David Blue

Judging by Iron Man 3 he spent his xps on ten thousand autonomous copies of his armor and wealth to pay for it all.  But not one thin dime on defenses for his house.

How Tony Stark Spends his experience points seems to mirror how veteran Champions characters spend theirs. 
 
 

It’s just 6E specifics updated, maybe some errata fixes. In fact, it wasn’t even reorganized to put Charm (the renamed Seduction) in its correct place alphabetically.

I agree that the presentation of the system in the 6e Complete books is a vast improvement over the inscrutable reference tomes that are 6e1/6e2. However, it'll never become my go-to edition because there are simply too many low-level system changes I don't get on with. It "fixed" (or eliminated) too many things I never considered broken, and I don't like having to retrain my brain for little or no practical benefit.

I don’t really grok the question.  I have played Champions since it was a poorly typeset black and white rulebook.
 
Each Edition has a different kind of feel and they are on a continuum.  There is a lot of love for 4th edition, and I think that is probably because it was created with an emphasis on the genre rather than the rules, 5th and 6th focussed on the mechanics over the genre and the rulebooks reflect that.
 
i think what we have is a rulebook preference.  I think, rulebooks aside, I prefer having 6th edition.  I note most of those who prefer earlier editions port in the things that they like from later editions.  I also think that while many call later editions bloated, these very forums demonstrate a desire for more detail on how things work - that indicates that the drift to textbook like rulebooks was a response to what the fan base seemed to want.  I appreciate all of the detail when I am getting into debates here on the forums, it explains the detail of how the power is intended to work.
 
as such, I do not have a favourite edition.  I prefer more information over less, I like having all the editions as they provide me with alternative ways to do things.  
 
Personally, I am looking forward to a new 7th edition which utilise modern technology, a true e-book that focuses on utility.  It should deliver the core system with virtually no detail upfront.  I would bet you could make the system look really streamlined that way with lots of colour and art.  The detail would be readily available on virtual pages that explained the detail necessary when building characters or thrashing through a rule query in game.  It would also provide a ready GM reference for in-game reference.
 
I write in for 7th Edition (interactive).  ?
 
Doc

Fifth Edition for me (pre-Revised). I found that 5 kept a lot of what I liked about 4, while clarifying a number of elements I thought needed it, and expanding the range of options. The close compatibility between 4 and 5 made it easy to use stuff written for one edition in games running the other, providing me a very wide selection of materials to draw from. It also allowed me to easily crib from either rule set to find the balance of mechanics that best suited the play style I wanted.
 
IMHO Fifth Revised started bloating the rules past the line between thorough and cumbersome. I didn't feel a revision was really necessary at that time, but since it didn't fundamentally change anything I could still utilize my trusty FREd. I've never really gotten into Sixth Edition, despite liking a few of the changes and expansions. The core rule books are a little overwhelming unless you're seriously into plumbing the system. Fifth with some Fourth, and a few flourishes from Sixth, provides everything I feel I need.

4th and 5th are neck and neck for me. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are fine too, I played with them for a long time and liked them very much. 
 
[Dr. Banner] You don't want to hear my opinion on 6th. You wouldn't like my opinion on 6th.[/Dr. Banner]

2nd edition, with bits and pieces stol-- erhm, _inspired by_ 3 & 4 but "downgraded" to fit the 1 and 2e style (turning Adders into 1/8 or 1/4 Advantages, things like that).  Bought 5th and re5th,  mostly out of curiosity but also for the rumors that it "answered so many questions."  It didn't.  It ran everything into such microscopic specificity that, for me (you are asking for opinions, right?  I'm not offering this as objective fact; it's just opinion) it actually really robbed a lot of the "totally generic, I can do anything" feel of the game.  Love the sourcebooks, though.  I don't think any system from any publisher has ever offered better sourcebooks that the stuff that Steve and Co have been pumping out.
 
Read 6th (couple of guys in my groups bought them) and really lost all interest in going any further than 4th for rules or mechanics.
 
 

The recent discussion in a different posting about the Champions Now Kickstarter project made me think back to my Hero System/Champions experiences than spans over 30 years. Even though my first superhero RPG was Villains & Vigilantes by Fantasy Games Unlimited, when I first received Champions 3rd Edition as a gift, I became a lifelong fan and collector, to include the various comic issues published at one point by Eclipse Comics that featured Marksman, Flare, and so on.
 
In addition to owning/playing Champions, I also owned/played DC Heroes by Mayfair Games (1st and 3rd Edition), Silver Age Sentinels (Tri-Stat and d20 versions), Mutants and Masterminds and later Icons (both original and The Assembled Edition) by Green Ronin Press, Heroes Unlimited by Palladium Books, along with independent titles like Prowlers & Paragons, Invulnerable, Supergame, and Guardians. In the end, though, I always found myself going back to Champions.
 
