Elder player

[Puckypi]

First, I want to say that you people do a wonderful job on Dungeon and Dragon. Both magazines are well written and beautifully presented. I have been a faithful reader since the magazines first started and they just continue to improve. I can't say that I read any other magazine from cover to cover, including the ads like I do with Dungeon and Dragon, and I look forword to every issue. Not only do the magazines jump start my imagination but I have learned so much over the years. I rememer an editorial not to long ago about things that the editor had learned playing D&D. Everytime I do a crossword puzzle or watch a game show I say to myself at least once or twice, "I know that because of D&D". On to the second reason I'm writing. Since D&D has been around since the late '70s I would imagine that many of it's most devoted fans are gettin up there in the age. I am going to be 48 next month. Like many people my age, my eyesight isn't what it used to be. As much as I love the layouts and artwork in your magazines it can be difficult to read at times, some printing on dark paper is extremely hard for me to read and some colered printing is also difficult. Please try to make the color contrast more pronounced to make it easier to read. I also have a problem with the ink that you use smearing, once I read one of the magazines I have a hard time going back and reading it again because of big smudges on the pages where some words are completely illegible. I don't know if this is a problem that others have, I can't say I've ever seen anyone complain about it. I know that men and women have different chemicals in their bodies, maybe this is only a problem that women have, I don't know. I try really hard when I'm reading the magazine to not touch the printing and that has helped but most of my older issues are almost unreadable now. I like to keep the old issues and go back and read them later. Have you ever had anyone complain about this before?

Kathy Skelton

[Thanis Kartaleon]

Hm. When I saw the subject of this thread I assumed it was about the "Ancient PCs" article in the most recent issue (#354). I'm not a Paizo employee but I'll attempt to answer your question.

Re: Ink smudging, it has come up before, and I have had some issues get slightly smudged because of it. It's not a gender issue - I'm a guy. It's just a matter of the type of inks used and not, in my opinion, that great of a problem; as long as I take care when handling the magazines, they're generally fine.

As for the contrast, that too has come up before, and I have to say that Paizo has done a lot better with it than under previous ownership. I seem to remember a letter printed in one of the older issues complaining about the fonts and colors used at the time, and the response to it was very snarky.

That said, the "Ancient PCs" article I mentioned previously does tend toward the edge of bad contrast. If that is indeed what you were referring to, then I can easily see how you could have troubles reading it. The left edge of the sidebars in that article in particular had me peering closer at the magazine. Granted, I've got bad eyesight and should really get a pair of glasses...

Oh, and before I forget, welcome to the Paizo boards!

TK