Must have books

[BlueCloud2k2]

Okay, I've been out of the loop for a while (my last Champs game was back in 2004) and I haven't been keeping up on current gaming events.

 

For runnning a 5th Ed CU campaign, what books are absolutely critical?

 

I currently have HERO System 5th Ed, CHAMPIONS Genre Book and CU. I've already heard about CU: News of the World. Any other recommendations?

 

I don't know what city I want use as a playground, er, setting. So I don't know if I want to track down Millenium City or not...

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Must have books

 

If you're basing the game in the Champions Universe, then Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks would be essential. Other villain compendia's usefulness would depend on how many and what type of villains you expect to need. However, I'd suggest Evil Unleashed as the second villain book to pick up, because it gathers official villains that are scattered across various other source books into one volume.

 

Depending on how much of the characters' powers and equipment you and your players want to build yourselves, the UNTIL Superpowers Database(s) and Gadgets And Gear many not be essential, but they're always very helpful in inspiring ideas and saving time.

 

If you want any of the major villain or hero organizations to play a significant role in your campaign, you'll want the appropriate source books for VIPER, DEMON, and UNTIL. I also recommend the PRIMUS e-book, well done and reasonably priced. It's somewhat out of date and for 4E, but easy to use with 5E, and PRIMUS doesn't seem to have changed a great deal between editions.

[Nuclear Fridge]

Re: Must have books

 

Okay, I've been out of the loop for a while (my last Champs game was back in 2004) and I haven't been keeping up on current gaming events.

 

For runnning a 5th Ed CU campaign, what books are absolutely critical?

 

I currently have HERO System 5th Ed, CHAMPIONS Genre Book and CU. I've already heard about CU: News of the World. Any other recommendations?

 

I don't know what city I want use as a playground, er, setting. So I don't know if I want to track down Millenium City or not...

 

News of the World is handy for some 'stealable' plot points, as well as the stats for 2 hero teams - the Justice Squadron & the Sentinels. Useful if you want to have some ready-made NPC heroes who can contact your players.

Have you got a lot of villains already set up for play? If 'no', CKC or V,V & V may be good purchases.

I'd second Liaden - the USPD is almost indispensible.

[torchwolf]

Re: Must have books

 

I definitely second those suggestions.

 

Depending on what you want to include in your campaign, I'd also recommend Champions Worldwide if you intend international-flavor adventures, and Mystic World if you want some magic detail, cosmology, or super-spells. For even more detail on that (and some really nasty villains), Arcane Adversaries is the companion book to Mystic World.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Must have books

 

vibora bay

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Must have books

 

Top general-purpose 5E HERO books would be the HERO System Bestiary (animals and creatures from real life, myth/fantasy, and sci-fi, for any power level and any type of campaign), and Ultimate Martial Artist if you expect significant martial arts use in your campaign. Ultimate Vehicle and HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook are most useful if you plan to build special vehicles or have significant combat between or against vehicles; otherwise they're not essential (although excellent quality).

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Must have books

 

I don't know what city I want use as a playground' date=' er, setting. So I don't know if I want to track down Millenium City or not...[/quote']

 

vibora bay

 

Each of Hero Games's city settings has its own particular theme and flavor, so would favor a certain style of play. Millennium City is for the most part ultra-modern and high-tech, clean and orderly, and optimistic, like the best parts of Superman's Metropolis. Vibora Bay is darker, with a very strong Old World flavor and occult themes, rather like New Orleans. Hudson City is the CU's answer to Gotham City, decaying at the core with lots of conventional crime. It's intended primarily for modern heroic-level adventure or low-powered superheroics, but I know many Champions gamers who use it as the base for higher-powered games. It's definitely the most detailed of Hero's city books.

[Haerandir]

Re: Must have books

 

Well, you have everything you need already. Most of the other setting books have something to recommend them, it's more a matter of what you're looking for.

 

CU: News of the World is probably the most helpful in terms of updating the setting as a whole, plus it's got lots of new villains and several major hero teams to use as allies/rivals/contacts/guest stars/whatever.

 

Millennium City and Vibora Bay are both quite useful as settings in their own rights, as sources of additional heroes, villains & ordinary NPCs, plot hooks and background fluff. Even if you don't decide to run your campaign in either city, they're quite useful as places to visit and general background. Similarly, you'll probalby find something useful by picking up Champions Worldwide, Champions of the North or Hidden Lands.

