So, there's a D&D magazine starting up called Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer. It has the ambersand, so I'm guessing that there's some kind of partnership going on. What would be your thoughts on it? Is it something you'd be interested in?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
So, there's a D&D magazine starting up called Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer. It has the ambersand, so I'm guessing that there's some kind of partnership going on. What would be your thoughts on it? Is it something you'd be interested in?
It looks interesting. I wish you didn't have to subscribe & pay for content though, I'd rather have them make their money off adds. I guess their stuff might be helpful for new players though. In addition to having the ampersand, they have artwork from official D&D books on their website front page, and I ca't find a place where they credit that artwork. So that means Wizards probably authorized them to use it, so yeah, I'd guess this D&D Adventurer thingy probably has a partnership with WotC going on.
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He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
Judging from the description in the F&Q, this is less a magazine (like Dungeon Magazine) and more a multi-part guide on how to play the game. Here the description:
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer is a brand new partwork that teaches you how to play the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying game, with an exclusive adventure, easy step-by-step instructions and all the background information you need to start creating your own characters and becoming a D&D expert. Collect the specially designed dice given throughout the collection and join us on a wild ride through the D&D journey of a lifetime!
Not really a product designed for me or for anyone learning to play alongside an established player. Still, as someone whose first foray into D&D was as a DM for a bunch of novice players, I can say that the DMG and (to a lesser extent) PHB do an okay job teaching the pure mechanical mechanisms for playing, but a lot of the nuance of how to actually make the game fun is missing. A product like this could be really useful to a lot of players if it contains assistance on some of those more artistic, creative elements the DMG/PHB do not cover.
Though, for now, it is only available in the United Kingdom, so we will see if it is successful and receives a wider release.
Or, more helpfully, it is a publication that is broken up into smaller pieces, usually with each new piece released on a regular schedule, with the collected whole designing to serve as a single reference.
For example, the first issue of this set covers character building and other topics - useful on its own, but only part of play. The second issue has a guide on spellcasting and other topics not covered in the first. The third covers grappling, maximising skills, etc. Each instalment gives tips on specific aspects of the game, so you can just get the part you want, or you could get the whole collection for a more complete guide.
I was tempted to give it a try, but £30 a month for a magazine, that's too steep. If they did 1 issue a month rather than 4 then I'd probably give it a go
the problem with part works is always the price, this one would be £1.99 + £4.99 + (78x £7.99) for a grand total of...........£630.20 for all 80 parts they have pencilled in so far and thats going up to £750.20 if you go for their "premium" subscription. As a side note, their subcribe page defaults to the premium version so be extra careful if you decide to go for it but its cheaper just to buy the basics to learn to play it with aid from the internet when you need it.
Edit...turns out issue no.2 might be free so you might be able to knock a whopping £4.99 off those totals.
I'm probably gonna show my age a bit, but I've had a fair share of run ins with partwork magazines, from one where you collect tiny pieces of pretty much worthless rock and one full of paranormal nonsense, to the pretty cool glow in the dark t-rex skeleton one, the one where you make a human body, and even the one where you make a robot. They all tend to share a few things in common:
Very low initial price, then a sudden spike
Available in newsagents for the first 10 or so issues, then you have to subscribe in order to keep getting them
Variable quality of what's included each week, but you need each weeks issue to finish what you've started. Take the robot one; some weeks you get motors and wheels or a circuit board and the robot would actually do something new. Other weeks you'd get some LEDs or a plastic housing that you couldn't use for a month until you got other parts.
They can just end before they're finished and if you're lucky, you get the option to buy up front the remaining parts.
As such, while this seems interesting, especially a roundabout return to a module like structure, I'm pretty certain I'm going to give this a miss. For the price, which looks to be about £10 at the premium level, you could buy a moderately nice dice set and some adventures off the DMs guild.
Incomplete, Piecemeal Reprint. Issue #2 focusses on spellcasting which takes up no small amount of pages in the PHB (about 4 pages of mechanics and another 86 consisting of art and spells). Granted they weren't going to be able to get it all in this magazine, but surely they could find somewhere to explain points of origin, the schools of magic, and how different classes (besides Wizards and Clerics) learn and prepare spells? These are fairly important things to know in a spellcasting cheat sheet. Worse still is that this issue's class coverage is the Rogue... and not the Arcane Trickster, either, so we don't really get to see how to incorporate this information. Adding insult to injury is that Issue #3 covers the Red Wizards of Thay.
