Monster Island

[Steve Long]

Here's our back-cover text for MI:

MONSTERS, MINIONS, AND MARAUDERS!

Located just a hundred miles from Japan is a strange and deadly island — a place where gigantic alien monsters battle one another for supremacy, evil entities search for artifacts of power, and villainous organizations scheme and collaborate. This is Monster Island, where even the boldest, strongest superheroes come face to face with enemies powerful enough to give them pause.

Monster Island is your guide to the entire island, including:

—a detailed history of Monster Island, from its creation by the alien Qularr in 1965 up to the present day

—character sheets for the giant monsters living on the island

—information on Bureau 17, the Japanese organization that keeps the monsters under control

—a region-by-region review of every area of the island — Wayfarer Coast; Slither Beach; Wells’ Pass; the Feral Tangle; the ARGENT Corporate Wildlife Preserve; Echinocos Shore; and Andrithal — with plenty of maps of key locations

—a description of the various factions competing for power and territory on the island — such as the Qularr, VIPER, the Elder Worm, and the Lemurians — including their leaders, lieutenants, and resources

Inspired by and based on the Monster Island zone from the Champions Online massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, Monster Island is lavishly illustrated with screenshots, character pictures, and other art taken directly from the game. So get your heroes ready for their greatest challenge yet: Monster Island!

ISBN: 978-1-58366-114-7
SKU: DOJHERO231
Price: $29.99

[jushin53]

I saw the cover for this and it looks interesting...

1) How many characters/monsters are statted up?

2) What is the page count?

[ghost-angel]

1) 6 giant monsters; 6 robots for Bureau 17; 6 Qularr variants; 4 new VIPER agent types; 8 beast-man types; 6 Elder Worm variants; 5 types of Lemurians; about a dozen more miscellaneous characters, package deals and assorted Others.

2) 133 pages.

[jushin53]

That's a lot of content in 133 pages but $30 is kinda steep for that page count...is it full-color?

Destroyer is also 30 but has 214 pages...

[ghost-angel]

No, it's not full color. If you want to wait I should have a full review of the book sometime in the coming week.

[FenrisUlf]

1) 6 giant monsters; 6 robots for Bureau 17; 6 Qularr variants; 4 new VIPER agent types; 8 beast-man types; 6 Elder Worm variants; 5 types of Lemurians; about a dozen more miscellaneous characters, package deals and assorted Others.

2) 133 pages.

*Fenris pricks his ears up*

Beast-man types? Please, do tell me more...

The bits about the Elder Worm and the rest sound good too.

CURSE YOU, HERO GAMES! Must you tempt me so!

[Steve Long]

CURSE YOU, HERO GAMES! Must you tempt me so!

Well, yeah. ;)

The beast-men in the book are:

Bear-Man
Bird-Man
Boar-Man
Cat-Man
Dog-Man
Frog-Man
Rat-Man
Stag-Man

Most (thought not all) appear in the MMO -- I added a couple to round out the roster. ;)

[Jagged]

Most (thought not all) appear in the MMO -- I added a couple to round out the roster. ;)

How about Chicken-Man and round out the rooster ;)

ba-boom-ching!

[SSgt Baloo]

How about Chicken-Man and round out the rooster ;)

ba-boom-ching!

Did he say "Chicken Man (http://www.radio-ranch.com/chickenman.html)"?

[Fnord23]

I was disappointed with this product. What I was hoping for was a more "Giant Monster" Kaiju/Tokusatsu genre book. What it is, is a good settings book for Champions. What it has is pretty good, but I was hoping for so much more like:

Rules on running really BIG monsters. i.e. what happens when a 100 meter lizard steps on your Volvo? etc.

What are the effects of two HUMONGOUS creatures slugging it out in downtown 'insert roleplaying city here'?

Rules for really big HEAVY fists and tails etc. (Area affect attacks based on size and weight)

How does size and weight change Knockback for these creatures, they would have loads of knockback resistance, but if you have ever seen a Godzilla movie the monsters get knocked back, only the buildings they hit crumble like the cardboard models they are.....how does that work in Champions? (Possibly the damage the creature does to the object it hits is modified by the weight/size of the creature?)

I bought the book, and I do like it, but I would also EAGERLY buy any book with Kaiju expansion/genre rules. I hope such a thing is considered in the future. There is such a wealth of source material, you have Ultraman, Gamera, Godzilla, , Rodan, Space Giants, Johnny Sokko, Spectreman and so many others. This is such fun stuff, it would be great to roleplay.

