Heroscape: A Reflection of Our Culture

[HSisforcoolkids]

Heroscape: A Reflection of Our Culture

My initial draw to Heroscape was the juxtaposition of characters from different genres, times, places. I know this combination of genres that drew me in is also the thing that drew many other players in. I especially loved the idea of putting historical figures into battle with fantasy and sci-fi characters. The boundless setting of HS is part of what causes seasoned gamers like Imax to make statements like, “Heroscape is the game I’ve been waiting my whole life for.”

There are many reasons why Heroscape is such a popular game: the great figures, the interlocking terrain that creates infinite battlefield possibilities, and the outstanding and simple game mechanics, among others. It seems to me that for most ‘scapers, the setting of Heroscape (potentially being any and every setting imaginable) is what draws folks in, especially non-gamers like I was before HS; the mechanics keep us playing; and the knowledge that more figures from new and already featured settings is what keeps us excited about the game.

Heroscape’s open-ended setting is a reflection of our times.

We are all influenced by the culture around us. Our culture is one that is saturated by the media. The entertainment in our media increasingly has no clear bounds when it comes to genre. Popular scripted television shows often contain elements from many different genres that don’t allow for easy categorization (Lost, Heroes, and the Office are a few of my favorites that come to mind). Furthermore, even the shows that are stuck in different categories can be easily accessed and enjoyed by the same person (even if they just have an antennae).

Popular music has no bounds when it comes to genre. Popular country music has turned into rock with a twangy sound. Rock often holds elements of rap and vice versa. The emo genre of music has seeped its way into mainstream rock (the “hard” rock I hear on the radio today is filled with incessant whining and non-subtle lyrics). Raggae music has influenced both rock and rap. I would be willing to say that a majority of current bands, both popular and unknown, draw on a wide range of current and past musical influences (check out a few myspace music pages to see what I mean). It is not uncommon for a person to be interested in classical music and current hip-hop. I haven’t thought through movies enough to comment on them as genre-defying, but I’m sure some movie buffs on this site could come up with examples. (Well, now that I think of it, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno are two recent films that I don’t think fit neatly into one genre or another.)

Who knows of a person who has only one genre they are interested in? Everyone who watches television and movies or listens to music seems to have an interest in a wide variety now.

Even our media devices are not one-dimensional. Our television entertainment providers provide radio stations, our phones have the internet, and our computers can do whatever the heck we want them to do (hopefully that will never be vice versa).

The result of our media containing so many different genres of entertainment, often seamlessly incorporated together, is that the average person has a wide range of entertainment interests. When it comes to board games, it seems to a relatively new gamer like myself that there have long been a wide range of war games that deal with different genres and settings, but there haven’t been many games that cross genres (at least not prominent games in my estimation). I had always wanted to play a game that dealt with many different genres I was interested in (of course, I had always thought of this mythical game as a video game, but I digress). I like fantasy, I like sci-fi, I like historical stuff, I like time travel, I like horror stuff. But I don’t like any single one of them enough to shell out my hard earned money for a game about just one of those. For me, Heroscape fills this void of cross-genre games perfectly.

As I’m sure others have thought and said, Craig Van Ness and Hasbro were wise to capitalize on this trend of genre-defying entertainment. Heroscape’s genre-less setting is a dream come true for many peopleàsee Hex Enduction Hour’s art thread for his premonition of Heroscape art piece that he drew back in 1986. How many of us growing up thought it would be neat to see our favorite characters from different shows, movies, comics, etc. go at it in battle? Now we can see that battle, even if our favorite characters are now newly created specifically for Heroscape.

With so many genres being accepted and embraced by the masses now, our current real life setting provides a perfect situation for Heroscape to continue to succeed in. Heroscape reflects what is going on in the world around us, which increasingly has fewer boundaries in regards to entertainment and otherwise.

Thanks for reading.

[Grungebob]

Good read, positive rep heading your way!!

