Champions (role-playing game)

Last updated
Champions
RPG Champions cover.jpg
Designers
Publishers Hero Games
Publication
  • 1981 (1st edition)
  • 1982 (2nd edition)
  • 1984 (3rd edition)
  • 1989 (4th edition)
  • 2002 (5th edition)
  • 2010 (6th edition)
Genres Superhero fiction
LanguagesEnglish
Systems Hero System

Champions is a role-playing game published by Hero Games designed to simulate a superhero comic book world. It was originally created by George MacDonald and Steve Peterson in collaboration with Rob Bell, Bruce Harlick and Ray Greer. The latest edition of the game uses the sixth edition of the Hero System, as revised by Steve Long, and was written by Aaron Allston. It was released in early 2010.

Contents

Description

Champions, first published in 1981, [1] was inspired by Superhero: 2044 and The Fantasy Trip as one of the first published role-playing games in which character generation was based on a point-buy system instead of random dice rolls. A player decides what kind of character to play, and designs the character using a set number of "character points," often abbreviated as "CP." The limited number of character points generally defines how powerful the character will be. Points can be used in many ways: to increase personal characteristics, such as strength or intelligence; to buy special skills, such as martial arts or computer programming; or to build superpowers, such as supersonic flight or telepathy. This point system was praised by reviewers for the balance it gave character generation over random dice rolls. [2] The stats in Champions are Strength, Constitution, Body, Dexterity, Intelligence, Ego, and Presence.

Players are required not only to design a hero's powers, but also the hero's skills, disadvantages, and other traits. Thus, Champions characters are built with friends, enemies, and weaknesses, along with powers and abilities with varying scales of character point value for each. This design approach intends to make all the facets of Champions characters balanced in relation to each other regardless of the specific abilities and character features. Characters are rewarded with more character points after each adventure, which are then used to buy more abilities, or eliminate disadvantages.

The system

Players can design custom superpowers using the Champions rules system. Rather than offering a menu of specific powers, Champions powers are defined by their effects. (An energy blast is the same power regardless of whether it represents a laser beam, ice powers, or mystical spells.) The Champions rulebook includes rules governing many different types of generic powers which can then be modified to fit a player's idea.

This allows players to simulate situations found in superhero stories. Like most comic book heroes, characters and villains are frequently knocked out of the fight but seldom killed. There are special rules for throwing heavy objects like aircraft carriers.

History and other genres

The Champions system was adapted to a fantasy genre under the title Fantasy Hero (the first playtest edition of Fantasy Hero appeared before Champions was published), with similar advantages and disadvantages to the original Champions game. In 1984, the rules for Champions began being adapted into generic role-playing game system called the Hero System, although no formal and separate generic release of this as a standalone system would occur until 1990; instead the Champions rules would be edited down, expanded, and otherwise adapted on an individual basis for a variety of different genre treatments, such as pulp and modern espionage. Champions now exists as a genre sourcebook for the Hero System. Books for other genres have also appeared over the years, including Star Hero , Dark Champions , Pulp Hero , and Ninja Hero .

Character archetypes and designs

Archetypes

While Champions does not use "character classes" as some RPGs do, it does define common superhero archetypes as found in comic books. These are based variably on how they use their powers in combat, motivation, or the powers' origin. As listed in the Champions genre book, [3] they are:

  • Brick – slower hand-to-hand fighter who relies more on raw strength and tougher defenses (Incredible Hulk / Colossus)
  • Energy Projector – primary combat ability is a ranged attack, which, despite the name, is not necessarily energy-based (Cyclops / Starfire)
  • Gadgeteer – abilities based on technological devices (Brainiac 5 / Forge)
  • Martial Artist (or martist for short) – lightly armored hand-to-hand combatant who fights with skill, quickness, and agility (Daredevil / Wolverine / Batman)
  • Mentalist – abilities target the mind, not the physical foe (Professor X / Jean Grey)
  • Metamorph – abilities involving changes in shape and/or size (Plastic Man / Mystique)
  • Mystic – trained in the use of magic, or with abilities or items with magical properties (Doctor Fate / Doctor Strange)
  • Patriot – an embodiment of his or her nation (Captain America / Captain Britain)
  • Powered Armor – a variant of a Gadgeteer, who uses an "all-in-one" gadget worn as armor (Iron Man / Cyborg)
  • Sink – with primary abilities being drains or transfers, a "Sink" can diminish, nullify or steal another characters powers, abilities or stats, either temporarily or permanently. (Rogue / Parasite)
  • Speedster – with abilities based around movement (Flash / Quicksilver)
  • Weaponmaster – with expertise at using a particular type of weapon (Green Arrow / Swordsman)

It is possible for a character to fall into multiple categories, such as Superman (brick/energy projector/speedster/patriot), Batman (martial artist/gadgeteer), or Spider-Man (martial artist/speedster/gadgeteer). It is also common for characters not to fall into any easily defined category—these categories are simply to provide easy definition and really have no impact on normative game play and do not imply stricture nor benefit within the rules.

