Pyramid (magazine)

Pyramid was a gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. It began life in 1993 as a print publication of Steve Jackson Games for its first 30 issues, though it has been published on the Internet since March 1998. Print issues were bimonthly; the first online version published new articles each week; the second online version is monthly. "Pyramid" is headquartered in Austin, Texas. It replaced Steve Jackson Games' previous magazine "Roleplayer".
"Pyramid" features 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 tend to concentrate on Steve Jackson Games products such as "GURPS", it has published articles on other games such as "d20 System", "Talisman", "Nobilis", "Hero System", and has featured various comic strips and single-panel cartoons (currently "Murphy's Rules"). 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 is available as a PDF download from e23 (online service), and the subscriber forums have been discontinued. Access to playtest material is contingent on participation in an actual playtest.
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 "Roleplayer" magazine ceased publication 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 its own 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 then did something unprecedented: they began publishing 'volume two' of "Pyramid" as an online, weekly, subscription-based magazine and were able to successfully do so for 10 years." He also noted that as the company was moving to PDF technology, Steve Jackson Games ended the HTML second volume of "Pyramid" and reinvented it in 2008 as a PDF-only third volume of "Pyramid".
List of issues.
Volume 2.
There are 1877 samples of articles released in it.
Issues:
Articles: