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Hey all.
I was just looking at issue 103 because James Jacobs mentioned I would find information about Rary there. Since I just started a Greyhawk campaign, I figured, why not. Turns out that 103 was Erik's first issue. Chris Thommasson left after 102 and Erik moved over from Polyhedron. Since Polyhedron didn't last much longer, I'm glad Erik had found a new home, along with his crew.
Apparently Chris went to Dragon, but he was only there from 312 to 315. Anyone know what happened to him?
Anyway, I figured that we now have a little perspective. We've seen a lot of changes with Erik at the helm, and we can really see if they're better or not.
1) I'm really happy that Dungeon has stayed Monthly. I don't know if there was ever any consideration of going back to bi-monthly, but I'm REALLY glad to get Dungeon 12/year.
2) Three adventures an issue! I wouldn't mind another, but I'm greedy. Three is an acceptable minimum.
3) Consistent high quality and production values. Heck, the editing of any of my issues of any of my Paizo magazines has better editing than any of the books WotC puts out. Some of there mistakes are just horrid. I'm not a professional editor, and they pop out at me when I just look over the feats casually. But Dungeon (& Dragon) are both unlikely to have serious errors. And even the mistakes they have are minor and the editors ADMIT their mistakes.
What else are they doing right?
PS - Thanks to Erik and the staff for doing a great job, consistently.
2) Three adventures an issue! I wouldn't mind another, but I'm greedy. Three is an acceptable minimum.What else are they doing right?
I think this bears repeating, with an important addition:
Three adventures per issue, with a guaranteed low-level, mid-level, and (especially) high-level adventure.
I can't say enough good things about that particular decision.
I must admit, I was one person who was disappointed with the loss of Polyhedron -- the d20 minigames such as pulp heroes, mecha, shadow chasers and thunderball rally (my favorite!) were not only enjoyable reads, they were great extrapolations of the d20 rules. They could be played on their own or incorporated into other things. That minibus-van in thunderball rally has come in handy a few times.
Sure, d20 modern made the minigames somewhat unnesssary. But I always thought there was potential to do more followups on those games, develop scenerios and additional settings, like followup city for pulp heroes or the extra creatures for the iron lords of jupiter. In essence, a campaign workbook for d20 minigames.
That said, Dungeon's commitment to three adventures and the wealth of material to be found in the campaign notebooks makes it a great value. The quality of the maps and the portraits of npcs are nice touches, and should be the clincher if any DM is uncertain as to the magazine's use. The art alone makes great handouts, and after more than two years, I am never at a loss for a picture that depicts action or a situation to my players.
As I've written before in a letter to scale mail, the adventures themselves are useful no matter what the setting. Even though I mostly DM in Wheel of Time, adapting the adventures to that campaign setting is not difficult at all, mainly because of the focus on action over setting. That's as true today as it was over a year ago when I first wrote the letter.
As for the four-part Greyhawk map, I have one word: Bravo!
I would have to agree that the last few issues or so have really been the most enjoyable for a while. I'm not saying that the previous one were bad, just the magazine seems to be building on its strengths and going from success to success.
The 'special' adventures: Epic, Maure, Ebberon, etc...make a great addition even though I never use them. They're a great read.
Love to see a different 'Return to', like:
Ghost Tower of Inverness or Tomb of the Lizard King
Bravo, keep it up cobbers!
Chief Technical Officer
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I don't know if there was ever any consideration of going back to bi-monthly...
Bimonthly magazines are very, very difficult to pull off. Eight weeks is a long enough time that people who bought the last issue on the newsstand will forget that you exist.
More importantly, since revenue is tied to sale dates, bimonthly magazine revenues are strong one month, and minimal the next, and employees don't generally like to be paid only every other month, so managing cash flow can be challenging.
If a magazine can't make it as a monthly, it would probably do even worse as a bimonthly.
-Vic.
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