Will HERO 6th have it's own Edition Wars?

I previously talked a little about the upcoming 6th edition of HERO System here and what my reaction to it was (which can be quickly stated as "pessimistic with a bit of wait and see").

Of course my reaction is only important to my group and myself. The impact of my buying or not buying 6th edition products being insignificant compared to the whole. So that leaves open the question of what the buying public at large will think of the new edition.

Such things are very difficult to tell.

On one hand, the forum posters over at herogames.com can claim to have had input into the new rules and thus in general will be boosters of the new line. They likely think they represent the public's actual views on the matter.

However I seriously doubt that the forum posters represent much besides the hardcore fanbase who by definition thinks Steven Long walks on water, there are many HERO System fans with far different opinions. Forums tend to lean towards a single mindset more often than not and are a poor measure of much of anything.

We can look at what history tells us and that is often one of the best measures...

The last major systems to make significant changes in their games were World of Darkness and D&D 4th Edition. In both cases the result could best be stated as 'mixed' with significant numbers of long time players disenchanted and with rather general agreement that the new lines have yet to measure up to previous success.

Deadlands was another, and while Savage Worlds has seen some success in a few corners- the Deadlands brand is almost dead compared to its height.

The open question is if 6th edition will change the game's play style to the degree those did, and if it will have the same impact.

There are certainly changes, but as I noted in my previous post- they (at least the ones talked about so far) are at the construction level- which is not where most players interact with the game. It's also the easiest part of the design to overcome by just changing your build approach and/or altering starting points (or even building to concept instead of point budget).

I can see many old time players however not taking that much effort. And if enough of them are lost, HERO will lose a major segment of it's marketing strength as it depends more upon the word of mouth from their older players than D&D or World of Darkness ever did.

Long has decided to roll the dice on a successful game line, if he wins he gets to inflate his ego even more. If he loses, the hobby may will lose one of the best games it ever had. It was a chance he didn't have to take, but one he did anyway.

It will be interesting to see the result.