What have we really lost?

[WestonWyse]

It's been three years since I've been on these forums. I moved away, and all my friends didn't. And I never really got the hang of the whole "meeting new people" thing. But then I moved back, and last night we had our first HeroScape night in years.

And I found out it has been discontinued. Thanks, WotC. Between this and 4e, I no longer have any reason to send you my money. But I digress.

So this morning, I'm back on the forums, reading through everyone's reactions over the last few months, but my reaction is honestly starting to lean toward, "So what?"

Now, hear me out. In the end, if WotC is out of the Heroscape business, what have we lost? The customs community is thriving; there will still be new material. We probably all have piles of terrain sitting in our extra bedrooms/attics/garages; I know I have more than I could ever reasonably use at the same time. The old, out of print units will probably be available on eBay for all eternity (and the price will eventually come back down). So what have we *really* lost?

We've lost quality control and a rubber stamp of officiality. I know the customs community does a wonderful job striving for balance and playability, but nothing really beats the plastic packaging that says "People have tried this, it's good to use, and it's approved for all tournaments."

We've lost direction. I know that in a game where the intent was to blend every genre imaginable (Yes, it will blend!) that complaining about a lack of direction seems moot. But story draws people into games far more than mechanics do. And without a declared direction to follow, things can get very chaotic, to say the least.

And probably most importantly, we've lost the ability to gain new players. Without an on-the-shelf Master Set to point people to, swelling the Scaper ranks is going to be nigh impossible. Scrounging eBay for enough terrain and a viable army is going to be an insurmountable task for all but the most hardcore gamers.

But here's the thing: We don't need WotC for any of this. The community can easily step in and fill the gaps left behind. Because, let's be honest, the only two original things about HeroScape were the storyline and the "interlocking" part of the interlocking terrain. Except the Marro, the miniatures are pretty generic. Hex terrain - even varying height hex terrain - is very generic. The ruleset is incredibly generic.

So it's time for us to get busy. It's time for some official unofficial oversight. It's time for centrally organized tournament support (I'm really surprised we don't seem to have that one already...). It's even time to start producing terrain, Mega Bloks style. It's time for us to quit pining over what is lost and instead strive forward to bigger, better, more awesome things. And in this community, I know that will happen. My prediction is that by the end of this year, no one will be missing WotC at all.

HeroScape is dead. Long live HeroScape.