Pathfinder 1E Paizo no longer publishing Dungeon and Dragon

[Emirikol]

Wow, all stops have been pulled over at WotC boards. Normally people sit and play the PG-13 ass-kissing that is required for their juvenile forums, but people are REALLY PISSED!

I'm wondering if they'll start banning people from their boards for telling it how it is..that would help the situation a lot I'm sure...


jh

 

[Steel_Wind]

Uh, when the choice is "on computer" or "not at all," I'd likely choose "on computer."

I'd prefer print to computer too - but I don't mind electronic formats per se.

That's not the point about any of this. The point is that Hasbro cut loose Dungeon and Dragon as loss leaders five years ago. Paizo struggled initially - but ultimately turned it around and tbh - neither publication has ever been better.

That quality won't continue in WotC electronic format - because the people responsible for making it as good as it is now it won't be making it any more.

Plain and simple.

To take it a step further, the Paizo guys are in here answering questions - interacting with customers and - from time to time - defending their mag. And they do it with passion, damn it.

Three years or so ago - I started one of the EnWorld quarterly/ semi-annual bitch sessions about the ongoing relevancy of Dragon Magazine and Erik Mona came in here. He read what i had to say - answered me as best as he could and said "stay tuned - changes are coming - it will get a lot better".

Erik was made editor of Dragon shortly thereafter - and it got better.

By "listening to me" - I don't mean that he agreed with everything I said; because he sure as hell did not. But he listened - made promises - and kept them.

And he's done the same thing with dozens of other posters here too.

You name one - just *one* guy from WotC (who is still there) who has done that on these forums - or any other. Just one. (The only one I can think of who comes close is Mike Mearls - but that ain't enough).

To me? That counts large. I switched my subscription over and I'm in for Pathfinder. These guys earned my loyalty - and I put it to you that they have earned yours too.

The best material for D&D in the past year has been from Messrs. Mona and Jacobs. When someone posts in this thread "have some patience and be loyal to the guys who make our game?"

I'll agree with that. And from where I sit, a lot of those people work at Paizo now.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

The sacred cows of D&D:

Dungeon

Dragon

Sigh!

 

[Ulric]

Well, I just looked at the "Delta Green d20 is Coming!" thread again and it made me feel better.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=190798

Truthfully, I've been into 3rd party stuff heavily for the last year or so anyway. Yes, it's a blow--I've been reading stuff off of the Dragon Comp CDs lately--but there is so much cool 3rd party stuff still out there--and more stuff coming out all the time--that feeling too bad just wastes 3rd party product reading time. I've got so much stuff on my shelves that I haven't read yet. Dragon and Dungeon die, but something else rises. It always will. You can't keep human imagination and expression down .

 

[Ranger REG]

Wow, all stops have been pulled over at WotC boards. Normally people sit and play the PG-13 ass-kissing that is required for their juvenile forums, but people are REALLY PISSED!

I'm wondering if they'll start banning people from their boards for telling it how it is..that would help the situation a lot I'm sure...

Only if their words start to get immature. Or begins to sound eerily like the ... ahem ... what happened in the news.

(Comment end. Will go no further, no deeper.)

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I think it'd be cool for the last issue of Dragon to have a wizard slaying a dragon on the cover. A gold dragon that is. Just seems appropriate somehow...

Two wizards...on a beach...

 

[Garnfellow]

Wow, this is sad news.

One thing's for certain -- Dunegon and Dragon aren't going out with a whimper. Both mags, in my mind, are right now the best they have ever been, in any era, for any edition. They will be missed.

Best of luck to Paizo.

 

[Jdvn1]

I think it'd be cool for the last issue of Dragon to have a wizard slaying a dragon on the cover. A gold dragon that is. Just seems appropriate somehow...

I'd say the other way around--a dragon eating a wizard.

 

[ivocaliban]

Well, that's a stinger, that is. Sounds like something I'd expect to find in an April 1st announcement. I can't help but think that this does not bode well for the future. Even though I never subscribed to either magazine, I did buy two or three issues a year. I've gotten more use out of some of those articles than I ever did out of WotC supplements.

Wish I'd picked up all those core (Greyhawk) deities issues now...

Bugger.

 

[Corinth]

This is an epic failure of a decision on WOTC's part, as stupid a move as Blizzard's implementation of their current Looking For Group system (for World of Warcraft) and it will crash and burn for similar reasons. Specific to this matter, I list these reasons:

1. Passive is Superior to Active: A magazine on a newsstand is well within the visible scope of the common man, including the majority of gamers. They can passively look at its content, consume its news (including FAQ updates) by means of purchasing and its doesn't rely on either electricity or bulking gear to make full use of it. Online content is well outside that sale threshold, requires that the gamer make a deliberate and intentional choice to find it, relies far too much on bulky gear and electricity (so it's not portable), and can't be casually passed around at the table.
2. Convenience & Casualness Wins: Contrary to what some would believe, the majority of gamers are not wired into the online gaming scene and will not make an active effort to access it. Content that's entirely online might as well not exist; if it's not in print, it don't mean spit. Furthermore, there is considerable resistance to content--official or otherwise--that is entirely online, even if it's good stuff like rules upgrades or answers to common queries, precisely because it's not casual-friendly to do so. Slap a price tag on ephemeral elements like electronic files, and you're just making it harder to get acceptance for it.
3. Free Is Better, Always: The common perception of the worth of anything that isn't in print is so low that it takes the threat of criminal prosecution to get people to spend real money on unreal things like files. Far more likely is that there will be a lag period before any electronic content ends up on a P2P network where it can be accessed for free, legality notwithstanding.
4. The Illusion of Progress: Electronic, online content sounds great until there's a big shift in the I.T. infrastructure that renders obsolete and inoperable programs and file formats formerly supported. Fools rely on the goodwill of powers beyond their control, and that is certainly the case with online content of any kind. Print remains superior in that it needs no electricity, no programs to read it, no expensive or inconvenient gear to access it, and can't be crippled by either the original provider or by ill-wishing third parties.

Print is easier, more convenient, more causal-friendly, more visible to the population, more robust, more portable, more friendly to the user, friendly to passive (and thus to impulsive) use, and lasts longer than any online equivalent. (Remember, RPGs have the lifespan of a capital good- 25-50 years.) Within a year or so, when this scheme's fall into ruin is known to all, I will be here to say "I told you so."