First up, I love the magazine, have been reading Dragon since the 100 and somethings (My first issue had an article 1001 suprised in a bag of beans ) and over the years I have watched revision and stylistic change, evolution and progression. I ahave also become very long wnded- But thats not why Im here.
There seems to be an increasing incusrsion of Adventure path matereal into the Pages of Dragon magazine. I dont subscribe to dungion, I have never used a premade adventure. this owing to the fact that I have a very small but long established gaming group and would be modifying so much to acomadte I my as well come up with my own stuff any way. This means that any matereal I find n Dragon to do woth an adventure path is useless to me. I understand that I may be in a minority, but could effort be put into iether maing Adventure path matereal more usefull on its own (Sidebars with ideas on how to transplant it say) or reduced in occurance? and does any one else agree?
The Wormfood articles I've read, or at least skimmed, in Dragon have seemed like they would be very easy to port over into another campaign world. The article on finding fashionable attire/accessories in Alhaster and the modifiers each piece gives would be perfect for an adventure in which your PCs had to sneak into a ball for diplomatic reasons, spying, or as a diversion. Another that I skimmed was an article on possible extraplanar creatures to bring in with a "Gate" or "Summon Planar Ally" spell. What specifically was it that you found that you were unable to use? I don't see how you couldn't find a place for something from one of the AP articles in your campaign, especially if you run a homebrew.
Creative Director
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James' pet peeve has been triggered, and I apologize in advance if this sounds snarky or cranky...
I'm immediately suspicious of any DM who says: "I never use pre-made adventures." Even if you write every adventure for your campaign, that's cool, but pre-made adventures are the best (in my opinion) resource for mining ideas for your home game. Even if you just use a single map from a published adventure, or a single new monster, or just one stat block for a town guard, it's easier than doing it on your own.
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I agree with RedRobe. I'm not currently running an AoW or ST adventure path (although I admit that I hope to), I think the Adventure Path tie in articles are certainly generic enough to be useful in one way or another to most people's games. Certainly I would imagine that a DM who has the time and creativity to write all his/her own adventures (I know I certainly don't) shouldn't have too much trouble adapting the useful things to their own games.
Sure, not every Savage Tidings article is going to be 100% useful to you if you're not running Savage Tide (or maybe even if you are). But I find that a lot of things in Dungeon and Dragon are not immediately "useful" to my current game - doesn't mean I won't use them in the future, or they won't spark ideas, or I don't find them an interesting read. And on the rare occasion that I can't see any of the above applying ... well, I figure someone else will probably get some use out of them. We're not all playing the APs ... but thats just the point, Dungeon (and Dragon) are catering to an extremely wide range of campaigns (official, homebrew, APs) and playing / DMing styles, and I think getting the mix pretty right most of the time.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Dragon Magazine is like a box of chocolates." Some of it is chewy caramel goodness, some of it is those horrible coconut flavored abominations. In other words, not all flavors appeal to all people.
I have to say that running the Age of Worms, and having no intention of running Savage Tide,* that there were some Wormfood articles that I found worthless and some Savage Tiding articles that I found very useful. Saying that the articles are worthless due to their campaign ties is like disregarding those items not set in your specific campaign world (or lack thereof).
*Though my reason for not running the Savage Tide is not related to its quality, but rather to the fact that my group just got done playing an entire four year campaign based off the same module.
It's cool, man. You're scared of pirates. I understand. Circus clowns freak me out.
Especially ones with nasty, pointy teeth...*shudder*
http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/d20m_gallery/610_088190_99.jpg
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It's cool, man. You're scared of pirates. I understand. Circus clowns freak me out.
Good info to have.
*Runs off to build the first Multi-Clown Launching Trebuchet of Silver*In the meantime, Load the Clown Ballista......and ......FIRE!!!!
Enjoy Heathy!
FH (Honk-honk)
I am not sure I understand what the original complaint is here. Do you think there is too much info in Dragon on the adventure paths? Or is it in Dungeon you are talking about (since this is the General Discussion portion of the Dungeon Mag part of the boards... mind you they interact and it isn't a big deal if you mean Dragon, I am just not clear)?
I personally think it is a GREAT thing to have the tie in between the two magazines. I think tieing the two together should be done as often as is feasible. Take the incursion issues for instance, in which all of the dragon magizine articles worked very nicely with the adventure in dragon. It was my fav issue of Dragon to date.
Anyway, for my 2 cents I have now reversed what I said above. There is too much... just enough that it should be expanded further for a Dungeon: Adventure Path Magazine debut!!!!
I know... no luck...
Sean Mahoney
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It's cool, man. You're scared of pirates. I understand. Circus clowns freak me out.Good info to have.
*Runs off to build the first Multi-Clown Launching Trebuchet of Silver*
In the meantime, Load the Clown Ballista......and ......FIRE!!!!Enjoy Heathy!
FH (Honk-honk)
Somebody somewhere asked who the Tim Taylor of the Forgotten Realms was.
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To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Dragon Magazine is like a box of chocolates." Some of it is chewy caramel goodness, some of it is those horrible coconut flavored abominations. In other words, not all flavors appeal to all people.
I have to say that running the Age of Worms, and having no intention of running Savage Tide, that there were some Wormfood articles that I found worthless and some Savage Tiding articles that I found very useful. Saying that the articles are worthless due to their campaign ties is like disregarding those items not set in your specific campaign world (or lack thereof).
Ahem. Those coconut chocolates you so glibly disparage are actually the best ones, the pick of the litter, so to speak. Long live the coconut!! Which just serves to illustrate your point, I guess...
As for the adventure paths, they are likewise full of all kinds of tasty treats, even if their direct usage might be limited. Even though I'll probably never run AoW (I hate intelligent undead), I fully intend to steal everything I can get my hands on for other campaigns. Seriously, half the fun of reading the adventures is figuring out what to use them for. Nothing is ever useless - I might even find some kind of use for a couple of the NPCs from the Vampires of Waterdeep arc, though that might be a bit of a stretch.
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You evil, evil man.
I will end your reign of terror one day. Right now I need some valium.They float....They all float down here!
Wow, evil and I wasn't even trying. Yeah me!FH
You were too trying. With your fancy-pants linky and your flaunting of your italization abilities.
Yes, celebrate. Celebrate, and become cautious in your pyrrhic victory. For my piece de resistons comes later this afternoon.Oh, mohrg turkey...rise and smite down he who would consume thee!
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You evil, evil man.
I will end your reign of terror one day. Right now I need some valium.They float....They all float down here!
Wow, evil and I wasn't even trying. Yeah me!FH
You were too trying. With your fancy-pants linky and your flaunting of your italization abilities.
Yes, celebrate. Celebrate, and become cautious in your pyrrhic victory. For my piece de resistons comes later this afternoon.
Oh, mohrg turkey...rise and smite down he who would consume thee!
Mmmmmmmm, mohrg. The other white meat.