The Presentation is off. From a printing perspective, the fonts are consistent, readable, and boxes are placed appropriately around the pages to draw the eye where necessary. There's a clear focal point on every page. Until you get to "C O N C E N T R A T I O N." A minor nitpick, I appreciate, but the more I focus on these things the more I realise who this is penned by: hacks first and gamers second. Top Tips about casting in armour, advantage, and levels being explained further in Sage Advice aren't tips, they're... rules. Not the Sage Advice Compendium on this very site where designers answer player questions, I mean a bit of this magazine called Sage Advice... which again just parrots the PHB, and not in this issue, either.
Lacking in Originality. There's a 1-2 hour one-shot, a single-floor dungeon where characters are tasked by a resident of Phandalin. It comes with an appropriately shoddy map handout with annotations for the players to look at, where the DM has their own keyed map, which is easy enough to draw. And that's about it for original content. Its two monsters are a suit of Animated Armour and a Mimic, so nothing overly exciting or unique to the magazine. Hardly anything about the magazine is: most of the art is from the PHB or similar materials, and even then they appear to use the same cover for the first four issues according to the website. Could we not get some exclusive interviews with designers, artists, or some editorials to gauge conversation? Mechanically could we not get some quasi-homebrew backgrounds, feats, or other stuff from Unearthed Arcana to try out? 80 issues is a lot, and you can't possibly pad them out with PHB, DMG and Monster Manual entries.
Pricing. The price isn't too bad for the first four issues, but who will bother collecting these when they add little new and original? Will the one-shot adventures and bite-size presentation justify the triple-figure cost? Assuming this does max out its 80 issue run, the answer is no.
The only reason why I'm so interested in this is because my partner likes watching me play D&D and wouldn't mind giving it a go herself but she's intimidated by the sheer amount of rules. D&D is not a rules-light game even with all the caveats, and when I tell her the Basic Rules page count comes to 180, she decides she's not that bothered about learning. But something like this, slowly introducing the rules at a reasonable pace, reading the things she'd want to and taking the time to digest them could make it a lot easier. But that's its only benefit, and it is weighed against the subscription model and its overwhelming cost. I might have to change to the basic subscription if the Premium isn't up to snuff, particularly on the minis front.
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer (DDA) seems to be a decent middle-ground between the Young Adventurers books, aimed at children who want to play D&D (or, let's be real, grown-ups who want to get their kids into D&D) and the Player's Handbook. The problem really is the price and longevity: how suddenly will people transition from DDA to the PHB, because they're certainly not going to stick with this for its full run. They will eventually either get confident enough to get a PHB or they'll decide D&D isn't for them and they'll spend their time and money on something else.
I wish it the best of luck. There's certainly room for improvement regarding teaching people how to play D&D and binding all the information in a satisfying way, but I don't think Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer has the right model to do that.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
I'm probably gonna show my age a bit, but I've had a fair share of run ins with partwork magazines, from one where you collect tiny pieces of pretty much worthless rock and one full of paranormal nonsense, to the pretty cool glow in the dark t-rex skeleton one, the one where you make a human body, and even the one where you make a robot. They all tend to share a few things in common:
Very low initial price, then a sudden spike
Available in newsagents for the first 10 or so issues, then you have to subscribe in order to keep getting them
Variable quality of what's included each week, but you need each weeks issue to finish what you've started. Take the robot one; some weeks you get motors and wheels or a circuit board and the robot would actually do something new. Other weeks you'd get some LEDs or a plastic housing that you couldn't use for a month until you got other parts.
They can just end before they're finished and if you're lucky, you get the option to buy up front the remaining parts.
As such, while this seems interesting, especially a roundabout return to a module like structure, I'm pretty certain I'm going to give this a miss. For the price, which looks to be about £10 at the premium level, you could buy a moderately nice dice set and some adventures off the DMs guild.
I'm reminded of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. ...because of the whole #4 problem with the partwork to witch she subscribed. (I know what I typed.)
Am I showing my age?👴🏻
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Just as an add on, I subscribed to the 'basic' subscription and didn't receive anything for over a month. I called Hachette up and they said this was being trialled for four issues and subscribers would get a random free issue through the post, I got issue 2 (with free dice) later that same day. The guy on the phone said that after the trial they would be making a decision as to whether they would be doing a full release in the new year.
So, there's a D&D magazine starting up called Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer. It has the ambersand, so I'm guessing that there's some kind of partnership going on. What would be your thoughts on it? Is it something you'd be interested in?
https://danddadventurer.hachettepartworks.com/
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
It looks interesting. I wish you didn't have to subscribe & pay for content though, I'd rather have them make their money off adds. I guess their stuff might be helpful for new players though. In addition to having the ampersand, they have artwork from official D&D books on their website front page, and I ca't find a place where they credit that artwork. So that means Wizards probably authorized them to use it, so yeah, I'd guess this D&D Adventurer thingy probably has a partnership with WotC going on.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Judging from the description in the F&Q, this is less a magazine (like Dungeon Magazine) and more a multi-part guide on how to play the game. Here the description:
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer is a brand new partwork that teaches you how to play the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying game, with an exclusive adventure, easy step-by-step instructions and all the background information you need to start creating your own characters and becoming a D&D expert. Collect the specially designed dice given throughout the collection and join us on a wild ride through the D&D journey of a lifetime!
