Jason S.Walters

Greg Elkins has updated the files for Villain Codex Volume One: Mutant Conflict. So if you've already purchased this product in any form, you can download the new version which is now available in your Client Area alongside the old one.

From Greg Elkins!​ Every fantasy hero campaign needs magical treasures for the adventures to find. This series houses information on varies information on just such treasures. Special And Unique Items – Every adventurer wants to have bag that will hold all their belongings. Perhaps a figurine that turns into a horse or a crystal ball that can see lands far away. From the Bag of Holding to Gloves of Thievery, Eyes Of The Eagle to a Stone Of Good Luck. Here you will find over 35 items to add to your Fantasy Hero campaign. The ZIP file includes the PDF and Hero Designer files. You can find your copy of Wonderous Treasure - Unique Items here!

With three days left Michael Satran's Journey to the Center of the Earth! is 85% funded. So if you've been waiting until the last moment to back this project, now is the time to act! Head over to Kickstarter and see how incredibly close this project is to succeeding.

Hero Combat Manager has been updated and is available for download. Release Notes for v1.0.8 New Features: * Bug Fixes only Bug Fixes: * Hit Location problem associated with Normal attacks and damage modifiers * AoE problems

New from Greg Elkins Design. Time Magic is the spell used by Timelords the guardians of the fabric of time. These powerful spells can age an individual, make them younger, protect the mage from attacks and even carry them vast distances. It is said that Timelords can see into the future and the past as well as know of dangers before they even encounter them. This supplement for Fantasy Hero will give a description of the abilities and the spells used by Time Mages or Timelords if you prefer. The supplement includes PDF as well as Hero Designer files.

New from Greg Elkins Design! Welcome to the next installment of Monster Mash. Here you will find new creatures and/or new takes on old creatures for your Fantasy Hero Campaign. This installment will cover a two creature the deadly Gorgon and the Blink Dog. These two creatures have terrorized caravans and traveling parties for year. A Gorgon is a large bull-like creature with armor plates as skin. It can breathe a large gas cloud that will turn anything to stone. Blink Dogs are a large canine that can teleport around a given area during combat. This maneuver will confuse an opponent, which give the Blink Dog a great advantage in combat Includes Hero designer files and cardboard miniatures.

New from Blackwyrm Publishing /High Rock Press: Michael Satran's Journey to the Center of the Earth! is now live on Kickstarter. "Jules Verne. The Lost World of the Warlord. Doc Savage. The Challengers of the Unknown. The Fantastic Four! The Savage Land! As long as there have been stories about explorers and superbeings, there have been stories of strange underground lands and societies at Earth's Center. This campaign supplement for Champions by veteran game author Michael Satran fits easily into any campaign world - and in glorious full color! It addresses a variety of differing power levels, with many options for adjustment and expansion." "This softcover campaign supplement for Champions Complete using Hero System 6th Edition rules runs approximately 280 pages, including art and maps. All backers at the $20.00 or more level will also receive a zip file containing not only the PDF of the book, but additional PDFs character sheets and information for Savage Worlds and Mutants & Masterminds as well."

Well, it's not *really* new. In fact, some of you reading this are probably younger than the product itself! But here it is from High Rock Press: the original 1988 version of Strike Force: a real piece of gaming history! In 1988, Aaron Allston and Hero Games released Strike Force, a supplement detailing the first eight years of his superhero campaign. Noted for its extensive and highly-influential advice to gamemasters on how to run a long-term campaign, Strike Force is a landmark RPG publication: part campaign sourcebook, part GM guide, and all awesome! This original version is 98 pages and for the good old Hero System 3rd Edition. The zip file you are downloading includes the original PDF, the cover, three manuscript versions of the original text: .doc, .rtf, and an ancient .wpd file! (That would be a Word Perfect file for those of you under 30! It opened in my copy of OpenOffice without any problems. So maybe it will for you too.) Additionally, thoughtful fan Scott Baker, realizing the original 1988 file was a scan, ran it through OCR to create a searchable PDF using automated processing. (Neither he nor High Rock Press are planning to manually edit the results.)

