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	Archive through May 11, 2010	25		05/12 05:20pm

Darren, thanks. Ever since SVC announced we'd be doing 12 books a year and I couldn't make that goal, I've been a tad defensive.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 10:45 am: Edit

12 books a year is totally realistic if Jean would just move to Texas.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:23 am: Edit

YEAH, JEAN!

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 11:35 am: Edit

But wouldn't it break Jeans heart to not finish with her commitments where she is first? I don't want to see Jeans heart broken.

By Dale McKee (Brigman) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 05:20 pm: Edit

Broken hearts can heal. I'd rather see her get out of that crackhead-infested back-woods she's in. ;)

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 06:15 pm: Edit

Loren, my heart has been broken before; it has always healed. But every month I work makes a significant increase in my future retirement income, so I need to keep going for a while yet.

I want to be in Amarillo, working with folks I like, doing things that are fun, avoiding the paperwork that I find myself under as a supervisor. I want The Plant That Ate the Office to move to a new place (it says it wants to live in Petrick's office and visit his Mac) and my 31-year-old dragon tree to find a new place as well (it might be more difficult as it is nearly nine feet tall). I want to go to plays and go shopping with Leanna; I need more shooting (and history) lessons from Petrick; I want to get SVC to go on ambles around the block with me. I want to see if tomatoes will grow in the back of the building and see if a garden can be created out there. I want to visit Isis and Ramses and brush Ramses until he finally thinks he's been brushed enough.

But I have to be practical and do that when I retire. SVC said it; Petrick said it. I trust them implicitly.

And when I retire and brush up my rusty Mac skills (and learn the version of PageMaker they use), then we'll see about doing books at a faster rate.

Dale, it has gotten some better since the Feds shut down the drug house across the street from me and since the two houses burned down. The loss of the log cabin meant that Piney Bay Daylilies would never happen as that was to be the sales office and main site to work from. That bridge is well and truly burnt. So I am on the ADB highwire without a net and we'll see how I do.

After Origins, I'll be getting a larger storage unit and transferring the contents of the bulging 10 x 10 unit to that one. The artwork took a significant amount of space. (I can't wait for my two Michael Whelan prints to see the daylight again!)

I think I have rambled a bit, but I think both Dale and Loren will be happy with the outcome. I will leave here honorably and shake the dust from my feet when I do. And then we'll see how many books could a WebMom edit when a WebMom would edit books...

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 07:03 pm: Edit

Indeed. It will be a bright day when the RPG office is occupied.

quote:
"...avoiding the paperwork that I find myself under as a supervisor. "


Heh. Now isn't that ironic?
But it's fun paper work... right. RIGHT?!

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Loren, to evaluate my SPA employees, I have to fill out an evaluation plan, an assessment report which runs 15-20 pages), create a new workplan, and review their job descriptions. To evaluate my librarians, I have to do a salary recommendation in addition to the evaluation. If there were a chance of getting a raise, that'd be one thing, but there's not.

Working the hours I did when I was in Amarillo was like a holiday for me. I wasn't working at 6 am and I wasn't working until midnight or 1 am and I actually got to watch movies on TV and I got to read. It was heaven to only work 12-hour days.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 01:15 am: Edit

...and there is KFC in Amarillo!

Oh wait, that wasn't a good thing...

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 07:23 am: Edit

(shudder) I haven't eaten at a KFC since That Evening.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 11:37 pm: Edit

Jean, I just want to reinforce that I was just inquiring with no other intent than just "hey, I haven't heard any news since mid 2009" frame of mind. I am very happy with what you are able to do to keep ADB moving forward and helping them continue to do so.
To be honest, with how complicated HERO is, I am not sure how successful it would be over the easier GURPS, d20, and possible d6 versions.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 11:04 am: Edit

Darren, you're fine. I'm not upset or anything -- just feeling guilty because I wish I could do more.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 10:47 pm: Edit

Thanks. Just wanted to be sure...

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 05:51 pm: Edit

In Re Hero...HSR 4-5 are not that complicated, just very detailed, and HSR5 has lots of examples.

HSR 6 is supposed to have streamlined it a bit, too...

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Saturday, December 18, 2010 - 07:27 pm: Edit

Will the d6 version be looked at before a Hero version?

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Saturday, December 18, 2010 - 10:34 pm: Edit

Darren, D6 is probably closer than Hero. There is more interest in Mongoose Traveler than either of those, from what I can determine.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Sunday, December 19, 2010 - 10:27 pm: Edit

do you think the interest in GURPS has decreased or increased, just curious

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 20, 2010 - 10:40 am: Edit

GURPS has remained the biggest seller.

