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Copied from wizards.com previews for december and beyond
D&D Insider
These days, a host of preview information is coming your way via the online pages of D&D Insider's DragonMagazine. Issue #360 has been completed, and we're currently in the midst of #361 -- with the following topics scheduled to be revealed in December:
Races: Tieflings
Classes: Warlock Pacts
D&D World: History of the Core World
Monsters: Dragons and Dragon Families
Adventure Design: Traps
Magic Items: Weapons
Subsystem: Critical Hits and Misses
Starting in January 2008, Dragon #362 will take a look at the following:
Forgotten Realms: Using the Spellplague in your 3E campaign
Races: Elves and Eladrin
Classes: Warlord
Monsters: Minions
Adventure Design: Fantastic Terrain
Magic Items: Artifacts
D&D World: The Feywild
Subsystem: Death, Dying, and Negative HP
Have any of you seen any of theseon the wizards site????
Have any of you seen any of theseon the wizards site????
Just this one:
Adventure Design: Traps
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Oh well, I already vented my frustration on ENWORLD in a similar thread.
For me there is absolutely NO excuse for WoC not having these article online.
Possible Excuses and my thoughts:
Excuse 1) They are really busy with 4th edition:
This might be so, but they knew beforehand that they would be busy. They are not designing 4th since last year.
And, being a large company, they are able to hire freelancers (as they did with the adventures and the aristocracy of Hell articles).
Excuse 2) Digital Dungon and Dragon are still in their layout phase/being designed/whatever.
The decision to not renew Paizo's license was not made hasty. They told us over and over that Dungon and Dragon will be like it was with Paizo, only better.
Excuse 3) They are still working on 4th and there is so much still in flow.
Huh? The 4th ed. books are due to be available in June and they still haven't nailed everything down? They still haven't nailed ENOUGH down to post these articles?
Excuse 4) This is free stuff, so do not complain.
Those who read Dungeon and Dragon where willing to pay for it. It was not the decision of the Fans to cancel the print product. It is bad marketing IMO to blubber about how good these magazines will be online and then dish out this crap (compared to the last "real" Dungeon and Dragon magazines).
Just look at Kobold Quarterly. Since last year we now have 3 Magazines. Wolfgang Baur is the main editor of KQ. He hired some freelancers and published some Fan made material and some of his own stuff. And it is damn good!
So you are able to produce high quality even if you are busy (and Wolfgang was and is busy with his Open Design projects and his other freelance work).
And WoC, this big company, is not even able to get out the promised articles?
As I said, there is no excuse.
Excuse 4) This is free stuff, so do not complain.
Remember that this is suppose to be the "free preview" time that is suppose to sell us on buying the subscription.
Free or not, once they announce some content, they should provide it in reasonable delays. Advertising is a serious thing.
A few days delay is fine. But we are in mid-january, and most of the things announced for december are still not here.
Bad management, bad publishing.
I fail to see how this digital mess is an improvement from the old paper magazines. Oh, i miss Dragon and Dungeon :(
Many fansites are much better than the official website.
This is very embarassing for WotC...
To be fair to WotC, I am looking right now and comparing what is present (instead of what I remember reading). The following articles, features, etc came out in December:
Design and Development: Magic Item Levels (discussing magic items that "grow" with the players),
Design and Development: Elite Bulette (discussing elite monsters),
Infernal Aristocracy: Dukes of Hell II (discussing epic level infernal beings),
A Fractured Family: Elvish Strife, Separation, and Rebirth (Discussing Elves vs Eladrin),
Ecology of the Fire Archon,
FR Article: The Cavern of Death, and
FR Article: The Tribes of Thar
Now compare that with the list they said they'd do:
Races: Tieflings (Not covered yet)
Classes: Warlock Pacts (Not covered yet)
D&D World: History of the Core World (Not covered yet)
Monsters: Dragons and Dragon Families (Not covered yet)
Adventure Design: Traps (Covered in January)
Magic Items: Weapons (Covered, sort of)
Subsystem: Critical Hits and Misses(Half-Covered in January, they didn't do the misses)
Free or not, once they announce some content, they should provide it in reasonable delays. Advertising is a serious thing.
A few days delay is fine. But we are in mid-january, and most of the things announced for december are still not here.
Bad management, bad publishing.
I fail to see how this digital mess is an improvement from the old paper magazines. Oh, i miss Dragon and Dungeon :(
Many fansites are much better than the official website.
This is very embarassing for WotC...