Not really a product designed for me or for anyone learning to play alongside an established player. Still, as someone whose first foray into D&D was as a DM for a bunch of novice players, I can say that the DMG and (to a lesser extent) PHB do an okay job teaching the pure mechanical mechanisms for playing, but a lot of the nuance of how to actually make the game fun is missing. A product like this could be really useful to a lot of players if it contains assistance on some of those more artistic, creative elements the DMG/PHB do not cover.
Though, for now, it is only available in the United Kingdom, so we will see if it is successful and receives a wider release.
What the heck is a "partwork"?
A work done in parts, of course.
Or, more helpfully, it is a publication that is broken up into smaller pieces, usually with each new piece released on a regular schedule, with the collected whole designing to serve as a single reference.
For example, the first issue of this set covers character building and other topics - useful on its own, but only part of play. The second issue has a guide on spellcasting and other topics not covered in the first. The third covers grappling, maximising skills, etc. Each instalment gives tips on specific aspects of the game, so you can just get the part you want, or you could get the whole collection for a more complete guide.
Thx! Wow, I can't believe I've never run into that term.
I was tempted to give it a try, but £30 a month for a magazine, that's too steep. If they did 1 issue a month rather than 4 then I'd probably give it a go
the problem with part works is always the price, this one would be £1.99 + £4.99 + (78x £7.99) for a grand total of...........£630.20 for all 80 parts they have pencilled in so far and thats going up to £750.20 if you go for their "premium" subscription. As a side note, their subcribe page defaults to the premium version so be extra careful if you decide to go for it but its cheaper just to buy the basics to learn to play it with aid from the internet when you need it.
Edit...turns out issue no.2 might be free so you might be able to knock a whopping £4.99 off those totals.
I'm probably gonna show my age a bit, but I've had a fair share of run ins with partwork magazines, from one where you collect tiny pieces of pretty much worthless rock and one full of paranormal nonsense, to the pretty cool glow in the dark t-rex skeleton one, the one where you make a human body, and even the one where you make a robot. They all tend to share a few things in common:
As such, while this seems interesting, especially a roundabout return to a module like structure, I'm pretty certain I'm going to give this a miss. For the price, which looks to be about £10 at the premium level, you could buy a moderately nice dice set and some adventures off the DMs guild.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Someone recently did a review of issue #2, showing each page and its contents. My thoughts are as follows:
The only reason why I'm so interested in this is because my partner likes watching me play D&D and wouldn't mind giving it a go herself but she's intimidated by the sheer amount of rules. D&D is not a rules-light game even with all the caveats, and when I tell her the Basic Rules page count comes to 180, she decides she's not that bothered about learning. But something like this, slowly introducing the rules at a reasonable pace, reading the things she'd want to and taking the time to digest them could make it a lot easier. But that's its only benefit, and it is weighed against the subscription model and its overwhelming cost. I might have to change to the basic subscription if the Premium isn't up to snuff, particularly on the minis front.
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer (DDA) seems to be a decent middle-ground between the Young Adventurers books, aimed at children who want to play D&D (or, let's be real, grown-ups who want to get their kids into D&D) and the Player's Handbook. The problem really is the price and longevity: how suddenly will people transition from DDA to the PHB, because they're certainly not going to stick with this for its full run. They will eventually either get confident enough to get a PHB or they'll decide D&D isn't for them and they'll spend their time and money on something else.
I wish it the best of luck. There's certainly room for improvement regarding teaching people how to play D&D and binding all the information in a satisfying way, but I don't think Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer has the right model to do that.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
I'm reminded of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. ...because of the whole #4 problem with the partwork to witch she subscribed. (I know what I typed.)
Am I showing my age?👴🏻
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Just as an add on, I subscribed to the 'basic' subscription and didn't receive anything for over a month. I called Hachette up and they said this was being trialled for four issues and subscribers would get a random free issue through the post, I got issue 2 (with free dice) later that same day. The guy on the phone said that after the trial they would be making a decision as to whether they would be doing a full release in the new year.
I got issue one, but still waiting whether this will launch properly. The website only allows people to sign up to be notified of launch now.
Apparently the magazine will be launching properly this September.