"Same as it Ever Was?" - Dragon Magazine Editorial

[SamTheCleric]

Here's the link: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dred/20080606

When I was trying to come up with a title for this editorial, I was actually hoping for something more grandiose. More awe-inspiring. More … choir of angels-like.

But it seemed more important to emphasize two things in this space. The first is that if you've seen past iterations of Dragon Magazine, you should expect to see many familiar elements in this latest iteration -- specifically, new articles in each issue that will make your game more fun and more compelling. That means new monsters, new powers, new feats, new magic items, new paragon paths, and new ways to use it all.

You'll see features you've come to love, like this issue's Demonomicon of Iggwilv article on Yeenoghu. You'll see articles that give you new race options for your next character, like "Playing Warforged." And you'll see plenty of familiar designers in our pages (such as Ari Marmell, whose first 4th Edition article comes out in a couple weeks), as well as new authors (like you, once you've read your 4th Edition core rulebooks).

So why the question mark in the title? If everything's the same -- I mean, digital delivery aside -- what's new? It turns out, plenty.

The new Dragon will be delivered almost entirely in pdf format. (I say "almost" because we'll still put columns up as Web articles as they roll out over the month.) Each week, we'll release portions of the issue -- feature articles and columns like this one -- until we've released the entire thing. Then you'll get a monthly pdf compilation of the whole issue at the end of the month.

Oh, and did I mention these issues are free? We want you to get a taste of what we're bringing to your table. So for at least a couple of months, we're not charging for a D&D Insider subscription.

Thanks to Dragon going digital, we'll be able to more fully integrate all our content. Hyperlinks are just the beginning. We're exploring opportunities to add multimedia options to the magazines -- like the "On the Set of 4th Edition" cartoons you've enjoyed in the past few months. Furthermore, all of Dragon's content will also be integrated with the D&D Compendium and other upcoming D&D Insider utilities.

We're treating all Dragon's content like we do all our printed game supplements. Everything you'll see in these pages makes its way through our experienced, savvy developers, and our story team checks each article for internal continuity, as well. So if you see it in Dragon, it's D&D canon like never before.

Perhaps our most exciting change is that we'll be offering our readers the opportunity to playtest new D&D rules before the finished content sees print. Next month will kick off with a new class, and in the fall, we'll be offering up exclusive playtest opportunities for Player's Handbook II.

So there it is. We know the past few months haven't quite delivered everything we hoped. But we're confident that with our redesigned, relaunched, fully digital Dragon, we'll give you more than enough reasons to keep coming back each week.


Oh, and hey, welcome to 4th Edition!

Sounds like its gonna be good... especially the class coming next month and the playtest talk.

[cybosage]

Hopefully, the new class is Artificer so I can multiclass my Warforged Warlord into Artificer and purge the world of the taint of the Silver Flame!

[Valairn]

Dragon is also "publishing" more illusion like powers for the Wizard probably this month. Its on the Table of Contents for this months Dragon, so I imagine the article will be out soon, should be neat to see what kind of powers they add, and if the article is similar in quality to the warforged article, I have high hopes for Dragon putting out good material consistently. Time will tell.

[SamTheCleric]

Actually, the illusion powers are what keep me checking the website. I want that article to show up yesterday.

[RTGoodman]

I want to playtest new stuff. Sam, I guess I need to stop relying on you to post stuff and actually go to the WotC site myself once in a while. I mean, I've signed up and everything, but I never actually go there.

[Crazy_Uncle_Doug]

This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!
(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

For some reason, I can get into a PDF format. Not my favorite old magazine I enjoyed, but a close variation thereof.

[Glawackus]

Hopefully, the new class is Artificer so I can multiclass my Warforged Warlord into Artificer and purge the world of the taint of the Silver Flame!

I believe Keith Baker confirmed on his LiveJournal that the Artificer is, if not in the next Dragon, coming very, very soon. No time to dig for link now, though.

[Chronos]

But the most important question: Will Rich be doing Order of the Stick cartoons for this new iteration of Dragon?

[SamTheCleric]

A new article has shown up today, The Ashen Covenant... a cult of Orcus. The article has new monsters, stats for the leaders of the cult, plot hooks as well as new magic items (Including the very cool Wraithblade... if you critical, you can deal sneak attack damage that doesnt count for your usage of sneak attack in the round)

[Indon]

You may ask yourself, "What DC is this?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my Dragon magazine!"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my Dungeons and Dragons!"

*chorus*

That is all.

[Moff Chumley]

This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!

Woo David Byrne.