they care very little for what the majority of their fans want. Not to mention, I can't afford a bunch of issues of Dragon just for the sake of showing how "awesome" the magazine is.
Quote from: IshmaylHmmm... not sure it will really do anything. Wizards has shown many times in the past that they care very little for what the majority of their fans want. Not to mention, I can't afford a bunch of issues of Dragon just for the sake of showing how "awesome" the magazine is.
I apologize if I implied that you should spend more then you can afford. I realize hobbies aren't exactly the highest priority when it comes to financial expenses.
The reason for most of the suggestions (aside from complaint letters), is that they're practical demonstrations that we have power over what
they want. It's one thing to say you don't like an endeavor, but it's much more effective to show that the endeavor isn't where the money is.
Quote from: CornThe reason for most of the suggestions (aside from complaint letters), is that they're practical demonstrations that we have power over what they want. It's one thing to say you don't like an endeavor, but it's much more effective to show that the endeavor isn't where the money is.
There's more money for Wizards if they publish in-house rather than license, so all it's really showing is how lucrative their cornering of the market will be. An inconvenient truth.
There's more room for profit, sure, but room for profit means nothing without revenue. You could have a product that needs no expense whatsoever, but if nobody buys it from you, you're not making money.
Quote from: CornThere's more room for profit, sure, but room for profit means nothing without revenue. You could have a product that needs no expense whatsoever, but if nobody buys it from you, you're not making money.
And since Paizo isn't getting its license back one way or another, buying more of Dragon and Dungeon will have no bearing whatsoever on the transition into online content and whatever else WotC has in mind. Since the plan is to introduce electronic product, as near as has been discerned, it means that overhead is going to decrease and value per unit is going to skyrocket. No longer will WotC have to worry about the middle man either; direct content and direct access to their consumer base, even if it is diminished, is highly preferable to second- and third-party production.
Wizards is moving into what is, in a practical sense, a rather ingenius business model, but buying a couple of issues of an otherwise sucessful magazine by a second-party company won't change that. If you want to ensure Paizo's financial security, the best thing to do is get onboard with Pathfinder.