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For those more up to date, did they announce what rules system the new rpg will use? Silhouette, WEGish d6 from Aurora, or something totally different?

There hasn't been an announcement. This week Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Perkins will be fielding a Q&A session for their blog explaining what's going on.

They invite you to look into their website: http://arkritepress.com/2014/02/25/hello-world/

Or go to Facebook or Twitter and check out them there. They don't frequent the DP9 Forums very much.

-Brandon F.

 warboss wrote:
For those more up to date, did they announce what rules system the new rpg will use? Silhouette, WEGish d6 from Aurora, or something totally different?

Seeing it's Autel and Mason, I'm guesing it will be a tweaked Silhouette 2nd edition. Maybe even with some stuff from SilCORE (I think there were a lot of worthwhile things there, although some maybe not needed for HG) and the new rolling from the Alpha, who knows. But I don't expect a system change.

They've also said this:

We will be using the original timeline from the storyline books, but we will be advancing it beyond the last book’s dates and events. The RPG will have some of the elements from the Blitz timeline, but some things that are more wargame-centric will be altered or eliminated, while other events will happen at a later date. The mystery of Temple Heights and the Koreshi will definitely be explored. Maybe your characters will be the ones to discover the hidden mysteries of the ancient chamber.

We also plan on looking at the historical events in much more depth. The early exploration of the colonies, the chaotic times on Earth during Kir Arya’s existence, and War of the Alliance are all rich points of time that could be explored.

...but I'm still taking it with a grain of salt. They are part of the desing team that gave us the new NuCoal, and although I don't actually mind it all that much in the wargame (there's a need for factions, there), it's inconsistency city over there, and a development not actually needed for the RPG.

That said, above they plainly state they'll be using the original timeline, so there will be changes from the latest books, that's for certain.

I'm glad they're kicking off a new RPG, though my RPGing group is more into high fantasy so I doubt it'll see play for me. More interest for the setting should only be a good thing for the future of HG, I figure.

However now that I know that Autel didn't just give up on Heavy Gear (as was my assumption given his sudden and mysterious silence on the forums), I wonder why there wasn't an official announcement about him stepping down as rules support months ago? It seems a little unprofessional to not at least give a final message that he was no longer in that role.

If there is one thing they are absolutely gak at, it's communicating changes like that. They had that rules forum thread (run by Hudsond), and instead of closing it, or putting a note that it was on hiatus, they just let it set idle as people consistently posted questions without getting answers.

... I've been summoned ?

Edit : Yeah, so apparently, I'm not supposed to follow my avatar's guidance and be an insufferable show-off, so, yeah, if you have questions on how it went, and why that Q&A thread fizzled out, ask away.

ferrous wrote:
If there is one thing they are absolutely gak at, it's communicating changes like that. They had that rules forum thread (run by Hudsond), and instead of closing it, or putting a note that it was on hiatus, they just let it set idle as people consistently posted questions without getting answers.

I hate to say it, but DP9 has always had rules response issues. For instance, I don't think we *ever* got an official explanation of how the salary cap system was supposed to work in Heavy Gear Arena.

It's not just an issue. It's an aversion to doing it, and a complete lack of concern and respect for their customers. They literally do not care if they publish an unplayable mess. You bought it; they have your money. The rest is irrelevant to them.

mrondeau wrote:
It's not just an issue. It's an aversion to doing it, and a complete lack of concern and respect for their customers. They literally do not care if they publish an unplayable mess. You bought it; they have your money. The rest is irrelevant to them.

That is a way of thinking I simply do not understand. Yes, you can have their money... this time. You probably won't next time, if the product is not up to people's expectations.

...which is, of course, a big part of the problem they are facing now (as in people got dissapointed and left, and now the company is survivivng on emergency oxygen). I feel that Autel and Mason may have done a very good thing distancing themselves from DP9, TBH.

Thanks for the info/update. I'm curious to see what mechanics they decide to use but I'm equally a bit worried about the story progression. Both of the folks involved in the new RPG venture are in large part responsible both for the lack of support over on the tabletop game side for rules issues as well as the more questionable/controversial advancements in story lines (like small factions magically sprouting multiple massive top tech lines seemingly overnight). What remains to be seen is how much of the above was due to simple neglect (regarding the lack of FAQs) as part of "I'm only freelance" syndrome and how much was due to directives from on high (regarding the story) demanding the shoehorning in of new factions/minis to sell figs.

In the end, I've lost alot of the enthusiasm I had for Heavy Gear between the stream of thought army lists and the push to probably April of the January North PDF for blitz.

 warboss wrote:
In the end, I've lost alot of the enthusiasm I had for Heavy Gear between the stream of thought army lists and the push to probably April of the January North PDF for blitz.

Let me tell you, you're not the only one. My interest in the wargame has mostly fizzled out by now. I think I'll be waiting for the game's release to see it and save much griping.

...but I'm much more of an RPG fan than a wargame one, so... this announcement coupled with the new HG RPG campaign I've just started (just last week) have made me quite excited about the RPG all over again. Despite myself.