While I really enjoyed 3rd and 4th edition, by the early 2000s those books seemed dated when compared to other superhero games being released like Silver Age Sentinels, Mutant and Masterminds, and Aberrant. Also, the binding started wearing out, as these books were not as durable as the other books that I had (e.g. Robotech RPG series and source books by Palladium).
 
When the 5th Edition Hero System came out, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. While the source books were well-designed and styled, the "Big Black Book" and later Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) that consisted of over 300+ and later 500+ pages of rules respectively, were a major turnoff. I would not become aware of the Hero Sidekick (Hero Basic 5th Edition) for several more years (it wasn't carried at my local game store). Years later, when I saw Hero System 6th Edition in its "college textbook" design with volumes that totaled over 600 pages of rules next to the latest version of Mutants and Masterminds and related source books published by Green Ronin, I couldn't help but wonder, "What was Hero Games thinking!?" After speaking with other fans about 6th Edition over the years, a common reaction was that 6th Edition seemed more like an exercise of writer's self-indulgence that did not significantly improve the system. Not surprisingly, this was followed by disparaging remarks about the senior staff at Hero Games.
 
Dungeons & Dragons is a similar situation where it is a long-standing game system with multiple editions. In recent years, Wizards of the Coast has made all of the Dungeons & Dragons editions available. I have relatives, friends, and colleagues who have collected the latest edition (5th) to add to their game collection while still actively playing their favorite previous edition in their respective gaming groups. Some like the "old school flair" of 2nd edition, others like 4th, and still others like the current edition. A common question that has come up has been, "Which edition of D&D is your favorite?"
 
So, with that in mind, "What's your favorite edition of the Hero System/Champions?"
 
 
 
 

Re: How Have You Used King Cobra/COIL
 
If you can find Classic Enemies, Patrick Zircher's drawing of KC is far more sinister and threatening.

I ran that. Enjoyed it so much I used it for a Braintrust plot seed
 
This is what happens when you don't spay your catgirls: So King Cobra made the Ophidian plague. Big Whoop, thinks the Overbrain. To prove he can do one better, he creates his own version of the gene altering plague, and uses Lynx as a carrier. Lynx begins to claw other women, making them into catgirls who are more animalistic than she, yet subject to her orders (which will include going out and making more cat girls (and maybe one lucky guy who has struck Lynx's fancy)). Can the PCs stop the growing Catgirl army or is the city doomed
 
 
Only problem was several posters at the time asked what the down side was *Sigh*

A socially-conscious supervillain unleashes an airborne, easily transmissible, delayed effect virus that rewrites the chromosomes of all humans into a single racial type, effectively homogenizing all of mankind.

I wondered which origin types are particularly popular for the Champions Universe, and what types of Powers go with them the most.
 
Why? Because
1) It might point to character concepts that are cool but have been neglected; and
2) I’m a deranged nerd.
 
So this has been my spare-time project for the last week.
 
The whole CU is very large, but not all of it is equally propmoted. So I’m restricting the domain of analysis to the three volumes of Champions Villains. 292 characters total, not counting “agent” types such as Doctor Destroyer’s robots or Necrull’s Necrullticians. Individual characters only!
 
Here are the categories I devised when I did this analysis for my own Champions settings:
 
* SUPERNATURAL BEINGS are innately magical creatures: demons, dimensional conquerors, undead, etc. Examples: Bloodrage, Takofanes, Tyrannon. Also people with supernatural ancestry, such as Frag.
 
* MUTANTS were born with super-powers in their genes. I also include MUTATES, whose origin stories specifically say that their powers are the result of genetic manipulation (such as anyone given powers by Teleios). Examples: Menton, Hurricane, King Cobra.
 
* ROBOTS AND CONSTRUCTS are artificial beings. They have powers because somebody else built them that way. Robots are of course the result of tech; but golems and similar magically-created artificial beings fit in this category as well. Examples: Mechanon (duh), Syzygy.
 
* ENCHANTED characters were given powers by magic: a curse, a spell cast upon them, a magic potion, or the like. Examples: The Basilisk, Black Fang, Harpy.
 
* WEIRD SCIENCE covers all those lab accidents, exposures to industrial waste or atomic radiation, and empowerment processes that are scientific but aren’t specifically called out as exclusively based on gene-splicing. (Though some origin stories are not clear on this point.) Examples: Durak, Bulldozer, everyone in Project Sunburst, Sunspot.
 
 
* CYBORGS started out as normal people but gained powers by having bits added to them. Usually techm but I extend the concept to magical additions (such as a magical gem permanently affixed to the character’s body) or other surgical modification. Examples: Interface, Fiacho, Cairngorm, Howler.
 
