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 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." 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.
Editors Derek Pearcy—Print issues 1–2. Jeff Koke—Print issues 3–4. Scott Haring—Print issues 5–30. Online edition March 1998 – February 2000. S. John Ross—Online edition 1998. Steven Marsh—Online edition February 2000 – December 2018.
Awards 2001: Origins Award Best Professional Game Magazine of 2000 2004: Origins Award Gamer's Choice: Best Electronic Product of 2003 2005: Origins Award Best Non Fiction Publication of 2004
List of issues
Volume 1 the printed version, retroactively referred to as Pyramid Classic: 01: May–June 1993 30: March 1998, same cover art as GURPS Wizards
Volume 2 There are 1877 samples of articles released in it.
Issues: 001: April 1998 558: November 2008
Articles: 1: A Minor Emergency 7: Electronic Gaming News 8: Warehouse 23 91: Autoduel Japan 1002: Suppressed Transmission published August 13, 1999 2630: When Good LARPers Go Bad published March 1, 2002
Volume 3 01: Tools of the Trade - Wizards, November 2008 02: Looks Like a Job for . . . Superheroes, December 2008 03: Venturing Into the Badlands - Post Apocalypse, January 2009Preview warehouse23.com 04: Magic on the Battlefield, February 2009 05: Horror & Spies, March 2009 06: Space Colony Alpha, April 2009 07: Urban Fantasy, May 2009 08: Cliffhangers, June 2009 09: Space Opera, July 2009Preview warehouse23.com 10: Crime and Grime, August 2009 11: Cinematic Locations, September 2009 12: Tech and Toys, October 2009 13: Thaumatology, November 2009 14: Martial Arts December 2009 15: Transhuman Space, January 2010 16: Historical Exploration, February 2010 17: Modern Exploration, March 2010 18: Space Exploration, April 2010 19: Tools of the Trade: Clerics, May 2010 20: Infinite Worlds, June 2010 21: Cyberpunk, July 2010Preview warehouse23.com 22: Banestorm, August 2010 23: Action Adventures, September 2010 24: Bio-Tech, October 2010Preview warehouse23.com 25: Epic Magic, November 2010 26, Underwater Adventures, December 2010 27: Monsters in Space, January 2011Preview warehouse23.com 28: Thaumatology II, February 2011 29: Psionics, March 2011 30: Spaceships, April 2011Preview warehouse23.com 31: Monster Hunters, May 2011 32: Fears of Days Past, June 2011 33: Low-Tech, July 2011 34: Alternate GURPS, August 2011 35: Aliens, September 2011Preview warehouse23.com 36: Dungeon Fantasy, October 2011 37: Tech and Toys II, November 2011Preview warehouse23.com 38: The Power of Myth, December 2011 39: Steampunk, January 2012 40: Vehicles, February 2012Preview warehouse23.com 41: Fantasy World Building, March 2012 42: Noir, April 2012 43: Thaumatology III, May 2012 44: Alternate GURPS II, June 2012 45: Monsters, July 2012 46: Weird Science, August 2012Preview warehouse23.com 47: The Rogue's Life, September 2012 48: Secret Magic, October 2012 49: World-Hopping, November 2012Preview warehouse23.com 50: Dungeon Fantasy II, December 2012 51: Tech and Toys III, January 2013Preview warehouse23.com 52: Low-Tech II, February 2012 53: Action, March 2012 54: Social Engineering, April 2013Preview warehouse23.com 55: Military Sci-Fi, May 2013Preview warehouse23.com 56: Prehistory, June 2013 57: Gunplay, July 2013 58: Urban Fantasy II, August 2013 59: Conspiracies, September 2013 60: Dungeon Fantasy III, October 2013 61: Way of the Warrior, November 2013 62: Transhuman Space II, December 2013Preview warehouse23.com 63: Infinite Worlds II, January 2014 64: Pirates and Swashbucklers, February 2014 65: Alternate GURPS III, March 2014Preview warehouse23.com 66: The Laws of Magic, April 2014Preview warehouse23.com 67: Tools of the Trade: Villains, May 2014 68: Natural Magic, June 2014 69: Psionics II, July 2014 70: Fourth Edition Festival, August 2014 71: Spaceships II, September 2014Preview warehouse23.com 72: Alternate Dungeons, October 2014 73: Monster Hunters II, November 2014 74: Wild West, December 2014 75: Hero's Jackpot, January 2015Preview warehouse23.com 76: Dungeon Fantasy IV, February 2014 77: Combat, March 2015Preview warehouse23.com 78: Unleash Your Soul, April 2014 79: Space Atlas, May 2015Preview warehouse23.com 80: Fantasy Threats, June 2015 81: Horrific Creations, July 2015 82: Magical Creations, August 2015 83: Alternate GURPS IV, September 2015 84: Perspectives, October 2015 85: Cutting Edge, November 2015 86: Organizations, December 2015 87: Low-Tech III, January 2016 88: The End Is Nigh, February 2016Preview warehouse23.com 89: Alternate Dungeons II, March 2016 90: After the End, April 2016 91: Thaumatology IV, May 2016 92: Zombies, June 2016 93: Cops and Lawyers, July 2016 94: Spaceships III, August 2016 95: Overland Adventures, September 2016 96: Tech and Toys IV, October 2016 97: Strange Powers, November 2016 98: Welcome to Dungeon Fantasy, December 2016 99: Death and Beyond, January 2017 100: Pyramid Secrets, February 2017 101: Humor, March 2017 102: Epic, April 2017 103: Setbacks, May 2017 104: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, June 2017 105: Cinematic Magic, July 2017 106: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game II, August 2017 107: Monster Hunters III, September 2017 108: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game II, October 2017 109: Thaumatology V, November 2017 110: Deep Space, December 2017 111: Combat II, January 2018 112: Action II, February 2018 113: Dungeon Fantasies, March 2018 114: Mind Over Magic, April 2018 115: Technomancer, May 2018 116: Locations, June 2018 117: Hot Spots, July 2018 118: Dungeon Trips, August 2018 119: After the End II, September 2018 120: Alternate GURPS V, October 2018 121: Travels and Tribulations, November 2018 122: All Good Things, December 2018
Reviews Dragon #212 (December 1994) p94
References
External links