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.

 

[SteveC]

If other people are willing to pay, then they can go for it. Paizo lost me with the continued need to sub to get the PDF. For 80, that PDF better be free.

In general, $80 dollar 256 page books will price me out of the hobby. Most of the material I buy barely gets touched as is.

That's the issue, really. You have a more modest price, monthly, and a new model where each book is more expensive but they're larger and less frequent. The question is, will people adapt to the new price point? It's a question, because a lot of people will take more frequent, yet individually smaller purchases. Will this new model work? Don't know. I do know that picking up an $80 book is something I won't do casually. I have one-offs from several APs over the years that I didn't decide to get the whole series of. When my group decides what they want to play, I can pick up the remainder of the package. That won't be the case now.

It may very well be time for a change, but the net result is likely (for me) to be buying less.

 

[Reynard]

If you actually use the adventures, then the price is fine. If it is just a flip through and then on the shelf, it is probably too much (depending on your disposable income).

But generally speaking, gamers have always been cheap, continue to be cheap, and will always be cheap. I suggest most keep their eye out for good Humble Bundles and try not to complain too much about people actually trying to make a living producing the games they enjoy.

 

[TheSword]

Absolutely concur, I think it’s important not to conflate overpriced with a waste of money. Buying a £50 fishing rod and not fishing is a waste of money, buying a £150 bike and not riding it is waste of money, buying a £30 game and not using it is similarly a waste. It doesn’t mean those prices were excessive for those products.

If you can buy a product, not use it for its full intended purpose and still think it was good value, then you should probably ask if it is underpriced!

 

[doctorhook]

For "recreational" books, the increase in price of Pathfinder APs is wildly outside the norm. (Recreational as opposed to college books). Books have actually decreased in price since 1997 by 1.38%.

Recreational books price inflation, 1997→2025

This calculator uses the official Consumer Price Index for Recreational books from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recreational books costing $20 in 1997 would cost $19.72 in 2025.

www.in2013dollars.com

How do they define “recreational books”? Most RPG books have more in common with a college textbook than a novel: large size, lots of graphics, indexed content, etc. How has the price of “college books” changed?

 

[AlwaysMerlin]

The $80 seems pretty reasonable to me for the number of people involved in creating a niche product from a small company. Living wage and no AI art, etc. I recently spent $75 for a niche bicycle part from a tiny US manufacturer, and while it didn’t feel great, the demand is so small that it made sense to pay that much for my hobby. Factories in China aren’t spitting them out.

If I don’t want to spend as much, the PDF is an option, or Humble Bundles as has been mentioned.

I wouldn’t mind a cheaper pocket sized version. I prefer those over the hardcovers. Easier to travel with and read in a hammock.