Bard of Valiant

At one time, Steve Jackson Games published an online ‘zine, Pyramid. The subscription model was $20/year for 3-4 articles a week accessible via html pages. Recently, they changed it to a PDF released once a month at $7.99 each. There are several subscription models where buying more issues reduces the price (12 months costs $70, or $5.83 an issue).

First, I’m telling you right off the bat – I’m a former customer of the previous subscription and not happy with the new scheme. That said, Pyramid writers are absolutely top-notch guys who know their stuff and write very, very well. If you are a true GURPS fan, this magazine is definitely for you.

However, this article  is about why I think most people are better off buying something else.

When they converted to the new model, existing subscribers received 6 issues of the new magazine. So, now that we’re up to issue number 5 I’ve seen a few of them and have a feel for how they’re being written and I’m not happy.

Problem #1 Each issue is themed. This means if you don’t like the theme or run games centered mostly around a certain genre, about half of what they print is going to be useless. To give you an idea, the first 5 issue themes were:

• Wizards
• Superheroes
• Post-Apocalypse
• Battelfield Magic
• Horror & Spies

Problem #2 Price. At $7.99 an issue for a 40-45 page PDF only magazine, it’s too expensive. In contrast, Kobold Quarterly has half-again the pages (71, including covers) at $5.99 for their PDF version and will mail you a paper copy for $7.99.

I’d honestly expect better pricing from a company that does as much business as Steve Jackson Games.

Problem #3 Layout. Now, I haven’t seen many copies of other gaming magazines at this point, most of them being priced for “hobbies” and out of my reach so the layout of the new Pyramid might be standard for the industry. But in the 41 pages of Issue #5: Horror & Spies, about 5-6 pages were taken up by artwork, heading for articles, advertising and other “eye-candy”, leaving only 35-36 pages of actual content.

So buying it means paying eight dollars for a magazine that’s essentially less than 40 pages long.

Add to that, the layout is somewhat amateurish. I’m reminded of PDF’s I’ve created personally. It’s possible you wouldn’t mind paying that much for professional, well-done graphics but these ain’t it.

Recommendation

You might want to keep an eye out at E23, the SJG online store and see if they come out with an issue that piques your interest enough but otherwise, I recommend spending that cash elsewhere.