Question

[Steve Long]

Re: Question

 

I can address a couple of your points, Dan.

 

1. There are no other HERO System books already written, much less written, laid out, and illustrated.

 

2. The rights to the Strike Force characters (and a number of others) were returned to Aaron Allston by Hero Games many years ago. However, for a variety of reasons personally I don't think that an effort to reprint that book would be a good idea for Hero. In general I don't think reprinting/revising pre-5E books is worth it.

 

3. IMO the prices for and interest in Wings are driven by its collectibility/rarity, not its inherent quality. I don't think reprinting it would be worth the expense and effort. Among other things, keep in mind that there are no electronic files of books that old, it would have to be scanned in or re-typed.

 

 

It's been said here before that some believe a game system only remains 'alive' so long as products continue to be published in support of it.

 

That's certainly been said, but I think it's dead wrong. A game's alive as long as people are playing it, and plenty of people are playing the HERO System. But being alive and being an IP capable of supporting a professionally-run company, or even a single person who treats himself in a professional business manner, are two very different things, sadly.

[Guest dan2448]

Re: Question

 

However' date=' for a variety of reasons personally I don't think that an effort to reprint that book would be a good idea for Hero. In general I don't think reprinting/revising pre-5E books is worth it.[/quote']

 

I've never read "Strikeforce" myself. I lost touch with the hobby when I went to college in the mid-1980s. I saw some of the ICE 4e books on the shelves at mall bookstores like B Dalton and remember thinking that the ones I saw looked, for the most part, "silly." I never bought any of them.

 

But when I stumbled on 5e a few years back, I did remember the names Steve Long and Aaron Allston as authors who wrote some things I really, really liked for "Justice, Inc" in the mid-1980s. You did such great things with 5e and 6e, Steve. For these reasons, I have to admit that I would readily support a Kickstarter to reprint Aaron Allston's "Strikeforce." But that's a mere personal preference (based on reputation, not actual knowledge of the content), without any consideration for the corporate prerogatives of Hero Games.

 

Among other things' date=' keep in mind that there are no electronic files of books that old, it would have to be scanned in or re-typed.[/quote']

 

I'm embarrassed to admit that I had neglected to consider this fundamental issue. This is obviously a huge consideration, and maybe a fatal one.

[Steve Long]

Re: Question

 

But when I stumbled on 5e a few years back, I did remember the names Steve Long and Aaron Allston as authors who wrote some things I really, really liked for "Justice, Inc" in the mid-1980s.

 

Here I think you're confusing me with Steve Peterson (one of the original creators of the HERO System). The earliest things I wrote for Hero Games were in the early 1990s -- parts of The Fantasy Hero Companion II, then Dark Champions. But I definitely agree that a lot of the JI stuff was top-notch!

[Guest dan2448]

Re: Question

 

Here I think you're confusing me with Steve Peterson (one of the original creators of the HERO System). The earliest things I wrote for Hero Games were in the early 1990s -- parts of The Fantasy Hero Companion II' date='[/i'] then Dark Champions.

 

Ah the vagaries of memory. But on reflection my mistake is as to date, not identity. Looking back at my old issues of "Adventurers Club" magazine just now, I see that several of the articles you and Aaron Allston wrote about "Justice, Inc." were from issues published in the early 1990s, not the mid-1980s. (I see Dr. Win Yu in issue 21, from 1993, as a pulp villain for Justice Inc., who perhaps most recently appeared in the 6e "Champions Villains vol. 1.")

 

How would I have come to own these issues if, by 1992, I hadn't played an RPG in several years? My best guess is that I must've subscribed for a bunch of issues in the mid-1980s and then continued to be sent them for years later (to my parents' house) as the magazine's publishing schedule fell further and further behind...