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Ogrecave 6E interview


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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

I think there's been some mis-understanding, so let me clear something up:

 

Darren's not writing 6E, so he doesn't have day-to-day up to date knowledge of what I'm thinking or doing. The interview gives his understanding of my current thinking, but that doesn't necessarily make it accurate; he may have misunderstood me, or I may not have explained something to him, or I may have changed my mind. Or he may be dead on target. ;)

 

There's only one person who can give you 100% reliable knowledge about what will be in 6E, and that person is me.

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

But...... ( sob!) it was all good news

 

. I really hope you didn't mention this because you changed your mind about stuff in the interview. His two comments about how it was so adaptable you could adapt it back to 5th in about 20 minutes and that figurers were still in just optional made me actually exited for it to come out( I can easily pick and choose with massive house ruling and work sounded like to me) and way more likely to pick it up without waiting and seeing a little. Admittedly I'd get it eventually just to support you guys but before the interview it was pretty far down my priority list.

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

I think there's been some mis-understanding, so let me clear something up:

 

Darren's not writing 6E, so he doesn't have day-to-day up to date knowledge of what I'm thinking or doing. The interview gives his understanding of my current thinking, but that doesn't necessarily make it accurate; he may have misunderstood me, or I may not have explained something to him, or I may have changed my mind. Or he may be dead on target. ;)

 

There's only one person who can give you 100% reliable knowledge about what will be in 6E, and that person is me.

 

You're going soft Steve - I'm sure what you meant to say was that the only person who can tell us 100% about what will be in 6E is the you who has just finished the manuscript - the you we are speaking to now might change his mind and be less than 100% reliable! :D

 

 

Doc

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

No, I'm not stringing anyone along. I can be cruel, but not that cruel. ;)

 

I just don't want people to get their hopes up based on what someone says, then complain bitterly that we "didn't do what we said." The only person whose statements should inspire hope or fear is me.

 

Specifically, let me touch on two points, since steamteck raised them:

 

1. No one, not even me at this point, can say with any degree of accuracy how long it will take to convert a 5E character to a 6E character. Even when I finish the book I'd be hard-pressed to answer that question definitively because characters vary wildly in their complexity. 6E1 will, however, include a page or so of quick-and-dirty conversion notes that touch on the highlights of the changes so you can make them more easily.

 

2. If I take something out or change something, the odds are I'm not going to leave in an optional rule that says "Or you can do it this old way." If the old way was working, I'd just leave it the way it is. Nor can I write 6E (or any rulebook) as a massive collection of options that you pick off of like it was a menu in a Chinese restaurant. For simple ease of use the rules usually have to establish one primary way of doing things. In some cases where I think it's important and worth the page space, I leave in options or variants (I am even putting in special "Toolkitting" text boxes that talk about changing the rules where I think that's worth discussing). Any other options or variants that I think are worth keeping in print (or putting into print) can go in the Advanced Player's Guide -- that's part of the reason it's there. ;)

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

I did not think of that! :)

 

However, we know he will keep it under wraps til Gencon, I know I could not let a manuscript lie that long without tinkering - I am presuming that Steve is the same - tinkerer author of a tinkerers game!

 

Doc

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

No, I'm not stringing anyone along. I can be cruel, but not that cruel. ;)

 

I just don't want people to get their hopes up based on what someone says, then complain bitterly that we "didn't do what we said." The only person whose statements should inspire hope or fear is me.

 

Why am I getting flashes of seeing you in a military uniform addressing the populace of a Banana Republic . . . :eek:

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

I know I could not let a manuscript lie that long without tinkering - I am presuming that Steve is the same - tinkerer author of a tinkerers game!

 

True, like so many HERO fans, I love to tinker with rules, or in my case write/design rules -- it's the funnest part of my job. But eventually deadline dictates that the book has to go to the printer, and at that point I'm locked in. Up until then you never know when an epiphany may strike and a change result. ;)

 

Why am I getting flashes of seeing you in a military uniform addressing the populace of a Banana Republic . . .

