fdw3773

Your mentioning of your GM's challenges reminds me of a humorous vignette I read in the 5th Edition Champions sourcebook, if I remember right, that explained the superhero genre and how to run scenarios in it. As an example of what can go wrong, the vignette described Joe Orlando, who had spent around 20 years or so working on EC's Tales from the Crypt before working for Marvel Comics. He kept asking his script writers things like, "Why does the Thing have to smash through the wall to get into the building? Couldn't he just use the door like everyone else?" The exasperated writer replied, "Joe, either you get it or you don't!"

It's funny you mentioned that game. I didn't discover it until the past couple of years and had no idea that it had been around for as long as Champions and Villains & Vigilantes. I definitely would've had fun with it when I was starting out with RPGs in 5th and 6th grade since the system was fairly easy, but definitely would have moved on from it after a year or so. 🙂

The randomness of V&V turned us off as well, and we ignored that rule and ended up picking powers when we created heroes and villains back when we played it in the mid-1980s. Granted, there was little game balance as a result and had way over-powered heroes and villains at times. Just to let you know, after a long, drawn-out court battle Jeff Dee and Jack Herman finally regained their intellectual property rights from their work on Villains & Vigilantes and in recent years released Mighty Protectors via Kickstarter, which is basically V&V 3.0. The players and GM now have the option of being allocated points to choose the powers and level of that ability and follows the same basic game mechanics with that "old school" feel.

Champions was first introduced to me through 3rd Edition in the late 1980s (I started out with Villains & Vigilantes first in the early 1980s) and have been playing on and off since then along with Fantasy Hero along the way. At one point I collected some old second edition materials, along with 4th, 5th, and 6th Edition and more recently have Champions Complete that I run at the various local game convention events. However, Champions has not been the only superhero roleplaying game I've ever played or owned. At one point or another I've played (and owned) DC Heroes, ICONS, Villains & Vigilantes, along with owning (but never really playing) Silver Age Sentinels (Tri-Stat and D20), Guardians, Invulnerable, Mutants and Masterminds, Supergame, Prowlers & Paragons, Savage Worlds (there's a superhero expansion), BASH!, Supers, Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP system), Truth & Justice, Mighty Protectors (updated version of V&V), and probably one or two others that I read digitally via DriveThruRPG but have forgotten. Although each of those systems had their strengths in style, rules for running a superhero themed RPG, substance, and play-ability, I always found myself comparing that rules system to the Hero System and going back to Champions. What other superhero RPGs have you played? And, do you find yourself coming back to Champions afterwards?

I just posted the consolidated list of Marvel character write-ups I developed for the game conventions and events I supported in one Zip file for download. An asterisk (*) indicates that the Hero Designer file is included: Antman, Beast*, Captain America, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)*, Colossus, Cyclops, Hawkeye*, Hulk*, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Iron Man*, Jean Grey*, Mr. Fantastic*, Rogue*, She-Hulk*, Spider-Woman*, Storm*, Thor*, Vision*, Wasp, and Wolverine*. Here's the link: Enjoy! 🙂

Marvel 5th Edition Heroes View File This is the consolidated list of Marvel character write-ups I developed for the game conventions. An asterisk (*) indicates that the Hero Designer file is included the following characters: Antman, Beast*, Captain America, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)*, Colossus, Cyclops, Hawkeye*, Hulk*, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Iron Man*, Jean Grey*, Mr. Fantastic*, Rogue*, She-Hulk*, Spider-Woman*, Storm*, Thor*, Vision*, Wasp, and Wolverine*. Enjoy! 🙂 Submitter fdw3773 Submitted 04/02/2020 Category Characters Rules Version HERO System 5th Edition

