The surveys advertised in the latest Dragon and Dungeon issues will be on the site Tuesday or Wednesday (the 7th or 8th of September). Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience. : )
- Rob
Robert, it is a Saturday. Go home and enjoy your weekend!
The Dragon survey is now live.
Including some bugfixes! : )
I stopped subscribing to Dragon when it switched to third edition. I bought the rules once already, no one should have to KEEP buying the rulebooks. If you do you only encourage them to update to a new edition every 5 years and make your books obsolete.
Doesn't seem to cause problems for the video game industry, college textbook industry or auto industry. Nobody says you have to stop using your old game. You just might have a hard time finding players who already know how to play it.
I would have kept subscribing if Dragon had run articles for previous versions of the game,
Like how Video Game manufacturers keep making tip books for five year old games? Or Climbing Magazines contain articles on how to climbing gear that you can't find anymore?
Paizo loses $40 a year without my subsription plus whatever Dungeon costs.
They don't lose it. They already got it. You paid your money for the articles for old editions back when you bought those issues. Today, Paizo sells more magazines each month than Dragon eversold in previous editions.
Third Edition saved my favorite game from obscurity. While I apreciate the different editions I have used over the last 26 years, I also appreciate that the newest edition has fostered interest from a new generation. I appreciate that WotC included a means for me and my friends to create and publish our own ideas for this game. I apreciate that I can find D&D material in mainstream stores. I appreciate that D&D is not only alive and well, but growing.
If that is where D&D is going, it is where Dragon must go. My players play 3rd edition. I do not want Dragon publishing a magazine that my players can't use.
I find it incredible that Dragon takes a survey and doesn't bother to put a box for original comments.
I stopped subscribing to Dragon when it switched to third edition. I bought the rules once already, no one should have to KEEP buying the rulebooks. If you do you only encourage them to update to a new edition every 5 years and make your books obsolete.
Vince Lehto, your name sure rings a bell from somewhere in D&D past. Hmm.
Anyway, I'm the opposite as you. I still subscribe to both Dragon and Dungeon despite still being a fan of 2e, and having to heavily modify or ignore stat blocks and other 3rd edition conventions.
I also tired of the purchasing treadmill, which wasn't a matter of finance so much as a matter of space. Heh. I, literally, do not have the space left to accomodate every edition WotC might choose to create, and I'm not even married. ;-p
I know what you're thinking; I need to buy a bigger house then, right? ;-)
Creating re-hashes of the Complete books sealed the deal for me. That's when I knew I'd had enough.
Today, Paizo sells more magazines each month than Dragon eversold in previous editions.
I have no idea if that's true, but thanks for your optimism! : )
I too was disapointed about the lack of a comments field on the survey- so, here is my comment-
Thank you for the mostly black on white (or light) printing - it makes things so much easier to read. Though, I notice that in 324 you seem to have gone back to one article printed white on dark - on the semi-gloss paper, if the lighting is not right, the text just disapears.
Yes, I know it is trivial and not really important, and would never influence anyone to buy or not buy the magazine, but it annoys me when I have to struggle to read it.
Thanks for listening.
I've been a subscriber to the magazine for close to 3 years and I have not been able to read but maybe one or two. I didn't even notice when things changed. Suddenly I didn't see what's new with Phil and Dixie (which totally upset me 'cause I loved those guys.)
Sorry for the chuckle, but you made my day. I was surprised to see Phil and Dixie BACK when I re-subscribed a while ago. I got to see their first departure years (and years and years) ago!
Phil Foglio is a great cartoonist, but if you check out his website, you will quickly understand why his cartoon is best left out of a magazine aimed at a 13+ crowd. His departure the first time was because of the envelop he wanted to push. I noticed that he pushed it consistently when he returned. Once he was able to do the article he wanted, there was nowhere left for him to go.
The surveys advertised in the latest Dragon and Dungeon issues will be on the site Tuesday or Wednesday (the 7th or 8th of September). Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience. : )
- Rob
Is the survey over? I can't find it anywhere on the site. Oh well, I guess thats what I get for procrastinating..my voice won't be heard *sigh*
i've been looking for it too. hrumph.
we're just two lost voices on a breezy autumn day:)
*sigh...* Got a little behind in my subscription, and heard about the survey too late. Guess I'll have to do this old fashioned way... since I don't know what the survey asked, I'll have to wing it.
First of all, let me say that I'm very possibly the very first second-generation D&D player in existence (if not, then one of the first). My father was writing for Dragon back in the late 70's-early 80's. He got me into this wonderful game in 1978, when I was a mere 9 years old. I've been playing ever since, and have seen every incarnation of the game, from AD&D (and even Arduin), to basic and expert D&D, to masters and immortals, to 2nd Edition, to Maztica, Planescape, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Al-Qadim, and finally, to the game's crowning achievement: 3rd Edition and the 3.5 revision.