The Champions Team

The Champions superhero team is presented as an example of how to build a well-balanced team in terms of game mechanics, including the hero Flare. Their enemies include Foxbat and Doctor Destroyer.

4th edition
  • Defender – inventor wearing powered armor
  • Jaguar – werecat
  • Obsidian – alien prince brick
  • Quantum – mutant energy projector
  • Seeker – martial artist
  • Solitaire – mystic
5th edition
  • Defender – an inventor wearing powered armor
  • Ironclad – super-strong and super-tough alien
  • Nighthawk – grim inventor/martial artist
  • Sapphire – flying energy projector
  • Witchcraft – sorceress
6th edition
  • Defender – inventor wearing powered armor
  • Ironclad – super-strong and super-tough alien
  • Kinetik – speedster
  • Sapphire – flying energy projector
  • Witchcraft – sorceress

Setting

Much of the game is set in Millennium City. After its destruction by Dr. Destroyer, Detroit was rebuilt using the newest technologies and renamed.

MMORPG

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the license was announced by Cryptic Studios, who had developed the popular City of Heroes and then reinvented Marvel Universe Online to Marvel Heroes . [4] The game was released in September 2009. [5] The game takes place in the established Champions universe and features classic Champions heroes and villains as NPCs. [6]

Flextiles game supplement

Flextiles supplement published by Hero Games Flextiles.png
Flextiles supplement published by Hero Games

Flextiles is a 1983 role-playing supplement for Champions. It is published by Hero. [7] Craig Sheeley for Space Gamer . commented in a review that "...the Flextile concept is a good idea, but not at the price Flextiles sell for now. Cut the cost [...] and they'd be much better." [7]

Reception

In the January 1982 edition of Ares , Eric Goldberg noted the "sketchy" design of the first edition, and yet believed that "in many ways, it is sufficient... What enables the designers to get away with this minimalist approach is an unswerving devotion to the philosophy and to the spirit of the superhero comic, which itself has never pretended to be terribly complex." [8]

In the April–May 1982 edition of White Dwarf , Dave Morris liked the first edition combat system, calling it "a good simulation of comic-book battles". But Morris questioned whether players would enjoy playing superheroes rather than more ordinary characters found in most other role-playing games. He gave the game an average rating of 7 out of 10, saying, "All the same, the occasional bout of world-saving might be enjoyable, and Champions is worth buying on this basis alone." [9]

Reviews for two editions of the game appeared in Dragon :

Reviews for various editions of the game appeared in The Space Gamer :

Ken Cliffe reviewed the 4th edition of Champions for White Wolf , rating it 3 out of 5 overall, and stated that "I recommend this book to anyone already familiar with the hero system, and suggest the Champions game to anyone who enjoys exact, complicated role-playing. To those looking for slick, fun role-playing, I say look to other SHRPGs and other game systems." [16]

In February 1989's issue of The Games Machine , John Woods reviewed the 4th edition of the game and called the rules "a model of clarity", although he criticized the lack of an index. He concluded with a strong recommendation, saying, "One of the best aspects of this type of game is that you don’t need anything more than the rulebook and a little imagination to start playing a fast moving game where the future of the world lies in your hands!" [17]

In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games , game critic Rick Swan commented, "In addition to being one of the oldest superhero RPGs, Champions is easily the biggest and arguably the best." Swan noted that the character generation system "gives players near-total freedom in assembling the superhero of their dreams." However, he found that the combat system "is the game's weakest features, a seemingly endless array of numbers, formulas and tables that's all but certain to discourage first-timers." Swan concluded by giving the game an excellent rating of 3.5 out of 4, saying, "Of all the superhero RPGs, Champions remains the connoisseur's choice." [18]

In a 1996 reader poll taken by Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, Champions was ranked 27th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "It wasn't the first superhero RPG and it never had licensed links to any big-name comics – but it's still the classic of the genre. It popularised the now-commonplace 'points-design' approach to character creation; in fact, it's probably the most flexible, detailed points-based system ever, which makes it rather overwhelming for some new players, and combat can be a little slow. But once you've learned how to use it, no other game catches the feeling of superhero action in quite the same way." [19]

