Pathfinder 1E Paizo no longer publishing Dungeon and Dragon

[MadMaxim]

if you read the 4/20/07 post on the WotC board http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20070420a by Bill S. you'll see they can't cuz they haven't nailed down all of the specifics yet

I read the post and I understand that you may not have everything concerning the digital initiative nailed down at this point, but why then publish the announcement that the license has been taken home before you can just show the fans a tiny bit of what you have planned for them? I know Dragon and Dungeon will still be around for another 4-5 months, but you always should have a plan B in case something blows up in your face like this.

 

[Ghendar]

Yeah... cancelling Dragon and Dungeon when they can't tell us what they'll replace it with because they don't know the specifics?

Dumb.

Maybe hindsight truly is 20/20 but I have to really agree with this. Letting us know what was coming (like Paizo did. Those Paizo guys ROCK!) would have helped lessen all the rage we are seeing.

 

[Maggan]

Here you go.

Thanks.

It makes me wonder whether this means that we'll get advance warning on 4e or not.

It seems to me people want to have the new product laid out in detail when the news breaks, but at the same time want to have plenty of advance warning.

It also seems to me these two wishes contradict each other, and that the reaction to this issue could mean that WotC might cut down on the advance warning when 4e comes around, since they might want to have a much more fleshed out product which people can look at when the announcement is made.

So less advance warning, but more robust info on the new stuff could be a result of this.

/M

 

[Ghendar]

It seems to me people want to have the new product laid out in detail when the news breaks, but at the same time want to have plenty of advance warning.

/M

In detail? No. Well not for me anyway.
However, a Paizo like, "this is what we have planned" with actual tangible examples would have been nice.

 

[Krolik]

Thanks.

It makes me wonder whether this means that we'll get advance warning on 4e or not.

It seems to me people want to have the new product laid out in detail when the news breaks, but at the same time want to have plenty of advance warning.

It also seems to me these two wishes contradict each other, and that the reaction to this issue could mean that WotC might cut down on the advance warning when 4e comes around, since they might want to have a much more fleshed out product which people can look at when the announcement is made.

So less advance warning, but more robust info on the new stuff could be a result of this.

/M

It makes me wonder if Paizo is the one who pushed for the news to break now rather then later. It seems like Piazo had all their ducks in a row with the Pathfinder information, covers, and blog entries while WotC was still working out the details of how they were going to handle the situation.

 

[Ry]

Based on the staff reflections recently posted on the WotC site, it sounds like it's simply going to be Dragon Online. At least, they keep using phrases like "the print version going away" and not "Dragon going away."

Exactly - they've left us picking over scraps of these Staff Reflections (and it sure doesn't look like that article was planned from the beginning) rather than having a plan in place to show what the new thing will be. I stand my my earlier assessment.

 

[eris404]

On a purely selfish note: it was always a goal of mine to get an article in Dragon and a module in Dungeon, but it just isn't going to happen.

Shawn

Aw Shawn, me, too.

But mostly, I feel very sad about not having the magazines anymore. They were always a nice surprise to find in my mailbox every month. I might not have always used or even liked everything in them, but they always gave me something to think about. I will miss them.

 

[The_Gneech]

Well, I've had the weekend to calm down a bit. But in the cold light of Monday, I still think that (within the context that D&D is a hobby, so don't try to twist my intent) this is a disaster.

Everything I've heard from WotC, including e-mails between myself and the mysterious "Pat" of WotC customer service, has followed the company line of "It was a tough decision, but just give the new thing a chance, you'll see!" There are several flaws with this, not the least of which is that the new thing is not something I'm interested in. The best crabcake in the world is no good if what you really want is beef -- and the most awesomest website EVAR will not be a print magazine delivered to my door.

Even if this mysterious new thing IS that wonderful it's STILL a disaster. All the electronic content in the world is not going to make me NOT want a magazine. If they had premiered a terrific electronic whatever-it-is alongside of the magazines and really sold me on it, they could have had TWO revenue streams from me. But now, they won't have any. Instead of a win/win, it's a lose/lose.

However, WotC's record gives me no reason to think it's going to be wonderful. The company that SNAFUed "Master Tools" beyond recognition and finally handed it off to CodeMonkey -- only to yank it once CodeMonkey hammered it into something vaguely useful? The company that produced online Star Wars adventures that were either dungeon crawls with Sith or the same lame attempt to redo The Maltese Falcon with hutts? Frankly, I'm dubious about what they'll come up with. And, as mentioned before, it's not what I want anyway.

Finally, I'd like to comment to those who take umbrage at the description of losing Dragon as feeling like the death of an old friend. Well, like you, I have lost old friends myself. I know what grief feels like, and this is the exact same feeling, no more and no less. Same emotions, same physical reactions, same shock and anguish. If you want to argue that it's somehow bad of me to have that close an emotional attachment to a magazine, you can argue 'til you're blue in the face and all I have to say is "Bite me." I love what I love, and when it is taken from me, I grieve. So kindly get out of my face.

-The Gneech

 

[Shade]

I returned from a wonderful long weekend to the worst news I've seen posted since I've been coming here.

I can't imagine anything worse than this news. I'd actually rather hear that no more game books were being published, and that the magazines would live on as the only source of D&D material. Dragon and Dungeon have been the best source of official material in the past few years. With a few notable exceptions (Fiendish Codices, PHB II), I would gladly trade all the books that had come out for a few more years of Dragon and Dungeon. I'd rather have read that the dreaded 4th edition were here, as at least the great minds at Paizo would've helped shaped it in its infancy.

This news would have been hard to take at any time, but the fact that the magazines were currently in a new Golden Age makes it that much harder to bear.

I don't know what WotC's got planned, and it may be great, but I can't imagine it being better. While I enjoy gobbling up stuff online, it never has quite the same impact as thumbing through a new issue of a magazine in a recliner.

I fear we've seen the last of any official treatment for the so-called "dead settings" other than little nuggets spread around future books or in the occasional Expedition module.

I started a thread to thank Paizo for the Golden Age they'd ushered in. Please share your gratitude for all they've given us.

 

[Mark CMG]

Creative Mountain Games has published an article regarding the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazines and what comes in their wake.