[WarriorKnight]

I too was disapointed.Not so much by the lack of the Japanese Giant Monter material,but just the overall quality & design.I almost over looked them thinking they were for someother game just stuck in the Hero Games section on the shelf.Only because I caught the books names(I also got The Atlantian Age.)did I realize what they were.It wasn't till later when I sat down to read it did I realize The champions were on the cover(Hate the new costumes,except for Witchfire's at least she still looks like she did.).
I liked the book except for the poser artwork.It was still a reconizable Hero Games product(unlike The Atlantian Age).I really was looking forward to this book,& feel a little like I should have saved my money.I've never had that feeling about a Hero book.
I did like that Argent got used (I use Argent more than Viper anymore,thanks for the agent write-ups),as was Viper.Liked Bureau 17 & the good Dr Moreau.(I like Father ElK ).Wish the maps were more detailed,but you gotta work with what they gve you.

[arosslaw]

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the above sentiments. Instead of a book about giant monsters I got book about a bunch of different groups watching the giant monsters. Not that the content was bad, just not what I hoped from a book titled "Monster Island."

I also have to say I cannot stand the MMO art. Yuck.

I've been with Champs since First Edition and have every book published to date. However, if this book is an indication of how the MMO stuff is going to influence future books, I may start skipping the setting books entirely and just enjoy crunch books like the Book of the Destroyer.

We'll see.

[Lord Liaden]

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the above sentiments. Instead of a book about giant monsters I got book about a bunch of different groups watching the giant monsters. Not that the content was bad, just not what I hoped from a book titled "Monster Island."

Although I do enjoy the kaiju genre, and wasn't expecting this to be the emphasis of MI, I'm finding these elements to be my favorite part of the book. As someone interested in how the various elements of the Champions Universe interact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to get more background, personnel and equipment stats for the Qularr, the Elder Worm, the Lemurians, ARGENT, and Dr. Moreau. These can readily be transplanted to other settings within the CU, giving Monster Island broader utility. At the same time there's so much more going on on the island than just the monsters, MI is an interesting and challenging location even for gamers not especially interested in giant monsters.

I'd just like to add that for folks who do want more giant monster action, there's a high degree of compatibility between this book and the two fine Monster Island articles by John Ivicek Jr. in Digital Hero #s 32 and 37. DH #32 gives different interpretations of the "official" monsters plus detailed maps of the Bureau 13 island base, while #37 offers several new monsters.

I also have to say I cannot stand the MMO art. Yuck.

I've been with Champs since First Edition and have every book published to date. However, if this book is an indication of how the MMO stuff is going to influence future books, I may start skipping the setting books entirely and just enjoy crunch books like the Book of the Destroyer.

We'll see.

The MMO-derived art (and there's quite a bit of it in the book) definitely has the look of video game characters and scenes translated to print, which IMO isn't a bad thing in itself. While I like the style and detail of the images, the character poses are rather stiff, and their translation from the original color to greyscale leaves them either too dark to see clearly or rather washed out. If the latter technical problem could be improved upon for future books, I for one would be satisfied with more art in this vein.

[proditor]

Aw shucks Lord L, you're gonna make me blush. :)

Yeah, that one was a real labor of love back in the day. I hammered out the article over a Christmas vacation. If I were going to change anything, it would be to remove the limitations on the defenses. I left that in as a loophiole so you could stun a monster with a big enough normal attack, but they'd be pretty much immune to tanks and what not.

I like the new MI, it has a nice look and a LOT going on! I'll probably be running some fusion of the DH articles and the MI book once I get back to the Champions Universe.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Although I do enjoy the kaiju genre, and wasn't expecting this to be the emphasis of MI, I'm finding these elements to be my favorite part of the book. As someone interested in how the various elements of the Champions Universe interact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to get more background, personnel and equipment stats for the Qularr, the Elder Worm, the Lemurians, ARGENT, and Dr. Moreau. These can readily be transplanted to other settings within the CU, giving Monster Island broader utility. At the same time there's so much more going on on the island than just the monsters, MI is an interesting and challenging location even for gamers not especially interested in giant monsters.

I'd just like to add that for folks who do want more giant monster action, there's a high degree of compatibility between this book and the two fine Monster Island articles by John Ivicek Jr. in Digital Hero #s 32 and 37. DH #32 gives different interpretations of the "official" monsters plus detailed maps of the Bureau 13 island base, while #37 offers several new monsters.



The MMO-derived art (and there's quite a bit of it in the book) definitely has the look of video game characters and scenes translated to print, which IMO isn't a bad thing in itself. While I like the style and detail of the images, the character poses are rather stiff, and their translation from the original color to greyscale leaves them either too dark to see clearly or rather washed out. If the latter technical problem could be improved upon for future books, I for one would be satisfied with more art in this vein.

My problem wasn't so much with art as character design. I hate the MMO themed baddies....grunt...mutant grunt...giant grunt....yawn....boring. And the book was full of that. The monsters were the only seemingly creative things in the book....and they seemed far too weak for their background and descriptions.

Rob

Rob