Post by Adminenkainen on Mar 27, 2022 21:50:17 GMT
>And if you had a time machine and could go back to the 'Classic' TSR Era (1979-1990 or so?) i'll bet that Hoodlums & Hideouts would have hit the gaming audience like a Bazooka blast full of fun! Sadly, TSR was rather paranoid concerning its Intellectual Property back then(handing out 'Cease and Desist' writs to Fan sites like poisoned candy) and would probably take you to court. Best case scenario, TSR publishes a 'commitee designed' version of H&H and you get a co-creator credit and some cash and residuals out of it.<
Growing out of that comment...let me share how I imagine it happening, if I had a time machine...
I go back to 1992. TSR is publishing the last of its Marvel Super Heroes products, aware that their license is ending soon, but they still have an audience for superhero games they are about to lose. I start submitting a series of articles to Dragon magazine about Hideouts & Hoodlums, teasing out this alternate line of "products that could have been" had D&D developed as a comic book emulation game instead of swords & sorcery. The articles are published and spark a lot of interest and positive feedback.
In 1993, I pitch to TSR an actual H&H ruleset, like the 3 booklets I first made. Only fragments of this material appeared in the popular Dragon magazine articles and a growing fanbase is clamoring to see more. TSR is putting together the Player Options books, planning to take AD&D in an even crunchier direction, but there are elements in TSR who know they should be appeasing a rules-lite audience too and see that AD&D/H&H will be that split between the two.
As the AD&D line falters, overburdened by the weight of its own rules options and fragmented by multiple competing campaign settings, H&H picks up steam, drawing from D&D's audience, Champions' audience -- even the Call of Cthulhu players love the historical simulation aspect of H&H. In 1996, the Advanced Hideouts & Hoodlums Mobster Manual is released, heralding the expansion of the H&H line.
That's when Wizards of the Coast comes knocking. In 1997 they offer to buy TSR. Lorraine Williams wants to cash out and sell off all her IP, but (oh, sure, why not!) H&H creator Scott Casper recently won the lottery and is ready to cut his own deal. WotC gets all the IP from TSR except H&H, and Scott continues as creative head of TSR, which now focuses on the H&H brand -- and the AH&H Heroes Handbook comes out that same year. But where to take H&H next? It already has extensive rules that don't need revising any time soon. The Trophy Case is a bimonthly Dragon-like magazine replacing Dragon magazine -- bimonthly so it can keep its standards for material high and not churn out on a monthly schedule. There have been 14 modules published presenting multiple paths for getting heroes from level 1 to level 12.
The new TSR launches a comic book line. Set in 1941 and based on the Centaur and Fawcett comic books of that period, 8 interconnected anthology titles start coming out in 1999. Because of Scott's lottery fortune, he's able to hire big names from the comic book industry's past. The comic book line becomes the basis for a new campaign setting that will be further detailed in supplements. The comic books don't sell well initially, but become huge hits in the bookstore market after being rereleased as trade paperbacks.
From 1997 to 2008, TSR is a one-RPG company and does okay, but needs more games to grow. That's when Scott forms a deal with Matt Finch and brings its first retroclone, Swords & Wizardry, under the TSR banner. TSR becomes the center of the Old School Renaissance movement, just as the comic book line and H&H begin to emulate the 1950s (having continued to move forward in real time)...
Growing out of that comment...let me share how I imagine it happening, if I had a time machine...
I go back to 1992. TSR is publishing the last of its Marvel Super Heroes products, aware that their license is ending soon, but they still have an audience for superhero games they are about to lose. I start submitting a series of articles to Dragon magazine about Hideouts & Hoodlums, teasing out this alternate line of "products that could have been" had D&D developed as a comic book emulation game instead of swords & sorcery. The articles are published and spark a lot of interest and positive feedback.
In 1993, I pitch to TSR an actual H&H ruleset, like the 3 booklets I first made. Only fragments of this material appeared in the popular Dragon magazine articles and a growing fanbase is clamoring to see more. TSR is putting together the Player Options books, planning to take AD&D in an even crunchier direction, but there are elements in TSR who know they should be appeasing a rules-lite audience too and see that AD&D/H&H will be that split between the two.
As the AD&D line falters, overburdened by the weight of its own rules options and fragmented by multiple competing campaign settings, H&H picks up steam, drawing from D&D's audience, Champions' audience -- even the Call of Cthulhu players love the historical simulation aspect of H&H. In 1996, the Advanced Hideouts & Hoodlums Mobster Manual is released, heralding the expansion of the H&H line.
That's when Wizards of the Coast comes knocking. In 1997 they offer to buy TSR. Lorraine Williams wants to cash out and sell off all her IP, but (oh, sure, why not!) H&H creator Scott Casper recently won the lottery and is ready to cut his own deal. WotC gets all the IP from TSR except H&H, and Scott continues as creative head of TSR, which now focuses on the H&H brand -- and the AH&H Heroes Handbook comes out that same year. But where to take H&H next? It already has extensive rules that don't need revising any time soon. The Trophy Case is a bimonthly Dragon-like magazine replacing Dragon magazine -- bimonthly so it can keep its standards for material high and not churn out on a monthly schedule. There have been 14 modules published presenting multiple paths for getting heroes from level 1 to level 12.
The new TSR launches a comic book line. Set in 1941 and based on the Centaur and Fawcett comic books of that period, 8 interconnected anthology titles start coming out in 1999. Because of Scott's lottery fortune, he's able to hire big names from the comic book industry's past. The comic book line becomes the basis for a new campaign setting that will be further detailed in supplements. The comic books don't sell well initially, but become huge hits in the bookstore market after being rereleased as trade paperbacks.
From 1997 to 2008, TSR is a one-RPG company and does okay, but needs more games to grow. That's when Scott forms a deal with Matt Finch and brings its first retroclone, Swords & Wizardry, under the TSR banner. TSR becomes the center of the Old School Renaissance movement, just as the comic book line and H&H begin to emulate the 1950s (having continued to move forward in real time)...
I tried...
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