Sitting here listening to some Christmas tunes as I browse the messageboards, I got to thinking about how it would be nice to see some seasonal articles in Dragon magazine. Obviously D&D players come from many faiths (or none at all, in the case of athiests and agnostics), so the magazine should stay strictly non-denominational, IMHO.
Still, it would be really great to see some articles in the magazine that match the season - for instance, some Frostburn-themed articles would work well for the winter months.
Anyone have thoughts about this?
They already do this a bit. For example, the October issue is always horror themed. The April issue always has some sort of not-quite-serious article. June has a dragon theme (though not a seasonal theme, it's still a theme).
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I think one of the reasons we don't see Christmas articles is that they aren't as likely to see use in people's games as, say, horror articles.
I wouldn't have a problem with them, though. I mean, we don't use a fraction of the material in Dragon because, put together, there's too much of it to work it all into our games. So I don't mind an article or two that's a good read that maybe I would never think of using.
Well, I would not really expect to see any Christmas type stuff for D&D as there is no Christianity or any other modern religion in any of the games, though some use of mythology is in use.
I am kind of surprized though that there has not been much support written for festivals in the game and in gaming genre by and large; this seems to be a big whole; seems like a lot of adventures could spawn from things that happen at festivals; like say it was some type of revolution day whereas some group conquered another or threw off the shackles of some governments power; I would expect that to be a pretty big deal with parades; and feasting and entertainment; and also, dissenters and dissadents and those thrown out of power trying to lay the seeds of retaking lost glory.
this could be the same for any in game religious holiday; whereas some good diety has proclaimed a holy day of feasting and fun and some evil opposed diety has plans to wreck the celebration.
I think we could all use some stat block type entertainment, feasting foods; and the like to add to our games and perhaps some descriptions of various events that we might add to our games. I ran a carnival in my game once and couldn't really make it come to life very well though I used some of the games of chance that have appeared in various periodicals over the years. Without the songs and such or a good reason that I could use to encourage players to fund or participate in a feast; it was hard to get them to give more than a nod of we drink some beer, eat some food; set guards and go to bed. I must say; festivals are the greatest weak spot in my game.
When I saw this thread I had the same idea as Valegrim. I recognize the horror-themed October and light-hearted April issues but it *would* be nice to have at least a tiny bit more focus on festivals/religious holidays during corresponding seasons in our real world. There are many complex pantheons but just a little overview during the appropriate issue on how to run a festival or celebration would be cool. I too think this is something that has the potential to add great flavor to the game but is often weak or completely absent.
Several years ago I did several gaming session centered around the druidic celebration and ranger "gathering" during the solstice. I gave the PCs the opportunity to compete in archery contests, obstacle courses, hunting challenges, fishing competitions, etc. Both the players and I had lots of fun with it but it was a lot of work on my part and much of it was just spit-balled on the fly (since none of us really knew how to properly handle the situation).
I have also had scenarios where I imagined a cool festival and the players reacted like Valegrim already said - "yeah, whatever, we down a few drafts, check out the sideshow and call it a night."
Also, back on the seasonal themes, I think it would be a good idea to have at least one article per issue that was "seasonal". Desert or volcano survival in the summer months - like pyrotechnics in the July issue; Frostfell or cold spells in the winter months - sleeping (hibernation) in the December issue; wilderness survival or official "schools" in the fall months; herbalism or resurrection in the spring - the effects of rain/other weather in game terms... I don't know, just a thought.
Maybe Paizo does this more than we think and we just haven't really noticed. Hmmm... better go check my past issues before complaining or offering suggestions.
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And let's not forget Football Season and Baseball Season. I'm sure we can come up with soemthing good for that. Here's an idea: The players, as the town of Great Crater's defending champions, must go up against the aging warlord Johan the Maddened, his hand-picked army of elite ogre and giant warriors, and his fiendish ally, the sorcerer Al-mykals the Dark.
too funny, Zombie!
Also, back on the seasonal themes, I think it would be a good idea to have at least one article per issue that was "seasonal". Desert or volcano survival in the summer months - like pyrotechnics in the July issue; Frostfell or cold spells in the winter months - sleeping (hibernation) in the December issue; wilderness survival or official "schools" in the fall months; herbalism or resurrection in the spring - the effects of rain/other weather in game terms... I don't know, just a thought.
That is pretty much what I was envisioning.
Actually, I like the idea of exploring campaign-based festivals and holidays. I dug the Boccob and Olidamra articles a lot, particularly the holy days and celebrations. These could line up with "real world" events, maybe not. I'd be game for any campaign (Except Eberron; I have a PC who's nuts about the campaign setting, and between him and the current Eberron spotlight I'm pretty sick of it, even though I do enjoy the novels.)Either way, I liked 'em and would like more.