 

Who told you about my uniform??!?!? :nonp:;)

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

. In some cases where I think it's important and worth the page space' date=' I leave in options or variants (I am even putting in special "Toolkitting" text boxes that talk about changing the rules where I think that's worth discussing). Any other options or variants that I think are worth keeping in print (or putting into print) can go in the [i']Advanced Player's Guide[/i] -- that's part of the reason it's there. ;)

 

 

Hmmm. As someone who uses lots of the alternate ways of doing things and optional rules in 5th, I hope I'm misunderstanding you. Does that mean the get the extra options that 5th presented me with I'll have to get another book?

( gods, no figurers, I'm so bummed!)

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

Does that mean the get the extra options that 5th presented me with I'll have to get another book?

 

I guess you realise that this isn't likely to attract an answer. If Steve started answering questions like this he'd never get 6th edition or anything else finished...

 

:)

 

Moving to a multi-book system will be a shock and it can take some time to get the balance of what should be in what book just right.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing if a full colour and multi-book presentation will draw the number of people that everyone has been claiming it would...

 

It'd be sad if Steve had been right all along.... :o

 

 

Doc

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

I guess you realize that this isn't likely to attract an answer. If Steve started answering questions like this he'd never get 6th edition or anything else finished...

 

:)

 

Moving to a multi-book system will be a shock and it can take some time to get the balance of what should be in what book just right.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing if a full colour and multi-book presentation will draw the number of people that everyone has been claiming it would...

 

It'd be sad if Steve had been right all along.... :o

 

 

Doc

 

 

Yeah, I guess you're right . I sometimes forget things like that because he and others are so incredibly responsive around here. I didn't expect him to pop up with answers to things I brought up anyway. kinda cool. Even when I get 6th and like NOTHING better than 5th ( which I doubt will happen) I'd still be happy I supported a company with its top folks so responsive and accessible.

 

I'm sure he's right. The pretty book WILL attract more people and it is sad on some levels but just human nature.

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

As someone who uses lots of the alternate ways of doing things and optional rules in 5th, I hope I'm misunderstanding you. Does that mean the get the extra options that 5th presented me with I'll have to get another book?

 

Not exactly. What I mean is this: I am looking at everything that's currently in print (mostly in 5ER, but also looking beyond it to the Ultimates and other books with rules-oriented material) to determine how best it should be presented going forward. When it comes to optional and variant rules, some of them are common enough, or useful enough, that they'll remain in the 6E core books (6E1 and 6E2, as I call 'em ;) ). Some are not, and will get moved to the APG or left out entirely.

 

For example, the optional velocity rules and optional dogfighting rules are both getting moved to the APG. They're useful to a certain extent, but nowhere near useful enough to justify taking up space in the core rulebooks.

 

Similarly, there's some good optional expansions and ideas for Clairsentience in TUM. That's way more information than the core book needs. But it might prove handy to many hard-core HERO System users, so I'll put it in the APG.

 

In the end, what we get, if all goes to plan, is a continuum. You've got the Basic Rulebook as an intro product for people who are newcomers to HERO. Then you graduate up from there to 6E itself, which has everything that's in the BR and much more besides that I consider useful to a large swath of gamers or otherwise worth its page space. And for the really devoted users who think a lot about HERO and want lots of additional information, options, and other bells 'n' whistles, there's the Advanced Player's Guide.

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

 

for the really devoted users who think a lot about HERO and want lots of additional information, options, and other bells 'n' whistles, there's the Advanced Player's Guide.

 

 

 

Wow! Thanks for the info. Actually does sound like a good idea. When its out I'll definitely pick it up.

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

As I mentioned over on one of the Company Questions threads, while it had not initially occurred to me as I was planning the 6E line, there's always the possibility that we could do more APGs down the road. (APG II: The Wrath Of Khan, APG III: The Fandom Menace, etc. ;) ). Later APGs could get more, for lack of better words, theorycraft-y and wonk-y, with much more optional rules, far-reaching changes to the System, and so on. Heck, I could probably mine a good couple books' worth of material out of the 6E Forums. There were plenty of good ideas there that just didn't fit my vision for 6E or went "a tad" too far. ;)

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Re: Ogrecave 6E interview

 

Oh, I did get a chance to listen to the interview last night.

 

One of my favorite parts about Hero Games is just the sheer amount of Excitement that Darren is able to convey just by talking. He really makes everything sound like fun.

 

Good Stuff.

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