Wow.
Kinda stings all over again.
Yes, you will certainly be missed.
After forty-four months, this is the last post I will ever make as a Dragon associate editor.
Farewell, Dragon. May your future guardians lead you well.
Mike McArtor
Associate Editor
Dragon Magazine (#316–#359)
And a fine editor you, and all the other Paizones, have been.
Thanks for the memory.
At least it went out with a bang. Wizards has its work cut out for them, and I think they know it.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
|
Thanks for everything you guys. You did a fantastic job and brought the game to unprecedented heights. You showed a real love for D&D and gave us something amazing, month after month, during a period that otherwise might have been very bleak without all of your hard work.
I'll miss Dragon and Dungeon more than I can express.
Nothing left but to look forward now though - while I'm saddened by the loss, I'm looking forward to what you have yet to produce.
Thank you Paizo for doing such a fine job with my beloved magazine, even if Mike was working on it ~winks~. You all have done a fabulous job with it.
*Raises glass*
To the end of an era.
Well done, guys. Very well done. I've been a fan of the magazines for many, many, many...MANY years. The Paizo years were probably the best.
I've been reeling ever since the announcement a few months ago. For now, though, with hope and excitement for the future, I join you in bidding farewell to that great publication.
*clinks glass with Kelvar and all the Paizo staff*
Thank you, Mike, James, Erik, and all the rest of the Paizo staff for these years of Dragon and Dungeon. You set a high bar and then proceeded to excel beyond your own standards. I'm proud to have been a subscriber for several years and collector for years before. Your work at Paizo has been nothing but the best, and we'll miss your outstanding work on those two magazines. WOTC has a major challenge before them to match the calibre of your work. In the meantime, I look forward to Pathfinder.
*wipes a tear from eye*
Everyone, a moment of silence please, for the end of an era.
*raises glass after silence, candle in other hand*
To the staff of Paizo!
Thanks for the great run!
You guys have & will continue to be the best, true-est D&D material available!
*sniff*
Promised...myself...I wouldn't..WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*sniff**sob*
Here's to Pathfinder being even better than the stuff we've seen in our beloved magazine.
*Plays "Don't Stop Believin'"*
Ooh here it is:
"Don't stop believin'!
Hold on to that feel-ay-ee-ay-eeing!"
"HOLD AW-OH-AW-OH-AW-OH-ON!"
And what does shuffle bring up next? Why it's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
I think my playlist is saddened by this event as well.
The damage is done. I no longer feel the sting. But I will wax poetic, nostalgic and fruit if necessary. I'll pretty much wax anything.
Not all traditions were so one-sidedly wonderful and reached so far back into my childhood. I felt I could purchase a little slice of magic itself each month. Dragon was my Rosebud--a windy platform from which to jump into waking dreams. It was important to all of us, and we're very special people. There must be a correllation. Vitamin Dragon was good for growing bones and expanding minds. Thank you, everyone who published it and everyone who contributed to it. Thank you for being the first place to publish me when I was a kid. Thanks for all of the rich memories. They're simply irreplacable.
I have been a long time subscriber to Dragon and a charter subscriber to Dungeon (before there was even such a thing!). I can say with all sincerity that you all have taken my favorite magazines to an unbelievably high level of quality and content .
Thank you.
I love your work and have joined the LEGIONS of loyal Pazoites in subscribing to Pathfinder. I’m sure I will be getting a GameMastery subscription in the near future. Something “crunchy” like combined Pathfinder shipping would cement the deal. ;-)
Thank all of you for your hard work and for the high standards you held yourselves to while working on Dragon and Dungeon and everything else you continue to put out. While I am upset to see the magazine go, I am definetly looking forward to your future efforts. As much as it pains me to say it, this could be a blessing for all of us in disguise.
The great community on these boards as well as the posts above this one just go to show how much of an impact your work has on all of us. I wish all of you continued success in everything you do. I look forward to what's coming and will miss what has passed.
If it has to end, at least its ending on an exteremly high note! always leave them wanting more...
Cheers.
J.
It was a good run while it lasted. I think a little Keats should do the trick:
--
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
--
Not to mention in the wake of any substantive offering from WoTC I finally waffled about my torture-porn objections and signed on to Pathfinder (and purchased D0 "dead-tree edition" to boot). I expect good things to come out of the gamemastery line, and will be keeping a close eye on the new modules.
Good bye, and thanks so much.
Sigh. :(
Long live Pathfinder and Gamemastery.
|
Its unbelievable that a magazine going could sting this bad!
After knowing that I presently suffering from burnout-syndrom and having time to read I browsed all my issues which are lying next to me at the foot of my couch.