The year is 2011. Hero Games has just released it's award winning Star Hero supplement for the Hero System 6th Edition. In response, Blackwyrm Publishing crafted seven unique science fiction campaign settings to support it. They're collected here for the first time in a single place and priced to please the most frugal space ranger! 3rd World (by Denver Mason) finds you in the 23rd Century. Generations have passed where the Earth held not one, but many sentient species. The stars remain distant and, for most, inaccessible. It is on the Earth itself where colonists must craft their future. It is on this planet where the descendents of humanity must decide what of their past they hope to salvage. Wonders and terrors await them. Finally, the age of ashes has passed, and now comes a new world of clay that the brave and determined have a chance to shape. Earth is now used or ignored in turn. It is truly a 3rd World. Lux Aeternum (by Dave Mattingly) is a cinematic science fiction setting that strives to evoke the romanticized spirit of the 17th Century Age of Exploration - a time of sweeping changes, social upheaval, and limitless opportunity. Action, drama, and grand adventure are key elements to any grand tale to be told in this setting. The absence of faster-than-light travel limits the playing field to a handful of star systems and allows this finite area to be fleshed out with a level of detail and complexity not possible in a galaxy-spanning saga. Posthegemony: Terra Nomenklatura (by Jason Walters) is a unique science fiction setting designed to evoke the mood of films such as Logan’s Run, The Island, and Idiocracy. Using a decision chart and guided by the game master, the players construct a spaceship and escape from the Posthegemony, a futuristic worldwide society loosely based on Chinese utopian ideals. Terracide (by Grady Elliott) is a gritty, space opera noir. The Earth has been annihilated, leaving only the few thousand humans who were working in deep space alive. Those who have survived must not only continue the human race, but to discover who--or what--destroyed their home world. Players can chose from character Package Deals that include private eye, pirate, socialite, soldier, and many, many more. The Fires of Heaven (by Pat Sweeny) presents the United Worlds, a human-led federation including two formerly less advanced alien races, for science fiction roleplaying using the Hero System 6th Edition rules. In the 23rd century, humanity has colonized 14 star systems radiating outward from Sol, from sophisticated core worlds such as the corporate-run industrial giant Hephaistos orbiting Alpha Centauri B to sparsely settled frontier worlds such as sun-scorched Anubis, filled with ruins of a fallen alien civilization, orbiting Delta Pavonis. The United Worlds have also made contact with three starfaring alien races, the mysterious Ethereans, trade-loving Jodoni, and hostile Vorn. The Widening Gyre (by Bill Keyes) welcomes to the 19th Century that never was! It is a world of wonder, of horror, of adventure, of magic, of strange technology and unprecedented cultural revolution. This is an age that should have been, filled with radium-powered flying machines, clockwork automata, and steam-driven computers. It is an age of dark magic, sinister secrets, and unholy cults. It is a time in which the world teeters on the edge of chaos, where the enlightened scientific mind battled against ancient superstition and ignorance, in which the souls of all mankind hung in the balance. The Wreck of Alpha Central (by Ian Harac) takes place in Ecumenopolis, the world city. Science fiction is full of them, from Trantor to Coruscant. But then it all stops working. What happens to a world of 40 trillion people when the food shipments stop and the lights go out?

New from Greg Elkins! S.I.D.s is short for Super-powered Individual Database. This is a database that various government agencies are starting to use to keep track of all the various villains and heroes. Over the last few years the number of super-powered individuals has skyrocketed. It has become a full time job to try and keep track of them as well as update information about the, that is the purpose of this database. The database is designed to give law enforcement as much information as possible on supervillains or superheroes they may need to call for help. This is a series of small products that will introduce new villains and heroes for you campaign. This installment will introduce a new mystical villain organization Shadow Coven. This organization has 6 members some are magical based, other are not. Some can summon creatures from the deadly Shadow plane to do their bidding. All serve the Shadow Lord rule of the Shadow Plane. His goal is to merge this dimension with the Shadow Plane and to rule the new dimension it will create. 46 Page PDF also includes Hero Designer files & printable cardboard miniatures.

New from Greg Elkins! They tried to poison him and dumped him in the ocean in his melted armor. They stole his technology, his wealth and bombed his island fortress until barely an island remained. The world thought him dead, and they were right Professor Muerte is indeed dead. From the ashes a phoenix will arise the legend says. He is back now and ready to have his vengeance on the traitors and all who have wronged him. Terror Inc. is now reformed stronger and more powerful than ever. Now it is time to extract his pound of flesh. Professor Muerte is dead, now there is only Muerte. The day of reckoning is here; There shall be blood! 100 Page PDF which includes cardboard miniatures of all the characters. Check out the PDF here! Or get the PDF with the Hero Designer Files here!

