Mark Taylor Posted January 24, 2004 Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 Sometime this year I'm going to run my first HERO campaign, which will involve indroducing a bunch of complete HERO novices to the system, so I'm really excited and looking forward to Sidekick coming out, it should be a great help with getting a whole new group into HERO, not to mention helping me grasp the intricacies of the powers system, which I'm still a little sketchy on. Just had to share that - Sidekick should be in stores in two or three weeks now and it's been a while since I've looked forward to getting a new gaming book this much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Watts Posted January 24, 2004 Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 Thanks for the plug, RoC, and we're glad you're enthusiastic about Sidekick- so are we! Early response from stores and distros has also been extremely positive, so we've got high hopes for this one! Just to be accurate on the dates, though (so nobody accuses us of being late!), the book itself should ship *from the printer* either the 6th if we're lucky or the 9th if not. From there, it's a week to 10 days before it's on most store shelves, depending on your FLGS' distance from and relationship with it's distributors. (Or, if you make it out to Dundracon, we'll have both Sidekick and Vehicle Sourcebook making their national debuts on Saturday the 14th.) dw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted January 24, 2004 Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 As a further update, the Creative Dept. (i.e., myself, Andy, and Allen) is getting together early Monday to review the bluelines. So everything is right on track for the book to come out as planned. Hopefully all the attendees at DunDraCon will greet it as enthusiastically as you will, RoC. And it's all yours for a mere $9.99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Taylor Posted January 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 Originally posted by Darren Watts Just to be accurate on the dates, though (so nobody accuses us of being late!), the book itself should ship *from the printer* either the 6th if we're lucky or the 9th if not. From there, it's a week to 10 days before it's on most store shelves, depending on your FLGS' distance from and relationship with it's distributors. (Or, if you make it out to Dundracon, we'll have both Sidekick and Vehicle Sourcebook making their national debuts on Saturday the 14th.) dw My FLGS is pretty prompt at getting HERO stuff on the shelves, despite being accross the Atlantic. Looks like I should revise my estimate to three or four weeks though. BTW, the cover is cool too. A good match for FREd. Sidekick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted January 24, 2004 Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 Yup, Andy deserves full credit for how cool the cover looks. He didn't like our idea for what it should be, so he solved the problem in the proper way -- instead of just fussing about it, he devised an alternative that we liked even better! I think he calls the cover logo "Butterfly HeroMan." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Game Show Man Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 I must agree with the consensus: One, the cover is absolutely awesome. Two, I'm very excited to see this thing come out. I thought about having a look at Steve and Darren's printout at Gen Con So Cal (good meeting you guys, BTW), but other matters prevented it. From what I've read, this may be the "crowbar" I've been looking for. I have been trying to convince one of my best friends and fellow gamers to try the Hero System out. He is a super smart, detail oriented fellow, who likes sci-fi (Alien Wars just SCREAMS his name), Hong Kong Action films (somewhat easily rigged up through Hero, I think) and zombies (that may take some doing, but...). His favorite game is Deadlands, something I think the Hero System could do very easily (I think it would be cool to adapt Deadlands' unique playing card initative system to Hero myself), but he's a bit narcisstic: he wailed in anger at the approaching retread of the Deadlands universe to Pinnacle's new Savage Worlds system (I'd quote his response from the Pinnacle forum here, but I can't find it), and he all but refuses to play anything but that and a few other games. My plan is to use Sidekick and perhaps a copy of Alien Wars as a kind of crowbar to convince him of Hero's supreme coolness. Any suggestions to improve on this strategy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 I agree that the cover is a very nice variation on FREd's HexMan design. (Since he's a "butterfly HexMan" and a Sidekick, shouldn't he be called Arthur?) I was also surprised but delighted to read that Sidekick will include sample characters, powers and vehicles. Those are all useful illustrations of HERO game elements for newbies, but I didn't expect Steve and Andy to be able to cram them into this book. Mass conversions of the unenlightened, here we come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Just to make sure there's no confusion: 1. There are five sample characters. Three are superhumans (two of whom, Defender and Pulsar are used in the Example of Combat; the other of whom, Firebrand, is used in the "how to fill out the character sheet" section). One's a Fantasy wizard (with sample spells), and one is perennial favorite Randall Irons, pulp adventurer extraordinaire (he's the "so, let's put all this together and design a character step-by-step" example). 2. The Powers section has examples in the sidebars, like 5E. There's also a two-page long "Example Powers" section containing cyberware, psionic powers, superpowers, and spells after "Power Frameworks" and before "Disadvantages." (And as mentioned above, the sample wizard also has spells.) 3. The vehicles are all on a reference table, largely the same as the one on 5E 325. I should add that a lot of this stuff -- such as the "how to fill out the character sheet" and two pages of powers -- were added as the result of playtester feedback. Thanx again to all the playtesters!!! Hear, hear for mass conversion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Originally posted by Lord Liaden I agree that the cover is a very nice variation on FREd's HexMan design. (Since he's a "butterfly HexMan" and a Sidekick, shouldn't he be called Arthur?) Fred and Arthur -- what a pair! I think (or at least hope) we can use Arthur as the "semi-official" nickname for Hero Sidekick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Count me in the "me too" brigade. Sidekick is a terrific idea, a piece of the Hero System that's been missing all along. -AA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osprey Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Did he say $10!! Yahoo! I am looking foward double to this now! I was too playtest it, but technical difficulties prevented it. (I think Foxbat rigged my E-mailbox) I'll be able to teach my kids to play! Now if I can just find the time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted January 25, 2004 Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Did he say $10!! Yup, I said $10. In terms of what you get, it's really worth a good bit more than that -- after all, it's pretty much a self-contained RPG in 128 pages. But the whole point is to make it as readily available as reasonably possible. So we're setting the price point low and hoping we can make it up on the "back end" by luring people into the HERO System (and thus into buying 5E and/or supplements eventually). The low price also makes it feasible for one person to buy multiple copies and give them out, as has been discussed elsewhere. And yes, you can use it to teach your kids. A couple of the playtesters did just that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Taylor Posted January 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2004 Originally posted by BobGreenwade Fred and Arthur -- what a pair! I think (or at least hope) we can use Arthur as the "semi-official" nickname for Hero Sidekick. Sounds good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayoman Posted January 26, 2004 Report Share Posted January 26, 2004 Ethel or Ricky would be a better sidekick name for Fred's companion. Originally posted by BobGreenwade Fred and Arthur -- what a pair! I think (or at least hope) we can use Arthur as the "semi-official" nickname for Hero Sidekick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.