shuttler Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Hi I'm fairly new to RPG in general and brand new to Champions. I'm a big comic fan and a big post apocalyptic fan so am interested to get started with Champions in a few ways. I want to be able to play in a 'traditional' superhero style world with classic style heroes and I may also want to play in a post apocalyptic setting. I see there is a post apocalyptic book so would probably get that, but what is the core stuff i need to get my hands on? and what are good campaigns and source books for the other bits. Appreciate the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapier Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Well, the 6th Edition of the game was just released. There are some changes from the 5th Edition. But there isn't much out for 6th Edition, yet. Assuming you want to start with the 6th Edition: To run a game you will need both 6th Edition books (6E1 and 6E2). Those are technically all you will NEED. From there it depends on how much work you want to do yourself. If you want to create a world from scratch, the rest is up to you. Otherwise, Hero has a system where they release one genre book (eg Fantasy Hero) and then releases a campaign book (eg Valdorian Age) that describes a setting for use with the genre book. Depending on how Post-Apoc you want to go a mix of a couple of genres might fit your needs best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please The Champions setting book as well as the Champions Super Powers book are set to release very soon...I believe the Champions setting book is at the printers right now. Both will give you all kinds of help getting your superhero campaign going. As for the Post Apoc book, it is certainly one of the finest books Hero Games has put out and even though it is written for 5th Edition, it has very few actual mechanics in it, instead focusing primarily on the Post Apoc genre and giving oodles of advice on how to run myriad types of Post-Apoc settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjcurrie Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please The Champions setting book as well as the Champions Super Powers book are set to release very soon...I believe the Champions setting book is at the printers right now. Both will give you all kinds of help getting your superhero campaign going. As for the Post Apoc book, it is certainly one of the finest books Hero Games has put out and even though it is written for 5th Edition, it has very few actual mechanics in it, instead focusing primarily on the Post Apoc genre and giving oodles of advice on how to run myriad types of Post-Apoc settings. Actually, it is the Champions genre book which is currently at the printers. This is the book that describes how to use the Hero System to run superhero games. The setting book is entitled Champions Universe and will be out later this year. In between those will be Champions Powers (which mayapuppies referred to as Champions Super Powers) which is a collection of super powers of various special effects written up in Hero System terms. Also, due out this year are Champions Villains 1, 2, and 3 which should provide you with all the villains you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Hi, Shuttler! Welcome to the boards. As someone mentioned, all you really absolutely have to have is a rulebook -- either the two-book HERO System 6th Edition core rules, or if you want to learn from a simpler basis the slim, one-book HERO System Basic Rulebook.[/b] For Champions itself, the new Champions genre book is currently at the printer and will hopefully be available within a month or so. Beyond that we have several Champions books for 6E planned this year. I'm currently writing Champions Powers, a collection of thousands of pre-generated superpowers for your games. After that I'll write Champions Universe, the basic introductory guide to our default superhero setting. And for most of the spring I'll be populating that setting with supervillains in Champions Villains, a series of three books (Master Villains, Villain Teams, and Solo Villains). There'll certainly be more Champions books beyond that, but those are the sort of core, basic books that you'd want to consider. As for Post-Apocalyptic, you've already mentioned Post-Apocalyptic Hero. Although it's written for 5th Edition, for the most part it's rules-independent, and what rules bits are in there can easily be adapted to 6E (and may require no adaptation at all in many cases). It's one of my favorite books of the 5E line, so I definitely suggest you check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shuttler Posted January 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Thank you all for the great replies I think I may try the basic version of the rules book for now. What is the difference between that and the main book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Thank you all for the great replies I think I may try the basic version of the rules book for now. What is the difference between that and the main book? The Basic Rulebook is specifically designed to teach the HERO System to newcomers, in plain English with lots of examples. It contains all the core game mechanics and most of the HERO System elements that the core rulebooks have (aside from the most complex ones); but it trims down the detailed clarifying explanations and numerous optional rules from the core books. A rule that receives a full-page description in the main 6E books might have only a couple of paragraphs devoted to it in the Basic book. The Basic Rulebook contains enough material to run most genres in most circumstances. Because of its relatively low cost everyone in a game group can afford their own, and it makes a handy quick reference at the gaming table. GMs and players who want to explore the full potential of the system (which generally occurs as they become familiar with the game) will want to "upgrade" to the full ruleset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shuttler Posted January 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Great so it still has all the ideas for powers etc listed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shuttler Posted January 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please OK I picked up the Basic Rule book to get me started and it's great. If I were to impatient to wait for the 6th Edition Champions genre books and wanted to pick up a book to get me going in the universe what would be a good starting point from the older books and would it be to much of an issue with the rule differences? Naturally I don't want to invest too much money in to older books if I will be getting the new ones so maybe just one good all rounder? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please If I were to impatient to wait for the 6th Edition Champions genre books and wanted to pick up a book to get me going in the universe what would be a good starting point from the older books and would it be to much of an issue with the rule differences? Champions (the superheroic genre book) and Hero System Martial Arts are both coming out in the next month or two. Fantasy Hero is scheduled to be released at GenCon this year. I think Star Hero (the science fiction genre book) will be updated for 6e, but no date has been announced. Steve has said that Pulp Hero will not be updated. As to what would be a good all-around cross-genre book... I'm not sure there is one. The Ultimate Skill would certainly be useful. The Ultimate Vehicle will be updated for 6e, but not for a while (maybe 2011). The Ultimate Base is already out. Don't worry too much about converting between editions. The mechanics haven't changed that much since the original Champions came out in 1981. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please If I were to impatient to wait for the 6th Edition Champions genre books and wanted to pick up a book to get me going in the universe what would be a good starting point from the older books and would it be to much of an issue with the rule differences? Naturally I don't want to invest too much money in to older books if I will be getting the new ones so maybe just one good all rounder? If by "get me going in the universe" you mean, giving you background information about the world in which the Champions, their enemies and their allies exist and interact, I would recommend one 5E book which focuses on that, entitled, appropriately enough, Champions Universe. It includes a detailed history and timeline for the setting up to the book's publication in 2002 (which Cryptic Studios seems to be following pretty closely for Champions Online, although they've changed a few subsequent details); a review of all the significant super heroes, villains, and organizations around the world and beyond; descriptions of how the presence of super beings has changed society from that of the real world; a breakdown of other worlds, peoples, and power players beyond Earth, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Multiverse; and lots of other cool bits. Other books in the Champions line cover particular elements of the setting in more detail, but this is the best one-stop overview. Most of the book is background info with few game stats, so its useful regardless of what edition of the rules you have. A PDF of the book is available from the Hero Games online store, here, for $16.00 US. There don't appear to be any more hardcopies in stock, but given that a new Champions Universe updated for 6E and conforming to Champions Online continuity is due out later this year, I wouldn't recommend spending more for a hardcopy even if you found one in a brick-and-mortar game store. But once you're familiar with this version of the Champions Universe, any changes to it for the reboot should be easy to identify. Now if you had something else in mind, please specify and we'll see if we can redirect you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shuttler Posted January 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 Re: New to Champions advice on what books to get needed please Lord Liaden that is perfect, thanks! Especially as I am playing Champions Online and familiar with that and wanted to read more. IndianaJoe3 those are great suggestions too and I'll take a look. Looks like I'll be reaching for my creditcard again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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