I'm just curious, Kent, as to what the language was that people so up in arms...
There were a couple of things for us, Jim.
The press release used the phrase "revolutionary mechanic" and also "next generation" rpg. (Which I now see are like waving your already blooded junk in front of a feral grizzly. I know, right? What were we thinking?) We used those words in the press release because it's very difficult to distill a couple of adjectives from a longer series of things we were proud of regarding the game:
A traditional, pen and paper fantasy rpg aimed at long-term play with (we think) some rocking tactical mechanics that combine many things we like (simultaneous movement, dangerous combat even for heroes vs. mooks, real numbers advantage, integration of magic with tactical) into something that works well, has some great wrinkles, and yet is intuitive, a really excellent way of mechanically culturally acclimitizing characters, and a long-term skill-growth system that actually models different speeds of learning, as well as providing real choices for character growth and change that have mechanical impact on play.
Not sexy.
And the locals lit into us for the "revolutionary" and the "next-generation." I certainly don't blame them for that, especially since they hadn't seen us on the purple and the forge boards, and because most of the stuff we do is more incremental than Big Flash. Also, I suspect, because loads of us who post and lurk on various boards (I'm more of a reader than writer here) want to be Picasso, as opposed to just making games that deliver the mojo each weekend to a specific group of the paying public. Also, there's a lot of ownership towards the idea that there's only one direction for games to go.
We don't use that marketing language anymore, because it really seemed to draw a kind of deep anger out of people.
Also, folks are always very excited to whip out the fantasy heartbreaker card, but I think that's going to happen pretty much any time someone introduces a new steel and magic system. Another example: folks are throwing around that term on the FtA threads, just recently, jumping in with both fists before even looking at the product.
Before we jumped off the bridge into press release land, we certainly could have used some interested folks asking us what our goals for the game were, and how we thought the mechanics accomplished that goal, but we didn't and c'est la guerre.
We did get some great press and interest from those same threads, though.