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.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

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.

I dont think its a change for change sake. It's a better format (hardcover), and hopefully allows them to make a more unified story, so we don't have repeats of stuff like Outlaws of Alkenstar Book 2 where it's has nothing to do with the other 2 chapters. It may also help them be more sandboxy and less railroady if they're not forced to be 3-4 individual adventures that have to keep everyone at exactly the same starting/end points between each chapter.

Throwing $30 in a jar/savings account isnt that hard. You'll get more value as opposed to buying a random chunk of an AP you probably wont even run. These will be 65 or so from any online discounter.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

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.

Apparently not an insignificant number, which is part of their problem. The first book sells more than the second which sells more than the 3rd. But each one costs the same to produce. They've mentioned this is a problem.

Hopefully they can ditch some of the filler in the AP's and just focus on quality since they dont have to churn out an individual product each month. For people gun shy, they'll also be able to read reviews of the entire product, rather than hope an AP isnt a bait and switch like Gatewalkers or Extinction Curse where you think you're signing on for one type of adventure that's ditched by part 2.

 

[Retreater]

I've been struggling to find a negative take for several days. The best one I've found:
Paizo has acknowledged that compiling the single issue APs into a hardcover also gives them the chance to update to take into account player experience shared on their website and social media channels.
Releasing a single big hardcover adventure all at once prevents this play test experience. Also, they are largely untested in producing big, original adventures of this scale (most are reprints).
They had, what, the Emerald Spire in 1e and the Seven Dooms for Sandpoint more recently? It's a big jump.

 

[Velderan]

Apparently not an insignificant number, which is part of their problem. The first book sells more than the second which sells more than the 3rd. But each one costs the same to produce. They've mentioned this is a problem.

Anecdotal but awhile back I went to 2 FLGS looking to buy the books for Stolen Fate and both only had book 3. I didn’t think anything of it, but this probably explains that experience and maybe it wasn’t such an isolated incident after all.

 

[billd91]

Anecdotal but awhile back I went to 2 FLGS looking to buy the books for Stolen Fate and both only had book 3. I didn’t think anything of it, but this probably explains that experience and maybe it wasn’t such an isolated incident after all.

No, I don't think it's isolated. I think it's been a thing for quite a while and was probably true for the 6-issue APs of PF1 era as well - though strung out over a longer series.
And, of course, somewhat leavened by so many of us having subscriptions rather than buying them at the game stores...

 

[Reynard]

I've been struggling to find a negative take for several days. The best one I've found:
Paizo has acknowledged that compiling the single issue APs into a hardcover also gives them the chance to update to take into account player experience shared on their website and social media channels.
Releasing a single big hardcover adventure all at once prevents this play test experience. Also, they are largely untested in producing big, original adventures of this scale (most are reprints).
They had, what, the Emerald Spire in 1e and the Seven Dooms for Sandpoint more recently? It's a big jump.

Based on the lead time in this kind of product (which I have worked on) Paizo is not getting any useful feedback for the next "issue."

 

[Retreater]

Based on the lead time in this kind of product (which I have worked on) Paizo is not getting any useful feedback for the next "issue."

Not the next issue of an AP. I'm talking about the hardcover compilations that are released over a year later.
If you watch this Paizo Live, at about 20 minutes, Erik Mona mentions that the Gatewalkers compilation was "updated based on player feedback."

 

[SteveC]

Apparently not an insignificant number, which is part of their problem. The first book sells more than the second which sells more than the 3rd. But each one costs the same to produce. They've mentioned this is a problem.

This reflects impulse buying, and it's something that (I believe) will largely go away with the shift to one book $80 packages. I have the first book for several APs that I just picked up because they sounded interesting ... and then they weren't exciting enough to get the rest. For me, one $80 book means I won't do that on a lark anymore. I'll wait for reviews or actual plays for several months at best. And that means the book will have to sit there for those months, which I expect means the FLGS I go to will stock fewer books.

For me, and I think Paize is acknowledging this as an issue right here, it's a question of 30/90 or 0/80. Now if the AP is great, I'll spend that $80 but that will be months down the line when I've found out much more about it. And, as they release the PDFs in a Humble Bundle a year from launch, I might just wait until then.

Now there are advantages for this new format for me, chief among which is that this will be one product and not effectively have three people managing the development, so the APs will likely be better organized.

 

[Green Onceler]

We are getting to the last part of Book 3. And I don't know why it's dragging, whether the system, the AP, or just the group's pacing. We've been playing weekly for a year and just reached level 8.

Oh, you're finding the third instalment a slog too? We quit just as we reached the titular flooded cathedral. I was disappointed we didn't reach the first aboleth, but it just wasn't flowing.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

This reflects impulse buying, and it's something that (I believe) will largely go away with the shift to one book $80 packages. I have the first book for several APs that I just picked up because they sounded interesting ... and then they weren't exciting enough to get the rest. For me, one $80 book means I won't do that on a lark anymore. I'll wait for reviews or actual plays for several months at best.

That sounds like a good thing for you though. You wont waste $30 on something you wont use. Reviews also tend to come out before months, usually within a few weeks. Paizo's AP's biggest problems are their structure, which is usually evident quickly.

And that means the book will have to sit there for those months, which I expect means the FLGS I go to will stock fewer books.

Its less SKU's they have to manage. Remember how each book sells less than the one before it? Look at your local gaming store. Odds are they are stuck with a bunch of later books in multiple AP's they cant offload. This is a win for them too.

For me, and I think Paize is acknowledging this as an issue right here, it's a question of 30/90 or 0/80. Now if the AP is great, I'll spend that $80 but that will be months down the line when I've found out much more about it. And, as they release the PDFs in a Humble Bundle a year from launch, I might just wait until then.

Their costs are more balanced in publishing a single book rather than estimating how many of the later volumes to produce, given they sell worse than the first. Paizo still has their subscriptions, which make them more on each sale at full price than a sale to a distributor (paying around 40% or so). Its my understanding that a single 220 page hardback book is cheaper to produce than three 70 page softcovers. Anyone in publishing please correct me if I'm wrong.

Now there are advantages for this new format for me, chief among which is that this will be one product and not effectively have three people managing the development, so the APs will likely be better organized.

That's my biggest hope! That and ending filler in each monthly volume. You could cut out about 1/3 of any given AP and it would be an improvement.