Thema: Dragon und Dungeon werden eingestellt

[Zechi]

Nochmal ein paar weitere Infos zur Digital Initiative der Wizards:

EN World member MerricB has distilled a few comments from a couple of threads on the offial boards about WotC's upcoming Digital Initiative.

As a would-be contributer I would really like to know (at the least) which areas of D&D you are going to need content for. Is it: Monsters? Plot hooks? Core class support? Non-core class support? Spells? Magic Items? General Setting Information? Adventures? Or all of the above? I would also like to know what is going to happen to the submissions/ queries that have already been sent to Paizo.

Scott Rouse: All of the above. I don't have exact information on the announcement of submission guidelines. In the coming weeks/months we'll be talking with Paizo about passing off any submissions they have on editors desks.

On Campaign Settings:

Scott Rouse: No real disgreement from me. Campaign settings are really important. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberron, Greyhawk etc. we just to balance what fans want and not slicing the audience too thin.

Paper is not going away. We have product plan a longs ways out (years) and there are ream loads of paper products. Table top gaming will not go away.

Did you support the decision?

Scott Rouse: I was involved in the decision making process. It has been said in other threads and on other boards how we make large decisions on D&D. As Bill Slavicsek said in the enworld interview "Bill: This decision followed the same process as anything we do related to D&D. Creative endeavors originate on my team, business initiatives originate on the Brand Team, and at the end of the day myself and the Brand Director come together to agree on a course of action, then we submit our plans to senior management for ultimate approval." Many people have a say and are involved in decisions this big. We have a D&D strategy council whose memebers come from various departments and they discuss/decide on high level issues that affect the brand in the long term.

I do support the decision. I can't say why because that would violate the confendiality provisons of the Paizo contract.

Where might I find writers guidelines for submissions to the upcoming Digital Initiative?

Scott Rouse: I don't have exact information on the announcement of submission guidelines.

I don't have specific info on the "slush pile" transfer of pending submissions. Over the coming weeks we'll be talking with Paizo on this among other things.

Also the is not an exact date as to when we'll be taking new submissions directly. When we do have a date we will post it here, on the DnD main page, and elsewhere.

(From a WotC forum member): The names Dragon and Dungeon have a lot of value. They represent the game - heck, their names are the game. To that end, the decision was made to brand this on-line content with those names, thereby lending it instant name recognition as well as instant credibility in the market place.

If they had allowed Paizo to continue, WotC would not have the names to use for their stuff. Those names are valuable to WotC, and can provide them an instant market for the on-line content.

Scott Rouse: Thanks. I think your summary is pretty spot on.

WizO_Sith: Will the magazine contain material for Wizards of the Coast's non-D&D RPGs like D20 Modern and/or the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG? Will the magazine be willing to consider submissions for them? Will the new (digital) format allow for larger articles than the current (print) format? Will there be an option for header-free, low-graphic, "Printer Friendly" versions of articles?

Chris Thomasson: I can try to answer some of these.

We don't currently have plans for d20 Modern support, but that could change if demand increases.

We will be accepting submission proposals. We're in the process of transitioning Paizo's slush pile to our desks (I'll have some long days ahead, methinks), and we're getting our own submission process ironed out. I'm hoping to get some good news on that front in the next few days.

Some articles might be a bit longer, but mostly I think the length will run about the same. The shorter length actually works to the reader's advantage. You get more variety, more unique concepts, and just more content, when all is said and done. But we might explore some longer features if, again, we see demand (or get a really killer idea).

We definitely want to allow for a printer-friendly version of everything. We're exploring a couple of different options, and should have more information soon.

Edit: I just talked to Chris P., and he tells me there's a "plethora of SW" online support in the works.

Chris Perkins: In addition to Saga Edition preview articles, we have a good number of web enhancements tied to future products as well as a series of linked Star Wars adventures (call it our Star Wars adventure path).

[Taled]

Danke, Zechi. Poste ruhig alles, was du so findest, denn ich habe im Moment nicht die Zeit / den Nerv, selber zu suchen, und bin dennoch ziemlich an den Entwicklungen interessiert.

Auch ich habe meine Dungeon- und Dragon-Abos in ein Pathfinder-Abo umgewandelt, obwohl ich den Ansatz, so wie ich ihn verstanden habe, skeptisch betrachte. Mal sehen.

Den Online-Content der Küstenmagier sehe ich aber noch skeptischer. Es ist ziemlich schwierig, auf der einen Seite das Gefühl eines Zusammenhangs, einer Zusammengehörigkeit zu erzeugen, auf der anderen Seite modular zu sein. Ebenso bleibt der Punkt der Archivierung - und ich bin halt Jäger und Sammler - kritisch. Aber auch hier gilt: mal sehen. Kosten spielen sicher eine Rolle, aber nur eine untergeordnete.

