How DnD screwed up Heroscape

[saywhat]

Originally Posted by Chachi

.... But who knows, even things like Killer Instinct came back and that was thought to be lost forever as well........

Ironically years back I thought that the characters from Killer Instinct would make for good customs in Heroscape.

[Chachi]

Ditto.......Fulgore on Vydar?! YES!

[nyys]

I would say the only way Scape makes it back at this point is via some form of crowd funding campaign. I can't imagine the scenario where Hasbro would do this (maybe the CEO's nephew really wants it to happen and he's a spoiled brat that gets everything he wants... which I would actually have no issue with ), but I'm sure it would gain a lot of traction. Considering the amount of $$ unknown minis games get on places like Kickstarter, I'm sure Scape would crack the 1M barrier easily (the problem is that's nowhere close to the margins they would want I'm sure).

[Garada]

Perhaps more feasible is a KickStarter campaign by a smaller third party gaming company [who are amenable to lower margins] whose budget for the project includes funds for licensing the Heroscape brand from Hasbro.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

X2

[Jdao]

I used to be in the same boat and hated the DnD waves. Though I still think a lot of the figures don't fit in with the lore, the DnD waves have some of the most unique and well thought out powers like the deathchasers and warforged. DnD for me is 50/50. Some of the units are super cool, and some just make u wonder why they're even in there.

Back to OP's point, I don't think DnD was responsible for HS's decline. I think at that point, HS was already about to go down; there was little marketing to a very niche game and production costs were super high. I personally think HS figures are one of the most durable and high quality figures for such a cost. I do hope 3d printing technology or crowdfunding will bring it back. Maybe some occasional posts on Reddit will bring back attention like that one post that made it to the front page of Reddit.

Edit: when I think about it, I bet WotC already knew HS was gonna go under, they probably thought: "why not introduce DnD into HS and get some of the HS crowd and get "free" publicity for their prized DnD franchise"

[Dr.Goomonkey]

I have pretty similar feelings with Jdao, I feel like it wasn't so much as that D&D killed HeroScape as much as it is they just took the opportunity of one thing dying to try to fertilize their product.

About the gameplay of them I also have pretty mixed feelings, I don't like how little they fit in with the rest of the game, but they do have some nifty ideas behind them, for example I personally like the Uncommon Hero type...

I feel like though WotC did pull the lever that choked out HeroScape, it was more Hasbro not marketing it well and how the waves were structured, making the stores have overstock of the sets in a wave with only Unique Figures and short on the sets with Common figures. I can see the argument that D&D killed 'Scape, but I don't see it.

[GaryLASQ]

When it comes to DnD, nothing bugs me much except the different bases. I tried to pretend it didn't bother me at first. As long as they all attached to ladder rungs I figured no big deal. But over time, I've grown to dislike them more and more.

[Smithy Winfred]

I recently got into D&D, and actually came to appreciate both the fact that all the units could be used in my D&D games (which saved the money on buying new minis) and that the bases could be used on the D&D game boards.

I think the main problem with HS was that it was never really marketed as a tabletop game, and was marketed more at younger kids. In fact, I think that if WotC had had the rights to begin with, they would have done a better job marketing the product to the appropriate crowd.

[Chachi]

We just got all three big box D&D dungeon crawlers. They are fun games but funny enough they are more simple than Heroscape...lmao! True D&D cannot be compared to Scape as they are two different styles of games. Dungeon Command is a good comparison.

[Tornado]

Real D&D should not even require minis, only imagination.

It blows my mind that they turned it into a board game. Oh well, I never cared for the system anyway, I was always a Palladium guy.

[Hellfire]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Real D&D should not even require minis, only imagination.

Plus it makes RPGs so much more expensive. Although I've had fun w/ RPGs with and without miniatures.