Champions was included in the 2007 book Hobby Games: The 100 Best . Game designer Bill Bridges described Champions as "the superhero roleplaying game. While it wasn't the first game on the market that let you play superheroes and duke it out with supervillains, using earth-shattering powers, it was the most innovative. The major roleplaying games of the time involved characters stalking monsters in dungeons; the heroes in Champions delivered knockout blows to archnemeses—all while speaking the requisite inspiring soliloquies." [20]

In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted that Champions was a pioneer in two respects. It "is the first entirely new game to embrace the idea of non-random character generation through a point-buy system, and it marks a significant expansion of the concept." The second new concept was "the idea of disadvantages." [21]

Reviews

Awards

In other media

Comics

Starting in June 1986, a comic book limited series was published by Eclipse Comics [28] based on characters from the first Champions campaign. The Eclipse series included character sheets that allowed readers to incorporate characters used in the comic books into their own Champions campaigns; this practice was also used in the Villains and Vigilantes comic book limited series (also published by Eclipse in 1986–1987). [29]

Soon after Eclipse's initial limited series, an ongoing Champions series was published by Hero Comics [30] (later Hero Graphics, [31] later still Heroic Publishing) [32] from 1987 to 1993.

As of 2024, Heroic Publishing was still publishing comics about some of the Champions characters (under the title League of Champions ), although the publisher had long since parted ways with the makers of the game. [33]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Heroes</span> 1984 superhero role-playing game

Golden Heroes is a British superhero role-playing game that was originally written and published on an amateur basis in 1981, and then republished in a more complete and professional form by Games Workshop in 1984.

<i>GURPS Supers</i>

GURPS Supers is a superhero roleplaying game written by Loyd Blankenship and published by Steve Jackson Games. The first edition was published in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hero System</span> Tabletop role-playing game system

The Hero System is a generic role-playing game system that was developed from the superhero RPG Champions. After Champions fourth edition was released in 1989, a stripped-down version of its ruleset with no superhero or other genre elements was released as The Hero System Rulesbook in 1990. As a spinoff of Champions, the Hero System is considered to have started with 4th edition, rather than on its own with a 1st edition. However, the first three editions of the game are typically referred to as Champions, rather than the Hero System, as the game for its first three editions was not sold as a universal toolkit, instead largely focusing on superheroes.

<i>Marvel Super Heroes</i> (role-playing game) Super hero role-playing game

Marvel Super Heroes (MSH) is a licensed role playing game set in the Marvel Universe, first published by TSR in 1984. The game lets players assume the roles of Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. The game was designed to be easily understood, and this approach proved popular. TSR published an expanded edition, Marvel Superheroes Advanced Game in 1986.

<i>Villains and Vigilantes</i> Tabletop superhero role-playing game

Villains and Vigilantes is a superhero-themed role-playing game which competed primarily with Champions and Superworld in the early to mid-1980s.

<i>Heroes Unlimited</i> Tabletop role-playing game

Heroes Unlimited is a superhero role-playing game written by Kevin Siembieda and first published by Palladium Books in 1984. The game is based upon the Palladium Books Megaversal system and is compatible with other games that use the Palladium system.

Hero Games is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the Fuzion system.

<i>Mutants & Masterminds</i> Tabletop superhero role-playing game

Mutants & Masterminds is a superhero role-playing game written by Steve Kenson and published by Green Ronin Publishing based on a variant of the d20 System by Wizards of the Coast. The game system is designed to allow players to create virtually any type of hero or villain desired.

<i>Justice, Inc.</i> (role-playing game)

Justice, Inc. is a role-playing game published by Hero Games in 1984 that simulates adventure stories that appeared in the pulp magazines of the 1930s.

Worlds of Wonder is a multi-genre set of three role-playing games (RPGs) produced by Chaosium in 1982 that all used the Basic Role-Playing set of rules.

<i>DC Heroes</i> Superhero tabletop role-playing game

DC Heroes is an out-of-print superhero role-playing game set in the DC Universe and published by Mayfair Games. Other than sharing the same licensed setting, DC Heroes is unrelated to the West End Games DC Universe or the more recent Green Ronin Publishing DC Adventures game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speedster (fiction)</span> Type of superhero possessing superhuman speed

A speedster is a character, primarily in superhero comics, whose powers primarily relate to superhuman speed. Primary abilities shared by all speedsters include running at speeds far in excess of human capability and resistance to the side effects of such velocities. In almost all cases, speedsters can physically attack opponents by striking them at high speed, imparting great kinetic energy without themselves being harmed or at times even affected at all. A variety of other powers have been attributed to speedsters, depending on the story, their power's origin, and their universe's established continuity and rules.