* SORCERER characters cast spells. Examples: Doctor Yin Wu, Demonologist, Talisman.
 
* INVENTOR characters build gdgets (including, but not limited to, powered armor) or otherwise do things using SCIENCE! It’s implied that they can build new tech, even if they don’t have VPPs — they aren’t limited to just one device or suite of gadgets. Examples: Doctor Destroyer, Teleios, Utility, Binder, Doctor Philippe Moreau.
 
* TRAINING: If a character’s powers come down to extraordinary skills that aren’t super-tech or sorcery, they go here. Mostly martial artists, but there might be others such as a super-thief with incredible skills but uses mundane tech, Examples: Scorpia, Green Dragon, the Cahokian.
 
* WEAPON: The character’s powers derive from a device that could be taken away, whether it’s tech, magic, or undefined. Moreover, the character lacks the skills to replace or alter the device easily. Examples: the Warlord (he didn’t build his own battlesuit), the Crowns of Krim, Lazer.
 
* MASTERMINDS would be powerful just from the people and resources they command, even if they didn’t have any other source of power. Example: Franklin Stone and Doctor Philippe Moreau are “pure” Masterminds; Doctor Destroyer, King Cobra, and the Warlord have extensive organizations in addition to their personal powers; Baron Nihil and Tyrannon rule entire populations; and the Demonologist can Summon whatever demons he wants, while the Engineer creates robots at will.
 
* ALIENS aren’t human, but aren’t specifically supernatural. Extraterrestrials such as Herculan and Firewing go here; but so does Leviathan (a Lemurian) and Ape-X (uplifted gorilla). This is often a “meta-origin,” worth noting even if not being human is not specifically the source of powers (as Herculan was artificially given powers that are not natural to his species, the Fassai).
 
* OTHER is anything so rare and weird that it doesn’t justify creating a new category, or the source of the character’s powers simply is not known. Example: Timelapse, Glacier.
 
* COMPLEX: Characters can fit within multiple categories, as the dimension lord Skarn is both a supernatural being and a sorcerer, or Cheshire Cat is both a highly trained martial artist and gained teleportation powers through weird science. But if a character fits in three or more categories, I just call it “Complex.” Example: Josiah Brimstone has one set of powers as a sorcerer, another set from the demon that’s fused to him, and a third set from magical devices. OTOH I make exceptions for Masterminds and Aliens, as these tend to be meta-origins — and I try to limit assigning categories based on what’s really important to a character. Just packing a gun or minor gadget, for instance, isn’t enough to place a character as using a Weapon.
 
Placing characters in origin categories can be iffy. Like, I don’t assign every character with martial arts on the character sheet to the Training category: Often its just an add-on and the character would function as a superbeing without it. And as the discussion of Weird Scienct and Mutate characters suggests, the line between them can be blurry. But the goal is to spot patterns, not to precisely classify every character.
 
Here’s the result:
 
Supernatural Beings: 30 characters; 10%
Mutants/Mutates: 65 characters; 22%
Robots/Constructs: 8 characters; 3%
Enchanted: 23 characters; 8%
Weird Science: 54 characters; 18%
Cyborgs: 9 characters; 3%
Sorcerers: 33 characters; 11%
Inventors: 26 characters; 9%
Training: 31 characters; 11%
Weapon: 44 characters; 15%
Mastermind: 25 characters; 9%
Alien: 17 characters; 6%
Other/Unknown: 9 characters; 3%
Complex: 3 characters; 1%
 
Further analysis available if anyone's interested.
 
Dean Shomshak

The Pandemic eliminated the local game stores, save one, maybe, but I haven't been able to get over there.

However I do plan to run "Champions Begins", for one of the Discord Servers I am on, and probably another as I had a request. I will do my best, even though Superheroes aren't my first choice for Hero System. I will report on how it went later.
 

It is for me. 
 
Tomorrow I'm running my first Star Wars Hero session, taking place about a month after the destruction of the second Death Star.  This will be session zero with potentially a combat scene also.  Hopefully it goes well. 

I too.
 
A month ago an idea for a superhero campaign started tickling my imagination. When I started writing things down, just to get the idea out, it was in Hero. I would need a few key non-player characters, with solid definitions of what they thought they were doing, and why. Hero is good for detailed descriptions of a small number of human characters. I would need at least one vehicle, probably three. Hero has solid vehicle rules. I would need at least one base, probably three or four. Hero does bases. I would need one small agency and one big one. Hero does agencies very well. I would need a stack of small gadgets. Hero does gadgets, and what I needed most was already in a supplement. I would need some beasts. That wasn't a problem.
 
I wasn't being forced to break the flow of my imagination. I could keep going till I had an overall, internally consistent picture of how the conflict would arise and how it might play out.
 
