Johnny Wilson
First Post
Beginning with the May issue of Dungeon/Polyhedron (#98), we will be reducing the cover price from $7.99 to $6.99 and will appear monthly thereafter. All who have subscribed to the magazines prior to January 22, 2003 will have their subscriptions extended by two issues to reflect changes in the frequency and page count of the magazine. I realize that this contradicts the statement I made, with nothing but the best intentions, to many of you at GenCon of 2002. At that time, I stated that I did not intend to change Dungeon/Polyhedron prior to GenCon of 2003. I hope that the reduced price and extended subscriptions take some of the sting out of this change in my position. I also hope that you will take some time to consider my rationale for the decision.
It was initially my intent to announce that I would be splitting Dungeon and Polyhedron into separate bi-monthly magazines at GenCon 2003. Under that plan, they would alternate publication months. Problems with that idea became apparent as we looked at our business plan. Splitting the two magazines would reduce the paid readership for each title and dampen the desire of advertisers to pay the existing rates, based on current paid circulation. Further, splitting the magazines would require a separate infrastructure for handling subscriptions and advertising for the two magazines. Finally, splitting the magazines would not solve either our desire to get more adventures into the hands of our readers at a faster pace or our concern that we had no space in the current format for supporting the d20 mini-games we were publishing in Polyhedron.
I decided that my initial plan would have been very attractive to purists who either refused to look at Polyhedron because they only played D&D or refused to look at Dungeon because they liked playing a variety of game systems. However, my initial plan would have done nothing for the increasing percentage of readers who liked both sides of the magazine and enjoyed the fresh ideas found under both titles. Since my initial plan was neither cost-effective nor likely to please the largest majority of the readers, I scrapped it in favor of the plan we’ve adopted.
The emphasis in the new circa 100-page Dungeon/Polyhedron will alternate from month-to-month. One month, approximately 2/3 of the magazine will be Dungeon adventures and the other third will be dedicated to previewing exciting d20 System news from Wizards of the Coast and other publishers, RPGA Network updates, new equipment, enemies, maps, and scenarios for the d20 Modern RPG and support for previously published Polyhedron Mini-Games. This version of Polyhedron will also feature support for the Star Wars RPG and the Living Greyhawk Journal, a section of the magazine dedicated to the largest organized play D&D campaign in the world.
In the alternating month, approximately 2/3 of the magazine will be a Polyhedron mini-game and the other 1/3 will be Dungeon adventures. In those months where the Polyhedron emphasis is greater, Dungeon/Polyhedron SUBSCRIBERS will receive a bonus adventure that will not appear in the newsstand books. This will be in addition to the newsstand page count (an extra signature in magazine speak) and will bring to the total number of pages devoted annually to adventures to a higher total than the current bi-monthly format. It also rewards our subscribers in a way that makes sense. Newsstand buyers may be able to purchase the bonus adventures from us at a separate price, but they either will be electronic software downloads or separately printed collections of the adventures.
As always, I know that change will create a storm of controversy. However, I wanted to attempt to circumvent some of the expected opposition by speaking directly to the most dedicated group of fans from the outset. A press release is going out on Monday, January 6, 2003, but only EN World is getting this full explanation.
Johnny L. Wilson
President and Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC
It was initially my intent to announce that I would be splitting Dungeon and Polyhedron into separate bi-monthly magazines at GenCon 2003. Under that plan, they would alternate publication months. Problems with that idea became apparent as we looked at our business plan. Splitting the two magazines would reduce the paid readership for each title and dampen the desire of advertisers to pay the existing rates, based on current paid circulation. Further, splitting the magazines would require a separate infrastructure for handling subscriptions and advertising for the two magazines. Finally, splitting the magazines would not solve either our desire to get more adventures into the hands of our readers at a faster pace or our concern that we had no space in the current format for supporting the d20 mini-games we were publishing in Polyhedron.
I decided that my initial plan would have been very attractive to purists who either refused to look at Polyhedron because they only played D&D or refused to look at Dungeon because they liked playing a variety of game systems. However, my initial plan would have done nothing for the increasing percentage of readers who liked both sides of the magazine and enjoyed the fresh ideas found under both titles. Since my initial plan was neither cost-effective nor likely to please the largest majority of the readers, I scrapped it in favor of the plan we’ve adopted.
The emphasis in the new circa 100-page Dungeon/Polyhedron will alternate from month-to-month. One month, approximately 2/3 of the magazine will be Dungeon adventures and the other third will be dedicated to previewing exciting d20 System news from Wizards of the Coast and other publishers, RPGA Network updates, new equipment, enemies, maps, and scenarios for the d20 Modern RPG and support for previously published Polyhedron Mini-Games. This version of Polyhedron will also feature support for the Star Wars RPG and the Living Greyhawk Journal, a section of the magazine dedicated to the largest organized play D&D campaign in the world.
In the alternating month, approximately 2/3 of the magazine will be a Polyhedron mini-game and the other 1/3 will be Dungeon adventures. In those months where the Polyhedron emphasis is greater, Dungeon/Polyhedron SUBSCRIBERS will receive a bonus adventure that will not appear in the newsstand books. This will be in addition to the newsstand page count (an extra signature in magazine speak) and will bring to the total number of pages devoted annually to adventures to a higher total than the current bi-monthly format. It also rewards our subscribers in a way that makes sense. Newsstand buyers may be able to purchase the bonus adventures from us at a separate price, but they either will be electronic software downloads or separately printed collections of the adventures.
As always, I know that change will create a storm of controversy. However, I wanted to attempt to circumvent some of the expected opposition by speaking directly to the most dedicated group of fans from the outset. A press release is going out on Monday, January 6, 2003, but only EN World is getting this full explanation.
Johnny L. Wilson
President and Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC
