Contributor
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Alright, I'm not here to criticize, I'm here to offer suggestions and solutions.
Like everyone else, I felt punched in the gut when I read the announcement yesterday. I immediately decided to subscribe to Pathfinder to support Paizo who I feel are getting the short end of the stick.
Then I saw the price. Ouch. The subscriber discount makes it tolerable, for a cause. $5 shipping per issue to Canada and then I paused again.
I will subscribe and give it a chance. My wife won't be happy, but I'll work it out. But I can't do it long-term with the proposed set up.
Here's the problem. My group alternates campaigns and DMs. I am lucky in that we play every week for 3-4 hours. I know a lot of players who don't play nearly that much, especially in my demographic (mid-thirties, married with kids). My brother is running age of worms, I think we're about half done, and I'm running Ptolus. I'm looking forward to starting the Savage Tide sometime in, oh 2008 probably. By that time I will also have the entire Rise of the Runelords on the backburner, along with whatever else comes along, and probably still have a lot to do in my Ptolus campaign. And at that point I'll be looking at paying for the next Adventure Path. I'll have so much material that I won't be able to justify it.
Now, I know that I can use it by ripping off bits to stick in my existing campaigns. In fact, I do that a LOT. But not so much when I have it in my head that I may run it as a complete campaign some day. And did I say, by the way, that I LOVE that Paizo is producing entire ready-to-go campaigns? Because it's about the awesomist thing ever. But when I have two and a half campaigns lined up, I don't need more. Unless I'm getting something else with it.
The reason the adventure paths work is that they give readers a reason to be consistant in purchasing. But we also want those other adventures that we don't mind plundering for our existing campaigns.
So instead I could just buy some of the Gamemastery stand-alones. And I might, but not regularly. And I'll be more picky about them.
All this to really say two things, both of which have been said before, more than once.
1) The price is on the high side for a monthly subscription. The shipping takes it over the top. My suggestion is offer a cheaper shipping option, especially for foreign subscribers. As an additional note, I have frequently cancelled my Paizo Shopping Cart when I got to the part where it adds the shipping. Especially because I will also pay import duty on it when it gets here. It might sound crazy, but with admin fees that might be an extra $8 per issue of Pathfinder.
2) The campaigns will come out too fast to justify buying them consistantly when they are arriving faster than they can be run. Especially at that price. I suggest having two (or three) adventures per issue, with at least one being a stand alone.
And now I'll add a third:
3) Set all of the adventures in Pathfinder in the same setting, whether stand-alone or Adventure Path. Do the same for future Game Mastery adventures. Soon you will have a setting product line with an established audience.
Craig Shackleton,
The Rambling Scribe
I share some of your sentiments. Our group is small and slow and we can barely get through a year long AP in less than 18 months. Now the AP will be coming at twice that rate. I subscribed to Dungeon and bought Dragon at the store about half the year, so the price difference between Pathfinder and what I'm used to isn't that much. Can I justify spending the bucks for stuff we undoubtedly will never get around to using? I'm leery, but I'm onboard for now. Maybe I'll be impressed enough to continue subscribing just to collect them. A guy has to have some hobbies, right?
Chief Technical Officer
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My suggestion is offer a cheaper shipping option, especially for foreign subscribers.
Well, have a look in your FLGS when you see it, and decide what it's worth to you then. (And note that even with $5 shipping per issue, the month-to-month sub is still less than retail price. And you get a free PDF.) By the way, $5 is actually *very* fair, since a Pathfinder shipment will come in at just over 14 ounces. After a pending rate increase in May, the USPS will be charging $4.60 just to deliver that package within the US. Fortunately, we have a volume deal that lets us get that down to $4 for the US and $5 worldwide.
I suggest having two (or three) adventures per issue, with at least one being a stand alone.
If you want standalone adventures, we've got the GameMastery Modules line for you.
Set all of the adventures in Pathfinder in the same setting, whether stand-alone or Adventure Path. Do the same for future Game Mastery adventures. Soon you will have a setting product line with an established audience.
That is indeed the plan.
