Does Champion's Sidekicks have all the same rules?

[Madacapa]

Does Champion's Sidekicks have all the same rules as the 5th edition Hero Rules revised? I want to give it as a birthday gift to my brother.

[Steve Long]

Since this isn't a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board so other people can offer their perspective.

My answer: first, just so there are no misunderstandings, we don't publish a "Champions Sidekick." We publish a book called HERO System Sidekick that condenses the HERO System rules for any genre, not just Champions. The book doesn't have any of the information from Champions, our genre book for superhero roleplaying.

Second, SK (as we sometimes abbreviate it ;) ) does not have all the same rules as in 5ER. The rules mechanics and the like that it has are identical -- SK doesn't change the rules. However, condensing a 592-page rulebook into a 128-page rulebook means that a lot of rules (primarily optional ones, variant ones, or particularly complex ones) get left out. SK has what we consider to be the most "important" or "useful" rules -- the core HERO System rules that drive the system. SK is a complete game in itself, you can play using SK rules without ever opening a copy of 5ER, but it's nowhere near as detailed.

[Tim]

To give a couple of examples:

Sidekick does not include the analyze skill or the Transform Power. It does give examples of how to build characters for Fantasy, Sci-fi, Pulp, and Supers settings.

[Tim]

Second, SK (as we sometimes abbreviate it ;) .
When it first came out, several people tried to get it to be called Arthur (to go along with FREd.)
(Arthur as from 'The Tick' for the "butterfly Hero" look of the cover.) :)

[JmOz]

I suggested a while ago to come out with Genre Sidekick Books, each one would include:

Each book would be aproximatly 96 pages (the following page counts are an aproximation)

Basic Page break Down (example)
32 Pages of Genre Information (Super Heroes)
16 Pages of the primary Hero Game World for that Genre (Champions Universe)
32 Pages of a new setting (New City)
10 Pages Dedicated to Besitary (Super Villains)
06 Pages of an adventure Party (Super Hero Team)

All the Characters & example would be built around Sidekick, if a rule from another book (Say 5er) was used then it would be explained in the sidebars

[Tim]

I like it. :thumbup:

[Steve Long]

Sidekick does not include... the Transform Power.

This is incorrect -- Transform's right in there on page 61. The list of excluded Powers is on page 40.

[ghost-angel]

Sidekick even tells you what it's missing, in thesidebars at the begining of each section/chapter it lists which items are not included.

[Tim]

This is incorrect -- Transform's right in there on page 61. The list of excluded Powers is on page 40.
To quote the wisdom of Homer Simpson. "D'OH!!!"