Hero Games down to one person

James Gillen · November 30, 2011, 03:16:17 AM

Quote from: The_Shadow;492467Somewhat overdramatic, but yeah. The hobby lives on and thank god for pdf and POD technology. In 50 years the curious will still be able to get this stuff for cheap.

You kids and your "I Pod" technology. I still have vinyl records and I like them.

JG

arminius · November 30, 2011, 04:16:26 AM

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;492460I got the impression there are two Steves--no?

I guess not.

Claudius · November 30, 2011, 05:07:48 AM

Quote from: The_Shadow;492467The hobby lives on and thank god for pdf and POD technology.

I think PDFs and POD were the best thing that happened to the RPG industry in the last times. Without them, the industry would be in a far worse place.

Kaldric · November 30, 2011, 06:25:54 AM

I think the industry would do pretty well as a true cottage industry.

Or for that matter, no industry at all. Nobody has to make money on it for it to be a viable hobby. Lots of people put out interesting and useful material for free - because they see it as part of the hobby to share their rules, settings, etc.

Claudius · November 30, 2011, 06:46:17 AM

Quote from: Kaldric;492807I think the industry would do pretty well as a true cottage industry.

Or for that matter, no industry at all. Nobody has to make money on it for it to be a viable hobby. Lots of people put out interesting and useful material for free - because they see it as part of the hobby to share their rules, settings, etc.

If the industry disappeared, the hobby would shrink like a lot. We are so used to the internet that we forget that to a lot of people, if you can't find a game in a store, it doesn't exist.

Kaldric · November 30, 2011, 07:22:13 AM

I'm not sure what the point of the hobby being big actually is. If I don't have enough players for my game (which has been out of print for 20 years now), I go convince newbies to try it (which is actually easier than trying to convince a gamer who's been brought in to the hobby by marketing - they tend to be brand/system loyal) - so it's not a matter of not having people to play with.

Bedrockbrendan · November 30, 2011, 07:50:04 AM

Quote from: Kaldric;492818I'm not sure what the point of the hobby being big actually is. If I don't have enough players for my game (which has been out of print for 20 years now), I go convince newbies to try it (which is actually easier than trying to convince a gamer who's been brought in to the hobby by marketing - they tend to be brand/system loyal) - so it's not a matter of not having people to play with.

I think the benefit of the hobby being big is more people to play with and more high quality products on the market. I guess the downside is it could push the hobby in directions current gamers might not like (I could see them making the rules more friendly to a general audience in a way that has less appeal to hardcore rpg players).

estar · November 30, 2011, 08:42:57 AM

Quote from: Kaldric;492818I'm not sure what the point of the hobby being big actually is. If I don't have enough players for my game (which has been out of print for 20 years now), I go convince newbies to try it (which is actually easier than trying to convince a gamer who's been brought in to the hobby by marketing - they tend to be brand/system loyal) - so it's not a matter of not having people to play with.

My experience mirrors yours.

At the table the RPGs has always depended on quality referees. If the industry can get gamers excited about refereeing RPGs along with an effective way to teach these gamers to be good referee things would be a lot better. Probably not a boom but neither would it be have the aura of decline.

Aos · November 30, 2011, 10:51:08 AM

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;492824I guess the downside is it could push the hobby in directions current gamers might not like.

Any direction is this direction.

Lord Hobie · November 30, 2011, 12:00:55 PM

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;492781I guess not.

You may be referring to Steve Peterson (one of the creators of Champions with George MacDonald); Peterson hasn't had anything to do with Hero Games for years.

Lord Hobie

arminius · November 30, 2011, 01:49:03 PM

No, I was just misled by the fact that "Steve" was leaving but "Steve" would keep answering questions. Also by my assumption that Steve Long was the writer of the notice.

I'm sure there are people who know the details better than I do but my guess is that Steve Long bought Hero, then Cryptic bought it and kept him as an employee, then they laid him off. But he's apparently going to continue handling Q&A for free.

Novastar · November 30, 2011, 04:28:17 PM

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;492887I'm sure there are people who know the details better than I do but my guess is that Steve Long bought Hero, then Cryptic bought it and kept him as an employee, then they laid him off. But he's apparently going to continue handling Q&A for free.

IIRC, Cryptic bought the IP, then leased it back to HERO games for $1.

Quote from: wikipediaOn February 28, 2008, Cryptic announced they had purchased the entire Champions intellectual property, licensing the rights to publish the 6th edition back to former owner Hero Games.

arminius · November 30, 2011, 05:08:44 PM

Thanks. What I still don't quite get: I thought Steve Long was part-owner of Hero Games.

danbuter · November 30, 2011, 05:26:17 PM

Maybe that changed. It's not like they're going to tell us the details of the money.

daniel_ream · November 30, 2011, 06:18:07 PM

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;492926Thanks. What I still don't quite get: I thought Steve Long was part-owner of Hero Games.

Owning the company doesn't mean you own the IP though. The IP is a product you can sell or lease.

Novastar, I know about the IP deal, it's just that I don't think that the Champions Universe has ever really had much value as IP. The characters in it aren't very original and there's no great plotlines to mine. It's just a bunch of background snippets scattered through sourcebooks and kept deliberately vague so GMs can insert their own ideas. I can't see any reason Cryptic would go after it - rather than developing it in house or hiring some actual comics writers - unless there was a fan on staff.