Why We're Creating The 6th Edition -- Please Read Before Posting

[Steve Long]

Many fans are likely to ask “Why now for 6E?” or “Is 6E really necessary?”. We definitely think the time has come for 6E, and that having a Sixth Edition will make our products better and our fans’ gaming experiences better. We have two main reasons for this:

1. We can make the game better.

We have six years more experience at the job of writing and designing RPGs than we did when 5E came out, and six years more experience at layout, presentation, marketing, and the like. When I wrote the 5E manuscript I had explicit instructions about what I could and could not change, regardless of my own personal feelings on the matter, and I stuck to those instructions. When we published 5E we decided to stay that course rather than have me go back and rework things from the beginning to be more in tune with what I would have preferred to do. Now I have the opportunity to re-examine the HERO System from the ground up and make any changes I think are necessary, regardless of how “radical” they might be.

Beyond that, there’s the simple fact that we (and you) have six years more experience at thinking about and using the HERO System. We’ve published thousands of pages of new material for the HERO System, and that’s led to all sorts of ideas about improvements, additions, expansions, variants, and revisions that are worth including in the core rules. The time has come to make those improvements official.

2. To take advantage of the opportunities presented by the release of the CHAMPIONS ONLINE MMORPG.

As many of you have read by now in our new CHAMPIONS ONLINE MMORPG forum, Cryptic Studios has bought the Champions intellectual property and will release a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game based on it in 2009. That gives us access to a whole new customer base that’s never been exposed to our products before, and we want to publish books (primarily Champions books) that will appeal to them. That means reworking the books to attract their interest, such as by using art from the MMO and organizing the material to suit someone whose background is in MMOs rather than true RPGs (but without, I hasten to add, making the books less useful and appealing to our traditional RPG playing fans and customers). As long as we’re going to have to make changes along those lines, it’s the perfect opportunity to also make changes to the rules engine. (Though again, to make things perfectly clear, I am not changing the HERO System to work like an MMO, Cryptic Studios does not own the HERO System rules, and the CHAMPIONS ONLINE MMORPG does not use the HERO System rules for character creation, task or combat resolution, or anything else.) To put it another way, as long as we’ve got the hood open to change the oil we might as well replace the spark plugs if it looks like they need it.

[Omegaplex]

^ Enjoying milking this announcement thing, aren'cha?



Methinks it's a licensing deal. If you land a big license (DC HERO, etc), it makes sense to work it from the ground up around it, rather than an add-on. I think most people are perfectly, blissfully happy with 'ole FREd without having something really earth-shaking warranting a 6th... years of writing experience simply means better 5th materials in the future

Thoughts?

[CourtFool]

Honestly, I am glad to see a 6e. I am sure there is going to be a lot of people that are very angry about this decision (D&D 4e anyone?). I also think Hero might be going in a different direction than I would prefer to see. I am starting to lean more towards rules light system and it appears that Steve, in wanting to make Hero more granular, will be maintaining Hero as a rules heavy system. That being said, I know a lot of people that will agree with him.

I support you, Steve. I think it takes a lot of guts to announce this up front and honestly like this. You open yourself up for a lot of attacks (haters). And I will probably be banned for suggesting that ' Hero might be going in a different direction than I would prefer to see'. But that is me, a rebel without opposable thumbs.

[Psybolt]

What about reason #3?

[Jhaierr]

I was a little wary about 6th Edition when I heard about the announcement, but now that I'm reading this thread and others where you are talking about how you'll be examining everything from the ground up and fixing some of the problems that we all deal with, I'm beginning to feel positive about it. I particularly like the idea of simplifying needlessly complex things.

[yamamura]

And I will probably be banned for suggesting that ' Hero might be going in a different direction than I would prefer to see'. But that is me, a rebel without opposable thumbs.

Negative rep isn't good enough for you, you want to be banned too Seriously ther times that I like the granular feeling of HERO and others time I pulled out BESM 3ed and play that. I am currently in the latter phase but will swing around to 5Ed again. So I am behind Steve on this but I always have 5Ed and BESM if 6th is not for me.

[Theron]

When 5th edition came out, my biggest gripe at the time was that they didn't change enough. The reasons for that became clear over time and make sense in retrospect, but 2009 seems like a very reasonable time to bring on a new edition.

[Omegaplex]

I'm curious if this smacks of GURPS 4th to anybody else? I stopped buying GURPS when the new edition came out, largely for the same reason that I'm reluctant to getting into a HERO 6th. I'm sure the new edition will be superior mechanically, but I'll take tons of support from years of good books ('mostly compatible' notwithstanding) over relaunch, rehash, and rewritten (but sitll mostly the same books) any day.

Heck, GURPS is STILL releasing books covering material that I already own from 3rd... and 4th has been on the market for what, 3 years?

Guess that sums up my problems with any talk of a 'new edition' for any RPG I'm already invested in.

Thoughts?

[CourtFool]

I am not asking for BESM level rules light...but yes, I am curious to see how rule heavy 6e will be. I am still allowed to agree to disagree around these parts...right....right? Guys?

[Balok]

I'm curious if this smacks of GURPS 4th to anybody else? I stopped buying GURPS when the new edition came out, largely for the same reason that I'm reluctant to getting into a HERO 6th. I'm sure the new edition will be superior mechanically, but I'll take tons of support from years of good books ('mostly compatible' notwithstanding) over relaunch, rehash, and rewritten (but sitll mostly the same books) any day.

Heck, GURPS is STILL releasing books covering material that I already own from 3rd... and 4th has been on the market for what, 3 years?

In the sense that both are new editions, sure.

Keep in mind that GURPS also changed production models from paperbacks at 128 pages to hardbacks at better than 200 pages. They had some problems with that, and this delayed their initial release. Eventually they decided their release plans were too ambitious for their staffing level and model. And Jackson didn't want to hire people wholesale because he's been burned (he says) hiring quickly and having to fire. SJG also devoted a lot of focus to the Munchkin line. That makes sense considering relative sales volume but it draws staff away from GURPS.

To sum up, gaming companies aren't interchangeable cogs.

[Chris Goodwin]

When 5th edition came out, my biggest gripe at the time was that they didn't change enough. The reasons for that became clear over time and make sense in retrospect, but 2009 seems like a very reasonable time to bring on a new edition.

This I agree with. I'm happy to see 6th edition on the horizon and am looking forward to seeing what comes next.

[McCoy]

Waiting, watching, reserving judgement.

[memorax300]

Waiting, watching, reserving judgement.

Same here. Though I probably will cut back on my Hero purchases. I don't want to buy something that may or may not be compatible with 6ED.

[Beast]

this is my big worry

How much change will there be
will it be just mechanics and maybe some slight cost changes and a bit of work to redo all characters to 6th ed

what about already published books that have just come out
are they going to need to be redone completly or just have charaters changed

is this going to be Fusion again

Same here. Though I probably will cut back on my Hero purchases. I don't want to buy something that may or may not be compatible with 6ED.

[AlbertDeschesne]

Old Joke:

6th edition is just Transform...with a lot a adders and limiters.

Anyway, I think 6th ed is mainly needed to conform to the way most people approach gaming these days. Casually. So it'll need to be a little lighter in the rules, while still maintaining the "hero" aspect of the game.

I, for one, hope that it'll let you make characters that fit on trading cards easily. (Anyone who seen my deck of DC Heroes character cards for Metaverse, know what I mean.)