By Reid Hupach (Gwbison) on Monday, December 20, 2010 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Gurpshas a huge following

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 02:35 pm: Edit

With the Modern Rulebook by WOTC, no longer "active," I can see why GURPS would still be in the lead.

HERO is just to darn complicated.

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Thursday, January 27, 2011 - 07:13 am: Edit

HERO is actually simple to play... It's just got a LOT of options.

By John Rudd (Johnrudd) on Sunday, January 30, 2011 - 06:31 pm: Edit

In my experience, the problem with HERO isn't that it has a ton of options, but that you have to build almost everything from scratch. More-so if you're striking out into your own setting. But even with a fully built setting, when you suddenly want a mid-powered encounter, you've got a ton to put together. Winging it, or fudging it, in HERO can actually be a LOT more trouble than it's worth.

And, I wouldn't really say that HERO is simple to play. Unless you're an experience HERO player. The learning curve is more than slight, and there's a lot to track (END, Body, Stun, turn-track, etc.). Though, the turn track is probably the closest thing to SFB's turn system that you'll find in an RPG.

And, I find that it can take hours to accomplish an amount of game time in HERO that would fly by in some other systems.

HERO's advantage: it's the swiss army knife of RPGs. You can do ANYTHING, from the core rules. There's no _need_ for supplements (they just help you with boosting up "how to apply the core rules to different genres and settings", and building up your library of equipment/etc.).

Light, Fast, or Simple are not among HERO's advantages, IMO.

By Michael Tisdel (Jtisdel) on Monday, January 31, 2011 - 03:22 pm: Edit

I concur - the magic for HERO is that you can "model" anything. The downside is that it takes a significant amount of calculation time to get the world setup.

For Super Hero genre, it works well as the magic is all contained in the Hero and villain. When you get out of this - say fantasy - you have to build the potions, spells, swords, wands, and monsters and the prep time goes up exponentially.

For Hero PD, one would require SIGNIFICANT prep work to get the various systems and units available.

By John Rudd (Johnrudd) on Monday, January 31, 2011 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Hopefully, whoever writes Hero PD would do as much of that as possible (game stats for all of the weapons and equipment and vehicles, workups of any martial arts that are known in the setting, packages for all of the species, packages for all of the roles (marine, engineering officer, etc.), and "this is a standard Federation Boarding Party member" for all of the races).

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 05:33 pm: Edit

Hero has just gone through a major change that directly affects 3rp party publishers and the hero license..which will hopefully make it easier to get PD Hero done??

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 05:40 pm: Edit

I haven't heard of this, but for now, I offer no hope. We'll be bloody lucky to get the traveller books out before Jean arrives in May 2013. Once she gets here, we can consider accelerating the pace, but even if a HERO writer showed up with a finished manuscript this afternoon, Jean doesn't have time to read it.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 05:57 pm: Edit

copied from HERO games website:

The new Hero System Licensing Contracts (for multiple and single projects) have been uploaded for review in the HERO Games Free Stuff section of the website (it's under Hero System Contracts). Some highlights include:
-No royalty payments on products sold under the license.
-Attractive terms on selling through the Hero Store.
So, if you're a publisher, know a publisher, or are interested in becoming a publisher, check it out.
-Jason Walters

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, August 30, 2012 - 09:50 pm: Edit

One of the big drawbacks of HERO is that "new" copies of the first volume of the huge V1/V2 set to make up the "core books" has been OOP. Good news, there is a new book coming out that provides all the basic rules, plus the rest for supers rpg.
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/90516-New-Product-Champions-Complete

******************
The ultimate super roleplaying game returns to reclaim its crown in *Champions Complete!* All the legendary flexibility and power of the renowned *HERO System* rules engine, plus all the superhero goodness *Champions* has been famous for over 30 years, now in one pulse-pounding, senses -shattering, heroic handbook of superpowered action!

At 240 pages, *Champions Complete* includes everything superhero gamers need, and nothing they don't. New players will love the unmatched freedom of *Champions* that allows them to create and play exactly the hero they imagine. Longtime fans will appreciate the tight, concise new approach, presenting the full game system in a fraction of its former length.

HERO System 6th Edition
978-1-58366-145-1
HERO2000
Author: Derek Hiemforth
Cover: Sam R. Kennedy
Layout: Ruben Smith Zempel
PDF: $20.00
Print: $40.00
Print+PDF: $40.00
240pp B&W interior with color softcover.
PDF will be made available with every retail purchase via Bits and Mortar
Look for Champions Complete in Fall of 2012!

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, August 30, 2012 - 09:52 pm: Edit

Sorry SVC, realized I posted the HERO question in the D6 topic, but I am assuming the same answer applies here