Wotc Reflections on D&D magazines

[Tobus Neth]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20070420a

[Fraust]

A lot of pretty words...Funny how I'm still utterly disgusted with Wizards decision. Without the Paizo crew behind the magazines, far as I'm concerned they are dead. No web content is going to make up for that, no line of BS from a hand full of people who used to work on Dungeon and Dragon is going to make up for that. I'm sick of Wizards raping a hobby I love, and explaining it away with this flowery crap.

Looking forward to Pathfinder just a little more than I'm looking forward to never buying another product from Wizards. In my neck of the woods we've called them Nazi's of the Coast for a few years now, and it's never felt quite so deserved before.

[Peruhain of Brithondy]

You know, all that talk is nice--but without an actual announced plan on the table, I gotta believe they're pulling the plug, or that there is going to be either (1) a gap before they get the e-zines up and running, or (2) a huge decrease in the quality of the publication. Those guys at WotC can cry crocodile tears all they want, but they haven't made any substantive moves to show that they are putting their money where their mouth is. And we already have the bad example of what has happened to Code Monkey's e-tools--license gone, no support for new materials, no replacement product. So, I'll believe it when I see it--and if I don't see something substantive announced soon, I'll plan on holding a wake for our hobby magazine in September and call it that. We don't need WotC to play the game anyway, and if they screw the whole business up, gamers will keep it going.

[Lady Lena]

That letter would sound best read by Tim Curry.

[darkhuntsman]

i will give both a try an see where they go.i remember when dragon magazine wasnt worth picking up a subscripition too.i love what piazo has done with the mags so i will give pathfinder a try.as for wotc i have had my little dislikes about them.such as paying 40.00 for a book an seeing them droping a product that i or my game group likes.but for the most part they too put out a good product and i shall give it a try.i will miss both dragon and dungeon.

[Gabriel N]

Well, this manipulative crap is the proverbial insult added to the injury.

I hope their vaunted, mysterious online content does exactly as well as its quality warrants - I'm sure that's about the worst thing I could wish on them.

[Molech]

It makes me sick. I haven't purchased from WotC in a long time, I hope nobody does ever again.

W. E. Ray

[onetonghost]

firstly, this whole thing sucks and bla bla bla...so, wtf are you going to do about it? please consider:

-organize ppl. you have these message boards, the net, phones, etc. don't just do the usual, "i'll write and angry e-mail" to some allegedly alienating company...and they are a company and the goal is to make a profit. your boycott alone won't do it, get a petition, something, anything. squeaky wheel gets the grease and all.

-Dragon and Dungeon were(are) magazines. as handy and portable as pdf's are, it's still no replacement for hardcopy. try passing your laptop over a pile of minis, dice, pizza, books, etc., several times to illustrate your point during a session. easier to reference, collectile (to some), and perhaps most importantly, a tradtion.

-WotC, in an attempt to get modern, ie)save a buck by cutting off "dead weight" will effectively alientate a great majority of their patrons. the new electronic format will simply be cannibalized. that's probably why more and more ppl were simply downloading the magazines for free rather than buying them...ahem. this will not change w/ the new format. basically, killing most of Paizo sadly.

-if you go to Gencon, help put something together. Hell, it's like a politcal rally anyway. use it to your advantage. don't just be a hobbyist and say, "well, i'm sad it's gone." everyone else will too, but if you actually care, you can try and preserve this thing you love.
don't piss away this opportunity