That is hardly embarrasing. If I have read the writing on the wall correctly, their preview books for 4e are actually selling (@ $20 a pop).
Why waste time with these non-profit e-zines when you can put it out on print for twenty bucks? And don't say that they could have done it in magazine form because they are making mint on those books (which has nothing that won't get regurgitated in the main rulebooks.)
If I have read the writing on the wall correctly, their preview books for 4e are actually selling (@ $20 a pop).
Do you think it might be because plenty of WotC Book of the Month Clubbers are jonesing?
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If I have read the writing on the wall correctly, their preview books for 4e are actually selling (@ $20 a pop). Why waste time with these non-profit e-zines when you can put it out on print for twenty bucks?
Bingo. They'll sell books no matter what they do. They've figured it out.
Once they go to a for pay model with the DI, it may or may not pick up. If it doesn't, they'll string it out for six months and then shut it down and say, 'Sorry, the model didn't work' as if it's the customers fault that they paid for something that turned out to be vaporware. Perhaps they'll offer a coupon at their online store for loyal customers, fully aware that less than 10% of such coupons get redeemed anyway.
It's a money generator, and Hasbro doesn't have to care if the brand loses the customers trust, since it's in the market of selling to unsophisticated audiences with constant turnover (specific age ranges, particularly), instead of long-term repeat customers. It's a toy company. They don't do repeat business. They target the next crop of young 'uns with the 'hot new thing,' while their previous customers move on to buy different sorts of 'toys' from Ford, Sanyo, Dell and Grillmaster.
If the D&D brand loses steam after they've milked whatever they can out of it, they can blame it on the genre or the market or the audience no longer wanting that, rather than say, 'Yeah, we drove that puppy into the ground.' Wash hands, walk away with pockets full of green.
It's what corporate America does with pretty much everything these days. Drive a brand into the ground, blame the customers for not rewarding short-sighted and destructive business practices, bail out on parachutes made out of money, use profits to buy into some other brand and then rinse and repeat. Slash and burn capitalism.
The DDI is pathetic at best.
While I'm very much looking forward to 4e, I think WotC has gotten this Dungeon/Dragon thing all wrong. Not only were the magazines enjoyable to read, they were important for the industry as a whole - a kind of communication link with fans. Going digital means they are losing many of those fans.
Regardless, the worst part is the online content the last 2 or 3 months. It's pathetic - the rare pieces that they release are frankly items I'm just not that interested in. Even their 4e previews are scant.
The fact that they say they are going to release certain articles and 95% have not come to light is another travesty. Yes, the magazines are free, but from a customer relations standpoint, its a marketing nightmare. A company should always do what they say they're going to or at least have a very good explanation as to why they haven't.
The DDI better step it up rather quickly or they're not going to get the customers that they hoped for, for both 4e and the DDI.
Not only were the magazines enjoyable to read, they were important for the industry as a whole - a kind of communication link with fans.
I looked at it as a link between fans, as well. There were a few times another gamer saw me reading or carrying Dragon around and struck up a conversation. Also, people always want to take your magazines and look through them. I know I do. When I see somebody reading something, especially with cool pictures, I want to see it for myslef (like, "Hey, what're you reading? That's a cool dragon."). Maybe it's just me but I don't get too curious about what someone is reading on their computer. They could take it the wrong way, or just be playing a video game (which leads to interesting conversation but about video games, not RPGs).
I have no idea if I represent a majority or minority but....like many others I was very upset with the loss of Dragon/Dungeon (another post unto itself). Anyway, I did frequent the WOTC websites (Dragon, Dungeon) when they did come out. I would check several times a day hated the whole thing by the way). When something was posted that interested me I had a difficult time reading the content because it was on the computer. Don't really know why, but unless it was short, it didn't hold my attention long enough to even come close to finishing an article. As a result, I now at best check these places along with their forum about twice a week.
Point being, I went from very frequent to very little, and I'm willing to bet that before this spring, my interest will have dropped to once every 3-4 weeks or so. I have yet to read a module or even skim it closely (even the Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth module they put out and I'm a big Greyhawk fan and the original was one of my favorites). I just can't get into the whole computer thing for D&D material. If it isn't in book or magazine form, I'm just not interested, I've tried to get interested but I just can't complete anything I start reading. The best I can do is save something on the computer in case I find one day it to work for me.
If I represent the majority, then WOTC has crashed and burned themselves with these publications. If I represent the minority, then it doens't matter. Who else has had similar or opposite experiences with trying to read this material, with the difference being it is not in book/magazine form?
