Pyramid (magazine)

Pyramid
Issue 1, 1993
CategoriesGaming
PublisherSteve Jackson Games
Founded1993
First issue1993; 33 years ago (1993)
Final issue
Number
December 2018
Volume 3, 122
CountryUnited States
Based inAustin, Texas
LanguageEnglish

Pyramid was a US gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. It began in 1993 as a print publication of Steve Jackson Games for its first 30 issues, and was published on the Internet from March 1998. Print issues were bimonthly; the first online version published new articles each week; the second online version was monthly, published until December 2018. Pyramid was headquartered in Austin, Texas. It replaced Steve Jackson Games' previous magazine Roleplayer.

Pyramid published general gaming articles by freelance authors, as well as Designer's Notes by Steve Jackson Games product developers, industry news, cartoons, and gaming product reviews. Although articles tended to concentrate on Steve Jackson Games products such as GURPS, it published articles on other games such as d20 System, Talisman, Nobilis, Hero System, and published various comic strips and single-panel cartoons. Steve Jackson Games also briefly published another online magazine, d20 Weekly for several months using a very similar model to that of Pyramid. However, the venture was not a success, and was eventually folded into a slightly expanded Pyramid.

The online subscription system used for Pyramid also granted access to subscriber forums, a dedicated chat server, and occasional pre-publication playtest material for Steve Jackson Games and other companies' products. In 2008 this was changed: Pyramid became available as a PDF download from e23 (online service), and the subscriber forums were discontinued.

In late 2018, it was announced on the Pyramid page of the Steven Jackson Games website that "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."

Publication history

Shannon Appelcline noted that Steve Jackson Games stopped publishing Roleplayer magazine with issue #30 in 1993, "but only so that Steve Jackson Games could start a new magazine. Pyramid debuted in May 1993. It was an ironic return to the generalist magazine industry—though it also promised to incorporate the SJG material that had once been printed in Autoduel Quarterly and Roleplayer." Appelcline noted that the magazine covered SJG games including Car Wars, but covered GURPS so strongly that "SJG always had problems selling Pyramid as a non-house organ. Contrariwise Car Wars quickly faded away. The new magazine also looked quite nice, with glossy pages and some full color pages—luxuries that Space Gamer had enjoyed only briefly. It soon became entirely color, as SJG's star continued to rise over the next few years." Appelcline concluded that Steve Jackson Games began "having concerns over the profitability of publishing a generalist magazine. They finished up Pyramid's print run with #30 (March/April 1998), and began publishing 'volume two' of Pyramid as an online, weekly, subscription-based magazine and were able to successfully do so for 10 years.": 46–48  Appelcline also noted that as the company was moving to PDF publications, Steve Jackson Games ended the HTML second volume of Pyramid and reinvented it in 2008 as a PDF-only third volume of Pyramid.: 54–55 

Editors

Awards

List of issues

Volume 1

the printed version, retroactively referred to as Pyramid Classic:

Volume 2

There are 1877 samples of articles released in it.[dead link]

Issues:

Articles:

Volume 3

Reviews

References

  1. ↑ "Pyramid Writer's Guidelines". SJ Games. June 18, 2010. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Pyramid – the Best in Gaming". Archived from the original on January 16, 2005. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '80s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-081-6.
  4. ↑ "The 2000 Origins Awards". December 16, 2012. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Ci siamo spostati!". www.gamingreport.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2006.
  6. ↑ "2004 Origins Awards". Archived from the original on July 18, 2006.
  7. ↑ "Warehouse 23 - Pyramid Classic #01". Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Warehouse 23 - Pyramid Classic #30".
  9. ↑ "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Hercules & Xena". Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  10. ↑ "A Minor Emergency: A GURPS Black Ops Adventure by Gene Seabolt". Pyramid #28. Archived from the original on July 27, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Electronic Gaming News". Pyramid #28. Archived from the original on June 28, 2004.
  12. ↑ "The Cursed Sword of Hsima: by Steven W. Disbrow". Pyramid #28. Archived from the original on June 28, 2004.
  13. ↑ Mike Montesa. "Autoduel Japan". Pyramid #30. Archived from the original on June 28, 2004.
  14. ↑ Hite, Kenneth (August 13, 1999). "Suppressed Transmission: Crisis on Alternate Earths". Archived from the original on April 24, 2013.
  15. ↑ Pinto, KT (March 1, 2002). "When Good LARPers Go Bad". Archived from the original on October 17, 2007.
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