All 3E issues and almost all Dragons are mine and you can't know how (well, in fact you KNOW HOW) much it hurts to have this taken away from me...
While lying here with my laptop I know that I'll never use an electronic format of a magazine to relax!
Dungeon and Dragon, put down by an every hungry wizard near the sea, I will miss you much and will never forget you both!
And thanx to Paizo for "building" the best Dungeon and "leting grow" the best Dragon ever!!!
It is a strange, sad feeling after all those years that there will be no longer a (or two, to be precise) magazine every month. I still remember buying my first issues of dragon, and went through several retailers (FLGS, for the most part), stayed true through the lapse in 1997, bought the annuals and stuff like that. I only own issues back to 142 or so completely, but that is still from 1989 - EIGHTEEN years of gaming with Dragon always along. I will miss the mag.
Stefan
Thanks for everything and goodbye!
After forty-four months, this is the last post I will ever make as a Dragon associate editor.
Farewell, Dragon. May your future guardians lead you well.
Mike McArtor
Associate Editor
Dragon Magazine (#316–#359)
It's been awesome growing up with it and having it around as a trusty companion. I don't know what it's going to be like not having it as a an actual print magazine I can grab and take with me wherever I'm going. It's going to be strange :(
However, chin up, Mike. Onward and upward!
I think a song is appropriate for this passing:
We've come a long long way together,
Through the hard times and the good,
I have to celebrate you baby,
I have to praise you like I should.
"Praise You" - Fatboy Slim
I'll pretty much wax anything.
Oh we know it, Jade, we know it...:P
Just reading through this thread makes me realize how great a game Dungeons and Dragons truly is. For many of us who frequent these boards and others, D&D is equal part community and game -- and I think the sorrow over the loss of print Dragon/Dungeon truly shows that.
If a popular magazine such as Sports Illustrated were suddenly canceled, I imagine there would be a few outcries, but I seriously doubt it would carry the emotional weight that many of us attribute to an old gaming friend.
I think that as long as people care for the game in the way many of those on this board do, D&D will long outlive us.
Well obviously Dragon will, I mean those suckers got lifespans . . .
There's really nothing I can add to this, others have already expressed my feelings far more eloquently than I could hope...
(but that's never stopped me before :) )
To all the Pazoians, at least the ones I've interacted with; Erik, Jason, Mike, Wes, James, Jeremy, and of course, the "other James", you guys have been each and every one an inspiration.
We all know that a good DM can convert even a so so adventure into something great, simply due to their own personal alchemy which allows them to turn lead into gold. Editors, the good ones anyway, have that same gift. These guys cared about the magazines they worked on, saw them as legacies handed down from earlier eras of the game and gave them the respect they deserved.
As readers, most who grew up reading the magazines, we placed our trust in Paizo each month to call forth that tiny of spark of magic we felt the first time we held a d20 in our hands. Somehow, no matter how jaded we had become, they somehow managed to pull off that trick every time.
It's something to be proud of.
Hats off guys.
After forty-four months, this is the last post I will ever make as a Dragon associate editor.
Farewell, Dragon. May your future guardians lead you well.
Mike McArtor
Associate Editor
Dragon Magazine (#316–#359)
It's been a fun ride Mr. McArtor. I only wish it had been much longer yet.
The same extends to everyone else, too.
/d
Thanks to you all at Paizo for putting out the "Wonder Years" editions of these 2 magazines. They definitely got me back into D&D when 3rd edition was rolling out, and cemented it w/ 3.5 materials.
Here's to the Pathfinder/Gamemastery years ahead...
I'll pretty much wax anything.
Excuse me? ;)
Well done Mike, Paizo, and all the editors, contributors, and slaves of the past for giving us years of enjoyment from a truly exceptional magazine. I'll miss the smell, at least until Pathfinder arrives.
If a popular magazine such as Sports Illustrated were suddenly canceled, I imagine there would be a few outcries, but I seriously doubt it would carry the emotional weight that many of us attribute to an old gaming friend.
Well that's because canceling Sport Illustrated would leave you hundreds of other sports magazines.
There aren't like 500 gaming magazines, which is why Dragon and Dungeon were so special.
|
|
This proves to me that the real reason Paizo's license was cancelled was not for the Digital Initiative, but instead that WotC had "created a monster" in their own eyes: Paizo had been and continues to be the best producer of D&D adventure content since they took over the license. WotC realized this and instead of letting Paizo continue to make THEIR product look good and thereby sell more copies of the Core and splatbooks, they chopped it off and are trying to Frankenstein their way into the same thing.
Substitute 'TSR' for WOTC, and 'TSR UK' for Paizo, and you could be describing the situation for UK gamers from 20 years ago...I was right royally pissed off when Imagine magazine died...
