Champions Battlegrounds?

[Just Joe]

Did I miss the discussion of this product? Who bought it and what did you think? I have not played Champions in ages, but might buy CB to use the maps for some form of modern HERO game. I was not particularly impressed with the maps in the Hero System Resource Kit and do not want to shell out the dough for this product if it is not worth it. I care about the size, quantity, and quality of the maps and of the supporting information that does not pertain to a particular adventure of scenario (e.g., defenses and armor of doors shown, maybe suggested number and type of employees in a business).

 

A secondary question: does anyone have recommendations of other (HERO or other) sources for good maps of an appropriate scale for HERO combat (not a whole city, for example)?

[Hugh Neilson]

I have the product, although I haven't read it, as our other GM will be running it (although I may change my mind if he doesn't approve some characters fairly soon - you reading this Tom? )

 

Anyway, most of the discussion I've seen to date has focused on:

 

- complaints that characters from other books were used rather than using new villains only (although I understand there's one or two newcomers in the book).

 

- more to your point, comcerns that it would have been better to have the maps in scale for use on the tabletop.

 

I think the more positive area has been a level of satisfaction that the maps (or some of them) can be reused for future scenarios quite easily.

[BoloOfEarth]

I've bought it and have read pretty much all of it. Here's my thoughts:

 

I would have liked all new characters, though I understand that they wanted to make CKC characters more useful. This isn't really applicable to Just Joe, though.

 

I also would have loved tabletop-scale hex maps, but in several cases this would have been incredibly difficult. Scenes and maps include a large in-city park, a shopping mall, an amusement park, an office building construction site, and a warehouse with a hidden villain base underneath. Most are well-described, including key employees (with friendships or petty grudges) and descriptions down to which bathrooms have diaper changing stations in them.

 

As to DEF/BODY, there are sidebars or tables listing DEF and BODY of objects found in most locations. While they don't include everything, they cover enough common things.

 

I seem to recall somebody had some excellent maps of a pizza parlor, a mad scientist lab, and other locations. I don't know the link, but I'm sure some helpful soul will post it once I post this response.

 

Hope this helps, Joe.

[aylwin13]

Originally posted by BoloOfEarth

I seem to recall somebody had some excellent maps of a pizza parlor, a mad scientist lab, and other locations. I don't know the link, but I'm sure some helpful soul will post it once I post this response.

 

Hope this helps, Joe.

Those maps can be found here, courtesy of our very own MisterVimes. Last we heard from him, on this, he was working on a mall. The maps are 6 hex X 6 hex sectionals, including small and large buildings, a park, a parking lot, as well as others. They're jpgs that you can just print and use. Definitely check them out.

[Magmarock]

Maps and areas in modules

 

Well first of all, Battlegrounds is actually 5 separate scenarios that can be run consecutively or not- whichever your preference is.

 

Also, the maps/places can be used over and over again. Take the mall, for instance: each store was described in full and the owners/managers, etc. A lot can happen in this one place alone- dates, meeting, info gathering, etc. Depending on the type of campaign you are running, of course.

 

Personally, I think it was well worth the purchase price. You should run to your local gaming store and look it over.

 

I just finished running my group through the second scenario (Let's Go to the Maul) this evening. It was an interesting encounter, especially since my group is a pack of reformed villains trying to redeem themselves in Millenium City... and they are the second-stringers to the Champions (the city's main hero group). Almost all of them are wanted by the law still (the group is non-sanctioned) and one of the group members was a member of GRAB back when Black Claw ran the show (he left and was replaced by Cheshire Cat). In addition to the recommended appearance of Gargantua, I had two hunteds show up- Green Dragon and a PRIMUS Silver Avenger. It was a bizarre game, to say the least...

 

Mags

 

Foxbat (as he lay flat on his back on the roof after being knocked clear out of the bell tower) : "Now THAT wasn't part of the MASTER PLAN!"

[Nato]

Dungeon Magazine usually has at least one modern map in the Ployhedron half of the mag every month. Sometimes two if you're lucky. The maps are very nice and in full color, although the have a square grid instead of hex if that matters to you. I usually scan mine, and use my Epson printer's scaling function to blow it up to battlematt size.

 

Also, flip through some of the Shadowforce Archer sourcebooks. The latest release, "African Alliance" has tons of nice maps, all detailing different levels and sections of a base complex. The maps are almost as nice as the Dungeon mag ones, though not in color. Not real big maps, but you could still scan them at a high resolution and blow them up without much effort.

 

Another option is to search for blueprints on Google and Google Image search. You'd be suprised at what kinds of cool stuff you can find.

 

There's a few Modern Maps packs on RPGNow.com, but the quality isn't all that great. The Modern Maps X (or something like that) has a lot of maps in it.

 

Another fun option is to buy or make a battlemap at 1" grid size, and then use cardboard models to make buildings and such. I heartily recommend any of the sets by Microtactix. Most of their new sets are now in color (with a b&w alternative usually) and are for sale in PDF form. Besides having very nice texture buildings, they pay attention to little details such as mailboxes and dumpsters and building signs. Check 'em out!

[Theron]

A while back, I picked up Microtactix "Dirt Cheep Cityscapes" on CD for about $25. It consists of three PDF files containing various map and building elements you print out on cardstock and assemble. I bought it for HeroClix, which is the default scale, but the PDFs can be scaled for HERO use as well. The only downside is that the maps utilize a square grid, but this could also be overcome by printing a hex grid over the maps or just measuring the distances with a tape measure.

 

The upside is that with some patience, glue, and creativity, I can make just about any map I want.

 

Now, if I could just find the time to actually do it.

[Just Joe]

Thanks!

 

Thanks to all for your helpful replies. Because of those replies, I will try to pick up Champions Battlegrounds at my FLGS this week. Thanks also to MisterVimes for some nice maps that were easily accessible despite my subpar hardware, software, computer savvy, and internet connection. I hope to check out some of the other recommended sources at another time.

 

Thanks again.

[Starcorp Man]

Battleground

 

Here is the latest thread on the product.