Zu den ganzen Emotionen sage ich mal nix, nicht umsonst melde ich mich erst auf Seite 8.


Taled

[Zanan]

Bei WotC dagegen hatte ich lange Zeit das Gefühl, dass die Fimra tatsächlich versuchte, sich an den Wünschen der Spieler zu orientieren und nicht einfach nur deren Geldbörse auspressen wollte.

Nein, WotC will auch die Geldbörse auspressen, sie haben nur verstanden, dass dies am besten geht wenn man "nett" zu seinen Käufern ist, was auch beinhalten kann sich an deren Wünschen zu orientieren.

Gruß Zechi

Es würde mich übrigens nicht wundern, wenn das nicht alles auf dem "Mist" der WotC gewachsen ist, schließlich arbeiten die ja auch für jemanden ...

Das obige Zitat mit den Kommentaren ist nicht allzu pessimistisch. Wird sicher ähnlich wie Knowledge Arcana werden, was jetzt schon läuft.

Und was die Kundenfreundlichkeit der Paizo-Redakteure angeht ... ich war ehrlich gesagt noch nicht auf deren Boards, doch nicht zuletzt auf Candlekeep und z.T. auch etwas auf den WizBoards bekommt auch ein ganzes Stück Hilfe und die Meinungen / Erklärungen der Designer und Autoren der Wizards zu hören.

[Wormys_Queue]

Und was die Kundenfreundlichkeit der Paizo-Redakteure angeht ... ich war ehrlich gesagt noch nicht auf deren Boards, doch nicht zuletzt auf Candlekeep und z.T. auch etwas auf den WizBoards bekommt auch ein ganzes Stück Hilfe und die Meinungen / Erklärungen der Designer und Autoren der Wizards zu hören.

Candlekeep ist eh eine ganz andere Geschichte. Dort bin ich zwar nur stiller Mitleser, aber das ist ein Platz zum Wohlfühlen, ganz klar.
Bei Paizo ist eigentlich die komplette Führungsspitze (angefangen bei CEO Lisa Stevens) auf den Boards aktiv. Und man hat durchgehend den Eindruck, dass die Leute dort tatsächlich an den Meinungen interessiert sind und diese ab und an auch in ihre Entscheidungen miteinfließen lassen. Dieser Service am Kunden gehört offenbar zur Firmenphilosophie und wird viel zu konsequent durchgehalten, um einfach nur als guter Geschäftssinn abqualifiziert zu werden.

Zechi hatte mich übrigens missverstanden. Mir ist durchaus klar, dass WotC (Paizo übrigens auch) Geld mit ihren Produkten verdienen wollen. Und mit meinem Satz wollte ich implizieren, dass ich auch WotC als durchaus an den Kundeninteressen orientierten Anbieter gesehen habe. Bis zu dieser unseligen Entscheidung jedenfalls, die ich nach wie vor als Fehler ansehe. Die von Zechi zitierten Sätze deuten ja an, dass man den Namen der beiden Magazine nutzen wolle, um dem zukünftigen Online-Angebot einen unmittelbaren MArktzugang zu verschaffen.
 Das Problem ist nur, dass sie mit ihrer Entscheidung gerade die Kunden, für die die beiden Namen einen positiven Klang haben (insbesondere für die, die sie tatsächlich gekauft haben und die mit den Magazinen eine Tradition verbinden) ziemlich verprellt haben. Ich bezweifle, dass aus diesem Kundenkreis allzuviele Personen willig sind, ihre Loyalität einfach auf die DI zu übertragen. Und wo die vielen Neukunden herkommen sollen, erschliesst sich mir genau so wenig.

[Wormys_Queue]

Und nachdem ich jetzt soviel über WotC gemeckert habe, gebietet mir die Ehrlichkeit, auf die gerade veröffentlichte Sichtweise von Paizo hinzuweisen, die ihr hier  nachlesen könnt.

FROM THE CEO
Dear Paizo Customers,
First off, I want to thank you so very much for all of the support and encouragement you have shown to us at Paizo Publishing since the announcement of the end of Dragon and Dungeon as print magazines. We had hoped that you liked what we have been doing for the past five years, but we've been overwhelmed by the support you've been giving us! Your enthusiasm drives us to produce the best gaming products that we can, and if you could feel the energy at Paizo, you would know that we're ready to keep giving you great products for years to come! Thank you!

With this letter, I'd like to address some of the issues that have popped up in the days since the announcement.

