Pathfinder 1E Paizo no longer publishing Dungeon and Dragon

[Desdichado]

But everyone here needs to calm down and pay attention to this: Griping about what evil WotC has done and boycotting their online e-zine AND their future D&D books is only going to hurt D&D even more!

Yeah, good luck with that. Clearly WotC are looking for ways to scrape the bottom of the barrel to make D&D maintain profitability. Mark my words; in a few years when D&D is a moribund trademark languishing unused in a Hasbro warehouse somewhere and we're all just buying scraps from cottage industry pdf publishers on the OGL and d20 license, we'll look back and say this was the beginning of the end.

 

[IanB]

Here's the thing for me. I'm not going to point fingers and call WotC greedy or evil or any of those things, because I don't think it is true. I've met a number of WotC folks in the last couple years and they're great people. I don't really harbor them any ill-will.

What I hate most about this is it is trading a known good quality product, for an unknown. Dungeon has been fantastic for the last few years, and is a great value. We're going from that, to something from WotC that *could* be great, or could just as easily die without the right kind of support (and honestly their history with their website on the D&D side doesn't make me super optimistic - they've done a good job with the MtG side of things, so maybe there's hope there.)

I also feel terrible for Paizo, who have been doing a fantastic job, and are now going to be stuck without access to all that great non-SRD stuff they've been using until now. Paizo is the only non-WotC company (besides some Goodman and Monte Cook stuff) that I really considered up to the same quality level as WotC's own offerings, and I fear what is going to happen now that they have lost their competitive advantage as far as being able to use MM2-4, the Complete books, etc.

 

[Dimwhit]

I'm not laughing; I'm 100% serious. This and several other moves they've made over the last few years seem like pretty clear writing on the wall to me. The era of pen and paper RPGs is over, except as a cottage industry to a niche market. D&D as a brand is currently on life support and probably won't last to the end of the decade.

Totally agree! The beginning of the end. If it's not electronic, it will be the Miniatures game. D&D as we know it is on it's way out.

Let me say it: ONLINE STUFF SUCKS TO TRY TO READ. Not the text, but the medium.

Given the number of people who have hundreds, if not thousands, of posts here and elsewhere, I'm going to disagree. Can't be that bad, or all us fatbeards wouldn't be slobbering over these message boards day in and day out.

 

[Razz]

Yes, I'd also like to say to the staff at Paizo working on Dragon and Dungeon, good work and hope all goes well for you in the future! You guys did a great job and I can only hope WotC can somehow fill your shoes at least half as well as you guys to lessen the pain we're all suffering.

 

[Presto2112]

But everyone here needs to calm down and pay attention to this: Griping about what evil WotC has done and boycotting their online e-zine AND their future D&D books is only going to hurt D&D even more! How do you know for a fact that the e-zine won't be as good as Dragon/Dungeon? I am willing to give it a try for some time before I make random assumptions.

Because as has been opined here several times, a digital format is horrible compared to an entirely portable print copy of something. The content can be stellar, and the writers Pulitzer-Prize winning, but in the end, it's going to be infiniessimally less useful than the currently existing magazine format, which you can easily transport to a game session, dog-eared to reference the proper feat, PrC, Monster, story idea, etc).

I was already prepared for this and the rest of you should have as well. I own a laptop. I bring my laptop to my sessions. I am always on my desktop to do my D&D preparations for the next session and I own several WotC books on PDF because it's a real bitch lugging them around all over the place. It's nice to have them, like a shelf of encyclopedias to make you look smart does, but I honestly don't believe the lot of you here really pack 15+ D&D books and haul them to your sessions.

As a matter of fact, yes, I do bring arounf the 6 or 7 books I think I may reference every single time. And I don't own a laptop. I also don't have acredit card (my own choice), which means I couldn't get the online material, even if I wanted to. Being able to head down to my newsstand and pick up an issue (paying by CASH) if it suited my fancy, and being able to read it anywhere, is awfully convenient.

I think the only choice we have at this point is to give full support to this WotC e-zine.

No, incorrect. if enough people let WotC know that the path they've chosen is, in the end, harmful to the game as a whole, it's possible that they'll reconsider their strategy.

 

[Belen]

But everyone here needs to calm down and pay attention to this: Griping about what evil WotC has done and boycotting their online e-zine AND their future D&D books is only going to hurt D&D even more! How do you know for a fact that the e-zine won't be as good as Dragon/Dungeon? I am willing to give it a try for some time before I make random assumptions.

Why should I care if it hurts D&D? This decision only made me realize that I don't care about a D&D published by WOTC any longer.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I've gone back to running CyberPunk 2020 and Star Frontiers.

Heh, we think alike. This could be the thing that causes me to cease D&D for a bit.

Cthulhu's been calling a lot these days, leaving messages, asking why I don't return his calls...

 

[Razz]

I don't want an online ezine or whatever they call it - 'cos thats just marketing speak for a website. You can dress it up as whatever you like, but its not a magazine, or a book, or an ezine or an ebook - its a website.

I want a magazine, on paper, that I can read in bed, or in the bath, or on the sofa, or in teh kitchen, or on a train, or in the car, or in the work canteen, or on a plane, or a beach or in the park.

A magazine. Or a book. Made of paper.

As would I, but unless everyone here plans on rallying and busting down the doors to Hasbro/WotC about this then I suggest for people to do the next best thing and see what this online e-zine has to offer.

 

[JoshuaFrost]

Damn, I have to offer Jason Bulmahn my condolences the next time I see him. Do you know what the plans are for the Dragon/Dungeon editors specifically?

Jason Bulmahn is the Brand Manager for the GameMastery line (except Pathfinder). Pathfinder is being helmed by James Jacobs.

No one at Paizo is losing their job. We've actually hired three new people as of late to handle work load and future projects.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

All I want to says is I too have raised my glass to Paizo and Dungeon and Dragon today.

It is a dark sadness.

I think I see what Wizards is doing though, and it may be the only thing that can keep D&D afloat for the next 5-10 years... but that is not for this thread.