The coming of HERO 6th Edition

According to the herogames.com website, today's the day that 6th edition was suppose to be loaded on the slow boat from China. It still hasn't shown up for even advanced sales on places like Amazon yet, so the truth of that claim can be debated.

The whole thing is something I dread, a coming of something like the D&D 4E edition wars that will result in my abandoning of any new HERO System production.

One of the telling signs is that unlike the previous production of 5th edition, there's no single easily found description of all the changes that 6th will make. I did find a list of links to 'showcased' changes here. I doubt there will be a list or PDF of all the system changes. Judging from those showcases and other statements on the official website- they're just too extensive, almost the equal of just printing the books.

Part of me wants to buy the rulebook so I can judge it fully based upon all the facts. But that part is fading. It seems that there are two core books now instead of one. Total using the package price is $70. However those two books don't contain everything, the links above contain references for an 'advance play book. So now we're at three books and likely $100 to replace the one book I currently have.

Now maybe if I found the changes useful, it would be worth it. But frankly they all look to be nit-picking of the worse type.

Sure, there's some sort of gain with things like Resistant Protection which replaces both armor and forcefield (the latter becomes a limited version, and would likely end up cheaper as a result). It's a more unified building block approach. But that's a abstract sort of gain that would appeal to a lawyer like Long instead of a gamer and is a haul mark of the thought processes that drive this edition.

There are downsides in such an approach. Before various powers could be defined in terms of Armor or Forcefield (NND with the defense being Forcefield is a classic, often used in lightsaber builds or similar weapons). Now that NND has to be defined against a set of power & power limits or special effects (completely meta-game determined at that point).

So one is trading one type of sloppy (different powers for the same core effect) for another sloppy (harder and more detailed listing of powers and power interaction), and I already know all the sloppy with 5th edition. There's no gain in total IMO, and in fact I consider the new method worse.

So why make such changes?

Two reasons come to mind. The first is the classic 'new edition to make more money' that drives much of the rpg market. The second is Long's ego and law trained mind. He bought HERO from the original owners and this is his chance to make it his own. That desire would natually express itself in his nit-picking build focused mindset and the attempt to actually make the points balanced (which is impossible no matter what he does).

So as of right now, I'm giving up on 6th and Hero Games as a lost cause after over 20 years of loyality. This is subject to change perhaps, but I'd have to have good reason to toss that much money to a design concept I don't support.