On the topic of our relationship with Wizards of the Coast, I have to say that they have been tremendous partners to work with for the past five years. They have really given us the leeway to turn Dragon and Dungeon into the magazines that they are today. We've been given fairly free reign over the magazines, which Wizards almost always approved without requiring changes. As somebody who has worked with many licensors in the past, I have to say that Wizards is one of the best. Everyone at Wizards has been very supportive of Paizo and our work on the Dungeons & Dragons brand.

Wizards, as the licensor of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, made the decision not to renew our license at the end of the current term. They generously gave us a ten-month notice that the magazines would be ending, even though they were only obligated to give us notice in a much shorter time frame. Once they let us know their decision, we both cooperated on a transition plan to take care of our customers. Wizards agreed to extend our original license so that we could complete the Savage Tide Adventure Path. They allowed us to time the announcement so that we could discuss it with distributors and retailers at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas in April. They have also graciously agreed to allow us to continue to sell our Dragon and Dungeon products until they are gone, rather than forcing us to blow them out or destroy them at the end of the license. In short, they have really bent over backwards to allow Paizo to give our customers the best service possible in this time of transition, and for that, I am very thankful.

Many people have asked why Paizo doesn't just create new print magazines that would be just like Dragon and Dungeon, but without the official D&D content. Well, if there were a viable way for us to transition to a new magazine format, we might have. However, you can't just create a new magazine and have it automatically appear in all of the places that carried Dragon and Dungeon. Hobby store managers and gamers might understand the value of a new magazine, but what about bookstore managers, military suppliers, major magazine distributors, or advertisers? You've basically got to start over from scratch with them, and in many cases that means you have to buy your way in. When we started Paizo five years ago, Dragon and Dungeon magazines had a combined 40 years of inertia behind them, but in today's marketplace, starting a new magazine on that scale would take more than a million dollars. I'm sure that some enterprising company will come out with a magazine to try to fill that niche, but I sincerely doubt that they will be able to afford to put in the same high-quality content that Dragon and Dungeon had each month and sell it for the low price that we were able to offer thanks to the size and dedication of the Dragon and Dungeon audience.

Instead, we decided to take the type of content that you have been telling us that you have been enjoying so much in the magazines, and we migrated it to Pathfinder. Pathfinder isn't a magazine; it's a monthly 96-page, full-color book. It will feature the same artists and authors that you love so much from Dragon and Dungeon magazines, but there is no advertising (except for a few house ads in the back). The $19.99 MSRP might initially seem high compared to the two magazines, but you're really getting a similar amount of content. Dragon and Dungeon average around 55 pages of content per issue for $7.99. That's 110 pages of content for $15.98 each month. Pathfinder will give you 96 pages for $19.99, but you're buying a book that's printed on higher-quality paper and that will survive extensive use at the gaming table much better than a magazine. In short, we think that we will continue to be giving you one of the best values in gaming.

Some people are worried that Pathfinder is all about the Adventure Path, but that's literally just part of the Pathfinder story. About half of each volume will contain the adventure. The remaining half of each volume consists of the kind of crunchy goodness that you have come to expect from Dragon magazine. Monsters, spells, classes, races, deities, demons, cities, new rules—it will all be there in Pathfinder.

Thanks again for your wonderful loyalty to and support of Paizo Publishing. We are a dedicated group of gamers whose goal in our business is to provide you with the gaming products you need to run the best roleplaying game sessions. We hope you'll take some time to learn more about Pathfinder; our monthly 32-page, full-color GameMastery Modules; our Item Cards, Map Packs, and Flip Mats; and lots of other great gaming products at paizo.com. And while you're checking out the games, drop by our messageboards and interact with one of the best roleplaying game communities on the Internet. You'll see all of the Paizo folks hanging out on those boards too, because at the end of the day, we love this hobby as much as you do!

Thanks again for your support!



Lisa Stevens
CEO
Paizo Publishing, LLC

[Jilocasin]

*HUST*

[Thalas]

Jetzt weiß man wenigstens, wie Wiazards ihren OnlineAuftritt gestalten wollen und dass die Namen beibehalten werden (wäre ja auch dumm wenn nicht). Und wann kommt man schon mal an ein original Encounter-Template

[Zanan]

Sehr schön. Jetzt weiß ich endlich, wie mein Zeug aussehen soll, was seit der Paizo-Nachricht "im Regal liegt".  

[Thalas]

Eine gute Nachricht:

Q: Dear Sage
Will each of the online Dragon Magazines be put into a PDF so we can continue to collect each issue?
--Scott

A: Yes, they will. We’re currently running articles for Dragon #361, which will be collected into a PDF around the end of December. The PDF for issue #360 will be posted in the very near future.

[Wormys_Queue]

Jetzt müssen sie nur noch Material veröffentlichen, dass man auch sammeln will