A couple of notes that I forgot to mention when I posted the various files: 1) These character write-ups were designed for use at game conventions and charity events where I ran Champions. As such, the character sheet was simplified as much as possible for the players who showed up at my table. By design, it was intended to have all the information and character image fit on one page. Details like height/weight, powers and tactics, etc. were omitted on the Hero Designer files as a result. 2) Players attending the game convention weren't concerned about every minute detail for the superhero he or she selected such as height/weight and the extraneous information on the standard Hero System character sheet (e.g. hit location chart). As long as it covered the main powers and abilities of the superhero selected that was reasonably close in terms of power levels, the players were extremely pleased with the write-ups and enjoyed the scenario. The number of points listed was a general guide for the player to see how powerful that character was and for me to determine which foes the players were encountered to keep the game relatively balanced (e.g. I wasn't going to have a player choosing X-Men's Beast to fight someone like Apocalypse or Magneto by himself).

Here's the last wave of DC Heroes I wrote up for 5th Edition. Unfortunately, this group does not have supporting Hero Designer files. Am in the process of converting 5th Edition to 6th Edition, so will eventually post them as well, to include villains with Hero Designer files. Enjoy!

DC Heroes III View File These are the write-ups for the last wave of DC Heroes: Martian Manhunter, Maxima, Power Girl, Supergirl, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna. Unfortunately, I do not have the Hero Designer files for them. Submitter fdw3773 Submitted 03/31/2020 Category Characters Rules Version HERO System 5th Edition

Every character is subject to a GM's interpretation, but I used the DC Heroes (Third Edition by Mayfair Games) to create the adaptation. Under that system a Green Lantern's Power Ring is listed under equipment, just like Batman's utility belt, so it's safe to say that it's a Focus and not SFX. I've also collected Green Lantern comics and related titles on and off for a dozen or so years (e.g. Justice League since Green Lantern was a member), and have seen what happens when the ring is de-powered, stolen, etc. or even used by someone else.

Here's the second wave for DC Heroes: More to follow in the coming days.

DC Heroes II View File Here's the next wave of DC Heroes: Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), Firestorm, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Ice. Not all characters have Hero Designer files. Submitter fdw3773 Submitted 03/30/2020 Category Characters Rules Version HERO System 5th Edition

The first wave of DC characters have been posted with Hero Designer files. They are here:

DC Heroes View File Hi, Everyone! Here is the first wave of DC character write-ups that I previously used at the game conventions. They are Aquaman, Batman, Batgirl, Booster Gold, Black Canary, and Huntress. All have the Hero Designer file except Black Canary that was accidentally deleted at one point. Enjoy! Submitter fdw3773 Submitted 03/30/2020 Category Characters Rules Version HERO System 5th Edition

I have several DC, Marvel, and other comic universe character write-ups that I previously used at game conventions for players to select and use for the session. Some may be interested in downloading for themselves. Do I post them here or in the downloads section?

Previously, I ran Champions at the two major game conventions here in the Omaha, NE, metro area, NukeCon held in the fall and PretzCon held in the spring for the past three or four years. Turnout has been consistently good at both venues. Most players have had previous experience with the Hero System in some form or another, but I've also had some brand new players sample it and enjoy the RPG scenarios.

It's good to hear that the idea of using rough art drafts and unfinished works was dropped. As one of the backers commented on the Kickstarter forum, the raw, unfinished art was not what they were told they were paying for when they supported the project.

The latest update here and on the Kickstarter forum are that the goal is a January 2020 publication for the backers but there's no mention of when it would be available for purchase at the Hero store. The update describes that the graphic layout is still being worked on and that they are using raw, unfinished art in the process as chapter headers.

