Having read through a bunch of the details folks have been posting, it looks like WotC is going towards monthly online content. Whether or not they will charge for it no one knows. So no more Dragon/Dungeon as a print magazine. Somehow I think with the fan backlash that this will not be a permanent situation.

Yep, they will still ber around, but on-line. Next thing their books will be online only and be .05 per hit. When that day comes, WOTC can kiss my ass.

CCotD'

Sorry, this is my fault - I finally decided to get a Dungeon subscription, largely because of Savage Tides. I planned to send in the order tomorrow, when I have a day off.

The Auld Grump

What a crock of s.

I like my zines, damnit!

Eh. I've seen Wizards attempts at going digital before. They suck. They consistently overprimise and underdeliver. I would write more, but its pretty clear where I stand on this (and I haven't been the biggest WotC fan in a long while, so its not like my opinion about this, or them, is news).

Is it me or does it seem like WotC has been taking pages out of the GamesWorkshop business play-book? Or is it the Micro$oft playbook?

Seems like they are just really trying to control every little aspect of their domain. As for myself, I think I will just stick with the independent guys who are doing more got the gaming community than just trying to make a quick buck. Companies like, oh, this one?

Monte Cook's take on this is found .

He appears to be of the opinion that WotC axed Dungeon because it was a better value than buying adventures - that people were buying Dungeon instead of adventures.

The Auld Grump

[quote="Aleph13"]I disagree with walking away form a company just because of a magazine cancellation. [\quote]

Oh dont get me wrong, I'm not that mad over just the magazine cancellation. It has more to do with the fact that most of their releases planned for this year look to be just filler.

I really don't see anything comming out from them that takes the game in new directions, or gives me a new tool set to throw fun elements into the game.

The end of the magizine just gave me one more reason to question if WotC deserves more then a periodic look these days.

Hmmm, Paizo's new monthly 'book' looks interesting, though at $20 per issue it is a bit dear.

I like the spin that they have put on their goblins though (the following is from the Paizo Blog):


Reinventing The Wheel

Friday, April 20, 2007

Originally, the main menace in "Burnt Offerings," the first Rise of the Runelords adventure, was going to be a tribe of kobolds, because let's face it—everyone loves kobolds. So much so, in fact, that they ended up being the bad guys for the first GameMastery Module, which hits the shelves two months before "Burnt Offerings." Which is cool for Crown of the Kobold King, but left "Burnt Offerings" without a pint-sized menace.

Enter Wayne Reynolds.

The decision to have Wayne paint the first dozen covers for Pathfinder had the exciting side effect of making Wayne the one to design the look for our goblins. "Make our goblins look almost as cute as they are scary," we told him, and he more than accomplished that goal with a swarm of flat-headed, toothy, red-eyed monsters wielding crazy jagged swords (which Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs immediately named "dog-slicers" because, as you'll see below, goblins hate dogs!). Based entirely on their look, Jacobs—who's also the author of "Burnt Offerings"—was able to come up with all manner of weird goblin affectations (the current staff favorite being the song they sing while marauding). Based on what Wayne did with goblins, we're all understandably excited to see his designs for our stone giants, ogres, and dragons... which you'll of course find sneak previews of right here. sketch
Ten Fun Facts About Goblins

1: Horse Hate: Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don't quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins who get too close.

2: Dog Hate: Although goblins raise horrible rat-faced doglike creatures to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them—goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of ordinary dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual, so if your dog's barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are good he smells a frightened goblin hiding in there somewhere.

3: Goblins Raid Junkyards: Garbage pits, gutters, sewers… anywhere there's garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. They're weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.

4: Goblins Love to Sing: Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in mainstream society.

5: They're Sneaky: An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, they can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you'd never expect… stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens, etc.

6: They're A Little Crazy: The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.

7: They're Voracious: Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don't have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.

8: They Like Fire: Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they're generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in large tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else's home and you've got trouble.

9: They Get Stuck Easily: Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads, and live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped.

10: Goblins Believe Paintings and Writing Steal Your Soul: The walls of goblin lairs and ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their enemies. They never draw pictures of goblins, though—that's mean. Writing steals words out of your head. You can't get them back.
The Goblin Song

Goblins chew and goblins bite,
Goblins cut and goblins fight,
Stab the dog and cut the horse,
Goblins eat and take by force!

Goblins race and goblins jump,
Goblins slash and goblins bump,
Burn the skin and mash the head,
Goblins here and you be dead!

Chase the baby, catch the pup,
Bonk the head to shut it up!
Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed,
We the goblins—you the food!

The only change I could see making is to have the goblins as Fey rather than Humanoids. But then goblins have always been one of my favorite fantasy monsters.

The Auld Grump

Yeah, they made me decide to get the first issue at least.

Then again, goblins are one of my favorite fantasy races. (The others are ogres and dwarfs. Giants are a fair bit behind.)

Black Moria over on the E.N. World Forums quoted this from the Paizo forums...

If you are all jiggy with the goblin song, here is another, posted by Balabar on the Paizo boards.

"Goblins sneak and goblins hide,
Goblins hunt when it’s dark outside,
Out of the forest, through the trees,
Goblins quiet in the leaves.

Goblins sneak and goblins harm,
Goblins find a lonely farm,
Badger stink and poison bone,
Kill the dog away from home.

Goblins sneak and goblins hide,
Goblins know how to get inside,
Down the chimney, up the loo,
Goblins know just what to do.

Goblins sneak and goblins spy,
Goblins listen for baby’s cry,
Find the crib and climb beneath,
Draw the blade and lick your teeth.

Goblins sneak and goblins hide
Goblins climb up inside,
Must be quick with shiny knife,
Never wake-up farmer’s wife.

Goblins sneak and goblins see
Goblins know when to flee,
Stuff the baby into sack,
Run from room, don’t look back.

Goblins sneak and goblins hide,
Goblins hunt when it’s dark outside,
Deep in the forest, out of sight,
Goblins eat tasty baby tonight."

The Auld Grump

I wouldn't be surprised to see Dragon come back either. I think WotC undervalues the printed magazine. Heck, even computer gaming magazines that have been around a few decades are still going strong. WotC is one of those companies that are prematurely jumping on the Digital Only bandwagon.