Paizo to cease publication of “Dragon” and “Dungeon” magazines

Wizards of the Coast has pulled the plug on Paizo Publishing‘s license to produce the Dungeon and Dragon magazines.

Today, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing announced the conclusion of Paizo’s license to publish Dragon and Dungeon magazines. The magazines will cease publication following the release of the September issues, which ship to subscribers and newsstands in August. The final issues will be Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150.

Wizards of the Coast will be moving the kind of content currently found in Dragon and Dungeon to an online model.

What’s Paizo doing instead? Well, they’re switching their machine over to producing a new magazine monthly book called Pathfinder, a “96-page, perfect-bound, OGL-compatible full-color softcover Adventure Path book.”

Personally, I think this stinks. As much as I like Paizo as a company, I’ve never gotten into their Adventure Path adventures, and now, it seems, that’s pretty much all they’re left with.

I’m not sure what WotC was/is thinking, but it apparently isn’t an issue about profitability, as publisher Erik Mona explained on Paizo’s message boards:

» Ikor wrote: Were the magazines losing money?

Absolutely not. As far as I know, the sales of the magazines were not a factor in this decision. We’re actually very pleased with the sales of the magazines, and in particular with our growing subscriber lists.

Here’s hoping that enough readers decide to give Pathfinder and our GameMastery Modules a try. We’re extremely excited about the new opportunities we’ll have with the new arrangement.

–Erik

Betcha dollars to donuts that Steve Jackson Games’ Pyramid sees its subscriber numbers swell nicely in the weeks to come.

The full text of the announcement is after the cut.

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Liberty sometimes wears a mask

Last Monday, a guy from the libertarian We the People Foundation donned the mask of V, from V for Vendetta, and

visited security check points at the White House, the main Treasury, IRS and Justice Department Buildings and the Capitol. “V’s” purpose was to deliver the People’s Petitions for Redress of Grievances relating to the Government’s violations of the war powers, tax, privacy and money clauses of the Constitution, and to inform key Government officials that at least 100 more “Vs” would be at their doorstep on November 14th expecting a response to the Petitions.

V at the White HouseV at the White HouseV at the White House

What’s most interesting, I think, is that the Secret Service, et al, were generally very friendly with “V,” and listened to his explanations rationally.

When an agent asked if “V” would remove his mask for identification purposes, “V” explained that would defeat the very purpose of the mask, which was to give expression to the fact that the nation was becoming a police state, that too many people were becoming afraid to be identified as dissenters or protestors, and that this was not in the long term interest of a free people. The agents accepted the veracity of “V’s” message and refrained from veering “V” from his vanguard visit as the vox populi.

Really, though, how sad a state of affairs is it when it’s noteworthy that the agents weren’t jackbooted thugs?

The full essay and some [over-long] videos are here.

[via John Wick]

Cooler than I thought it would be

“In the Summertime” music video
wik Derek Sherinian

Alsø wik Billy Idol
Alsø alsø wik Slash

Directed by Chad Michael Ward

Those of you reading this on the feed will, as usual, have to click through to see the vid.
(This is where the vid would normally appear.)

[via]