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New PDF: Superhero Gallery Expanded!


Steve Long

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I've whipped up a new PDF especially for all you Champions fans. It expands the Superhero Gallery on pages 243-287 of Champions by adding ten new character types you can quickly and easily create:

 
—the Animal-Man, a character whose powers derive from, or are themed around, a particular type of animal;
 
—the Caped Detective, who combines his investigative skills with various fighting abilities and gadgets to make himself a matchless enemy of the underworld;
 
—the Cultural Mystic, whose magical powers derive from a specific mystical tradition or culture (such as Egyptian, Shamanism, or Voodoo on this sheet, though you can easily adapt it to others if you’d like);
 
—the Elemental Powered Armor wearer, whose powered armor’s weapons and defenses focus on a specific “elemental” form of attack (such as Fire, Electricity, or Ice);
 
—the Force character, who manipulates sheer force to attack, move objects, and achieve other effects;
 
—the Light character, who controls light in various forms (from blinding flares to deadly lasers);
 
—the Power Weapon wielder, who possesses a weapon of great cosmic, mystic, or technological might;
 
—the Robo-Hero, whose artificial body grants him superhuman powers;
 
—the Shadowmaster, who controls darkness and shadow; and
 
—the Themed Gadgeteer, whose arsenal of gadgets are all designed or formed along some theme (such as a particular animal, holiday, or category of objects [such as “toys”]).
 
 
All this awesomeness can be yours for just $1.99 American!
 
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Looking over it, this is a pretty solid value for two bucks (twenty cents per template!). There is a broad selection of archetypes, and they are reasonably different from the ones in the Champions genre book (even where there is some conceptual overlap). The power builds are pretty good. However, the Complication sets are uninspired, and there's no obvious, "Villain" option among them (problems shared with the original Superhero Gallery). Overall, 4/5 stars.

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If y'all like this PDF, please let me know. I enjoy creating the Gallery entries and have ideas for at least one or two more PDFs of this same size, if popularity/sales justify the work. So please tell me what you think! :)

Good timing. I've got a couple of system newbies in a game I'm running next weekend. Using something like the Gallery as a starting point is a good way to let them be more involved in the building of their characters - and more options are always good.

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Let me explain the additions I would like to see in the Gallery for Superhero Gallery 2 (now that I am on a real computer, as oppose to my 3ds).

 

Captain Skills: A person who's 'powers' all revolve around having a bunch of skills, and knowing odd ways to use them.

 

Dinosaur Man: Much like the Animal Man, but since Dinosaurs are popular, they should deserve there own category.

 

Elemental Body: Someone who can change there body to some kind of substance. Examples include Sandman, Quicksand, Hydro-Man, Colossus, and on a more permanent basics The Thing.

 

Immortal Hero: Someone who's powers are an extremely long life span and/or ability to come back from the dead.

 

Paragon: (new to this post) Someone who's 'powers' are the result of intense training of both the body, mind, and/or soul. Not exactly falling under the banner of 'martial artist', they usually have some skill in that also. 

 

Plant Man: A person with plant related powers, or even, gasp, a body of at least partly plant based. Think Man-Thing, Swamp Thing, Evergreen (from Villains And Vigilantes), The Heap, etc....

 

The Super Agent: Think Nick Fury. Someone skilled, and have equipment. Might just cross over with the Paragon. Also assess to an agency of some kind.

 

Undead Hero: He once was alive, then he died, then he got 'better'. Be it a vampire fighting against his worst nature, a ghost risen from the grave to judge the guilty, or a reverent looking for revenge on his killers EC Comics style, the undead have been a staple of comic books from the beginning.

 

And I agree with IndianaJoe3, we need some villain, anti-hero, and anti-villain options for each template also. So that the GM can use them also, if he wishes. (Othoe I do note, it is simply a case of removing the more heroic complications and replacing them with more evil ones, like replacing Code VS Killing with Causal Killer, etc.,.)

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A couple of quick notes:

 

--there will never, ever be any villain-specific options for any Superhero Gallery entry created by me. Look at the name:  Superhero Gallery. As someone pointed out, it's dirt simple for you to make any changes you feel are needed to convert a character sheet into a villain; you don't need my help on that score IMO.

 

--yes, the Complications Sets are pretty generic. They have to be -- Complications are much more character-specific and campaign-specific than powers and abilities. I prefer to keep them generic and easy to adapt rather than getting too specific. If I ever did a Gallery for a defined campaign setting (e.g., a Turakian Age Heroes Gallery for FH), then I can probably spice them up a bit. ;)

 

--I create the Gallery entries using the 6th Edition core rulebooks. I do not take into account any changes or deletions in HSRB or CC, nor do I use optional powers from the APGs (or at least I haven't yet; that may change when I get around to writing up the Cyberkinetic). But of course they're fully "compatible" with the easy-learning Hero books; if you see something you don't recognize, just change it to something else.

 

--thanx for the suggestions for other character types! I already have a pretty long list, but you never know when someone may think of something that I think is worth adding. For example, aside from ones he suggested that I already had on my list, I think steriaca's "Elemental Body" and "Super-Agent" suggestions are both good ones. So as they say on TV, "Keep those cards and letters coming!". ;)

 

By my current count I have nearly 30 possible new entries. So that should give me plenty to fiddle around with -- once I see if the sales figures justify the work. ;)

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--there will never, ever be any villain-specific options for any Superhero Gallery entry created by me. Look at the name:  Superhero Gallery. As someone pointed out, it's dirt simple for you to make any changes you feel are needed to convert a character sheet into a villain; you don't need my help on that score IMO.

 

I'd buy a copy of a Supervillain Gallery (Assassin, Crime Boss, Dark Wizard, Mad Scientist, Ruthless Businessman, Vigilante, World Conqueror, etc). Just sayin'. :)

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