A rave about Hero

[Mr. R]

I am not sure if this is the place for it.

I was at my FLGS (actually the OLGS*) picking up Pulp Hero and telling the owner that I'll be placing orders in soon because new things will coming out soon.

His comment was something along the line of "Yeah they seem to have a pretty good product list and get their stuff out in time, better than most like Palladium." Now this guy is not a Hero enthusiast, but he did compliment the company on its consistancy.

SOOOOO!!! GOOD JOB!!! Take a bow you've earned it.

Jerome

[Sean Waters]

Go Hero, go Hero!

:D

[Dust Raven]

What does "better than most like Palladium" mean? If he's saying we're on par with Palladium I'm not sure if that's a compliment. If he's saying we're better than Palladium, I'm also not sure if that's a compliment. :cool: Then again, '"better than most" is still "better than most." :D

[Lord Liaden]

I think "rave" might be a bit strong to apply to the conversation you describe ;) , but it's always nice to hear that the professionalism of the current Hero Games management is recognized. :)

[gojira]

Maybe better than most "independent" gaming companies? Hero is small enough to qualify as indy in the minds of many, imo.

OTOH, "better than Palladium" does sound like a backhanded compliment. :p

Oh well, go Hero. :D

[archermoo]

Maybe better than most "independent" gaming companies? Hero is small enough to qualify as indy in the minds of many, imo.

OTOH, "better than Palladium" does sound like a backhanded compliment. :p

Oh well, go Hero. :D

So how big do you have to be to no longer be an "independent"? Or, to turn it around, how small do you have to be to still be considered an "independent"?

[Thia Halmades]

What, the core is:

Darren, Steve, Tina, Andy, Ben, Dan? I know I haven't been around that long but those seem to be the "Elite Six" who run things. That's a small company by ANYONE'S definition. I would say that despite Steve & Darren's absurdly prolific speed, that's independent.

I need a way to convert the Heathens, dammit.

[Diamond Spear]

Saying that HERO puts out books on time in much the same way that Palladium doesn’t is a bit like saying that Charles Manson is less likable than the Menendez brothers. It’s true but just fails to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. :)

[archermoo]

What, the core is:

Darren, Steve, Tina, Andy, Ben, Dan? I know I haven't been around that long but those seem to be the "Elite Six" who run things. That's a small company by ANYONE'S definition. I would say that despite Steve & Darren's absurdly prolific speed, that's independent.

I need a way to convert the Heathens, dammit.

And actually Dan doesn't work for Hero. He was contracted to make HD, and he hosts their web site (including these forums), but last I checked he isn't a Hero employee.

And I don't necessarily disagree that they qualify as independent, I'm just curious where the line is. :) Or I suppose another way of looking at it is, who doesn't qualify as "independent"?

[Thia Halmades]

That's easy. WOTC. :D Anything else is probably up for grabs.

[gojira]

That's easy. WOTC. :D Anything else is probably up for grabs.

That's pretty much how I feel, actually. WotC is so large they make everyone else "indie" by default. It's not even a standard market situation where WotC is the market gorilla and there are sever smaller chimp players, it's something more. WotC is super-gorilla or something, and the rest are barely lemurs.

I think one definition of indie is that the market leader (WotC) could affored to buy you for basically one or two months revenue. Another might be "less than 10 full-time employees." That's where I feel the indie line is.

Kinda like Apple Computer during the early 1990's. They basically survived on loyalty of their customers and nothing else. Microsoft could have wiped them out any time it chose to.

[Thia Halmades]

Actually, it tried, but Jobs kept saying "Nah, we're good." Bill was a prick, even then. But a very talented, very successful one. His whole purchase of MS, IIRC, was fairly shady. WotC could, with minimal effort, throw money at the problem and make HERO "go away" but I'm assuming DW & SSL won't let that happen anytime soon.

I'm just curious if this dip in the RPG market is going to correct itself. I had actually hoped (though not believed) that games like EverQrack and World of WarCrack would have a positive impact on RPG sales. If they have, it isn't showing. Or, it's only showing in a specific market for the company who owns those licenses.

Three guesses, kids.*

*Pardon. I can't seem to find a link to them on Amazon at the moment, nor can I find them at the WotC site. I may simply be confusing "license" for OGL, which happens, though I was fairly certain they were Hasbro products. No misinformation intended.