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It's been a while that Monte Cook has been writing his Dungeoncraft articles for Dungeon magazine.
A few weeks ago, the subject of a compendium of all the Dungeoncraft articles into a single volume came up on his website (www.montecook.com), and Monte had this comment about it: "When I write a collumn for Dungeon, I'm selling it to Paizo. I think it would be very cool if they collected them all into a book, but that's up to them."
So I just put it to the attention of fans of the magazine and push the topic back to the people deciding here: Paizo's staff. Would such a compilation volume be at all possible? I for one would preorder instantly. *hint hint* ;)
Thanks all, take care!
Personally I think that Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles would also fit well with Monte's articles. So much useful information could be found in his columns. If you added them together in a book I think that it would it would do well. Of course, when you make a DM book you are immediately shrinking the market for people that would buy the book to about 1/4 (or possibly less) than the entire D&D market.
Olaf the Stout
Personally I think that Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles would also fit well with Monte's articles. So much useful information could be found in his columns. ... Of course, when you make a DM book you are immediately shrinking the market for people that would buy the book to about 1/4 (or possibly less) than the entire D&D market.
Olaf the Stout
Is that true? I would think that more than one in four players also DM, and of those that don't, enough will intend to try some day and so may also want the collection.
I'll also chime in my support for both the Monte and Ray articles.
And, if the only way to make this work for Paizo was to make it a PDF only product, I'd still buy it.
Is that true? I would think that more than one in four players also DM, and of those that don't, enough will intend to try some day and so may also want the collection.I'll also chime in my support for both the Monte and Ray articles.
And, if the only way to make this work for Paizo was to make it a PDF only product, I'd still buy it.
Obviously I am making an educated guess since I don't have any hard data to base it off. However, in my current group, out of 6 people, only 2 of us DM. And considering that the other DM doesn't even own copies of the core books, he's not exactly likely to be buying a Dungeoncraft book.
However, as I have said in another thread, random anecdotes don't really mean anything.
Personally I think that it would be very reasonable to assume that not everyone that plays D&D also DMs. So at the very least, the target audience is smaller than a product that players can also use. How much smaller this market is debateable. I threw up the figure of about 1/4. It could be higher than this but I would guess that it would be 1/2 at the very most.
What are others thoughts on the issue? As for the PDF option, I would still definitely be interested in that, although dead tree format would be my first preference.
Olaf the Stout
Well I'm certianly intrigued by the idea of gathering a slew of good DMing articles into a single volume. I'd be interested to see half a dozen DMs perspectives and it might be interesting to finish off such a book with their different opinions on various hot button DM issues - what kind of adventures they like and why - whether they believe Munchkins exist and why etc.
I would be interested in purchasing this, especially if it were combined with a compilation of "Campaign Workbooks" and "Critical threats"... and, while we're at it, a few "Maps of Mystery"! The ultimate DM accessory!
Although I do think that you would be targeting a smaller market by making it basically a GM only book, there is very little in the way of competing books in this area. The only books that discuss GM'ing as the main topic of its books are Robin's Laws to Good Gamemastering, Game Mastering Secrets by Grey Ghost Press and the DMG II (at least in part).
Considering that every game has to have a GM there is not really a whole lot of products out there that specifically deal with helping them out.
Olaf the Stout
"Toolbox" and "Secrets" by AEG are pretty good GM resources as well, IMHO, as far as printed material is concerned.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I guess I'm the only one who's not a fan of Monte's column. When I first saw that Monte was going to be doing the dungeoncraft articles, I had very high hopes of a behind the scenes designer's-point-of-view of D&D.
Unfortunately, up until the past 2-3 issues, it's been a longer version of the plain vanilla advice contained in the DMG, DMG II, and every other "how to DM" resource published. Vanilla is good, and basic DMing advise is good, but there are better sources and better delivery methods (e.g., compiling the advice in a single accesble volume like the DMG II where a newb can find it and read it rather than strung across multiple articles).
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Vanilla is good, and basic DMing advise is good, but there are better sources and better delivery methods (e.g., compiling the advice in a single accessible volume like the DMG II where a newb can find it and read it rather than strung across multiple articles).
(emphasis mine) Well, so that means you would welcome such a compilation, in essence, doesn't it?
Personally I think that Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles would also fit well with Monte's articles.
Oh, sure! I didn't mean to speak exclusively about Monte's column here. The compilation of Dungeoncraft columns could indeed include other materials as well!
I'd buy collected Dungeon Craft book (even pdf) of Monte's articles (and others too).
I'd buy it in PDF or print (and possibly both). I enjoy reading anything that helps improve my "craft" as a DM.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Vanilla is good, and basic DMing advise is good, but there are better sources and better delivery methods (e.g., compiling the advice in a single accessible volume like the DMG II where a newb can find it and read it rather than strung across multiple articles).(emphasis mine) Well, so that means you would welcome such a compilation, in essence, doesn't it?
No, I already have all the component pieces. I don't see any added value in having them put together in one place, particularly when I already own the DMG II, which does the same thing and has additional content that I find useful.
My point is that the a monthly column is not the optimal format for the very basic information which has been contained in most of Monte's columns. If one were to publish it, I do agree that compiling it would be the way to go. That being said, I don't find the content to be worth purchasing as a compiled supplement. Your mileage may well vary.
I would have welcomed an entirely different style of article from Monte and have been disappointed with practically the entire run of Dungeoncraft up until the most recent issues of Dungeon.
Edit: Ray's stuff is decent, but I'd rather have it buffed out into a full campaign setting with a lot of behind the scenes explanations for the design decisions ala the Red Hand of Doom. I would be willing to pay a nominal amount for a compilation of his articles in pdf format.