Asmodee stops the edition of Hell Dorado.

[Silveri]

W00t!

[WEiRD sKeTCH]

Hot damn!

[Silveri]

What interests me now is the question of the mysterious american who has followed the project since the beginning. It has got to be somebody that WAS active in the english forums (well, a long shot anyway) but has since then ceased writing for the duration of the negotiations.

On with the conspiracy theories! Since really, how else do we spend our time now bickering about as our worst fears are mostly alleviated?

[Rich_B]

English rulebook and cards a priority It may be going to the wrong side of the Atlantic but I'll take that!

*Tips hat to mysterious American entrepreneur*

Can't wait!

[mathieu]

I posted a separate topic, with a translation which, I hope, is a little less exotic than google's

[Magno]

Well, seems like there is going to be some sticky issues and logistic challenges to overcome. So, all artistic work is to be done in France and then production to be done in the US.

Seems like this is a private buyer (or group) and not a company so that is positive news to me as I would gather that the buyer has an appreciation for the artistic quality of the game and not looking to make money hand over fist by changing things around ala Rackham.

To who ever bought Helldorado, I stand ready to assist in promoting the game in the area.
Terrain, demos, tournies, etc..

[Silveri]

Well, the buyer is still in for it to make profits from his purchase.

One of Rackham's mistakes was assuming that people really wanted to play Rag'narok instead of C3, but found the game too complex to be worth the trouble, thus they scrapped the skirmish game that the players loved more than any other game and replaced it with a half-arsed version of the AT-43 ruleset.

Another big one was switching to PPP in C:AoR - perhaps with unpainted plastics at least some of the die-hard fans would have remained, but people really weren't really willing to spend extra money for left-hand paintjobs on low-detail vinyl miniatures, when they were used to pay good money for unpainted high-detail metal miniatures - especially as most of the players were of the old skool sort that felt that their playing pieces should at least weigh something.

But the absolutely WORST mistake was ignoring the fanatic fanbase they already had who were actively recruiting more players to the game they loved that yelled at them not to do the things they were planning, especially as most of the time they were far from informative on their plans.

...

But this is about HD and as the buyer is claimed to have been following the game since the beginning, I would suppose the buyer isn't that stupid and realises that as the market is still marginal, expansion at this stage - especially into a new continent relies heavily on the "foaming at the mouth" fanatics that are willing to do volunteer work demoing and promoting the game - perhaps for a marginal fee of lunch and a few miniatures. And as long as the fanatics are kept happy, the rest of the players will follow suit and well, I would suppose that the best way of keeping the fanatics happy would be by NOT repeating the mistakes Rackham made.

I for one would want to keep the game as a skirmish game with good and swift (as long as you remember the various special rules) mechanics, excellent METAL miniatures (although I wouldn't mind resin) and a background with conflicting ethical issues. HD isn't a game where you blast the foul enemies of the human race apart with massive overpowering weapons whilst whistling "La Marseillaise" - it is a game about conquering someplace where you really shouldn't want to belong, plundering things that really shouldn't belong to you and as a result, immersing yourself thus in vices that would eventually lead your soul back to hell. It is a tale of mortal souls finding damnation and the damned ones finding salvation... not a game that should make you really feel that happy about yourself... or at least that's how I view the game.

[BlasterBonatti]

This makes me very happy.

Thank you mysterious stranger!

[Bork]

finally the good stuff. can't wait to see how things go.

[Magno]

So Asmodee keeps the license, Americans will produce the goods, the Frenchman will continue with the art direction and design. Yup, seems like some serious coordination is necessary.

[Silveri]

This is teh age of teh internets. I don't think that coordination as such will be a problem, but from what I've gathered, the language barrier might be.

[occa]

I am also very happy that there is some good news at last. I played a game the other night after a long lull. And I had a great time. Succubus rocks! She's always the Woman of the match. It's a great game and I hope it continues for many years.

[Grendel]

Showing my age a bit here....

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!!!   

[Bork]

STIIIIIIIMPY YOU EEEEDIOT!!

[Silveri]

A-HA! The plot thickens. It seems that the "mysterious american" is a metal smelter, so he will be producing the miniatures himself.