Rick Anderson's page

More on Dragon's logo -

Found it fun and interesting to go through the Dragon covers on-line - just a lot of fun.

For those interested - the way I see it the original logo in issue #1 (1976) was very amateurish - but that's what it was. It was changed on issue #27 in 1979. That Dragon logo was good to last until issue 274 in 2000 when the scripted Dragon logo was introduced (21 years!). Now it was modified a bit here and there along the way. Issue #128 added the word magazine in 1987. Issue 181 elongated the text in 1992. Finally on issue #225 it was pyramid'd (only thing I can think of to describe it).

I'll apologize now, sorry Sean and everyone else that worked on it, but I hope the current logo goes the way of the dodo bird.

Please give us back a logo that says fantasy and high adventure! Something cool and exciting.

By the way - there have been some really great covers over the years, but I must say that I really like the newer - in particular 310, 311, and 316. Great artwork!

Ok - posted about the layout and retro'd a bit - might as well post my two cents about the content - I found it overall rather good.

There's always quite a bit that I won't ever use every month but find interesting. Every now and then is something I find useful for my campaign, but that's the way it is when writing a magazine for a game as in depth and varied as D&D. The thought is to be able to pick and choose from various ideas. I'm surprised that there will be enough new and good ideas for a new class every month and a new x every month as issue hints at - we'll see and I wonder if that will need to be toned down in the future.

I can do without the computer game review as that is covered better and more extensively in computer game magazines. Don't need to pay for the same material in two different magazines.

I do like the historical perspective and think it could make a rather interesting column. I found the historical art of war timeline rather interesting and a great summary of all those history lessons some 20+ years ago. I would think there are enough readers that would enjoy learning more on historical Europe - knights, castles and the like - with a D&D viewpoint. I've been to the UK a couple of times and the highlight is hitting castles and trying to place the location into a fantasy D&D setting. I'd like to hit Germany and France for the same reason.

I like the Wizards ads in the back - it's an easy reference - does the monthly price go down if they add more? How about the same sort of support from Kenzer, Malhovic, Green Rohin, etc.

On that thought - since you are now independent of Wizards - how about reviews of third party players aids, dungeon modules, settings, miniature figures, models (paper, foam, resin), paints, dice, etc. By reviews I don't mean rehashing marketing BS - how about real reviews with pros and cons (actual opinions!) of the products in real use. Johnny Wilson use to have a motto in the electronic gaming that no software review was done unless the review played the whole game. While I know Mr. Wilson is now on to other things - that motto should stand as a legacy for Piazo (by the way I have a long history of CGW sitting on my shelf).

So there it is - keep up the content and focus on paper gaming - not electronic gaming and you'll be headed down the right path.

Read the post stating that readership was disappointed with the review of the D&D worlds. That's a shame really as I thought it was really cool. I suppose or bet that's a demographics stat - those 30 and older loved it while the younger readership was bored with it.

Too bad as I was hoping it would become a regular column. There is so much really cool stuff out there in the archives. It's really amazing how much content came out of such a small company. Off the board topic - anyone redoing or have rights to redo all the old mods into 3.5ed? I can't help but think the newer players have really missed a key understanding to what is d&d without playing some of the classics - giants, tomb, slavers, heck - even the Village of Hommlet and In Search for the Unknown (the module every one of us old farts have played) and Keep on the Borderlands!

I believe the new layout misses the point - it IS a fantasy magazine for a fantasy hobby. It doesn't need to be easy to read! It should look cool - exciting - fantastical. How boring would a comic book be if it was easy to read?

I haven't talked to a single person that likes the new look - I think people are excited about the proposed new content - dungeon for dm's and dragon for the players. It's anticipation that this is a great idea that everyone I game with and meet are excited about.

Sean's work with 3E was awesome - bring that feel to Dragon and start with a new logo! Make it feel like a fantasy game which it supports. The current new logo is boring.

As to Sean's remarks about newstand distance and all that - BS - the magazine is displayed on the bottom shelf on the fourth level (so it's well hidden from a consumer standing) in the corner at the popular bookstores and it's only findable by someone looking for it - I know - I had to ask the friendly counter person if there were any in stock - her computer said yes and I had to look three times to find it! However, it is displayed prominently at the gaming/hobby store where what attracts readers to a fantasy magazine is a really cool fantasy picture on the cover (ie - hot babes in leather with swords - a cliche yes but it works).

Give us our fantasy with glorious pictures that immerse us into our imaginary world - not boring text on white space!