Friday, June 21, 2013

It is Hard to Read an E-Zine on the Toilet

Getting back into the gaming "zone" after 10 years of "here and there" I am noticing a lot of changes.  One of those being the absence of all those great gaming magazines.

Dragon, Dungeon, White Wolf, White Dwarf, SHADIS (yeah...that died in the 90s but I still miss it).  Where did they all go?  What replaces the void?  Did printing costs really go up that much, or were the smaller print run magazines over-doing themselves with quality paper?

Books seem to be the same way, just about every game has multiple pdf's available, for the same price as the actual book in many cases.  Seems a bit of a ploy to me.

I want a REAL book, a REAL magazine to read.  Something I can take to the kitchen table or work to read when times are slow.  A physical something that I can read while sitting with the family in the living room hanging out.

That being said, I really do love the print quality of the books that are being released, but do they really need to be $30-$40 (US)?  If so, why does the pdf need to be about the same cost, surely those are a lot cheaper to 'print' for the company.

Wishful thinking, I know.  With the prevalence of tablets and smartphones the printed book is on its way out.  Soon, you won't be able to loan out the players guide to that new person in the group unless you hand them the entire tablet.

If you know of any good RPG e-zines out there, link to them in the comments please, I'll be sure to add them to my smartphone browser, its a small screen, but at least its portable.

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