25 years ago, in September 1982, I picked up the following magazine in a little bookstore in Westhampton, NY:
That issue, arriving so close to my introduction to gaming, sparked my imagination, and I began a decades-long relationship with Dragon Magazine. For a while there, I was a regular reader, and often a subscriber.
Today, Paizo Publishing announced that their license to publish DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines is not being renewed by Wizards of the Coast, who will be moving that sort of content to online delivery from their own website. The magazines will publish their final issues in August.
On one hand, that might be good for ePublishers like me. The 800-lb. Gorilla is validating the worth of online content delivery. It could lead to a wider acceptance among gamers, which would make them more likely to look at content produced by folks like me.
On the other hand, something that comprised a big part of my past is going away. Sucks.
EDIT: Well, SHIT. I also hear that Tom Moldvay passed away last month.
Wait, what?
*boggles*
I’m speachless.
Wow, no wonder Paizo said they had some big announcements coming up. Although I haven’t subscribed for quite a while, I have boxes of Dragon magazines stored up and they were a big part of my gaming experience for a long time. I’m having trouble envisioning the RPG world without Dragon magazine in print.
Well I’ll be damned. No Dragon or Dungeon anymore. Wow.
That is rotten news indeed. Your first issue of Dragon, by the way, was also my first issue of Dragon — I remember the Fantasy Football game and the statted up Celtic gods quite clearly. I subscribed immediately thereafter using some Christmas money (I was 11), and the magazine was a cherished part of my life for many years of child- and adulthood. I will be sad to see its print incarnation go.
Woah. That sucks.
Coincidentally, August is when my current subscription ends anyway.
Well, shoot. I understand the value vs. cost they’re going for with online publication, but no Dragon in print just seems… wrong.
What’s interesting is the number of people I’ve talked to over the years for whom that was the first issue. I wonder if that was the beginning of a wider distribution deal or something.