DreadDomain

Darren, apologies but I have only been around sporadically. I could start a thread on rpg.net with my review if it helps. I would ask that The Herodom jump in so I'm not just a lone voice in the dark.
I could also try to post a formal review on rpg.net although I have no clue how it works.

Hey guys, finally got my hardcopy of Golden Age Champions here down under. I gave it a first read and it is in my opinion a very enjoyable book. I am not a “reviewer” by any stretch of the imagination but here is how I would summarize my thoughts.
 
Cover
Personally, I have never been a fan of Storn’s arts but even if the colours are a bit too washed out for my taste, this piece came together quite well. For roleplaying books, I generally like covers depicting team action with a central villain and this one delivers exactly that. However, it looks like the piece wasn’t quite balanced for a wraparound cover. My main gripe is the gap right in the middle of the cover in between Bulletproof, Seahawk, the title and Doctor Twilight. The title couldn’t have been slightly bigger (the font is good but it looks a bit tame) or even better, Seahawk and the big Robot could have been moved to right a notch to at least bring Mara mostly on the front cover with the robot being knocked back over the spine to the back cover. In comparison, the back cover is very well balanced. I quite like to see “Darren Watt’s…” in the title. Nice touch.
 
Layout, Graphic and Arts
The book looks good. It has the same graphic design as HERO 6th (as opposed to Champions Complete or Strike Force) and I believe it suits the book very well. Aside from the section with the timeline and the equipment tables where it is sparse for good reasons, there are quite a few pieces of art throughout the book and although art is always subjective, I find most of it contributes to the Golden Age feel. To top it all, some of the art is surprisingly large, a bonus! I also greatly appreciate that most character sheets fit on a single page.
All in all, I find Golden Age Champions looks better than Strike Force (and I like Strike Force). Compared to GAC, I believe SF is blander, with sparse, mostly small piece of arts and generally poorer character sheet layouts. I am still disappointed the KS missed the full colour stretch goal. GAC would have been glorious in colour! If there is ever a full colour version of the book, through Drivethrurpg or otherwise, I will jump on it.
 
Writing, Editing and Proofing
The writing is colloquial, easy and fun to read. It is full of atmosphere and simply put, makes me want to play Golden Age Champions.  Chapter 1 and 2 set the scene nicely by introducing the real world Golden Age of comics and describing the themes and tropes. I appreciate that it doesn’t overdo it and we quickly jump into game elements. There is a nice selection of “before the war” and “during the war templates” but I would have liked to see the Heroic Archetypes developed to the level of what was done in the Champions Super-Hero Gallery. It would have made it easier for people to jump in with builds themed around the era. Also, it doesn’t seem to indicate a preferred starting point total for characters.
Chapter 3 describes the state of the world complete with a 56 pages timeline listing events unfolding between January 1938 to December 1949. A full 12 years of plot seeds! It follows with Chapter 4, Gears and Technology covering weapons and vehicles (real, unusual and weird). This section is low on fluff and high on game stat tables. Chapter 5 covers gm advice and campaigning in the Golden Age by breaking the era into smaller periods, each with slightly different outlook and focus. This chapter is only 20 or so pages but it is dense with campaign ideas. These 20 pages really make you want to play Golden Age Champions. It felt a bit weird to move from timeline (chapter 3) to game stat heavy gear (chapter 4) to then a higher-level campaigning kind of timeline (chapter 5). I have a feeling it would have flowed better to have the timeline after what is now chapter 5.  
Chapter 6 is all about new characters which are diverse and have interesting backstories. The “after the war” blurb is a very nice touch but it seems a lot of them end up dying of cancer (is there an in-story rational to it?). All in all, this is an excellent chapter that introduces cool characters, complete with nice, large pictures (ok, some are very average but they are mostly good) and backstories packed with plot seeds. The write-ups are good and focused, not too simple but not too complex (or convoluted) like we might see sometimes in some HERO supplements. They all seem to bring something to the Golden Age canvas.
If there is something I really appreciated, is that Darren doesn’t shy away from making a stance from time to time. When he describes the Retro versus Period modes of play, he tells us what mode he believes we should choose and why. He does similarly throughout the book around different topics. Too often have we seen in HERO supplements the author laying out options in front of us without making an authorial decision, as if staying at the “toolkit” level was required.  
Generally, proofreading is a bit weaker in GAC that it is in usual HERO books. Not that I took note of any of them but I believe there more typos, formatting error and such then what I am used to. Thankfully, not to the point where it took away from the pleasure of reading the book. GAC loses some brownie points because it lacks an index (disappointing since 6E has one of the best index for a RPG).
 
Summary
It is always easy to point out what could have been done better, what could have been included and in what order or count the number of typos in a book. I have highlighted a few things I would have liked for Golden Age Champions but in the end, suffice to say that the book is easy and fun to read. The writing, supported by the layout and the art, brings the golden age atmosphere to life in a way that makes us want to jump in. The book offers a ton of plot seeds and colourful characters to populate many stories and campaigns.  Simply put, it jumpstarts the imagination and makes me want to play Golden Age Champions.
 
Onwards to the Silver Age!

Sorry to learn that. Best of luck Hyper-Man

The Hero System kahuna writing on Hawaiian mythology. Sounds about right.

Darren,
 
I think I failed to make my point. I wasn't asking for an excerpt for me here on the board (but thanks for that). My point is the KS is very slow, earning a few dollars a day, with no comment in a week. Interest needdb to be generated here, on the M&M and SW boards but even more do on KS. How about you post your excerpt as an update? Wait a few days and post the character sheet of one of the characters on the cover? Than another excerpt. Than a M&M sheet? Than how about an update with shipping rates estimate?
 
My point is the KS needs to be actively supported. If the creators don't bother to show up why would potential backers?
 
Anyway, apologies about the critics. I really want this to succeed at the hardcover level.
 
DD

According to this page:
 
"Fredd Gorham is a comic book and games illustrator who, for the past 24 years has worked for a wide variety of companies. His work has appeared in publications from Marvel, DC Comics, Steve Jackson Games, Caliber Press, White Wolf, Hero Games, Silver Gryphon, Viceroy Cards, Breygent and Albino Dragon Games to name a few. He has worked on the licenses for Red Sonja, Vampirella, Witchblade, Cry For Dawn, John Carter, Deadworld and Star Wars."
 
I can't find a list of specific credits. 
 
EDIT: He was also one of the illustrators for 4e Ultimate Mentalist.  Some of the pictures are in his DeviantArt gallery.
EDIT2: I just happened to be checking "An Eye for an Eye" for an unrelated reason and he and Storn did all of the interior art.