Pathfinder 1E Paizo no longer publishing Dungeon and Dragon

[Mistwell]

I'll tell you where I think WOTC screwed up.

When I draft an agreement to temporarily extend a license, and I know the license conclusion will be controversial enough to warrant press releases, I insist on a clause that both parties remain silent about the matter except for mutually approved press releases.

That was obviously not done here, as Paizo has been all over this board with non-press-release PR.

That was a mistake by WOTC.

 

[Friadoc]

And just the whole thing of how their website knows how much they owe me, and how I was able to make a choice of what to do with my refund, and how I can go back to that page and change my mind as often as I want ... their website isn't always speedy, but that kinda blew me away. I guess maybe I'm easily impressed...

Also, if Paizo has a late shipment, or something couldn't be shipped, they generally surprise you with an extra little something.

Sure, it's only a 3 dollar thing, or what not, but it's more the thought than the substance.

All in all, I think we're seeing the launch of Paizo Publishing towards being one of the top three or four gaming companies.

Give it some time, as shown with Pathfinder and such, they'll launch their own Campaign Settings, worlds, et al.

Hmm, wait, they sorta already are doing that.

 

[JoshuaFrost]

... their website isn't always speedy ...

That changed this year with the implementation of a new T1 and HUGE upgrades to our servers. Even with the giant spike in traffic, sales, and sign-ups to our site over the last few days, we haven't once topped 10% server use. Hurray bandwidth!

 

[Dragonblade]

Hey Paizo guys reading this:

Can you please make sure that most of the Pathfinder adventures go to 20th level (and even the occasional epic level adventure)? If I can play what I call a complete campaign (levels 1 to 20) you will have me totally sold on a Pathfinder subscription.

Otherwise, I'm kind of on the fence. There is a glut of low to mid level adventures, but until Adventure Path came along, no one really provided a complete campaign that took you from 1st to 20th. Stopping Rise of the Runelords at 15th level just doesn't sit right with me. I love playing D&D at higher levels and would love more support for that level of play.

As far as WotC goes, they better provide some fantastic resources to get my money on any pay site. Not only articles but software resources too, like I want a complete online character generator with the ability to build characters using classes, feats, and abilities from ALL their products. And a NPC/monster generator for busy DMs to be able to build characters like the character generator only adding a monster as the base. I would pay good money for that.

 

[Friadoc]

I'll tell you where I think WOTC screwed up.

When I draft an agreement to temporarily extend a license, and I know the license conclusion will be controversial enough to warrant press releases, I insist on a clause that both parties remain silent about the matter except for mutually approved press releases.

That was obviously not done here, as Paizo has been all over this board with non-press-release PR.

That was a mistake by WOTC.

Yes, it is obviously good business sense to have a clause that keeps your former customer, which is what a licensee is, from saying anything about your dealings that you didn't approve of first.

No person, or company, in their right mind, unless desperate, would sign such an agreement.

Most common place you see such clauses, reality shows and employee contracts.

It was mutually beneficial business relationship, no one would enter into that with a built in gag-order since it instantly gives too much hold, by either party, over how things are said since they could, intheory, eternally hold a release up by lack of approval.

Basically, you could never end business with each other if one side, or the other, doesn't agree to the press release saying it happened.

WotC wouldn't have added the clause, nor would Paizo, or anyone with any contract experience, as it removes control over a needed component of severing a relationship - The Announcement.

WotC should have either had some presence on-line to do damage control, or released as soon as Paizo released. It is not that hard to release a web page, between my own site, Delver's Square, and my IT experience, it takes a click, especially if the content was pre-approved days, if not weeks ago, which I'm pretty sure the WotC employees' comments were.

It was a public fumble, now they're working to make things right.

 

[Friadoc]

That changed this year with the implementation of a new T1 and HUGE upgrades to our servers. Even with the giant spike in traffic, sales, and sign-ups to our site over the last few days, we haven't once topped 10% server use. Hurray bandwidth!

Yeah, a fat pipe and server make all the difference.

Recently, when I switch my site from being hosted on a friend's home servers to a hosting provider, I noticed the HUGE difference, plus I can modify and update on a whim.

Heck, I remember back when I worked as the project manager for a regional ISP and we had three new T3s dropped in that tied us directly into the areas OC3 backbone...I'll admit, I was downloading a ton of stuff that day, at work, mostly patches that were too large to download at home, but I also ravaged Digital Blasphemy.

 

[dargoth3]

The original announcement covered this. The licenses are owned by Wizards of the Coast. They decided to do something else with the brands. It wasn't a matter of negotiation, because it wasn't an issue of offers and counter-offers. It was an issue of Wizards of the Coast making a decision about the best future for their brands, and deciding to do something other than renew Paizo's license to product print versions of the magazines.

This is within their rights (actually, it's the definition of their rights) as the license-holder. As a company who has dealt with lots of licenses before, we've always known that something like this could happen, which is one reason we've diversified our business over the last few years.

I should also point out that Wizards of the Coast very graciously agreed to extend Paizo's license to produce the magazines for four more months to ensure that we printed the conclusion of the Savage Tide Adventure Path. They didn't need to do that, and for all of the heat they are taking online here and elsewhere, it's important to point out that extending the license for this purpose was a decision made in the best interest of the audience, and one for which we are thankful.

I will repeat, there is no cloak-and-dagger shennanigans going on here. We remain on good terms with Wizards of the Coast and wish them the best of luck. My understanding is that Wizards wishes us the best of luck as well. In fact, it says that specifically in the announcement.

--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Hey Erik will the Ed Greenwoods 2nd Cities of Faerun article be published in Dragon before Dragons shut down?

 

[James Jacobs]

Hey Paizo guys reading this:

Can you please make sure that most of the Pathfinder adventures go to 20th level (and even the occasional epic level adventure)? If I can play what I call a complete campaign (levels 1 to 20) you will have me totally sold on a Pathfinder subscription.

Otherwise, I'm kind of on the fence. There is a glut of low to mid level adventures, but until Adventure Path came along, no one really provided a complete campaign that took you from 1st to 20th. Stopping Rise of the Runelords at 15th level just doesn't sit right with me. I love playing D&D at higher levels and would love more support for that level of play.

We've heard a lot from fans of the previous Adventure Paths that things kind of get to be too much in the last few adventures. So Rise of the Runelords is sort of an experiment as far as that goes. We're certainly leaving a lot open for sequels or expansions, although the 1st-15th level arc we have for this Adventure Path is complete and self-contained. It won't feel like it's missing much.

But as for adventure paths that go from 1st to 20th level? Pathfinder will CERTAINLY feature adventures that cover that range sooner or later.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Hey Erik will the Ed Greenwoods 2nd Cities of Faerun article be published in Dragon before Dragons shut down?

Actually that raises an interesting question.

If you wouldn't mind telling us Erik, who own's the rights for various ideas of the articles and comics and all.
1. Those that submitted and were published is that conisdered between Paizo and the Submitter or does WOTC now control that part of Paizo's interest.
2. Things that Paizo introduced into the magazines, are they all WOTC's now or Paizo's?
3. Things like Order of the Stick, is that contract with Paizo or WOTC now?

I understand if you can't get specific, just general answers is fine.

 

[James Jacobs]

Well I'm off to buy the whole Savage Tide back issues - STAP will be finished right?

Right?

Yes indeed. WotC actually extended our license so that we could finish the Savage Tide as we had planned, ending up with issue #150. And hoo-boy... those last few adventures are going to be CRAZY awesome!