Paizo Publishing and Wizards of the Coast have announced that effective in September 2007 the long (LONG) running Dungeon and Dragon magazines will cease publication. Instead of continuing to push information out in print format, Wizards will be moving the same content to an online model. A snippet from yesterday’s press release:
Paizo Publishing and Wizards of the Coast today announced the conclusion of Paizo’s license to produce DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines effective September 2007. Publication of DRAGON and DUNGEON will cease with issues number 359 and 150, respectively.
“Today the internet is where people go to get this kind of information,” said Scott Rouse, Senior Brand Manager of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, Wizards of the Coast. “By moving to an online model we are using a delivery system that broadens our reach to fans around the world. Paizo has been a great partner to us over the last several years. We wish them well on their future endeavors.”
“We at Paizo are very proud of the work we’ve put into DRAGON and DUNGEON during the past five years,” says Erik Mona, Paizo’s Publisher and Editor in Chief of DRAGON. “While we’ll all miss working on these venerable magazines, our talented editorial and art staff as well as our phenomenal team of freelance contributors will continue to produce high-quality, exciting, new OGL releases that are aimed at supporting our existing customers and beyond. We look forward to sharing useful and provocative new products that support our favorite hobby.”
I don’t see any indication of whether or not the new online content will be a subscription or simply available on the Wizards website.
Paizo will be turning their efforts to a new Pathfinder (press release) product, which is basically a perfect bound adventure path book. Those people who like the recent adventure paths will get to keep them in this new format. The Pathfinder product has a higher cost, 13.99 a month (19.99 if you don’t subscribe plus $4 shipping in the US). For your money you get about 100 pages of adventure and supporting material as well as access to material published online in PDF format. The first adventure path is called the Rise of the Runelords and it is shipping in August. I think I will subscribe for a while. It is a month to month subscription.
People with extra subscription time to Dungeon & Dragon can change their subscription over to the new Pathfinder magazine, or to other options. Paizo will also continue the Gamemastery product line, Titanic Games line and the recently announced publishing company, Planet Stories. The Gamemastery line will be getting some sort of monthly publication. There is a ton of discussion on the website about the change over. Lots of questions asked and answered. You can also look at the FAQ to get some additional answers.
Dungeon and Dragon are part of my monthly staple of reading material, and I am sad to see the print versions go, but I am a pretty internet savvy guy, and I like seeing content move online. I hope that Wizards keeps a few things in mind with this new online repository.
- Publish an RSS feed. I don’t want to have to check your site every day to see if anything is new.
- Keep a good index, with good descriptions. Let me find the articles and adventures I really want.
- Make the price fair. Keep it free, or at least cheaper than the print publication.
So long Dungeon & Dragon. It has been nice reading you.