Tell Them I Ain't Coming Back!

They're not "getting rid" of them; they've nearly sold out of them. This isn't a clearance sale, just a notification of which items are close to being out of print.

Paizo doesn't do multiple print runs of (most) softcover books; they print all the copies that will ever be printed at one time. Except for their hardcover lines, they don't want excess stock that they have to warehouse for 4-7 years: It costs them money to store and inventory, and it competes with the new products they want to sell. These blog posts are the announced retirement; it's just that it's customer demand, not company policy, that determines how long these products are available.

Great Shipping! I ordered two items late Friday night...got them before sundown today!

What a great company! I've been looking for entombed with the pharohs and classic treasures revisited for seemingly forevre only to find them here at the last minute so to say.

Awesome shipping and customer service...thanks again.

Well, I will be spending a good chunk of my bonus to get these in the next week at my local store, Madness Games and Comics. I would like to make a request of the team in the future. Please run these titles for a 4-7 year run. Then, announce their retirement and give others a year to get them before closing them out.

See, that's not how it works. What happens is, when they come out with a new book or module, they print (let's say) 10,000 of them. They know that 5,000 people have subscribed, so those are guaranteed sales. Another (let's say) 3,000 go to the distributors and get put on sale in your friendly local gaming store.

That leaves 2,000 in the warehouse. Those may sit there for years, depending on demand. If a bunch of gaming shops sell out, the distributor may ask for a few hundred more, but that's a bit unusual. Most of these are going to be sold gradually, over time, to people ordering off the Paizo site. If they sell a hundred per month, then in 20 months they'll run out. If they sell only ten per month, then their supply will last for many years. They almost never do reprints (there are a few exceptions, which people have cited in this thread) so once stuff is gone, it's gone.

TLDR: Paizo doesn't really control how long stuff stays in print. Strange but true.

Doug M.

Yeah, Paizo controls how many units they print -- and they do take their best guess at having product available for several years, after all it benefits no one to sell out product in six months -- but really, it's the buyers who control how long that x amount takes to sell out.

So what Flynn is asking for pretty much already happens, with the exception that when Paizo is taking to their printer they have to request a print run of, say, 4000 or 7000 copies as opposed to "4-7 years" (a printer wouldn't know what to do with the latter figure). Paizo makes their best guess at how many units would correspond to the product selling out in a few years, and they request that print run. Then, they announce when it's nearing the end. So really, what's being asked for already happens, within the bounds of realism.

I'm guessing there's some confusion over what "in print" means. In reality it tends to mean Paizo still have some left from the initial (often sole) print run that they can send out, not that "they're still printing it.", as clarified in the previous couple of posts.

The majority of Paizo paperbacks are "magazines by another name", in that (last I heard) they were still under the terms of their agreement with WotC not to produce any magazines (I believe a non-compete clause from their days making Dragon, Dungeon, and/or the Star Wars mag), hence we get the monthly AP format, with article-like entries for fiction, monsters, locations alongside the adventure itself, printed on real paper instead of magazine stock and minus ads, allowing it to avoid being classified as a magazine. Then we get the (collection of articles on a new player option compiled into a single volume) Player Companions. They're not really intended to be a part of the "must have" core game like the hardback rulebooks, just a resource of additional options you can draw from, with a couple of exceptions.

Missing a Pathfinder AP series is no different to missing a few issues of Dungeon magazine back in the day. Missing a Player Companion is generally like missing a few Dragon articles. A few overly-OCD players may end up avoiding the game because of it, the majority don't mind (obviously, or the game would currently be selling like chocolate fireguards.) I think those few that miss out are acceptable casualties, considering what would be necessary to get their custom (and the rising cost to the rest of us to implement it, resulting in Paizo likely losing more customers than it gains if it were to go that particular route.)

Once you understand the realities of book publishing, it's pretty easy to see how impractical keeping the entire range in print constantly would be - every year there'd be a larger and larger back catalog to worry about, meaning more and more reprints having to fit in alongside shipments of current books from the printers, more and more warehouse space to keep them all in.

