Pathfinder 1E Paizo no longer publishing Dungeon and Dragon

[mhacdebhandia]

I'm very sad that Dragon has been cancelled - and, even though I only subscribed to Dungeon for the sake of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, I've seen too much testimony from people here and elsewhere as to its utility not to realise the impact its cancellation will have on gamers.

I'm looking forward, very much, to what Paizo has in store for Pathfinder and its other ventures.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Wizards of the Coast's forthcoming online service - I'm not so sentimental about the magazines that I'm ruling out becoming a subscriber if I think it's worthwhile.

 

[The_Gneech]

Yeah, I can't wait for this whole internet fad to blow over, its taking time away from my reading at night.

In many ways the internet "fad" already has blown over. That's one of the things that makes this move so boneheaded.

I'm a web programmer by trade and a veteran of the dot-bomb era; it's not like I don't get that the internet is big and permeates a lot of society. But just like the laserjet didn't kill the printing industry, web-based content is not going to kill the magazine.

-The Gneech

 

[JVisgaitis]

Wow, I wake up to this bomb being dropped. I have no idea what to think of this as I didn't subscribe to either Dungeon or Dragon, but I do pick up a lot of Dungeon issues. I guess I'm of the mind of wait and see.

If they include a kick butt character generator, I'd be more prone to purchase this. If its just the same stuff I could have got in Dungeon and Dragon, not so much. I really hope they do a lot with this as I think it could be pretty cool.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Seriously, everything evolves. I've been in magazine and newspaper publishing for 12 years. Man ypeople in those industries believe that most newspapers won't be around in 15 years and only a few magazines will remain. The average magazine has a shelf life of 10 to 20 years. You just can't keep something around that's losing you money.

Huh? Then I'm an awfully strange "young people" with my 19. In fact, many of my friends *like* books. And magazines often couple their magazines with a web-presence, most e-zines have died after some years... do you you know *any* successful webzine!?

And now, they don't get the "Pen-and-Paper" bonus. They're putting themselves into a competition with WoW, because both are RPG-from-web-against-subscription.

See, buying stuff from a bookshelf is one thing, but if you're going electronic, you have to see the subscription-competition there (for example a kid: "I want that subscription!" - dad: "You already have WoW, you want another one?"). And it's not that they're now a game, they still need the Core Rulebooks. So it's a strange book-and-web-hybrid. They're not going electronic, they're not supporting pen-and-paper.

They're rather sour about the success of PDF-publishing and try to cash in some stuff. But in a weird way. And I don't mean good by this, neither from my point of view, nor from a "internet-fad" point of view.

 

[Temmogen]

How much does this suck?

It blows, completely sux, no end to the amount of betrayal I'm feeling. Obviously hasbro has handed down an edict to the People at WOTC, andf they have embraced it. Some bozo at hasbro woke up and decided that we no longer mattered as customers. We as a group will never be strong enough to have any financial impact on WOTC or Hasbro, but I still wish I could get away with leaving a big steaming pile on some corporate losers desk. Just to show my disatifaction with them right now.

 

[sckeener]

Folks,

On behalf of the entire Paizo family, I wanted to thank all of you for the many generous comments you've made about us and our work on the magazines. Thanks especially to those of you who have jumped aboard the Good Ship Pathfinder. You're in for a treat.

We've just posted the first installment of the new DAILY Pathfinder Blog, with a sneak peak at the setting of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and an absolutely sweet picture from Wayne Reynolds.

Check it out.

And thanks again for all of your support.

--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Dang....I had selected store credit, but Pathfinder looks good. Consider me switched!

I like that you are including a Gazetteer section to make it useful after the adventure. I was working on my own world, planning on using Goodman's Known Realms and Wilderlands to mix and match. Now I think I am going to go more the Paizo / Necromancer Games route!

Thanks! and Good Luck!

 

[D.Shaffer]

Wow.

Dragon and Dungeon have been around for as long as I can remember. I've had my off periods where I never picked it up, but there are still articles I leaf through now, or smile whem I think about them. It's sad that they're no longer going to be around and I'm going to miss them.

That said, I think people need to breath and think rationally about this. Boycotting or refusing to use a service before we even know what it entaisl just seems silly to me. If you have your misgivings about the future due to the past, thats something that's worth mentioning, but you should send it to Wizards now so they can incorporate. Me? I'm going to wait until something concrete shows up. If it looks good, I'll get it. If not, I wont. Brand Loyalty is stupid, and I'm not going to buy/not buy something because of it. Wizards DOES do marketing research, and they wouldnt be doing this if they didnt feel it'd be profitable, and as much as some people like to harp on 'evil capitalists', it's still a business.

To Paizo. Pathfinder looks interesting. I hope you have some samples out soon so I can judge whether I want to get it or not. So far, from your previous work in Dungeon I'm favorably judging you, so dont drop the ball here.

To Wizards: I'm not a fan of PDF's to begin with, so you're already in a bit of a pit. That said, I'm not totally against them either. You have a good half a year to get things rolling and you better use that time well. I have noted that you've hired/in the process of hiring a large deal of webstaff, so you seem to be on the right track. Hopefully you have some more concrete information on pricing, projects, and what we can expect. Free samples or previews would help alleviate a lot of concern from people waffling on the fence.

 

[Ghendar]

Yeah, I can't wait for this whole internet fad to blow over, its taking time away from my reading at night.

Seriously, everything evolves. I've been in magazine and newspaper publishing for 12 years. Man ypeople in those industries believe that most newspapers won't be around in 15 years and only a few magazines will remain. The average magazine has a shelf life of 10 to 20 years. You just can't keep something around that's losing you money.

I think I missed something. Has anyone stated that Dungeon and Dragon were canceled because they were losing money?

 

[Gallo22]

Dragon has been rising in subscribers and sales consistently since I took over, especially in the last year. The magazine did not have "one foot in the grave," but indeed was being hailed by lots of readers as being better than it had been in years. We were very pleased with the financial picture.

I can't speak for Wizards on this issue, but I can say with certainty that your speculations are considerably off base as far as Paizo is concerned.

--Erik

This was my thinking exactly. I'm an old schooler, like many of you out there, and have been reading Dragon and Dungeon for ages. The last few years of Dragon and Dungeon have been the best (IMHO). I'm very saddened that Paizo could not continue with the magazines and WotC still come out with an E-zine.

Logic would dictate that the ONLY reason WotC cut the magazines out from under Paizo's (and our) feet, is to avoid competition. There is no other reasonable explanation.

Eric, I consider Paizo to be the new WotC (if I may so say). What I mean to say is, that Paizo is what WotC should be. With that said, I plan of supporting Paizo and Pathfinder.

Thank you for the great content that Dragon and Dungeon has given us since you took over the magazine.

Gallo22

 

[TheYeti1775]

Still have to find the first cover on my drive somewhere.

Thanks for the memories.