And just like 20 years ago, it blew up in the parent company's face, as a whole generation of designers and artists went straight to work for the competition; in that case, Games Workshop, which at that time was a moderately successful company with a chain of shops, a few boardgames under license, a little wargame called Warhammer, a subsidiary figure company called Citadel, and a magazine called White Dwarf. Whatever happened to them?
|
|
And just like 20 years ago, it blew up in the parent company's face, as a whole generation of designers and artists went straight to work for the competition; in that case, Games Workshop, which at that time was a moderately successful company with a chain of shops, a few boardgames under license, a little wargame called Warhammer, a subsidiary figure company called Citadel, and a magazine called White Dwarf. Whatever happened to them?
WARHAMMER is back in business and stronger than ever with 2nd Edition.
and...
Thoth-Amon
Yeah, guys. Thanks for all your hard work and improvements to the magazine. Thanks for almost accepting my submission (damn that Kyle Hunter for beatin' me to it, kinda hoped I would get one submission in before the end) and thanks for reaching out and listening to our desires.
I hope this isn't truly the end. I hope to see your work with the Online Dragon and Dungeon. Don't abandon us completely! :(
My first Dragon Magazine was several years back, don't remember my age, but I remember it was when we were playing 2E and the Dragon Magazines were amongst other magazines on the rack at the hobby store we all went to. I remember seeing on one of the cutlines about new dragon characters for the "Council of Wyrms" setting. I didn't know Dragon Magazine was an official D&D magazine. We didn't know D&D had its own magazine. I remember picking it up and flipping through it and coming to the following realization:
"D&D has a magazine series? Holy crap, there's a ton of new material for my games in here! And it's official! What the hell have I missed out on?"
It wasn't until sometime later I started to purchase the magazine whenever I could afford it. Soon, 3E came, and I was old enough to work a job that made more money. I began purchasing an issue everytime I stopped at the hobby shop, and go online to find back issues on Ebay that I missed. Soon, I had my own debit card and I fully subscribed. I didn't want to miss one issue of Dragon.
Farewell, Dragon. You'll no longer be using your mighty breath weapon on me anymore when I open my mailbox. I only hope your new owners can bring you back to the glory you once was somehow...
|
|
Yeah. Thanks a lot, guys. The last few years have been, with consistency, some of the best in the history of both magazines.
I looked forward to release day once a month for each magazine.
I picked the magazine up, got in my car, popped on the A.C. (it's hotter than some parts of Hell in Texas,) and leafed through it before driving home. Then, I leafed through it a little at every stoplight.
Then, I'd do what I had to do for the rest of the day, and leaf through it until bed time.
No more, what can I do? Adieu.
|
|
Paying for those magazines was one of the only reasons I stuck to my minimum wage job (the other being tuition), and opening that plastic wrap has been the only consistant pleasure I've had the last 4 years. I feel I I got into it a little too late, and was really only starting to join the culture and it was yanked away. You really did a good job, Mike and the rest, and I fear my gaming life will never be the same again.
Anecdote of first Dragon:
I had been considering playing dungeons and dragons for a few years, but was never sure if it was a good financial commitment. My friend heard of my plight and offered to let me read his new magazine and see if it caught my fancy. It was Dragon 332, with the warrior fighting the Red Dragon with the frost spears. To say it caught my fancy is putting it lightly. I immediately bought it off him and insisted on reading it several times. I was drawn in by the fantastic imagery and wonderful language, and have kept up to date ever since. I also started getting the matching Dungeons each month, but it was really Dragon magazine that kept me interested in the game and got me through some rough patches in my life.
Thank you Paizo Dragon team.
"I answer the heroic question 'Death, where is thy sting?' with 'It is here in my heart and mind and memories.'" - Maya Angelou
I've been reading Dragon since issue #63 (still have it, no cover remains) and Dungeon since #1. The Paizo years, especially the Age of Worms and the Savage Tide eras, have been the best ever for both magazines. My new group, including two brand-new players and one who hasn't gamed since 1986, were shocked that those "two cool magazines" are ending soon. It didn't make sense to them why such quality would be cancelled. It still doesn't make much sense to me, either.
I have also been a reader of Dungeon and Dragon for many years. I bought ( well, my parent's did ) my first issue at the old hobby store that use to be on a corner in Lake Geneva, WI itself. I believe the issue was somewhere in the #50 range. I will really miss both mags. I really think Dungeon was hitting it's stride with the AP's and I will truly miss getting those magazines in my mail box on a monthly basis. I can only hope that Pathfinder fills the void left by these two great magazines.
And online content just doesn't compare to sitting on a lawn chair in my backyard and reading the actual magazine.