 HudsonD wrote:
... I've been summoned ?

Edit : Yeah, so apparently, I'm not supposed to follow my avatar's guidance and be an insufferable show-off, so, yeah, if you have questions on how it went, and why that Q&A thread fizzled out, ask away.

What did happen with that whole thing? I mean, I can understand not wanting to respond to each question, maybe wait and respond every month or whatever, but they just sort of let it hang there and rot on the vine, which is just awful.

Back in the day, when I was in Highschool, there was a game and comic shop just a stone's throw from school. Needless to say the place got a lot of foot traffic, it was where I first picked up 40k.

Towards the end of the place, the owner couldn't get his lease renewed because the owner of the property was an awful human being, some of the crowd started playing Heavy Gear. It seemed interesting enough, to me it looked like Battletech but without an oppressive amount of tables.

I never got into it though because it was right when I was getting into 40k big time. The first months of 4th Edition were heady days indeed and I just didn't have the time to learn a whole new game when I was busy trying to pass classes and stuff.

ferrous wrote:

What did happen with that whole thing? I mean, I can understand not wanting to respond to each question, maybe wait and respond every month or whatever, but they just sort of let it hang there and rot on the vine, which is just awful.

Short answer :
They just plain don't care.

Longer answer :
Seriously, they really, genuinely, thoroughly don't care.
I had to lobby hard, for months, to get the first "Q&A thread" started, and when it finally happened, my only role was to clarify things, and transfer the questions to the lead designer when they went beyond that.
The rules being what they are, "clarifications" were the exception, not the norm, and things went down-hill fast, since it would take weeks, plural, to get any rule answer from the team. Rule support was just not deemed prioritary. Or even important...
I had to start making the rulings themselves so that people could play their games, but eventually, I got tired of working without any internal support, and simply stopped, eventually resigning.
That's how the first Q&A thread ended up abandonned, and I don't think they noticed it...

A while after that, out of the blue, a new Q&A thread was started with great fanfare and the lead designer explaining how this was the first official Q&A thread. Very classy.
The thread lasted for 3 weeks before they stopped bothering with it...

So, to answer your question, yes, they let it hang there to rot, not once, but actually twice. Without any second-thoughts.

If you ever wanted another indicator, there's also the FAQ.
You see, at one point, there was an update to the current rules, the Field Manual (which was required to make the game playable after the horror that was LnL).
While mostly decent in term of rules, the FM had some problems, and was patched too.
The patch was a new version of the PDF, with a slightly different colour. No change notes, nothing. Just a new version of the book.
This obviously lead to a series of "but what did you change ?" posts on the official forums.

Being crazy and curious, I spent about 2 hours, with both PDFs open side by side on one screen, going page by page to find the differences. I also wrote down, at the same time, the rule issues I noticed. I was about to clean up those notes and post them on the forum, since I obviously was not the only one wanting to know.
HudsonD convinced me to sent my notes to DP9's owner instead. This was done, and supposed to be used as the basis of the official FAQ.

The waiting started. I kept emailing, asking about the status and offering help. The answer, when the email was answered, was always to wait.
After a couple of week, the answer was "Next Friday". I replied "Great! Do you want me to look at the final product, to confirm that the remaining rule issues and questions are answered ?".
No reply, of course. The FAQ was not published on Friday. I emailed again, to say "Looks like there's a problem." No reply.

Come the weekend, someone asked again "What are the changes ?" We are talking 1-2 months after the update at this point.
I replied with my notes, with the warning that those were unofficial, and a light snipe at DP9. By courtesy, I also emailed DP9. Within 30s, my post was deleted, and I had an angry email in my inbox. Granted, the snipe should not have been in the original post. That does not explain why the email contained a warning never to post that list again.

That should tell you all about DP9's priorities. Players are not even close to be one of them.
"Players ask questions ? Who cares, they can wait. Something is embarrassing for us ? Quick! Remove it now!!"

PS:
The FAQ was eventually published, weeks later. Some of the questions were answered. Others were not, because whoever answered them did not understand the difference between "Active Lock" and "Communication". It appears that this was silently corrected some time ago. It was left unfixed for at least 1 year.

I suspect that it was fixed when the promptly abandoned thread was started: I was complaining, loudly, about the whole thing on another forum, and it was getting embarrassing.
As seen above, DP9 will ignore players for weeks, but make them lose face, and they act within 30s.

mrondeau wrote:
It's not just an issue. It's an aversion to doing it, and a complete lack of concern and respect for their customers. They literally do not care if they publish an unplayable mess. You bought it; they have your money. The rest is irrelevant to them.

Given that the company has come close to cratering once already (back when they had to cut every game system except for Heavy Gear), you'd think that they'd pay a little more attention to basic customer questions...

Eumerin wrote:

Given that the company has come close to cratering once already (back when they had to cut every game system except for Heavy Gear), you'd think that they'd pay a little more attention to basic customer questions...

Funny you mention that, as they've pretty much shelved their other mini lines in the last few months...