If I represent the majority, then WOTC has crashed and burned themselves with these publications. If I represent the minority, then it doens't matter. Who else has had similar or opposite experiences with trying to read this material, with the difference being it is not in book/magazine form?
I have almost identical feelings. I read forums when MrsCharlie has the remote for the TV. That's about it for digital reading. Hurts my eyes after awhile.
And printing it? I'm not ashamed to say my printer can kick my butt. It can suplex my better sense and then the inkjet hops out and dropkicks my wallet in the nads.
I've had a similar reaction, Eileen. I read a lot of technical articles on my computer every day, but I just can't stand reading fantasy/rpg material the same way. There's something about holding a book or magazine in your hands that is absolutely irreplaceable and no amount of whiz-bangery on a website will ever substitute for it. If they had a holographic 3D dragon popping out of my monitor breathing real flames I'd still prefer reading a magazine.
As it stands, with their late schedule, mediocre presentation, laughable PDFs and uneven interactivity the current "digital" Dungeon and Dragon are shadows of their former selves. Such a pity.
Bring back Dungeon and Dragon, dammit! (or let a hundred Kobolds bloom!)
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For me, Pathfinder proves that reading online stinks. I can't even get through the next pathfinder PDF, but will just store it for the maps and wait for the hardcopy with anticipation. Reading print on a screen is painful, especially when you're forced to do it all day for a living. I will not read anything of substantial length online once away from the work desk.
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I have no idea if I represent a majority or minority but....like many others I was very upset with the loss of Dragon/Dungeon (another post unto itself). Anyway, I did frequent the WOTC websites (Dragon, Dungeon) when they did come out. I would check several times a day hated the whole thing by the way). When something was posted that interested me I had a difficult time reading the content because it was on the computer. Don't really know why, but unless it was short, it didn't hold my attention long enough to even come close to finishing an article. As a result, I now at best check these places along with their forum about twice a week.
Point being, I went from very frequent to very little, and I'm willing to bet that before this spring, my interest will have dropped to once every 3-4 weeks or so. I have yet to read a module or even skim it closely (even the Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth module they put out and I'm a big Greyhawk fan and the original was one of my favorites). I just can't get into the whole computer thing for D&D material. If it isn't in book or magazine form, I'm just not interested, I've tried to get interested but I just can't complete anything I start reading. The best I can do is save something on the computer in case I find one day it to work for me.
If I represent the majority, then WOTC has crashed and burned themselves with these publications. If I represent the minority, then it doens't matter. Who else has had similar or opposite experiences with trying to read this material, with the difference being it is not in book/magazine form?
DITTO. I can't stand pdf format for this stuff.
It's a b*&*$ to use. I want a map I can readily flip to.Pdf's are a big headache to me.
I've got tons of material on my computer from other sites as well that I haven't actually even looked at. I figured for a "rainy day" use it when I need to know something about it. Some of the stuff on Canonfire I have used (a little not a lot) but only because I edited it for my world, printed and put it in a folder of some sorts with related information. It's the only way I can get anything out of it. Because of ink costs, I try to minimize what I print out. For me, D&D and computer ink hate each other. I run through reams of paper and tons of ink trying to do maps, got to the point where I just kinda gave up on the whole thing.
Can't read it on the computer, can't afford to print it out, now what do I do? Might as well go back to bed!
I'm use to reading stuff on a computer screen. I'd go so far as to say that print or PDF is a toss up to me now. Having said that, only do print at the table. (please note: I'm talking about PDFs in general, not specificly eDungeon/eDragon)
I went back to bed!
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I can read PDFs online, and prefer to at work. (Matt with book, goofing off, Matt reading monitor, working) That said, I can't access WotC from work so I've no urge to read it at home.
The lack of content, to me, doesn't bode well. Like the diagonal movement in DDM, it looks like WotC was not prepared for the work required to make a timely dragon magazine. I worry that we'll see they weren't ready for a timely 4e either.
And this is my biggest fear. If 4e is slipshod, sloppy, poorly edited, or any of the above, it hurts the industry as a whole, not just to WotC. Like it or not, for RPGs D&D is the flagship and WotC/Hasbro is at the tiller.
And for everyone who dreams Hasbro selling D&D. Umm, no. They'll shelve it like Avalon Hill.
