Paizo Ends Pathfinder Adventure Path Softcovers, Switching to Quarterly Model

Paizo is ending its line of monthly Pathfinder Adventure Paths, with a new quarterly hardcover replacing the long-running product. Paizo announced the change yesterday on its blog, with the shift beginning next year. The new hardcover Adventure Paths will be a minimum of 256 pages and will have a retail price of $79.99, which is cheaper than the cost of purchasing four softcover adventure paths. Paizo also stated that they'll release one Adventure Path starting at Level 1, another ending at Level 20, with the remaining two falling somewhere in between. Each Adventure Path will cover 9-10 levels of play.

The first two Adventure Paths announced for this format are Hellbreakers and Hell's Destiny, which both cover the upcoming war between Andoran and Cheliax.

The Pathfinder Adventure Paths series started as an evolution of Paizo's monthly Pathfinder magazine series. To date, Paizo has released 222 Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Early Pathfinder Adventure Paths were for campaigns that lasted six issues and typically encompassed Level 1-Level 20 play. However, more recently, the Adventure Path structure has shortened and grown more flexible, with shorter length campaigns with more variable levels of play.

 

[Dire Bare]

For me, it doesn't cost less. For someone who is highly irresponsible, I have my finances pretty squared away. After everything is done, I have 30-40 dollars per month that I can spend on stupid stuff. And by that I mean I don't care or plan it ... it could be a big foam cheese head for all I care. Pathfinder modules (or gaming stuff I don't plan for) go into that bucket. I have a bunch of APs that I purchased the first "issue" of. I read them, and if they were decent, I pitch them to my players. Sadly, I have a few that didn't make the cut.

In the future, I'm looking at an 80-dollar purchase for an AP. It doesn't matter that it's once every three months, I'm looking at that purchase and it has reached the point where it matters. Where I need to account for it. And that means it will 100% not be an impulse purchase. I'll have to read reviews, maybe even check out an actual play to buy it.

And I know that I'm more organized in my finances than a lot of people (which makes me feel odd to type out...). So people who subscribe or pick up every AP will come out ahead. However, anyone who just sees an impulse purchase is looking at $80. And that, as my doctor told me about the chicken alfredo, is too rich for my blood.

Now this is only my opinion, of course. Maybe this will be a good thing for Paizo. I hope so because I like them as a company. But it sounds like "let's change things up" as a strategy, which I'm questioning.

For you it doesn't cost less? That's not how money works . . .

I mean, if you have a budgeting and impulse control problem . . . I'm entirely sympathetic, me too.

But the quarterly hardcover adventure paths DO cost less than the monthly softcovers. It's math, man!

 

[billd91]

For you it doesn't cost less? That's not how money works . . .

I mean, if you have a budgeting and impulse control problem . . . I'm entirely sympathetic, me too.

But the quarterly hardcover adventure paths DO cost less than the monthly softcovers. It's math, man!

But notice that he doesn't buy the entire AP on the monthly plan, if I'm understanding this right - he buys a first issue of an AP. If it doesn't make the cut either for him or his players if he pitches it, he doesn't buy the rest of the AP. With the quarterly $80 shift, it's no longer a 30 impulse to check out that first issue and mull over getting the rest. He has to over-invest in picking up a prospective AP compared to his previous buying behavior.

 

[Dire Bare]

But notice that he doesn't buy the entire AP on the monthly plan, if I'm understanding this right - he buys a first issue of an AP. If it doesn't make the cut either for him or his players if he pitches it, he doesn't buy the rest of the AP. With the quarterly $80 shift, it's no longer a 30 impulse to check out that first issue and mull over getting the rest. He has to over-invest in picking up a prospective AP compared to his previous buying behavior.

It's still less expensive for the adventure path.

You certainly do lose the ability to purchase one "chapter" instead of the entire thing, sure . . . but how many folks were doing that? Only Paizo knows, but I suspect it's a small minority.

This new format is certainly a change that will impact how folks decide to spend their gaming dollars with Paizo. I suspect for some, they will spend more. Others will spend less, unhappy with the change in format.

 

[Morrus]

For me, it doesn't cost less.

Eh? $80 is less than $90. ‘Less’ isn’t a subjective thing.

 

[SteveC]

Eh? $80 is less than $90. ‘Less’ isn’t a subjective thing

But it's not 80 as compared to 90. It's 80 as compared to 30. Each month, the money I would spend on things like APs is about $40. I didn't back any Kickstarters or buy any games this month, so what I did was to go see K-Pop Demon Hunter with my daughter and then have drinks with her at a custom drink shop near the theater. That's what the money went for.

Now I have plenty of money that I save for different purposes each month, but the bucket of money I have for, for lack of a better word, silly purchases, gets spent that way each month. It was either K-Pop or the Halloween Advent calendar. There are more silly things in the world than I could ever buy, so it's only a question of what I'm going to do with that money that month. This isn't like the money I put away each month for property taxes, it's what I use for impulse purchases. And to me, an AP that I just say "oooouh, shiny!" is an impulse purchase. So, at $80, it's too much for me to just buy, so I'll buy far fewer of them. Not sure how I can explain it better than that.

 

[Birmy]

I saw the blog post prior to this article. Consensus here and elsewhere seems to be that this is a net positive, and I can't really argue with that, but I've been looking for a reason to end my subscription, so I might jump off here. I'll miss getting that little blast of official content for twenty bucks or so every month.

 

[Retreater]

I'm somewhat disappointed that the new Starfinder Adventure Path (Guilt of the Grave World) covers levels 1-5.
Like Princess Leia, I had to ask "aren't you a little short for an Adventure Path?"

 

[Reynard]

I'm somewhat disappointed that the new Starfinder Adventure Path (Guilt of the Grave World) covers levels 1-5.
Like Princess Leia, I had to ask "aren't you a little short for an Adventure Path?"

On the upside, maybe the big players are finally moving away from campaign length adventures. I think one big long adventure per tier of play is a good compromise and move back toward "adventures" instead of "campaigns."

 

[Velderan]

But it's not 80 as compared to 90. It's 80 as compared to 30. Each month, the money I would spend on things like APs is about $40. I didn't back any Kickstarters or buy any games this month, so what I did was to go see K-Pop Demon Hunter with my daughter and then have drinks with her at a custom drink shop near the theater. That's what the money went for.

Now I have plenty of money that I save for different purposes each month, but the bucket of money I have for, for lack of a better word, silly purchases, gets spent that way each month. It was either K-Pop or the Halloween Advent calendar. There are more silly things in the world than I could ever buy, so it's only a question of what I'm going to do with that money that month. This isn't like the money I put away each month for property taxes, it's what I use for impulse purchases. And to me, an AP that I just say "oooouh, shiny!" is an impulse purchase. So, at $80, it's too much for me to just buy, so I'll buy far fewer of them. Not sure how I can explain it better than that.

It honestly sounds like this will end up being a good change for you, even if you end up buying less. It will force you to think through whether you are sure you actually want to run an AP before you buy it, instead of buying the 1st part on impulse and deciding "this isn't for me" after reading it.

 

[SkidAce]

On the upside, maybe the big players are finally moving away from campaign length adventures. I think one big long adventure per tier of play is a good compromise and move back toward "adventures" instead of "campaigns."

Yeah, go back to using "campaigns" as a word for "setting".