What happened to the short blurb at the start of an encounter that showed what detected as magical, what detect evil would see, and what the players could hear? Those were very, very handy.
Creative Director
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We made the decision with the relaunch of the magazine to abandon that format. While I agree that it's helpful to have an indication of lighting, sounds, reactions, and auras at the start of an encounter, they started taking up a lot of space in the magazine, especially in the higher level adventures. Space always seems to be at a premium in the magazine, and when we were forced to choose between cutting the quick reference format from the encounters or cutting what would have amounted to about 3 to 4 pages (or more) of encounters and text from the magazine's adventures itself, we chose to cut the quick reference format.
We made the decision with the relaunch of the magazine to abandon that format. While I agree that it's helpful to have an indication of lighting, sounds, reactions, and auras at the start of an encounter, they started taking up a lot of space in the magazine, especially in the higher level adventures. Space always seems to be at a premium in the magazine, and when we were forced to choose between cutting the quick reference format from the encounters or cutting what would have amounted to about 3 to 4 pages (or more) of encounters and text from the magazine's adventures itself, we chose to cut the quick reference format.
could there be a way that you could post the quick rererence format on line somewhere (maybe on these new spiffy boards hint hint ). that way it would not take up the space in the mag, but still be avalible to those who enjoy it.
Take it from me as a writer for Dungeon, the quick-reference format is really cool but it is very time and space consuming. The adventure I'm working on was half written in that format until I found out that Dungeon was dropping it. My work since then has gone much quicker. It's a DM's dream but a writer's and editor's nightmare.
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But see, you hit the nail on the head there man. Its a DM's dream and this magazine is written for the DM. As such my adventures ran faster with that format as I did not have to fumble for what auras were where all the time. I'm not planning on running the adventures in the latest issue (maybe Thirteen Cages, but it has problems I've mentioned before) mostly because its easier to just go back to older issues and use adventuers that have the old format.
But see, you hit the nail on the head there man. Its a DM's dream and this magazine is written for the DM. As such my adventures ran faster with that format as I did not have to fumble for what auras were where all the time. I'm not planning on running the adventures in the latest issue (maybe Thirteen Cages, but it has problems I've mentioned before) mostly because its easier to just go back to older issues and use adventuers that have the old format.
What if the editors would approve another header in the encoounter text for "Detections' that would include EVERYTHING that could be detected by magic or skills and everything that would hinder detections. The main problem the editors seem to had is the amount of space the expanded format demanded. A "Detections" header may be doable.
It's a DM's dream
Exactly, a DM's dream. And this is a magazine for DMs.
If the old format took to much space, I'd rather see a format that took less space rather than dropping the whole thing. List only the 2 strongest magic auras per NPC, don't list redundant listen checks for every area. I like the idea of a detection section. Maybe something like:
Detects: Priest (Evil: Strong, Weapon: Strong Enhancement, Amulet: Faint Transmutation); Assasin (Spot DC12, Dagger: Strong Enhancement, Evil: Strong), Loud Croaking (Listen DC8).
Heck, since it's fairly standard, the whole thing could be abbreviated as well:
Detects: Priest (E:Strong, Weapon:SEnh, Amulet:FTra); Assasin (Spot12, Dagger:SEnh, E:S), Loud Croaking (Listen8).
Or, if need be, a web enhancement for the adventure could work.
Since the authors might think this is a lot of effort added, and Paizo may not want to pay their staff to create it, we could do it as a fan run item. If I go through and create this for an adventure I'm about to run, I could just post it for all of you to use.
Maybe a message board just for these items.
Just a thought.
Heck, since it's fairly standard, the whole thing could be abbreviated as well:
Detects: Priest (E:Strong, Weapon:SEnh, Amulet:FTra); Assasin (Spot12, Dagger:SEnh, E:S), Loud Croaking (Listen8).