New from Dean Shomshak - SHARED ORIGINS: The Green Butterfly A CHAMPIONS Supplement of Characters and Concepts Some Books Can Change Lives: More so than usual for the grimoire called Metamorphosis of the Green Butterfly. This rare and ancient book of magic teaches a spell to gain super-powers - to become, indeed, a nascent demigod. But the spell is unreliable and dangerous. Instead of metamorphosis and ascension, some people suffer death or transformation into rampaging monsters. Will you risk everything, body and soul, for a chance at power? Here's what you get in Shared Origins: The Green Butterfly: * Background and game mechanics for Metamorphosis of the Green Butterfly, the Origin Grimoire. * Four sample villains who gained their powers by using the grimoire, from the cunning Capricorn to the tragic, nearly mindless Elemental. Each character comes with a complete character sheet, background, story seeds, and a full-color illustration. * One sample hero, ready to play or use as an NPC. * A discussion of origin stories in which heroes and villains knowingly face great danger. What matters so much to you that you'd risk death for the sake of power? Uses HERO System 6th Edition or CHAMPIONS Complete. THE SHARED ORIGINS SERIES This series of mini-supplements for CHAMPIONS provides "Origin Stories" that players and GMs can use for many different characters. Coming up with character origins is work; reusable origin gimmicks help you spend more time on character backgrounds and motivations and less time explaining why heroes and villains have super-powers in the first place. (Shared origins can also tie characters together and create story hooks.) Each supplement supplies background information and game mechanics for one shared origin story, a ready-to-play sample hero, and a selection of sample villains. Supplements stand alone to make it easier to plug the sample characters and origin story into your own superhero setting. Check out the PDF here!

New from Greg Elkins - Realm Of The White Worm PDF Villages near the lonely mountain range are scared and need help. A dragon and its henchman have been terrorizing them for months. They take their children and demand food and supplies, something the villagers have little to spare with winter coming. They have turned to a mighty band of adventurers for help. They have little to pay other than their gratitude. Legends will be told of the adventurers if they can save the villages from the dragon and the dragon & hoard should be more than enough to make them rich. Are you powerful enough to save the villagers? Are you ready to face certain death? Are you ready to fight a dragon? Realm Of The White Worm is an adventure for Fantasy Hero with multiple options. It will be up to the GM to decide which one to used. It works best with a party of 4-6 characters of 200 to 250Pts. GMs may need to adjust the adventure to suit other point level. Check it out here!

New from Greg Elkins - TITechCorp Flyer #1 - Defense PDF Are you tired of your agents having inferior weapons? Tired of your lackeys falling like flies to the superheroes of the world? Tired of those dim witted Until agents having better equipment than your agents? Then you have come to the right place here at TITechCorp we are dedicated to creating the best weapons, armor and other equipment money can buy. So stop by today and pick up the latest blaster or force belt and get a jump on those pesky do-gooders. And remember your satisfaction is guaranteed or we won’t see you again. Small list of equipment to add to your Champions campaign includes Hero Designer files. Find your copy here!

Note: if you've already purchased Hero System Combat Manager, you'll find the new version in your account. Release Notes for v1.0.7 New Features: Complete rewrite of underlying character management Hit Locations Hit Locations - Randomly rolled for NPCs Target List: Alphabetical would be best Bug Fixes: Aid/Drain adjustments on GM Attack screen don't display in Combat Table until next phase AoE problems occur when target list only has one target Creating squads of NPCs stopped working Error message when the is a problem loading a combat record Flash stopped working GM Attack - An attack does not show up in main window and then the processing stops Minimum Damage from Injuries NND attack doesn't seem to work Needed to remove "Strength as a power" from the export file Random order (within a DEX) was not working after changes to the new Characters data structure Reflection shows up as a nd6 attack which it shouldn't Strength Damage is not calculated correctly Updates using GM Adjust causes 'screen bounce' When Damage Reduction is selected no damage is applied

With 36 hours left to go on the Strike Force Kickstarter project, Ross Watson remembers Aaron Allston on his personal blog.

Can be found here. I found then entertaining and insightful. Have a look! - Jason Walters

New from Greg Elkins! Every fantasy hero campaign needs magical treasures for the adventures to find. This series houses information on varies information on just such treasures. Belts, Sashes & Girdles – Every adventurer wants to have wand to help them in their adventures. Here you will find over 30 items to add to your Fantasy Hero campaign. From a Belt that has many handy pockets to a Sash that increase on attractiveness or a Sash that allow one to command many, maybe a Girdle that grants the wearer vast strength. The ZIP file includes the PDF and Hero Designer files.

The Kickstarter for Aaron Allston's Strike Force is live... and On Fire! If you haven't checked it out already, please do so. There are interesting Add Ons, ambitious stretch goals, and new artwork for your eyeballs!