From my point of view as a potential gamemaster, what I don't want is to have the key points of a new world swimming into view, and have that interrupted by some thought like this: "and I'll need to define that space ship / submarine, since the player characters will be spending a lot of time in it, but there are no vehicle rules (or there are but they are so bad that I'd rather not use them). Maybe I need to make some house rules for that, or swap in rules from another system."

I too.
 
A month ago an idea for a superhero campaign started tickling my imagination. When I started writing things down, just to get the idea out, it was in Hero. I would need a few key non-player characters, with solid definitions of what they thought they were doing, and why. Hero is good for detailed descriptions of a small number of human characters. I would need at least one vehicle, probably three. Hero has solid vehicle rules. I would need at least one base, probably three or four. Hero does bases. I would need one small agency and one big one. Hero does agencies very well. I would need a stack of small gadgets. Hero does gadgets, and what I needed most was already in a supplement. I would need some beasts. That wasn't a problem.
 
I wasn't being forced to break the flow of my imagination. I could keep going till I had an overall, internally consistent picture of how the conflict would arise and how it might play out.
 
From my point of view as a potential gamemaster, what I don't want is to have the key points of a new world swimming into view, and have that interrupted by some thought like this: "and I'll need to define that space ship / submarine, since the player characters will be spending a lot of time in it, but there are no vehicle rules (or there are but they are so bad that I'd rather not use them). Maybe I need to make some house rules for that, or swap in rules from another system."

Watchmen was about as close to the graphic novel as they could have pulled off, I thought. The one difference was that they left out Ozymandias' ending.

After extensive study, including watching testing on shows like Forged in Fire, I have come to the conclusion that it is very likely that the armor (and weapon) stats used in pretty much every fantasy game published is just not right.
 
For example, I've long used armor piercing on bodkin arrow heads to represent all that force on a small point.  But watching real life archery and testing archery against various armors, either the bows aren't doing nearly the damage listed in games, or they aren't actually armor piercing.
 
Also, armor seems to have been much more protective in real medieval combat than in fantasy movies and games.  A fully plate wearing warrior was like a tank in combat; you had to disable it (get him on the ground) then stab at gaps to even harm someone in a suit.  Arrows just bounce off unless they hit a joint, and while the wearer feels some impact, its not especially significant.
 
It has to be remembered that most medieval combat was against very lightly (or no) armored foes, so weapons like axes and so on were a lot more effective.  Swords are deadly against someone like that, but if the target has decent armor, aren't going to do much.  Over time different, more ghastly weapons were developed to try to defeat armor (pole arms, weapons like the Estoc, etc) and swords were not the go-to weapon against armor.
 
This turns pretty much every trope and fantasy game theme on its head, and maybe that's not a good way to go but I'm currently working on weapons and armor builds for my Jolrhos Player Guide and the thoughts came up as I was working on it.  Should Plate be hardened armor?  Should it have higher defenses?  Should arrows do less damage?

I loved hero central.  I now play on rpol.net and roll20.net
 
Not as good, but at least an option. 

Between my TT group breaking up, and HC going down I haven't gamed Champions in years. :( Much sadness.
 
I do see some folks are using the option for Clubs for games on this very site. I considered it but the idea hit some snags and then RL slammed me, but you might find something you like there if it's open?
 
 

Hero Central, a place online where you could play various flavors of Hero in a play by post format, has been gone for a long time (since 2014, if I remember correctly).  For those of you who played on Hero Central, did you move your games elsewhere, or just stop playing in that format?  Are there any current sites out there that function as a replacement?

Chaosium's Basic Role Playing is pretty damn easy to learn. Especially the percentage based skill system. The quick-start rules are free: *** clicky ***

This is a little like asking if a Porsche can pull a horse trailer.  Because the answer to both is “Yeah.....kinda.” But there’s better and easier ways to do it. 
   D20 was originally built for D&D. (duh) a game that didn’t use or need big power effects.  That’s what is best for. You can find ways to add on big superpowers but it always going to be a little clunky.
  If you wanted to run a NetFlicks type “Defenders” game, you can do it on D20 fairly easily. But for an MCU Avengers style you want something that was created to do just that.  Like maybe Champions?  The best thing I always believed about Champs was that you could play anything with it.  Supers, Sci-Fi, 1930’s Pulp, whatever.  That did lead to the system being a little complex for some folks.
   What I’m trying to say is that you want to use the right tool for the job at hand.  What kind of game are you looking to do, or is this more of a philosophical question?

I am reasonably certain that these are standard "UFO nut" categories of aliens, that have nothing whatsoever to do with humanity, but I do recognize how it looks, particularly to modern super-sensitive eyes.