Yes, V&V has a future.

Fair question, Ramble, especially considering the legal crapstorm just recently concluded.

My appreciation of these matters is coloured somewhat by personal inclinations; I have an inherent dislike of RPGs (and all substantive reading material, really) that are purely digital/online-based.  I want something that I can hold in my hands, and transport from location to location with the sole concern being whether or not the book/s stay in good condition, not whether I'm in satellite communication range or have enough power to keep device x working until I can find an outlet.

That stated, I'll make it clear: Yes, I believe V&V does have a future...as a hardcopy, printed work/s.  There's a strong and dedicated enough customer base to ensure that there's some kind of action going on, and a low enough overhead for production to make forays into the retail market not a life or death proposition.  By comparison, I think of the recurring, ongoing interest in Indian motorcycles: there's certainly a very appreciable customer base ready to make purchases, but the cost of production, in relation, not to mention distribution, housing, overhead, sales and advertising makes the sale of anything more than a few prototype items not much more than a pipe dream.  Indian (the company) would have to sell thousands in a single production cycle to make matters even vaguely worthwhile; V&V, as a printed RPG, has no such concerns, although the pure numeric customer base might be far less than Indian's.

What I do see as the greater problem, potentially, is the name (though not the actual property) now shared equally by two separate and uncooperative outlets.  How many people is MHG going to attract with V&V/MPM?  Will the redone modules, and new works, start to pull in the numbers on a steady and continuous basis?  Will FGU be able to assemble a crew that will (as discussed) put together an entirely new V&V system that shares only the name with the original game engine?  Would this spark a competition between the two, resulting in advertising wars, the search for free publicity, and the ongoing array of dirty tricks that one or both sides might pull - and might this end up inflicting such costs and damages to both sides, erasing profits, both real and potential, along with inculcated misery that they might decide mutually to hang up the .45s and call it a day?

I am very much hoping that, as MHG - as indicated in public releases - gets its books moving out to customers as the post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas season moves in, is able to maintain its distance from FGU's population, and vice versa, and avoid deliberate or accidental irritation of parties that may be quite happy to light the fuse and watch the explosions.  This, I think, is the only thing that holds a realistic threat to V&V's future, MHG and FGU versions alike.  The two companies are very likely to make sure the fence stays good, high, sturdy and painted bright to mark divisions between corporate houses, so as to avoid any stupid, completely unproductive conflicts; it remains to be seen if the attendant populations can also observe politesse.  If there happens to be an opportunity for MHG and FGU to start finding some common ground, it could end up pretty much guaranteeing V&V's domination of the superhero RPG market for years to come.

polarboy wrote on Oct 17^th, 2016 at 1:01am:


Wow. You got me there. 

RAMBLE

I personally want print books.  PDF is fine for reading in bed at night, but for most gaming, I want print.

But for V&V, I think to compete with more "modern" direction, it needs to offer simpler.  The whole concept of "dials" or "switches" that can be flipped to allow different levels of granularity is a direction the game should go.

I like the Carrying Capacity calculation, but I don't know that MHG isn't going the right direction by getting rid of it.  I would like to be able to create characters without needing my laptop for my excel character sheet or a calculator.

So something that makes it much simpler, easier to get into, less tracking on stuff even.  This may be tragic, but maybe even supporting more storygaming instead of traditional RPGing.

V&V is my favorite supers game.  I just recently off-loaded 99.5% of my Hero Games stuff (kept a copy of Ultimate Martial Artist).  I also got rid of thousands of dollars of other used RPGs and board games.  Just got rid of all of this stuff on Sept 24.  So when I talk about opening the game up (up above), please realize that I say this with the intent that this IS my favorite single RPG.  Not the one with the most play, but my favorite.

So when I say I want to open up options, it is strictly 100% because I want to bring more people into the game.  Bzut having to use a calculator or spreadsheet for character creation turns people off.  That is one reason I think MHG might be onto something with the concept of some simplification.  And I say this as someone who did not back their KS.

marcus wrote on Oct 17^th, 2016 at 3:04pm:


Thanks Marcus! I'm glad you're enjoying V&V!

Is there anything you'd like to see to make it better? Is there anything we should NEVER EVER change? Ask your friends - I'd like to hear their thoughts.


RAMBLE

Ramble wrote on Oct 18^th, 2016 at 9:05pm:



definitely.
especially for the inventing process

We never really worried about money when it came to inventions.  The cost was covered by inventing points.  In regard to bases and whatnot, it was based on what the character's background was.  If there was justification, they had the batcave or fortress of solitude.  If there wasn't, they operated out of wherever.

But yeah, that may not fly with a lot of people.

So wealth is something you'd like to see addressed.
What else?
What do you want explained completely so that you don't need to build house rules for?

RAMBLE

More rules for Wealth - Check.
Multiple Formats for books - Check.

What else would you like to see?



RAMBLE