Most are also likely aware that I was of the opinion that sixth edition was a mistake. A trip down a rabbit hole to fix things only Steve Long (and his personal fan base- as opposed to fans of the game) thought needed fixing. Combined with the the lost of map and mini support, horrid art, and an ugly layout- the final result was far from appealing.
Looks like I wasn't the only one with a negative opinion.
Nov 28th saw the following appear on their Hero Games website (There seems to be no direct link to the article, so I'll repeat their announcement here):
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Hero Games has been around for 30 years with ups and downs. The economy's been pretty rough lately, as has the gaming market. With declining sales and fewer releases, Hero has reached the point where it's no longer possible to maintain a full time staff of three, so it's scaling back.
Darren and Steve will be departing December 2nd, with our thanks for a decade of hard work that gave us 108 books, and best wishes for their future endeavors, which may include producing new books under a Hero System license. We'll keep you posted on that.
Jason will remain to continue shipping books and handling day-to-day matters. Existing books will continue to be available for purchase, and the company will continue in business, just a bit more slowly. The online store remains open. Steve will continue to answer rules questions on the Hero boards as "the guy who wrote the rulebook."
We're looking into doing a Kickstarter to print Book of the Empress, since it's complete and ready to go.
For the near future Hero would appreciate your kind thoughts and your patience. Transition periods of this sort take time, and Jason has a lot of work cut out for him, so the support of our fans is much appreciated.
Jason Walters
General Manager
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In a way they so deserved this.
Long was both the best and worst thing that ever happened to HERO. He was a fine editor and a work horse that personally put the game back on the map after the original owners gave up on it. Fifth Edition had some problems due to small changes he made, but on the whole was wonderful. It won awards and fans. It became a significant player in the hobby.
Success breeds hubris, and Steve Long bred it well. He grew to feel that it was *his* ideas that made the game a success instead of the game making him one. He thought he could change whatever he liked and he'd only go on to greater glory. He thought he could focus on rule changes, not settings or adventures.
Now we see the result. HERO is barely alive, it's future dim indeed.
I don't believe it had to be this way.
Will luck someone else will take over the reins in the near future.
- Someone who will return the design to the map and mini focus it had in 5th edition and before.
- Someone who will clear away the ugly art and layout
- Someone who will drop the cardboard settings that have plague HERO from the start
- Someone who will create the background and supplements that actually take advantage of HERO's ability to create the best published RPG experience I've ever seen
There's not much luck in the world. But HERO has my best wishes to find it. Without Long involved, there may be a chance it does just that. Success often breeds failure, but failure also often breeds success.
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