 

Obviously, all of the enemy books and organization books have uses if you're planning to include any of those characters in the campaign. Conquerors, Killers & Crooks is probably the one you'll want most, as that was the first one and includes the majority of the 'core' villains in the CU. VIPER: Coils of the Serpent is also a big one, as VIPER is pretty much the standard-bearer for villainous organizations in the CU.

 

Opinions are far more mixed on DEMON: Servants of Darkness. It's a pretty radical departure from earlier depictions of DEMON, and is very dark in overall tone. I own it, and I think it's well-done, but if I was running a CU campaign, I probably would make relatively limited use of it. On the other hand, it's got all of the stuff you need to whip up a few dozen Morbanes and cultists on short notice, so even if you ignore most of the plot elements and named characters, it's got definite uses.

 

If you want to run a magic-heavy campaign, then you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of the Mystic World and Arcane Adversaries. Again, The Mystic World isn't everyone's cup of tea, as it fleshes out a number of things that many people would prefer to leave mysterious, or handle differently in their own campaigns, but it's still an idea-mine.

 

The Book of the Destroyer is pretty good if you either want to make Dr. Destroyer the focus of your campaign, or if you don't care for him as written but are looking for ways to fit him into your campaign anyhow. The historical armors and alternate-genre writeups of him are good guides for altering the basic idea of Dr. D to fit your campaign, for instance.

 

As for the adventure modules, well, they're adventure modules. You'll either use them or you won't. Most of them have characters and plot hooks, even if you don't want to run the actual plot outlined in them. I've got Shades of Black and Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth. I'll probably never actually run those adventures, but the expanded backgrounds & writeups for the featured villains are worth it to me.

 

Those are the ones I have an opinion on. I can't really comment on most of the rest, as I haven't bought them.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Must have books

 

The Book of the Destroyer is pretty good if you either want to make Dr. Destroyer the focus of your campaign' date=' or if you don't care for him as written but are looking for ways to fit him into your campaign anyhow. The historical armors and alternate-genre writeups of him are good guides for altering the basic idea of Dr. D to fit your campaign, for instance. [/quote']

 

You can say much the same about Mechanon in Book Of The Machine. If you want either of these villains to be your campaign's "big bad," these books will let you do great things with them.

 

I want to give an enthusiastic nod to Villainy Amok, a broad, diverse, and thoughtful collation and examination of classic comic-book plots, with numerous suggested variations. If you're comfortable and confident in your ability to come up with plotlines for supers games it wouldn't be essential, but if you're stuck for ideas or need to whip something up in a hurry it's a godsend.

[Alverant]

Re: Must have books

 

Okay, I've been out of the loop for a while (my last Champs game was back in 2004) and I haven't been keeping up on current gaming events.

 

For runnning a 5th Ed CU campaign, what books are absolutely critical?

 

I currently have HERO System 5th Ed, CHAMPIONS Genre Book and CU. I've already heard about CU: News of the World. Any other recommendations?

 

I don't know what city I want use as a playground, er, setting. So I don't know if I want to track down Millenium City or not...

 

If you've been away for a while I think Villainy Amok would be useful to give you adventure ideas and ways to set your campaign apart from others.

 

Everyman gives you a host of NPCs to use.

 

Depending on your level of realism I would suggest getting a history book and atlas of the campaign city if you're going to hold it in a real city. Google is also handy for finding bits of flavor text. Say one of the characters has a favorite bar, well you can give the bar a real name and have pictures. I did this in my Dark Champions campaign and I think people noticed the effort.

[clsage]

Re: Must have books

 

Okay, I've been out of the loop for a while (my last Champs game was back in 2004) and I haven't been keeping up on current gaming events.

 

For runnning a 5th Ed CU campaign, what books are absolutely critical?

 

I currently have HERO System 5th Ed, CHAMPIONS Genre Book and CU. I've already heard about CU: News of the World. Any other recommendations?

 

I don't know what city I want use as a playground, er, setting. So I don't know if I want to track down Millenium City or not...

 

As some others have already mentioned, Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks is an excellent resource, both for use in your rouges gallery and for ideas for either PC or NPC heroes. For more villains/ideas I'd also suggest taking a look at the Great Net Book Of Real Heroes (not a product but an excellent resource) : http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/ . And it goes without saying (but I'll mention it anyway) - Surbrook's Stuff ( http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/ ) still has some 5th Ed stuff on it's pages.....And Matt's Champions Page ( http://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/mathew/champions.html ) is stocked with ideas full of 5th Ed stuff as well.

