Champions 6e

[Killer Shrike]

Picked it up this morning on the way in to the office. Looks pretty, for the most part, though I've seen most of the good art already via the MMO.

 

The binding seems maybe a little questionable.

 

Didnt have a chance to peruse the content.

 

Anyone else have input?

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Champions 6e

 

I picked it up this afternoon, too.

I started in a dabbling mood, so I started at the back and leafed through until I got to p. 283, "Telekinetics." The illustrative art has a superhero with a dorky haircut is staring aghast at the telekinetic villainness lofting an aircraft carrier in a Victoria's-Secret-Model-goes-to-the-beach outfit. Obviously he thinks that this girl is way out of his league, and he's resisting the temptation to run away and leave the super-battle to a sexier hero.

 

In other words, I realised that this book was targetted right at me, and I took it home right there. (On a serious note, I was a little disappointed that the archetypes galley lacked the randomising factor of the 5e superhuman generator, but as I didn't ask for this in the Champions 6e wish list, I can hardly complain about its absence.)

From the top, the comic strip concept from the last edition is back and rather better executed, in that it has a clear beginning, featuring a Defender/Witchcraft date being broken up by Ogre and the same end-on-a-hook, and I don't mean that Mr. Harmon now owes Witchcraft another raincheck. (The writeup, p. 188, establishes that Witchcraft joined the team in 2001, and it only took Defender until 2005 to work up the courage to ask her out. Go Defender, you're my hero!)

Oddly, the team writeup includes a section on auxiliary members (including Nightwind) that does not include the three introduced in the Ultimate series and CU:NTW, Brainstorm, Hydro and my favourite, Aura. I hope to see them at a later date.

Much of the material is familiar from 5e, although the abundant art is a great improvement. By the way, if it really is all from CO, someone is running a superheroine with a parrot, dog and lamb(!) as animal companions, and I would like to meet that person. Extensive discussion of the Galactic Champions subgenre fills me with foreboding that it will be a while before we see Galactic Champions 6e. I don't understand. I'll buy it. Isn't that enough?

The archetype section is separated from the superhero gallery and divided into archetypes and the useful concept of the "meta-archetype" to cover concepts such as the patriot, cosmic, time traveller, robot, and so on. One of my favourite example characters from 5e is back, the "conceptual patriot" Avant Guard, "living embodiment of dadaist, abstract and surreal art." It's interesting that two of the other patriot examples, Justiciar and Tricolor (Tricolore, surely) are both the names of established CU characters, but Justiciar, unlike Tricolor, is not obviously the character described in CotN and CU. This is clearly some kind of slur against Canada. (Or Toronto. That'd be fine.)

The random plot generator, which looks like an enormously useful resource (that is, I'd end up using it all the time if I ever actually had time to run), is back and expanded. And that brings my read-from-the-front up to my read-from-the-back.

Finally, and let me return to this again: Art! It doesn't all work by a long shot, but there's more than enough to make up for the clankers. The cover composition in particular is much better than I expected it to be from the Quick Peek, and some of the inside pieces are downright evocative. For that alone, I can forgive the absence of the Random Superhero Generator and the lack of a full writeup for Avant Guard.

[hepatitvsj]

Re: Champions 6e

 

I bought the book a few days ago and love it. a lot of the text is revisited from freds version but the new character write ups and pick and choose character models at the end are great! really helpful for first timers...I.E. most of my group. I haven't had a problem with the binding yet...and I am pretty rough on books. I am also impressed with the look...hardcover and full color for only $44.95 is good in my book. overall 4 stars

[Darren Watts]

Re: Champions 6e

 

G-A, what's your concern about the binding? So far, we not only haven't had complaints, but we've gotten many positive comments about it, so I'm curious if you might have gotten a faulty copy... dw

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Champions 6e

 

On a serious note' date=' I was a little disappointed that the archetypes galley lacked the randomising factor of the 5e superhuman generator[/quote']Well, but as the book itself notes at the beginning of the Superhero Gallery section, it's easy enough to use it randomly if you want to. For example, if there are three possible sets of attack powers, roll a d6 and assign them based on rolling 1-2, 3-4, or 5-6, etc.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Champions 6e

 

On my copy the binding feels "crinkly" and the pages don't seem to be as tightly bound as most books and when the book is flat I can see the stitching very clearly.

 

 

It might just be a type of binding I'm not familiar with and it might be perfectly sound, but my "feel" is that I need to be careful with the book lest it lose pages.

 

 

{Also, wondering why people keep confusing me for ghost angel? }

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Champions 6e

 

Had a little time to start perusing. The material is a pretty familiar at this point for me, but the presentation is top notch.

 

I really like the modular "archetype" section, probably the best value-add to the material for me.

 

For people new to Champions or the superhero genre, this seems to be a seriously useful product after initial review. Good stuff.