[SJG/Pyramid] Pyramid to shut down at year's end :(

[Harl Quinn]

It's a sad day. I just found out that Steve Jackson Games is going to be shutting down Pyramid Magazine at the end of December.

Here's Steven Marsh's announcement:

As recently announced, we are focusing on our core games and adapting our operations to better fit today's shifting market. As part of the change in our schedule, we are closing down Pyramid magazine later this year. The December 2018 issue will be the final issue of the magazine, and effective immediately, we are no longer accepting subscriptions.

Existing subscribers, in January 2019, will be given the choice of a refund (delivered by check) for unfulfilled issues or, if they wish, two times the refund value in Warehouse 23 credit. Each subscriber will receive an email late this year with instructions on how to claim their refund or store credit.

Closing down Pyramid will give our team more time to spend on the GURPS game, producing more PDFs and bringing more out-of-print GURPS books back to print through the GURPS On Demand program. Additionally, this will give the team time to explore the thousands of Pyramid articles that we have published since 1993 and select the best works that are worthy of compilation, expansion, and update to the GURPS 4th edition rules.

Thank you for years of support. We will miss Pyramid, but there's nothing stopping us from bringing the magazine back when the market changes again. Steve Jackson Games has been here for decades, and we will continue to do what we need to do to publish games for many years to come.

There's a few posts in the thread from the standard "doom and gloom" and "ZOMG!" panic crowd, but for the most part it's pretty calm.

I have to admit that although I'm not a GURPS GM, I do own a couple issues of Pyramid from my days as an In Nomine fan. It's sad to see Pyramid fade into the west, but it's part of the nature of the industry and market. For anyone who's needing or wanting to know, only volumes 1 and 3 of Pyramid are on e23. Kromm, the GURPS line editor noted:

The difference is that Volume 2 of Pyramid was not a series of discrete products with product numbers, sold individually; it was a horde of html documents that subscribers could see and non-subscribers could not see on an all-or-nothing basis. Just as issues of Volume 1 were sold individually on paper and are now available as individual PDFs, issues of Volume 3 were sold individually as PDFs and will continue to be sold that way. Volume 2 was a victim of its medium; Marshall McLuhan would feel vindicated.

Despite Pyramid closing, it's good to know that GURPS is going to benefit from some added attention and energy as I do enjoy using the books as references for other games.

 

[Ulairi]

I’m sad it’s gone because I love the format so much. I am to the point of my life where I want more “powered by GURPS” than more options to build with.


I hope they bring it back. And they should Kickstart the magazine and I would have continued or paid more.

 

[Edgewise]

I wonder if Warehouse 23 is next. The way they've been dumping their old catalog on DriveThru in the last year points in that direction.

 

[Ulairi]

I wonder if Warehouse 23 is next. The way they've been dumping their old catalog on DriveThru in the last year points in that direction.

I hope not but I also hope so. It is more convenient to have everything in one place but I don’t want OBS to have so much market power.

 

[Lunar Ronin]

I wonder if Warehouse 23 is next. The way they've been dumping their old catalog on DriveThru in the last year points in that direction.

The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter said that all PDF fulfillment will be done via Warehouse 23, so probably not.

 

[Ras Algethi]

The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter said that all PDF fulfillment will be done via Warehouse 23, so probably not.

That's good to know. I'd hate to lose the stuff I have through them.

 

[Bunch]

That's good to know. I'd hate to lose the stuff I have through them.

I would imagine they would just shift it over.

 

[Voros]

I didn’t know this even existed still so I think it was only of interest to the GURPS faithful whereas a new GURPS supplement of the quality of Cops or what have would be more likely to attract outside interest.

 

[David Johansen]

I've never really liked Pyramid or considered it anything more than effort doodling in the margins that could have been put into more directed and focused content. I'm not saying there isn't a place for a GURPS fanzine full of optional rules and ideas, but SJG's time and effort could be better spent getting Vehicles and a Bestiary out.

 

[opaopajr]

... I'm still stuck on my "SJ is readying to retire," theory. It's OK, he had a good run. Maybe none of his protégés worked out? Or difficulty letting go of the steering wheel?

I'm probably wrong according more knowledgeable fans, though.

 

[Ladybird]

The solution to volume 2 of the magazine having only been available online ("Bundle up the articles into arbitrary blocks, export to PDF, sell") seems so obvious that there must be some big reason why they haven't done it.

Maybe the prep work is just more expensive than they think they'd be able to get for them.

 

[David Johansen]

It just doesn't make enough money to justify more manpower.

Steve Jackson's left the company to do other things at least once I can think of but really, when it comes to GURPS I don't think he's written for it in a long time. Like, before third edition long time. Really it must wear on him, everyone looking at his masterpiece rpg and asking why they can't have TFT.