The majority of Paizo paperbacks are "magazines by another name", in that (last I heard) they were still under the terms of their agreement with WotC not to produce any magazines (I believe a non-compete clause from their days making Dragon, Dungeon, and/or the Star Wars mag)

Nope, we are not under a non-compete. The only reason we don't do magazines any longer is because they are a really bad business. For details, search for my Auntie Lisa's Story Hour blogs and read the one that goes into detail about why the magazine business is one of the worst businesses in the world.

-Lisa

Looks like the one regarding the magazine business is here, though really, the whole series is a great read. :D

In the end this is not economically a sound decision and i know im not alone in this... spoiler alert printed in china.

Hmmm the fact this is the model they have been running from the start and they are still here would indicate otherwise. So excuse me if I take the word of the still going strong company over some random voice on the internet.

Nope, we are not under a non-compete. The only reason we don't do magazines any longer is because they are a really bad business. For details, search for my Auntie Lisa's Story Hour blogs and read the one that goes into detail about why the magazine business is one of the worst businesses in the world.

-Lisa

Looks like the one regarding the magazine business is here, though really, the whole series is a great read. :D

Oh, cool! And sorry for giving the wrong impression on the magazine thing then, I have no idea how I managed to get that into my head.

GameMastery Flip-Mat: Village Square is now sold out in print (so happy to have picked it up in time), so it should be crossed out, if you are still going to update this for a bit...

GameMastery Flip-Mat: Village Square is now sold out in print (so happy to have picked it up in time), so it should be crossed out, if you are still going to update this for a bit...

Crossed that one out along with a few more...

Just waiting for the first Mummy to ship so I can order some of these with the Pathfinder Advantage...

Just waiting for the first Mummy to ship so I can order some of these with the Pathfinder Advantage...

I believe you should be able to add items to the sidecart so they ship along with your first subscription shipment with the pathfinder advantage applied, but it's worth asking in the CS thread to make 100% certain.

To qualify for the Pathfinder Advantage, the most recent volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path must have been shipped to you (or, if you have multiple subscriptions with combined shipments, the most recent volume must be waiting to ship with your other subscription products). Any items ordered at the same time as your subscription, and any orders placed before that volume is shipped, do not qualify for the discount.

Quote:

To qualify for the Pathfinder Advantage, the most recent volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path must have been shipped to you (or, if you have multiple subscriptions with combined shipments, the most recent volume must be waiting to ship with your other subscription products). Any items ordered at the same time as your subscription, and any orders placed before that volume is shipped, do not qualify for the discount.

Yeah. I've seen that too, but I've also seen someone from CS telling someone to sidecart things (because that doesn't place the "real" order into the system until the subscription run) and it'll work ;) It's worth double-checking.

Just another comment to add to the mix, but Paizo does a pretty good job of reprinting AP and companion content in other sources, rather than just whole scale reprinting APs

Inner Sea Gods will compile and updates all the AP articles on the core deities (and I am guessing a lot of stuff from the books of the damned, etc.)

A good chunk of every bestiary are monsters that previously debuted in campaign setting or AP books.

Ultimate Campaign collates and updates a lot of rules systems from previous books (Kingdom building, mass warfare, etc).

So really...only the actual adventures run the risk of disappearing forever. Anything not specific to that game shares a fair chance of showing up somewhere else down the road.

Just another comment to add to the mix, but Paizo does a pretty good job of reprinting AP and companion content in other sources, rather than just whole scale reprinting APs

Inner Sea Gods will compile and updates all the AP articles on the core deities (and I am guessing a lot of stuff from the books of the damned, etc.)

A good chunk of every bestiary are monsters that previously debuted in campaign setting or AP books.

Ultimate Campaign collates and updates a lot of rules systems from previous books (Kingdom building, mass warfare, etc).

So really...only the actual adventures run the risk of disappearing forever. Anything not specific to that game shares a fair chance of showing up somewhere else down the road.

As someone coming late to the game, I am glad that much scattered throughout the APs, etc. will be eventually collated into the hardcovers. But, I am even more glad that thanks to PDFs, none of the adventures (APs/modules/scenarios, at least) won't vanish. AFAIK, only the card decks (some of which do get reprinted/revamped) and Compleat Encounters are in true danger of disappearance.

Looks like I'm one of the last guys to get Kingmaker 4. Print version is now unavailable after I ordered it.