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dDA's Rant: I Just Can't Do It

Written by dDemonicAngels

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

I just can't do it.

I tried. I really did. I went to their website and found the different Dragon and Dungeon magazines on line, and I just can't do it. It's not the same as having the magazines in my hand and having a relaxing read. Sure there are benefits to having it being online, but they don't matter if I can't get through what's written on the screen. So where do I go from here?

Check out the rest of dDA's rant and see what's set him off this time.

Confession Time
I have to admit that I own all the Dragon magazines from #67. I've also have all the Dungeon magazine from #1. (Well okay, I'm missing issues 32, 33 and 34. And now you know what to get me for Christmas.) I'm a big fan of both magazines. They've both had their ups and down over the years but I've remained faithful through it all. I've been a big fan of Paizo when they took over the magazine.

See to me, reading is a passion. Something to be savored and enjoyed. Before I was married, my ritual whenever I got a new magazine in the mail was to brew an nice cup of tea (hey, it has more caffeine than coffee) and snuggle up in my lazy-boy. These days with two kids, it's a hot bubble bath with latest mag. Enough with the snickering; anyone with kids knows it's the only place to get a place a privacy for more than 5 minutes at a time. Anyway, reading is a passion with me, whether it's a good book or a magazine.

Too Many Distractions
I have been to Wizards a number of times and checked out what they've done. It's not a matter of quality or quantity; it's just that it's online. I just don't read online the same way I read a book. I find that my eyes don't track the words online the way I do with the written word. There's too much distraction. There's the left hand column with the the different listings, the right hand column showing new product being released and the top menu showing all the other places I could go other than this screen.

My eyes are all over the place. I'm constantly scanning ahead to the next paragraph. Or flitting to another link. Tracking the sentence on the screen is probably the last thing my mind wants to do. And then there are my email accounts that are just a click away. Haven't check them in 5 minutes, maybe something new has arrived.

Am I undisciplined? Possibly. I'm not concentrated enough? Maybe. Who cares? It's the way it works with me whether it's my fault or not.

PDF Solution
Dragon magazine is harder to read because all the articles are on the Wizards website, complete with all the distractions. The adventures in Dungeon are PDFs so at least I can I maximize these and only have the adventure on the screen. I read a couple of weeks ago that Wizards plans to compile each month's articles and adventures into PDFs and make that available to subscribers. Well yes, I'm one of those dinosaurs that rarely buys anything in PDF form.

Wave of the Future
I know, I know, you're going to say I'm an old-fashioned purist and that going online is the wave of the future. I'm sorry but I just can't jump on that bandwagon. Print games and magazine are NOT dead and never will be. Honestly, I love the online stuff. I just feel that the online material should be extra fodder for the print material. Or just a copy of the print material. There's plenty of times I've photocopied pictures and handouts from adventures so this would be great. Or even having extra details online that couldn't be added in the print version. There are plenty of ways that the online form could enhance the print version.

I've looked at the two PDF Dungeon adventures that have been published so far and it's easy to see that their size far outstretches any of the print adventures in the printed Dungeon. In each case, they've broken out each room in the adventure and given it its own section, complete with details and tactics. They did this with the printed Barrow of the Forgotten King and it makes for a hefty package. Do I want to pay the extra money for this extra stuff? I'm not sure. An experienced DM doesn't need it, but it was kind of nice to see the extra details. In any case, online adventures aren't limited by size or space.

Alternatives
I still remember the feeling of panic when I heard that the magazines were ending. There was that frantic search to find an alternative so I could get my D&D reading fix. The Kobold Quarterly was released right around then but it's still a PDF. I've bought them but still haven't read the two of them all the way through. I subscribed to PathFinder and have to admit that getting one of these in the mail comes close to the Dungeon high. Super sleek and well written from the people who brought us Dungeon magazine to begin with. I'm really hoping these magazine evolve.

Paizo did some nice marketing with their GameMastery modules, setting them at once a month and offering a monthly subscription that can be stopped at any time. I've been burned by the first few but am currently enjoying one of the more recent ones and I can't wait to run this with my group. It's been a while since I've felt like that about an adventure. But I had stopped the subscription based on the first few and will be more selective now.

I also found another gaming magazine called Polymancer that I discovered is produced right here in Montreal when two gaming podcasts recommended it as an alternative, I also saw it in writing somewhere about how Dungeon and Dragons are only two of the three gaming magazine that are out there. Since none of this hype came from the magazine itself, I signed up immediately. It's a solid magazine that can sometimes be too wordy with not enough art. They had a great gamer-girl article in the latest edition that was fun to read but went on too long and should have been trimmed. My real problem is that it's a D&D alternative which translates into NO D&D at all. It is more in the style of Polyhedron, when it was published at the back of Dungeon. And while I can still enjoy the articles that are game-neutral, it's not quite what I'm looking for.

Where Do I Go From Here?
I really wish I knew the answer to that. I know they've got these handheld devices which are supposed to be that latest, greatest, bestest way to read a book. I'd love to try one to see how it would work in the bath, but I'm not ready to spend my hard earned bucks on a 'possible' solution.

Maybe I'll adapt. I don't want to though. I want my magazines back. Right now I still feel like I've lost a good friend.

dDemonicAngels is the online identity of Bil White, a freelance writer from Montreal. He'd love to hear your suggestions if you've found a way to enjoy the online content over at Wizards.

Comments (3)

1 Written by aegean, on 05-12-2007 16:25
errrmmmm..... a rant online to be read online ranting about an online mag

But I agree - a hand held mag is far better

2 Written by kepli, on 28-11-2007 03:43
Nice rant dDA

Maybe this will help: http://www.dragonroots.net/

3 Written by Bogie, on 27-11-2007 22:12
Well said dDA!!!
Give me a book or magazine I can hold while I read, besides, taking a laptop into the bathtub is just asking for problems, (and a new laptop)
They say that print is dead, tell that to JK Rowling and the 400MILLION books she's sold.

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