Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

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Da'Hak's picture
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Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

Apparently Paizo is going to cease publishing their two magazines, which was to be expected, since digital distribution is the future, or so 'they' claim.

I can't say that I'm pleased with these developments, not that I've ever purchased a copy of their magazines, but I intended on getting a subscription after having finally found a gameshop in the vicinity of my home. Of course, those are thoughts of the past now.

However, I still intend on ordering some of the older issues of Dragon, if that'll be possible through the aforementioned store. In regards to that I have a little question though. I'm looking at issue #339 here, the one featuring the Lady of Pain on the cover, and needless to say I'm interested in purchasing it. But considering that I'm only interested in the Planescape content is it worth ordering an issue? The same goes for several issues that feature passages from the Iggwilv's Demonomicon, and issue #354 that details some aspects of the modrons.

Edit: I almost forgot the link.

- Kris

Duckluck's picture
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Joined: 2006-10-10
Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

Everybody shed a tear for Dragon (and Dungeon too, not that I ever bothered with it). Now that you've done that, think about what the future holds.

Will we have more sloppy suppliments where people devote entire chapters to things that would have made rather sub-par Dragon articles? Probably. Will more of the clever ideas that would have fallen into the limbo of Dragon be given the thought they deserve and go into subject appropriate suppliments so that you don't have to dig through an entire issue to find the thing you want? Probably. Will more articles be posted for free online? Almost certainly. Will this be a good thing, overall? Maybe, mabye not, but I'm optimistic. In short, Dragon is dead; long live Dragon!

As for your other question. The Modron article is pretty good, even if the Rogue modron is poorly statted and they made the Modrons be living constructs for some reason. I bought it, at any rate. I Couldn't tell you about the other one.

Arytiss's picture
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Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

The other one has a few magic items based off the Mind's Eye, some prestige classes for the Incantifiers and the Sons of Mercy (I feel that the latter could have been much better. It seems more anti-chaos than pro-justice) and a couple of other little bits and pieces.

Iavas's picture
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Joined: 2006-07-12
Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

I don't like this development at all. Granted, I only got into Dragon a little while ago and have only yet managed to salvage a precious few used issues that I've found. Dungeon I have not had a chance to check out at all, but I would love to know how it is different from Dragon.

See, the reason I like Dragon is because it takes all the nifty ideas that are too short to make a book on their own and too long to include in an existing book and presents them with often equally nifty artwork. I am not a big fan of stats, although they are necessarry, and WotC focuses predominantly on them. Dragon, on the other hand, tries to write out histories and explanations for the various creatures and locales of D&D. Take, for instance, the "Ecology of ..." section, or the recent articles about the demon lords. I really would not mind so much if I half-expected WotC to continue this tradition for free online, but I highly doubt they will. We'll just have to see how it plays out.

Shemeska the Marauder's picture
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Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

I'm unhappy for multiple reasons, including but not limited to the material that I'd submitted which may or may not manage to be printed before Paizo's run with both magazines are over. I might, might have something in one or both before the end, but I'm not hedging my bets and it all depends on how many months ahead in either magazine the schedule of articles is set in stone for.

If WotC brings back some version of either magazine online and accepts freelance submissions in the same sort of way that Dragon and Dungeon operated, then we'll see what happens (I had about 12 queries sitting in various inboxes for Dragon, one of which had been gestating for over a year and a half, a 'loth article proposal that I'd been praying to have a chance to write). Not cool if everything gets junked and whatever WotC rolls out is only handled by an in-house writing staff.

Iavas's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2006-07-12
Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

Well, Shemeska, if all else fails you can always put the articles up on Planewalker. Sure, you wouldn't get paid for them, but we'll all be incredibly pleased, and isn't the happiness of countless... well, unless you check the Memberlist... individuals so much more important than cold hard help-you-survive-the-month cash?

Medesha's picture
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Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

WotC just declined to renew Margaret Weis's license on Dragonlance. Seems like they are dropping all third party licenses, if this is a trend.

http://www.dragonlance.com/features/articles/10040.aspx

silverwizard's picture
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Dungeon and Dragon Magazines

I am sorry to see Dragon and Dungeon go, and I'm just glad I got that Dragon magazine Archive CD-ROMS.

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