...meanwhile over at Bundle of Holding: "Heads up, hero! Our fellowship of Systematic Heroes brings you TWO simultaneous offers featuring Champions, the superheroic tabletop roleplaying game from Hero Games. If you're just starting with Champions, go get our FIRST offer, the revived Champions Fifth Edition Bundle from September 2014 with the complete HERO System rulebook, the Champions genre sourcebook, and many key supplements. Then return here to get this all-new SECOND offer, the Ultimate Champions Bundle, featuring the Ultimatebooks for Fifth Edition. These comprehensive character archetype books open new horizons in superhero campaigns, fantasy, science fiction, and every genre the HERO System covers -- that is, all of them!"

More from Greg Elkins! S.I.D.s is short for Super-powered Individual Database. This is a database that various government agencies are starting to use to keep track of all the various villains and heroes. Over the last few years the number of super-powered individuals has skyrocketed. It has become a full time job to try and keep track of them as well as update information about the, that is the purpose of this database. The database is designed to give law enforcement as much information as possible on supervillains or superheroes they may need to call for help. This is a series of small products that will introduce new villains and heroes for you campaign. This installment will introduce a new villain organization Psiforce that rose from the ashes of PSI. This organization has 8 members all of whom are powerful mentalist. This 53 page PDF will outline their formation and the abilities of its members. Includes Hero Designer files & printable cardboard miniatures.​

Aaron was a very prolific game designer. He produced material for a number of game systems, including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS, and Champions. In fact, he produced some of the first supplements for Champions, such as Organization Book 1—The Circle and M.E.T.E. and Organization Book 3—The Blood and Dr McQuark. He also wrote such influential HERO System books as Lands of Mystery, Mythic Greece, and Ninja Hero. I think what surprised me the most, was to discover that a great deal of what Aaron wrote, be it for Hero Games or Steve Jackson Games, was all part of a greater whole. Just about everything Aaron wrote—that was superhero related—was part of the Strike Force universe. “Microfilm Madness” (found in an issue of Space Gamer)? An adventure the teenaged superhero group Avant Guard went on (as was the GURPS Supers adventure, School of Hard Knocks). The Circle? Just the latest incarnation of a long-running mystic superhero group. M.E.T.E.? An important part of Earth-alien relations (and home to a few PCs). The Blood? Only one of the most influential factions in Aaron’s universe. They were responsible in whole (or in part) for the origins for a number of PCs, including Phosphene, leader of Strike Force and the PC with the most game session appearances. Not only did Aaron mine his setting for sourcebooks, he even ran entire campaigns based around ideas he wanted to write or was asked to write. The Pulp-era lost world of Zorandar became Lands of Mystery, before writing Mythic Greece, he created his Age of Heroes campaign (and ran it for 176 episodes!), and not only ran 70 sessions of his Ninja Hero campaign, but made Yooso one of the supervillain teams of Earth-AU and ran Strike Force through the Super-Boxers adventure included in the book. The material presented in the various sourcebooks, while complete enough, only scratches the surface of what went on. While the members of the Circle were all NPCs, the Circle wasn’t a stagnant group. They grew, evolved, and were even destroyed, eventually reforming into a new version of the Circle. M.E.T.E. evolved as well, growing larger as in game events showed a need for a competent source of alien study. For example, Orrad married Marie Dumont. Oh, and The Mighty Pinchus? He’s a Player Character, one of a number to appear in Aaron’s game development (as noted, Phosphene is another). And speaking of the Blood, I found it every interesting how much more complex their history is—The Blood and Dr McQuark doesn’t really do them justice. For example, the Affrighter, one of my favorite Blood characters, isn’t what he seems. There are actually two of him. The one who appears in Organization Book 3 (who also appeared in Aaron’s games) and the other one. The real one. And no, I’m not going to explain that, you’ll just have to hope the revised Blood stretch goal is funded! Oh, and how was the Circle destroyed? Due to the events of the Super Boxers adventure. And speaking of Ninja Hero, supervillain team Yooso also changed over the years. Strike Force managed to “poach” a number of members, and even fought to defend Iron Ronin from the rest of Yooso. Oh, and Kami became a member of Strike Force. About the only thing Aaron wrote that was Hero System related that didn’t appear in the Strike Force universe was his Age of Heroes game. It was one of the few things he ran that had no connection to the large Strike Force campaign and Earth-AU (Allston Universe).