Mr. Perkins announces Heavy Gear Universe miniatures will be in the 1:58-60 scale range.

In addition, Heavy Gear Universe from Arkrite will be making new adjustments and exploring much of the universe, as detailed on their blog.

http://arkritepress.com/2014/03/12/backwards-compatibility-gm-options-and-timelines/

-Brandon F.

Next update for the Alpha is complete:

http://dp9.com/content/march-14th-rules-update-complete

-Brandon F.

BrandonKF wrote:
Mr. Perkins announces Heavy Gear Universe miniatures will be in the 1:58-60 scale range.

In addition, Heavy Gear Universe from Arkrite will be making new adjustments and exploring much of the universe, as detailed on their blog.

http://arkritepress.com/2014/03/12/backwards-compatibility-gm-options-and-timelines/

-Brandon F.

It's okay to change the mechanics, but they seem to be going about it the wrong way. Oh well, maybe they'll figure it out.

There is a lot of material that they have to work through.

I can't say they are going about it 'the wrong way', because at least there is a way now. The RPG was written off by a lot of people a long time ago, so it's exciting to know that they are revisiting it.

I hope more folks share this and get it out there.

-Brandon F.

Going by the last batch of comments I probably shouldn't be holding my breath for a new edition of Heavy Gear that would tidy things up then?

BrandonKF wrote:
I can't say they are going about it 'the wrong way', because at least there is a way now.
-Brandon F.

Moving, and moving in the right direction, are two different concepts. Now, there's some good bits in there, and some bad bits. Being on their own is good, but at the same time, the mention "by the folks that did TPS and FIF" is really ominous. The thing I'm most interested in remains the miniature line.

plastictrees wrote:Going by the last batch of comments I probably shouldn't be holding my breath for a new edition of Heavy Gear that would tidy things up then?

For the RPG or the wargame ? I have mixed feelings on the RPG, as mentionned above, although it's got potential.
The wargame on the other hand... Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath there.

LOL, the "new" version of the Blood Debt pdf is out and they're still the chief playtester's favorite child as before. They lost the EW2 on the GP CGL but they still keep LD2 without any TV cost or vet slot, gear stat boosts, free MACs, free melee trait on RFB that no one else gets, and free starting immunity to crossfire compared with Polar equivalents for no additional cost. The armies still pay nothing for full crossfire immunity and stealth units starting hidden in the applicable subfactions and there is NO downside to balance the cheaper airstrikes (like for example more expensive artillery). Infantry still get the crossfire immunity and extra +1 armor that others have to pay for at the low low price of nothing compared with other Field Guides.

Any other changes (or lack thereof) that I missed?

Well a change log would help, but DP9 doesn't like these much, so you'd have to double check everything, and I'm pretty sure forcing someone to read Blood Debt in detail is banned by the Geneva Convention...

Arkrite Press releases their next entry in their blog.

http://arkritepress.com/2014/03/20/rumbleinthejungle/



-Brandon F.

So Brandon, have you submitted any stories for the anthology? I know it was technically the opposite of the SIU but submitting a sample may be a good idea if your own RPG is on hold at the moment.

@Hudson: There is a short Blood Debt changelog (complete with copy paste typo that you'll enjoy) over on the dp9 forums as I just checked.

My own RPG is indeed on hold. The artist who was drawing the works has gone into the USAF, for which I greatly respect him and admire him for his dedication to the U.S.


-Brandon F.

I notice Dave's responsiveness on the forum's dropped a lot over the past couple weeks - hopefully a temporary thing due to DP9's March sales.

The Alpha now is in what I would call "okay" shape. It's an interesting rule set, but it really needs a fair bit of cleanup, logic bug fixing, and a lot of streamlining. Which is what I'd put the non-Alpha Blitz rules at, really, but that's not a high bar to pass.

I would hope at this stage in the super-ambitious schedule overall there would be some heavy pruning going on in the rules department, but the overall trend seems to be adding rules and special actions. I do hope that trend gets reversed pretty soon.

I haven't even downloaded the newest version to be honest. Until I get an actual game scheduled, there is no point. I did see an intersting post though else about some massive schedule of books that they're planning for the RPG. Considering the team responsible is used to putting out 1-2 projects a year (one book and gear up), laying out plans for so many is a bit... ambitious to put it nicely. The only analogue I can think of is the most recent 2013 Palladium books catalog that hawked 20+ books for the year despite them at best coming out with 3-4 yearly and only got out 2 (neither of which was actually on the list).

While I applaud the ambitious expansion plans, I think they would have been better off playing those a bit closer to the chest and focusing on the relatively current era (TN1930+/-20) instead of getting people's hopes up for books spanning thousands of years.

As a side note, does anyone follow the HGA video game or pledged for it? I lost track of that one months ago and decided to go to their forums... which are now closed. They've got another countdown going for something else though. Hopefully this one won't end with a wimper and wah wah wah waaaah trumpet noise like the last one where the website was Error 404 for most of the day post 30 day countdown.