Great idea! I'll take it a step further - use symbols for the recurring words: an ear for Listen, an eye for Spot, a gas gauge-like meter for the strength of the aura (1/4 tank for Faint, etc.), and maybe even symbols for the different schools of magic. Then you just need a key at the beginning of the magazine to define the symbols. The only text would be the descriptors for people / objects.
Or I guess I could just read the adventure a few times in advance like I'm supposed to. VIVA TOOLS FOR THE LAZY!
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I found the inclusion of auras in the the room decriptions very helpful. So I second Dagda's proposal for a place on these boards, where we can put our own documents to each of the adventures running in Dungeon fleshing them out further, so the wheel does not have to be invented by each DM running the adventure.
An Example: For the first adventure in the Adventure path I made by hands cards with the rumours + cards with the gnomish runes, I even made a little map of the orphanage and the house of Ashstaff (since my players got this information from Fario and Fellion and decided to check up on it). (all odf these are hand drawn, but could be put online with a little work). These additional things make the surroundings much more alive. I even handcopied the maps from Ghelve's Locks to fool my players, so that did not notice directly that this was the place where the plot continues and it took them by surprise when the skulk attacked them and I put down a predrawn battlemap and the printed map from the magazine later... That way with a little community effort we could nearly completely flesh out Cauldron... (was very curious about the detailed map for the Tax Riot...)
Basically a structure would be needed for each Issue containing a part for each adventure (except for the Adventure Path that runs in its own structure)...the documents and maps would be sent to a person in charge of the area and he/she would maintain this area.
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You guys must have much more thorough players than I do!
My PCs only cast detect magic when they have sliced the monsters into little pieces and want to quickly determine which bits of its treasure are the most valuable. They are rarely interested in the type of magic, and on those rare occasions that they ask I just take a guess. (E.G. Gloves of dexterity - I know its based on Cats Grace; sounds like that ought to be a transmutation spell so that's what I tell them the aura is.)
Most of my NPCs like flashy magical traps so these are mainly going to be evocation spells.
The party's paladin views detect evil as a yes / no question, but when he is faced with something overwhelmingly evil I let him know the evil aura is very strong.
I'd rather precious Dungeon magazine space wasn't taken up with this kind of stuff.
In my games, Detect Magic is usually called "Detect Swag."
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Actually if you put the Aura's in the Gear section of the stat block it may help... Detect Swag is how my PC's use it too...
Of course I notice that anyone who doesn't read Adventures regularly isn't as good a "dungeoneer" as people who do. Does your rogue look at the room you've just drawn out or set up on the board and check for traps willy nilly, or does he look for the most appropriate spots for traps, secret doors, etc. That's how you tell whether the Player has any Knowledge (Dungeoneering) or not!
The Quick Reference Format was valuable to me as a DM. I'd gladly pay more for a copy of Dungeon that has that information over one that doesn't. I'll bet other DMs feel the same. Ask us on your survey.
If it's a choice between cutting encounters & adventure text, or cutting the quick reference info, I say don't to either. Each would drop the quality of the magazine. Dungeon is the cheapest game supplement I purchase. I'd happily pay more for a better product.
Since the authors might think this is a lot of effort added, and Paizo may not want to pay their staff to create it, we could do it as a fan run item. If I go through and create this for an adventure I'm about to run, I could just post it for all of you to use.
Maybe a message board just for these items.
Just a thought.
Great idea, Dagda. Somebody is using his old noggin. If we were to run such a thing, I think we would have to come to some general consensus on the format of it. Keep the ideas coming! I also like Abserdies Lives suggestion for symbols to represent each category. This should be pursued; it is an item of Dungeon that should be kept going.
Well, using symbols is a great idea, but using smaller fonts for some sections could help too :-)
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"The Quick Reference Format was valuable to me as a DM. I'd gladly pay more for a copy of Dungeon that has that information over one that doesn't. I'll bet other DMs feel the same. Ask us on your survey."
I have to agree with Boredflak on this one, I've gotten to the point that I think long and hard about buying RPG books due to poor editing and inconsistant content, but I didn't even hesitate when it was time to renew my subscription to Dungeon.