Re: [HOE] Combined Format

[toadpooka@juno.com]

Here's the essential problem I see here: PEG sells well in the Weird West
books, but not the Wasted West. I can see why: to understand the setting
of HoE requires you to also understand the setting of Deadlands.  It's an
alternate future of an alternate past., and that makes it nigh impossible
to get non-WW players into HoE.
The point of the combined format seems to be getting DL players into HoE
and Lost Colony, not the other way around.  I think the number of
exclusive HoE players is very low, and Deadlands doesn't need thier
support nearly as much as HoE needs the Deadlands players' support.  This
is what they tried to do with the combined dispatches, and later, the
Epitaph.
But it didn't work, either of those times.  Fans were hopping mad that
they had one measley page of their WW book devoted to HoE material, so
PEG stopped combining them.  Then they were inflamed because half of the
Epitaph was devoted to a different game and didn't buy as much.  For some
strange reason, they think that the fans will respond in greater numbers
for a sourcebook that suffers from the same problem.
I, for one, would continue playing HoE if no sourcebooks were released
ever again.  I wouldn't be terribly happy, but that wouldn't stop me from
enjoying what's out there.  But every time Deadlands and the Wasted West
have been combined, HoE has gotten the short end of the stick.  I know
why this is, and I don't think PEG is bad for doing it, but it happens
all the same.
So, like a lot of other HoE players, I'll say that I'd be more than happy
to continue buying books that come out at a rate of 1-2 per year, but I'd
be less likely to buy a combined sourcebook.  However, that doesn't seem
to be what they're after here, so it probably won't sway the tides.

-Rich
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