After taking a survey of publishers who license the Hero System for the purposes of releasing their own work, we've put together a schedule for the coming year. I hope you will find it informative and continue to support their work as you have in the past. 2016 Hero System Release Schedule Monster Mash: Draklings (New Creatures for Fantasy Hero) – Greg Elkins Design, Released S.I.D.s Report: Psiforce – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q1 Wondrous Treasures: Belts, Sashes & Girdles – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q1 Aaron Allston's Strike Force – High Rock Press, 2016 Q1 Kickstarter Chasing a Golden Buck Version Two - Beautifulharmony Multimedia, 2016 Q1 Realm of The White Worm (Adventure) – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q2 Monster Mash: Phase Spider & Thornleg Spider – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q2 S.I.D.s Report: Shadow Coven – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q2 Journey to the Center of the Earth! - High Rock Press, 2016 Q2 Kickstarter [Name-To-Be-Announced Science Fiction Setting] - Beautifulharmony Multimedia, Q3 [Name-To-Be-Announced Widening Gyre Supplement] – High Rock Press, 2016 Q3 Extinction Event Campaign Guide - Mad Ferret, 2016 Q3 Kickstarter S.I.D.s report: Zilant Project – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q3 Wondrous Treasures: Staffs & Rods – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q3 Monster Mash: White Dragon – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q3 Ghosts, Ghouls, and Golems – High Rock Press, 2016 Q4 Kickstarter Monster Mash: Gorgon & Blink Dog – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q4 Villany Codex Two: Arcana (Sourcebook for Champions & Fantasy Hero) – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q4 Wondrous Treasure: Axe, Bows & Hammers – Greg Elkins Design, 2016 Q4 [Name-To-Be-Announced Espionage Campaign] - Beautifulharmony Multimedia, 2016 Q4 Other Possible Projects from Greg Elkins Design Tomb Of The Shadow King (Adventure for Fantasy Hero) Dead Orc Pass, a City Campaign Book for Fantasy Hero S.I.D.s Report: W.O.M.E.N S.I.D.s Report: Aces of Death S.I.D.s Report: Ms Synster Monster Mash: Girallon-Phase Maurader Monster Mash: Bulette – Destrachon Monster Mash: Hellcat & Shadow Wolf Wondrous Treasures Other Possible Projects from High Rock Press Santa Muerte: Champions Setting Guide

In my previous Designer Diary I spoke about the sheer size of the files I had been tasked to sort and read through. Now I want to talk about the sheer size of Aaron’s universe—and it was a full universe. Initially, when Aaron started running, there was just Earth. But that quickly changed, as Phosphene, Denis Loubet’s PC, was descended from travelers from another dimension. Aaron also had two PCs who were aliens, which meant he needed to start detailing what outer space was like. And as the campaign continued, the size and scope of the universe expanded. It soon came to resemble (in my opinion) the DC Comics universe, with multiple alternate Earths. The major alternate Earth would be Earth-Kaiser, a place where World War II continued roughly 60 years after it had started. The members of Strike Force managed to put an end to the war, breaking Germany’s hold on Europe and ending the tyranny of the Japanese empire. They ended up visiting Earth-Kaiser multiple times, exchanging technology, knowledge, and even romantic interludes. Another major world was Ean, home of the Blood, Phosphene’s people. Strike Force spent some time there and ended up helping break the hold Azor, the patriarch of the Blood, had on the world and its people. There was also NiceWorld, ruled by a cabal of witches and Prey World, which had no superhumans at all. Aside from the various parallel worlds, Aaron also created a fairly comprehensive map of outer space. Since he initially never intended to publish Strike Force, he populated with an an assortment of well-known alien races. There were numerous off-shoots of humanity: Deviants, Inhumans, Titans, the New Gods, the Kree, the Kryptonians (an off-shoot of the Kree), the people of Paradise Island, and the Tamaraneans (among others). There were also Cylons, Dire Wraiths, Shi’ar, the Brood, and so on. As you may guess from the previous paragraph, Aaron liberally borrowed from published sources. He freely used ideas from DC and Marvel Comics, as well as other publications (I came across a reference to Doc Savage and Buckaroo Banzai, for example). In fact, his rationale for creation of the various off-shoots of humanity was to use the Celestials from the Marvel Universe. He also placed the Avengers and the Defenders in his campaign (along with a number of other well-known superhero teams), as well as Doctors Fate and Strange. In fact, Aaron’s version of the Avengers might be one of the most powerful super teams ever created, with a membership at one point that consisted of Captain America, Blue Beetle, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Starfire, the Thing, Tigra, the Wasp, Wonder Man, and Wonder Woman. Curiously, this team never really over-shadowed the members of Strike Force, and once Strike Force reached a certain size (and level of power), disbanded, letting the PCs become the premier super team of Aaron’s Earth. -Michael Surbrook

If you're interested in learning more about Strike Force, have a look at the new High Rock Press YouTube channel. It contains videos and interviews about the upcoming Strike Force project with Steven S. Long, Darren Watts, Ross Watson, Rod Currie, Shane Harsch, Michael Surbrook, and Jason Walters.