[scorpiusx]

Originally Posted by Grungebob

Good read, positive rep heading your way!!

Ditto. HSisforcoolkids, you deserve some green.

[Jexik]

I like the genre-mixing too. That's what made the original RotV such a great experience. As heroscape grows, this will only happen more.

[bad_calvin]

Great post man! wow! Thanks for sharing that!
+rep for you

[truth]

Awesome! + Rep

Though I wish this were a blog post, I feel like I there is nothing I can really add to make this a conversation. Only comment on how great this piece of writing is.

[Revdyer]

I'll "amen!" this too. Nice post and good insights. +rep headed your way from me, too.

[yagyuninja]

You know, you've got some great points there. I think I really could pull more of my friends into Heroscape if I took advantage of its melting pot nature. I tend to only think of using it as a straight up battle game, where I attempt to destroy the other player with my army build and strategy. I bet I could show a lot more people how fun it was if I pulled out Heroscape quests a little more often, or designed a little D&D scenario with it. I remember there was a Settlers of Heroscape variant some time back, and I have tons of friends that enjoy Settlers. Heck, maybe I'll try to come up with some sort of Carcassonne/Heroscape mashup.

Anyway, I know this wasn't necessarily your point, but it definitely led me to some intruiging thoughts. Thanks!

[InfinityMax]

It's funny, but the genre-mixing is the thing that kept me from buying Heroscape for months. I don't mean to disagree - I can see your argument - but personally, I like to keep my chocolate out of my peanut butter. In fact, if Heroscape were a science-fiction-only game, or fantasy-only, or even all Old West, I would love it so much more. Hell, I sometimes think I need to get back into customs, just so I can make the game into the single-genre thing I wish it was.

I know that goes completely opposite to what you're saying here, which is especially awkward because you actually quoted my review in the first paragraph. What I love about Heroscape is the tactile interaction, the maneuvering, the planning, the army-building - everything except the mish-mash of genres. I don't tend to be a huge fan of anachronistic sci-fi, either.

However, I do think your discussion is interesting, and I can see that it would apply to a lot of fans. It's thought-provoking, which is the stuff of quality written material. So you've got that going for you, which is nice.

[1Mmirg]

And more than that, you can recreate it as each of these at different times. Do an all sci-fi one (using a lot of Marvel and road pieces perhaps for the map), then a fantasy one with trees and castles, then a Eastern-themed one. Like IMax said, with a few added customs it is even easier to make an entire theme-based game (not just army).

On a broader note, thanks for sharing this post--excellent! The genre mixing didn't bring me in, but afterwards it was a big plus--and my kids really love the blending (they are the same ones that love all the fashion mishmashing that is so popular now too...). Smart post, thanks!

[HSisforcoolkids]

Originally Posted by InfinityMax

It's funny, but the genre-mixing is the thing that kept me from buying Heroscape for months. I don't mean to disagree - I can see your argument - but personally, I like to keep my chocolate out of my peanut butter.

What I love about Heroscape is the tactile interaction, the maneuvering, the planning, the army-building - everything except the mish-mash of genres.

Haha! Now that you say that I do remember you writing that in your review. Oh well, I'm glad your not too mad that I misquoted you.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on the post.

[Nadom]

I very much agree. The way I explain the game to people is by asking them if they've ever wondered what it would be like if the orcs from Lord of the Rings went up against some agents from the Matrix or if William Wallace and his band of ragtag highlanders could take on a giant fire-breathing dragon one-on-one. What about a team of Charlie's Angels plus some gorillas from Planet of the Apes against the Roman Legion?. With all of the units based on archetypes from movies, literature, and history, they all feel familiar even before you play them. This is one of the reasons why I tend to stay away from heavily themed armies, actually... I love the melting-pot feel of the game and the strange partnerships it makes. Only in this game could I team a blood-sucking vampire with some paratroopers from WW2 and put them up against a cave troll, some werewolves, and a viking or two. Genres are overrated. Long live heroscape.