Am I upset about 3rd Ed., forcing me to buy all new books and rules? Hell, no! It's a wonderful system, the universal d20 system is nothing short of ingenious, and making the first 3 Core Books a mere $20 a pop made switching over a bit easier on the pocketbook. Now, am I upset about the 3.5 Revision? A little. At $30 each, for books I've already gotten in 3rd Ed, it's a bit much too expect, especially after a measly 3-year interim. In my own far-from-humble opinion, they would have done better to do more playtesting on a broader scope, and gotten it right the first time. Still, 3.5 is such a wonderful product, fixing so many glaring errors, that I just can't stay mad at them. If I have any beef with the switch, it's that the Sword & Fist, Tome & Blood and similar books written for 3E are now... well, I won't say "worthless" but "less valuable", since much of the information needs to be converted. (Might I suggest a Web Enhancement of sorts for the spells, weapons, feats and prestige classes that need 'adjustment?')
For those of you who have not yet made the switch from 2nd Edition, all I can say is "Good for you!!" That means that you won't have to buy TWO sets of books... you can go straight to the 3.5 version and spare the costs and hassle that some of us went through. If you are still holding out on getting into 3.5 because you're mad at the company... well, you're missing out on some of the best stuff that D&D has EVER come out with. Yes, 1st Ed was great, and 2nd Ed added more options, but 3rd Edition does even more, with more options and details and potential than any other set has ever done. And for those of you that just like the feel of the older sets, that's fine... stay with it! But don't expect them to keep coming up with new products and material for your older system when this splendid upgrade has been made available for us. Trust me, it's better. You know, once upon a time, I had an Atari game system. I played Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Breakout, and thought this was the greatest invention the modern world had ever known. Nowadays, you can't find Atari at a garage sale, let alone new cartridges on the market for old diehard fans like me. It's all new technology, XBox, and Gameboy, and Playstation 32.6 (or whatever number they're up to by now). They don't make new stuff for Atari anymore because they've moved on. Wizards doesn't make new stuff for earlier editions of AD&D because THEY'VE moved on. And we too should also move on. If you try it, you will like it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Play your older version; no one will stop you. The gaming community at large will miss your input and insight, 'cuz no one can spot new flaws in a new system like an old gamer. By that same token, no one can appreciate the improvements and vital changes in a new system like an old gamer, either. To the newbies, it's always been this good. We, the Old Guard, know better.
Dragon staff, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing... keep up the good work. I have a dedicated group of 7 to 8 players that migrate to my place every other weekend to play your wonderful 3.5 D&D game, and to visit their friendly neighborhood DM. All of them are at least 23 years old, have careers and/or families, and a better than average education level. Three of them drive over 50 miles to get here, and one actually drives from San Jose, CA, over 200 miles away. They won't make that kind of drive to visit a friend who's sick or lonely, but they'll do it to play D&D. I think that speaks volumes for your current product. Bra-vo!!
You know, once upon a time, I had an Atari game system. I played Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Breakout, and thought this was the greatest invention the modern world had ever known. Nowadays, you can't find Atari at a garage sale, let alone new cartridges on the market for old diehard fans like me. It's all new technology, XBox, and Gameboy, and Playstation 32.6 (or whatever number they're up to by now). They don't make new stuff for Atari anymore because they've moved on. Wizards doesn't make new stuff for earlier editions of AD&D because THEY'VE moved on. And we too should also move on. If you try it, you will like it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Play your older version; no one will stop you.
Exactly! I bought an Xbox this summer and was amazed at how far the technology had come since my last system purchase, a Nintendo 64. I would have bought a GameCube had Nintendo not gone with their bonedheaded proprietary, non-DVD-compatible format. I didn't dump my N64, though, as I still like some of the games I have for it and pull it out every now and then to play. Going even further back, I have a Vectrex game system in the closet that I pull out every now and then for a spin. I don't expect Electronic Gaming Monthly to cover either of those systems, though! (Or, to be more specific, Nintendo Power, which solely focuses on GBA and the Cube these days.)
When I got back into D&D last year, after a nearly 20-year break, I picked up the 3.5 core books and absolutely devoured them, amazed at how the simple game I'd played in high school had evolved into a more versatile, highly-customizable system that, suprise, was now compatible with a wide range of 3rd party material thanks to the D20 system.
Change happens, and in this case, it's for the better. I'm glad to see Dragon (and Dungeon) keep up-to-date with those changes instead of narrowing its focus by waxing nostalgic over the "good old days."