Year Zero

From: Ian Cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 14:03:55 -0000

I raised a topic of rich settings, and whether they are doomed to play to a declining fanbase over on rpg.net. Remember the people there are the kind of new players II need to attract. Of the comments I found Paul Czege's the most interesting. Follow this link and scroll down the page:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?
s=a53e57f5cb803b18e964433d0506dca4&threadid=39925&pagenumber=3

Paul's point is, I think, that every so often rich settings need to do what DC did with Superman - start over. Without that fresh start new people could never join in the fun. Keep the signal, but be ruthless with the noise. I like the metaphor. For my part RQ was a great game, but when Hero Wars came out it needed to be percieved as a Year Zero an Issue #1 to allow new people into the game and bring it into the 21st century.

Personally I found Hero Wars reinvigorated me in role-playing and with Heroquest and ILH it only seems to be getting better.