I like to curl up with a rule book or a module or my copy of KQ and read. I can't do that with my monitor.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8
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I have no idea if I represent a majority or minority but....like many others I was very upset with the loss of Dragon/Dungeon (another post unto itself). Anyway, I did frequent the WOTC websites (Dragon, Dungeon) when they did come out. I would check several times a day hated the whole thing by the way). When something was posted that interested me I had a difficult time reading the content because it was on the computer. Don't really know why, but unless it was short, it didn't hold my attention long enough to even come close to finishing an article. As a result, I now at best check these places along with their forum about twice a week.
I used to be on the WOTC forum and main site multiple times daily. I think since the announcement I've been to it maybe 20 times. I found that it seemed for a time my forum account had actually been canceled but it eventually started working again. I once lapsed on the boards there for 2 years and when I came back it still worked, now I don't even care. Its near impossible to navigate to the old forums where intelligent conversations occur (anything non 4e related). The Dragon content they have released is just horrible, the cartoons are lousy and make one of my gamer friends (who is pro 4e) quite ill in fact.
I like my paper products.
Aaron Williams write a strip in addition to Nodwick called "Full Frontal Nerdity". The last frame of one of my fav strips had the 3 guys there talking about how when the end of the world comes and all the WoW freaks and online video game junkies no longer have power, not only will we still be able to play our fav game but have useful skills, math, squad tactics, manual dexterity, automatic adaptation to nuclear winter...etc. Rather true I've always thought.
it looks like WotC was not prepared for the work required to make a timely dragon magazine.
I still firmly believe that WotC had full plans on shelving Dungeon and Dragon completely and that it was only when the fans cried out and people were swearing on all forum sights to never buy another WotC product again that they decided to do an electronic version (with hiring no new staff).
I agree eileen. The biggest problem for me(besides lack of good content) is that there is no "magazine".
That's why I jumped on the Kobold Quarterly bandwagon right away, it promised great content from a slew of reputable writers and it came in a printed format. Had it only been in PDF format (which one can opt for) I don't think I'd have picked it up. I like having something to read besides a screen, I do that enough already. Besides, my desk chair is nowhere near as comfy as the other chairs in the house which are perfect for crawling into with a good gaming magazine.
- Chris Shadowens
it looks like WotC was not prepared for the work required to make a timely dragon magazine.I still firmly believe that WotC had full plans on shelving Dungeon and Dragon completely and that it was only when the fans cried out and people were swearing on all forum sights to never buy another WotC product again that they decided to do an electronic version (with hiring no new staff).
This wouldn't entirely suprise me if it turned out to be true. Guess we will never know. I'm sure that staff members are signing some sort of discolure form about everything they do there. Of coarse honoring such a form is another thing.
Could be that they are purposfully letting Dungeon and Dragon rot, melt and bubble away.
Reason being: If you can't recognize it anymore maybe you will forget what it was when they reshape it. Or at least say "Thank you. I know it's not the same but it was to ugly to look at anymore like that."
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Could be that they are purposfully letting Dungeon and Dragon rot, melt and bubble away.
Reason being: If you can't recognize it anymore maybe you will forget what it was when they reshape it. Or at least say "Thank you. I know it's not the same but it was to ugly to look at anymore like that."
That will never happen while we have th greatness that is pathfinder reminding us how beautiful real print can be!
For me, Pathfinder reading online stinks. I can't even get through the next pathfinder PDF, but will just store it for the maps and wait for the hardcopy with anticipation.
I'm glad to find that I'm not the only one like this. I want to read the stuff online, but find my attention peeling away after a minute or two. So in the case of Pathfinder I just sit back and wait a week or so for the hardcopy.
In the case of Wizard's online stuff, I've glanced at the adventures and some of the articles and then gone on to do other things. The only exception is 'Hell's Heart', an adventure that I had been looking forward to for sometime, so I saved and printed and read it in good 'ole paper format (whilst in the comfort of my bed).
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I want to read the stuff online, but find my attention peeling away after a minute or two. So in the case of Pathfinder I just sit back and wait a week or so for the hardcopy.
Yeah, I usually can't read it online without being distracted, BUT I like the free PDF because I'm making a Campain setting notes webpage (not actually putting it online - only accessible from my laptop since it contains maps and art from Pathfinder and GMM) This is difficult, to keep up with now, and will be even worse once Chronicles starts (the gazeteer and the campaign setting book are going to kill my free time)
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Kobold Press
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There have been a couple of good (free!) articles, but I've been underwhelmed by the digital version of Dragon. Based on the trial period, I think it will be a hard sell for Wizards!
Is it the case that Wizards want contributors to submit articles for free?
I don't think they are expecting writers to work for free, no. Not sure what the web site pays under DDI, but they pay something.