I guess this will be my first post ever aimed at the folks in charge of the magazine.
First, let me start by saying the cover art has been absolutely awesome looking. And the adventures are absolutely great. I am a truly big fan.
Ok, here is my respectfully submitted objection. Some of the players in my group have dungeon subscriptions (36 issue options from long before Age of Worms started it release in most cases). The rest I am sure look at the sweet cover art in the local book store when they go there to buy the new released books or get new dice.
The problem is, I kind of feel some teaser information lately has given away quite a bit of information in regards to the AoW campaign. They all know the AoW is being published each month for the last year. The covers even say so. While I don’t mind the Hall of Harsh reflections mentioning “a new adventure with doppelgangers” and a pic of a mind flayer, the covers lately such as the last months and this month especially feel like they are giving it away. The art is fine, but statements like “Kill the first Dragolich” and “ Slay a God, Save the World, Claim a Kingdom” and “Kyuss” are giving my players meta game information (we are just starting Hall of Harsh reflections) At the very least, now all my players will know whole the BBEG will be for the series.
Even my players don't like it. It makes it harder on them to no meta.
Well, isn't the conflict with Dragotha/Kyuss foreshadowed for several adventures beforehand? At the point you fight them, it's the second-to-last and final adventures. It's pretty obvious who the PCs final opponents are going to be, barring any surprise appearences/returns from the dead, etc.
Creative Director
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While I can certainly understand the frustration with covers spoiling adventures, it's a necessary evil. In many ways, the covers are supposed to lure in the impulse buy; they're designed for the readers we haven't "caught" yet. The theory is that we show off the best qualities of an issue on the cover, rather than something that's not as exciting or (worse) use a bait and switch method to trick people into buying a magazine based on a cover that doesn't represent what's inside the issue.
Personally, I've always viewed the covers as analagous to movie previews or "Coming next week" bits at the end of TV shows like "Lost" or "Sopranos." They serve to plant seeds of excitement in the viewer (player) by revealing teasers to the movie or show; someone's more likely to see a movie or show if they've been intrigued by a teaser. Same with the covers. Think of them as the coming attractions.
As long as the covers don't go the route of the Leprechaun Painting the Cow Green issue where the goal of the low-level adventure inside was to find out who was painting the cows green, I think the covers now are just fine.
While I can certainly understand the frustration with covers spoiling adventures, it's a necessary evil. In many ways, the covers are supposed to lure in the impulse buy; they're designed for the readers we haven't "caught" yet. The theory is that we show off the best qualities of an issue on the cover, rather than something that's not as exciting or (worse) use a bait and switch method to trick people into buying a magazine based on a cover that doesn't represent what's inside the issue.
Personally, I've always viewed the covers as analagous to movie previews or "Coming next week" bits at the end of TV shows like "Lost" or "Sopranos." They serve to plant seeds of excitement in the viewer (player) by revealing teasers to the movie or show; someone's more likely to see a movie or show if they've been intrigued by a teaser. Same with the covers. Think of them as the coming attractions.
I understand the need and even the reasoning of putting exciting attention grabbers... If the magazine doesn't sell there is no path series. So I don;t normally mind, since they typical issue contains adventures that are unrelated. But with the Path series, it seems easier to give away plot. It is just that since we are still pretty far back in the campain, my players have been introduced to Dragotha by cover art long before his name is first mentioned in the adventures. Last Friday night they found their first Kyuss Zombie... and are just now beginging to think the worms are important... but if they weren't the next issue's cover will convince them. I'm definately not trying to tell you how to run your magazine, just something to keep in mind I suppose. Thats all...
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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As long as the covers don't go the route of the Leprechaun Painting the Cow Green issue where the goal of the low-level adventure inside was to find out who was painting the cows green, I think the covers now are just fine.
This is my favorite terrible Dungeon cover of all time.
Thanks for bringing it up.
Hahahahahaha.
--Erik
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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To address the concerns of the original poster, I'm going to have to chime in with James, here. In order to grab the largest number of readers, we sometimes include spoilerish text or images on the cover. We do try to avoid giving away major details, but sometimes it's unavoidable.
Even the name "Age of Worms" is spoilerish, though. When the PCs first hear about it "in game" it really lacks a dramatic punch that it might otherwise have had if you'd been keeping them in the dark as to the name of the campaign. In this case (and in the case of my own Age of Worms campaign, naturally), most of the players just sort of shrug and go along with it for the sake of the game.
I know too many of those moments can wreck the suspense and interfere with the fun, though. I'll consider it more carefully in the future.
--Erik
I'm curious as to how many DM's players read Dungeon. In my own group, we currently have 6 players and one DM, and out of that six, only one player, who has his own outside campaign, reads Dungeon (though my children, two of the players, look at mine from time to time, though their attention span usually wavers long before they learn anything useful).
Of course, that one player is the main reason I don't use more adventures, not because he would metagame, but because he is so busy that I hate to tell him that I would rather he not read adventure X or Y that he might be able to plug into his campaign.
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Creative Director
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As long as the covers don't go the route of the Leprechaun Painting the Cow Green issue where the goal of the low-level adventure inside was to find out who was painting the cows green, I think the covers now are just fine.This is my favorite terrible Dungeon cover of all time.
Thanks for bringing it up.
Hahahahahaha.
--Erik
It's also the first issue I ever had an adventure printed in. I tell you... it was something of a shock to open up my big envelope containing the contributor copy to see those green cows on the cover...
Two points:
#1. your players don't know that the adventure depicted on the front is actually from the Age of Worms,admittedly there were only one or two in which it wasn't
#2. the names Dragotha and Kyuss came up much earlier; although I can see where this may not help if you're far back in the Path.
The only one that I really wasn't thrilled with was the Hall of Harsh Reflections one, but since they have no clue that there's a mind flayer ahead I just told them that it didn't pertain to the AoW adventure.