 

As for settings books, I'd vote for (personal preference): Millennium City and, if you can find a copy, San Angelo: City Of Heroes. Again, that is simply based on the sort of environment I like, YMMV.

 

I think I'd add the Hero System Bestiary to the core collection of texts. Since having animal stats to refer to can make character fabrication easier ("You want a char who is as strong as a gorilla and can leap as far as a kangaroo ? No problem, I have those stats right here....")

 

Those are, I believe, my basics.

 

Funnily enough, I am facing a situation where I'll have to pack a limited number of Hero books/etc for an upcoming gig. Your question has helped me pare down my list. Thanks. Beyond what I've mentioned I'll probably add my copies of The Ultimate Skill, The Ultimate Brick and The Ultimate Martial Artist to my luggage as well. I suspect that those, plus my copy of Hero Designer and related character packs, HDC/HDP/etc files would let me run a campaign most anywhere.

 

-Carl-

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: Must have books

 

Depending on your level of realism I would suggest getting a history book and atlas of the campaign city if you're going to hold it in a real city. Google is also handy for finding bits of flavor text. Say one of the characters has a favorite bar' date=' well you can give the bar a real name and have pictures. I did this in my Dark Champions campaign and I think people noticed the effort.[/quote']

 

That was Plan B. Plan A was that sometime in 2003 an island with a complete city just popped up off the coast of Delaware, and after giving the island a complete look-over, the US Gov't decided to make it a District like Washington DC and raise capital by selling entire buildings to private firms/consortiums. Still working out the details, will most likely post a new thread dedicated to the concept once I have time to actually sit down and flesh it out.

 

And thanks for the sugguestions. My aquisition list is now:

 

CU: NotW

5th Ed Beastiary

The Book of the Machine

The Book of the Destroyer

Villainy Amok

VIPER: Coils of the Serpent

DEMON: Servents of Darkness

CKC

UNTIL Super Powers Data Base

 

So many books, so little cash. *sigh*

[clsage]

Re: Must have books

 

That was Plan B. Plan A was that sometime in 2003 an island with a complete city just popped up off the coast of Delaware' date=' and after giving the island a complete look-over, the US Gov't decided to make it a District like Washington DC and raise capital by selling entire buildings to private firms/consortiums. Still working out the details, will most likely post a new thread dedicated to the concept once I have time to actually sit down and flesh it out.[/quote']

 

Sounds interesting....I'm looking forward to any details you care to post...

 

BTW, there was a supplement awhile back that used a semi-similar concept as part of its basis. It was available for awhile in the Hero Games online store, tho' it was not exclusively designed for Hero system. It was called Omlivex. The setting is Silver Age....Might be worth a look, if you can find a copy. But IMNSHO it probably isn't worth the full cover price. YMMV

 

So many books, so little cash. *sigh*

 

The Hero Online store sometimes has deals on "damaged copies". As well as other occasional specials. Might be worth a look......

 

-Carl-

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Must have books

 

BTW' date=' there was a supplement awhile back that used a semi-similar concept as part of its basis. It was available for awhile in the Hero Games online store, tho' it was not exclusively designed for Hero system. It was called Omlivex. The setting is Silver Age....Might be worth a look, if you can find a copy. But IMNSHO it probably isn't worth the full cover price. YMMV [/quote']

 

Omlevex is still available from the Hero Games online store, here: https://www.herogames.com/viewItem.htm?itemID=183678 . I don't think in itself it's as detailed or specific as BlueCloud2k2 is looking for, but some of the concepts might be adaptable if nothing else.

 

You can find more out more about Omlevex from the website of its publisher, Z-Man Games, including a summary of the book's contents, sample artwork and maps, and links to several reviews of the game. Check here: http://www.zmangames.com/rpgs/omlevex.htm .

 

Below are a couple of threads from these forums in which our fellow HEROphiles describe their reactions to Omlevex:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/59401-Anyone-own?

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/64698-Who-bought-a-copy-of-Omlevex-by-Spectrum-Games?

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: Must have books

 

Sounds interesting....I'm looking forward to any details you care to post...

 

 

If I remember I'll send you PM when I do finally get around to posting that thread.