Kettite's page

Both art and story - that's good stuff. Very well done; I'm down with playing a skald now for sure.

That is a gorgeous cover which is going a long way to selling a copy to me. Goes to show how art/presentation can influence consumer choice.

Please cancel my Pathfinder subscription.

Thank you.

I plan to switch over to 4E. I respect the creators and editors at Paizo enough to still check out their product offering if it remains 3.5, but it is doubtful that I would buy very much of it.

FYI for demographics purposes- I'm 34 with expanding family responsibilities. I seek to keep gaming expenditures under $50/month. My Pathfinder subscription is a 'conversion' through issue 8. The ~$20/month expenditure following that period will have to compete very hard for my gaming dollar.

Sorry for the grim reality. I do wish Paizo the best of luck and will give your product a heavier respect against competitors as the quality is high.

The long-term viability of sticking with OGL based products concerns me (from the perspective of a consumer who thinks your brand creates quality product). There are a couple assumptions we both (both being Paizo the company and Kettite the consumer) must make:
1) Hasbro/WotC will continue to evolve the D&D game through new editions and rules changes over the course of time.
2) Over the course of time, if Hasbro/WotC does not update and continue the OGL, the "original OGL" relating to edition 3.5 will be further and further removed from claiming that it's products are linked to "the world's most popular role-playing game". This will make products based on the 3.5 OGL more and more of a niche product and pigeon-holed into an "older" product line with less appeal to new consumers.

Let us forecast 5 or so years down the line, if you do not convert. How will you market your game to new players? "We're what D&D used to be!" How will you directly compete against a giant like Hasbro? The Paizo business model as it currently stands rides the coat-tails of D&D. You are built on providing content for somebody else's toy. If you choose not to evolve with changes to the toy, then you will be marketing your own game. The track record for successful continuous sales on D&D knock-offs is... are there any other medieval fantasy based tabletop role-playing games successful enough to sustain a company of your size in existence that haven't evolved to provide very different content?

I certainly do not question the ability for Paizo's current stable of employees to create exciting product under the OGL. However, if you wish to continue to grow your company for the long haul and you all would like to make a long-term career of growing Paizo, I cannot imagine your ability to do so without eventual conversion or an outright attempt to beat Hasbro at their own game (a daunting task).

Sorry for the rambling nature of this post; I'm at work and really shouldn't be doing this, but the topic grabbed me and I wanted to throw a few thoughts out. Basically I'm asking this: is it your company goal to grab as much bucks as you can in the short term based on 4E backlash and then fold up shop and get new jobs in a few years when that market dries up, or do you want Paizo to compete as a standard-bearer in the role-playing game industry for years to come? How will non-conversion make Paizo a long-term successful business venture?

One potential positive: as it stands, the last of the 4e core rulebooks releases in July '08, which happens to coincide with the end of the second Pathfinder arc. So, if an SRD is available to Paizo beforehand, they may be able to start the third arc in August '08 on the verge of the next GenCon in the first full month when everyone has all three new core books. A very strong selling point for Paizo, if they can do it!

You guys might pronounce it "Pie-zo" but we native Greeks pronounce the word "Peh-zo" meaning 'I Play'.

I have now opened the inevitable stream of "It's all Greek to me." responses.

I'm a bit stunned at the moment, as both Dragon and Dungeon have been a part of my life since I was a young kid. As an adult, I understand business decisions and don't get upset by them, but I do admit to sadness at this point.

I fully plan to switch my remaining subscription over to Pathfinder to support Paizo, but let me say as an initial reaction, $20/month is a lot per issue. I don't know that a continuing series at that price-point is a viable one, even with discounts for subscriptions. It will be rather difficult to justify that annual expenditure in conjunction with other gaming hobby spending.

Consider: one Gamemastery module per month and Pathfinder equals over $30 at the FLGS! I pay a combined $26 per month for Tivo and Sirius service, and they provide a great deal more content.

On the other hand, this is a very specialized hobby with nowhere near the user base as the two services mentioned above, and you are offering some of the best and brightest in the industry (Wayne Reynolds artwork is always worth my dollars).

I do wish you all at Paizo the best of luck, and you'll have my support at the beginning. It's the long-term sustainability of it that gives me pause.

Hey all, I just wanted to say that the latest addition to Savage Tide was an excellent read. Reminded me of classic D&D goodness such as 'Dwellers of the Forbidden City' and 'Descent into the Depths of the Earth'. I really enjoyed how the theme of burrowing further and further underground, a D&D staple, was joined with the new notions of craziness from the Far Realm and the Elder Evils.
So far, the Savage Tide has been full of settings and encounters which are both vivid and cinematic. Great job all around, I couldn't be happier about my subscription.
On a side-note, I would love to see, whether in the magazine or on-line, the work-ups Wayne Reynolds was commissioned to do for all the Dungeon iconics. He's an amazing artist and I'm eager to get a hold of anything he's done!