For "What happened to HERO?", here is one person's observation based on personal experience starting with Champions 3rd Edition, followed by 4th through 6th along with New Millennium and some Champions II books read along the way with a lot of discussion with fellow players at game stores and the conventions over the span of several years: At a minimum, there is a disconnect between the game design writers and the fans that purchase and play the games. Most of the fans I spoke to at conventions stopped playing Champions sometime around 4th edition because they were turned off by how rules heavy 5th Edition was even though there was Hero Sidekick. The publication of 6th Edition products and the excess amount of rules seems to reinforce that dissonance between game designers and customers, even though there was Hero Basic. To echo a sentiment already mentioned in this forum, "Hero System stopped reading a like a game to play and was more like a reference to read but not necessarily use." The textbook styled formatting of the published 6th Edition rules didn't help market the product either at brick and mortar game stores compared to other published superhero games. Graphic design of products appear to be getting lower and lower in quality. The cover art to Champions Complete conveys the superhero genre, but the interior art quality varied. Compared to the impressive art of the Champions 5th Edition source book, there is a significant downgrade. The cover art to Fantasy Hero Complete was just terrible overall, especially when compared to the cover on the Fantasy Hero 6th Edition source book. Similarly, the cover art of Champions Now offered as a preview is disappointing. While definitely a step-up from something like Fantasy Hero Complete, does the character featured as the centerpiece portray the superhero genre? Maybe, along the lines of Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange, but does it have the impact in clearly conveying the message that, "this is a superhero game" like the covers of 4th, 5th, and 6th Edition game books? Not really. The recent announcement that Champions Now is using raw, unfinished art and its justification can be interpreted as a cop-out in failing to deliver a quality product. Again, there's a disconnect between the game designers and fans. Champions Now. This is still confusing. It was presented as a Kickstarter project intended to generate new interest from new players in Champions and perhaps reconnect with players who enjoyed previous editions, but a perception that emerged is that Champions Now is an exercise in self-indulgent nostalgia by an independent game designer that the fans paid for via Kickstarter. The lack of promotion for Champions Now, it being over six months late in publication, and now use of raw, unfinished art seems to reinforce that negative perception. Given that the focus is promoting Hall of Champions and supporting it with quality products, am puzzled by the mixed messages concerning Champions Now. Granted, I am conveying a lot of what has already been said in various forums, but just wanted to add another fan's observations gathered over the years to this recurring question.

I didn't have the game support materials for it to develop to the desired fidelity, but one of the ideas we kicked around many years ago was that a tactical mastermind like Dr. Doom or the villain Destro from G.I. Joe was controlling multiple Kaiju like the Smog monster, King Ghidorah, Gigan, etc. as his high-powered muscle through some powerful technological artifact. The idea was from the classic monster movie Destroy All Monsters but instead the mastermind was Dr. Doom, Destro, or maybe even Lex Luthor or Brainiac, and not the alien Mysterians or Xiliens. Another idea was that Black Adam from DC Comics gets amped up to where he could challenge Superman directly and has power over Egyptian god avatars. I think I got the idea from the Egyptian god cards from the Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon series involving Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. Finally, we once danced around the idea of Transformers' Starscream or Masters of the Universe's Skeletor stealing or stumbling upon celestial artifacts to become powerful enough to challenge Superman-level heroes and potentially defeat them. Given how narcissistic and annoying Starscream was portrayed as a character (along with being a bad shot), he seemed like the perfect fit for a villain to become epic level and then wreak total havoc against heroes and his fellow Decepticons since he would finally "win" in overthrowing Megatron. 😉

Other villains to draw inspiration from are Onslaught, which would be merging Professor X's mental powers and making them more offensive-oriented with Magneto's powers over magnetism; Cthulhu or some other type of Lovecraftian-inspired deity; Unicron from Transformers: The Movie which has a standard write-up in the Hero Bestiary (Fifth and Sixth Edition) as the archetypal "Death Star-like" battle station that can modified to transform into a gargantuan robot; and assorted Kaiju ("strange beast" in Japanese) such as King Ghidorah, Mothra, Mechagodzilla, etc. that are running amok on the planet. The Kaiju have a write-up in the Hero Bestiary (Fifth and Sixth Edition) that can be modified with a power upgrade to challenge epic level superheroes.