I was looking over my stacks of old Dragon magazines... I sure miss the hardcopy versions.
I know that...
The cost of 'guessing' about distribution volume is high...
and...
Even with the PDF versions, I can have them professionally printed and bound at a place like Kinko's.
but I still miss the paper versions showing up in my maibox every (or every other) month.
Would it make any financial sense for WotC, or some third party, to provide hardcopy, by subscription only, versions of any new magazines being produced? Discount multi-copy subscriptions for brick and mortar shops?
Does anyone else miss the old dead-tree versions of these mags? Or am I just a hopeless old luddite, grognard.?
I collected Dragon each and every month off the newstand from issue 200 to the final, 359. Only had one subscription in all that time 
. Really, really enjoyed the mags, got a lot of use out of them.
From what I hear, it can cost upwards of $1,000,000 to start up a magazine. So, once the mags were yanked, I'd say that's the last will see of 'em, unfortunately. Starting up again would simply cost waay too much.
I'm not a fan of Dragon+, the new app that's available. Just isn't my thing, even less so than D&D Insider (the pdfs from a few years ago). Looks like a huge advertisment to me. I can find that same sorta stuff on the website. Might improve, given time, who knows? It's freebie content though, so I can't imagine 'em really going all out.
I'm in the "enjoy the old paper magazine copy" camp and I actually bought a lot of the ones I was missing on eBay a week or two ago. A few from 2e and a few from 3e timeframe. The stack is sitting by the chair in the living room so I can mute the tv and read the articles.
I really liked the new TV show Battle Creek on CBS this year. An irreverant odd couple buddy cop dramedy. Guess there were not enough folks like me watching it to keep it on the air. Because the ratings were low. So it got canceled. Sucks to be me.
The viewing public spoke. CBS listened. That's how it goes sometimes.
I miss Dragon magazine in print very much. It was part of what got me into gaming in the first place, and back into it later on. Gygax Magazine fills some of that niche, but it’s not a monthly release.
I know at this point it’s never coming back. But heck, there are print magazines that continue to flourish even now. Just look at the magazines devoted to horror: Rue Morgue, Fangoria, Horror Hound all seem to be going strong.
Kazadvorn wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
ChrisCarlson wrote:
I'd very much like to see them in print again; but, as Mistwell has already pointed out, they were simply not maintaining themselves in a rapidly increasing digital world. Alas!
lawrencehoy wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
lawrencehoy wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
lawrencehoy wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
I find it interesting that comics seem to be doing okay, in both print and digital formats. Granted things have changed. When I was a kid, comic spinners were a common sight in grocery and convenience stores; the direct market was in its infancy. Now days, most comics are only found in stores that specialize in games and comics, and online o' course.
Comics were cheaper when I was a kid, but, they were also newsprint (the cheapest paper available); colors sometimes smudged. Now days, the paper is glossy and the color is computer corrected . Comics are also more expensive now, around $3 or $4 (which isn't bad, considering how pretty they are). People who used to write and draw comics simply as a job are now giving way to a generation of writers and artists who are true fans of what they produce.
Company-wide crossovers have become the norm. I remeber when Secret Wars (and the like) started it all . I know Marvel went bankrupt some years ago (the speculation bubble burst and all that) but with the movie industry pushing out super-hero flick after super-hero flick, comics seem to be as popular as ever.
Why not Dragon/Dungeon in print, I say? Is the magazine industry that much different than comics?
Kazadvorn wrote:
I would love it if they decided to re publish many articles that have apeared in dragon magazine in a digital way that can be searched.
Many of the articles don't have a lot mechanics are are for large parts edition independent.
other articles yould need some conversion for the rules introduced to make a 5th edition version of the article.
Orethalion wrote:
While I would dearly love to see the return of print Dragon and Dungeon magazines, other's have pretty much nailed why that's not likely to ever happen. The start-up costs for print facilities is not cheap, print magazines are becoming a thing of the past (those that still survive have increasingly higher ratio of ads to actual content), and such.
I think it's a little early to judge Dragon+ on what it can be—give it some time to find its feet, it has a lot of potential. Give Mearls & company some suggestions for what you'd like to see out of it—that's really the only was that you're going to see this turm into the type of product that you want. I gave some suggestions, myself, in this month's survey.