The League of Champions are a superhero team first appearing in 1981 in the Champions role-playing game by Hero Games, and subsequently in comic book series published first by Eclipse Comics as Champions in 1986, and later by Heroic Publishing as League of Champions starting in 1987. The fictional heroes are headquartered in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul</span> Tabletop role-playing game

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul is a pen and paper roleplaying game about comic book style superheroes and their adventures, developed and published by Parsons, Kansas-based Spectrum Games. It officially debuted in the form of an illustrated 13-page PDF document released for free, called the Quickstart Preview in 2010. A full rulebook was released in 2012. It was written by Barak Blackburn, and uses a significantly modified version of a rules system that was first introduced in Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 in late 2008.

<i>DC Adventures</i> Tabletop role-playing game

DC Adventures is a superhero role-playing game published by Green Ronin Publishing in 2010 that is set in the DC Comics superhero universe. It uses the same game system as Green Ronin's third edition of Mutants & Masterminds.

<i>Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game</i> Tabletop science fiction role-playing game

Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game is a science fiction role-playing game published by Games Workshop in 1985. A second edition was published in 1989.

<i>Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game</i> 1984 role-playing game boxed set

Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game is a role-playing game boxed set published by TSR in 1984 for the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game, and was the debut product for the game.

<i>Dark Champions: Heroes of Vengeance</i> 1993 role-playing game supplement

Dark Champions: Heroes of Vengeance is a 1993 role-playing game supplement published by Hero Games/Iron Crown Enterprises in 1993 for the superhero role-playing game Champions.

<i>Hero System Rulesbook</i>

Hero System Rulesbook is a supplement published by Hero Games/Iron Crown Enterprises in 1990 for role-playing games using the Hero System rules.

References

  1. "About Champions". Hero Games. Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  2. Bennie, Scott (1982). "Champions". Dragon Magazine. No. 57. p. 69. ...excellent game balance...
  3. Champions genre book. Pages 69–80.[ citation not found ]
  4. Thorsen, Tor (2008-02-13). "Cryptic bringing Champions Online to PCs, consoles". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  5. "Official press release". Cryptic Studios. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  6. Game Informer , March 2008, Issue 79, p. 59
  7. 1 2 Sheeley, Craig (July–August 1984). "Capsule Reviews". Space Gamer (70). Steve Jackson Games: 50.
  8. Goldberg, Eric (January 1982). "Games". Ares (12). Simulations Publications, Inc.: 30–31.
  9. Morris, Dave (April–May 1982). "Open Box". White Dwarf (30). Games Workshop: 16.
  10. Bennie, Scott (January 1982). "The Dragon's Augury". Dragon (57). TSR, Inc.: 69.
  11. Varney, Allen (October 1990). "Role-playing Reviews". Dragon (162). TSR, Inc.: 89–92.
  12. Allston, Aaron (September 1981). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer (43). Steve Jackson Games: 28.
  13. Collins, Russell Grant (September–October 1983). "Featured Review: Champions". Space Gamer (65). Steve Jackson Games: 10.
  14. Varney, Allen. "Capsule Reviews". Space Gamer (73). Steve Jackson Games: 31.
  15. Rogers, Dave (October–November 1989). "Hero HOTline". Space Gamer . 2 (2). World Wide Wargames: 48–49.
  16. Cliffe, Ken (April–May 1990). "Superhero Game Reviews". White Wolf Magazine . No. 20. pp. 15–16.
  17. Woods, John (February 1989). "Reviews". The Games Machine . No. 15. Newsfield. p. 80.
  18. Swan, Rick (1990). The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games . New York: St. Martin’s Press. pp. 47–49.
  19. Pettengale, Paul (Christmas 1996). "Arcane Presents the Top 50 Roleplaying Games 1996". Arcane (14). Future Publishing: 25–35.
  20. Bridges, Bill (2007). "Champions". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best . Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 52–54. ISBN   978-1-932442-96-0.
  21. Horvath, Stu (2023). Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 87–89. ISBN   9780262048224.
  22. "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Champions (For Hero System 5th Edition)".
  23. Varney, Allen (July 1997). "On deck: Champions: New Millenniuml". InQuest Gamer . No. 27. Wizard Entertainment. p. 90.
  24. "Computer_And_Video_Games_Issue_083_Sep_88".
  25. "Origins Award Winners (1999)". originsgamefair.com. Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  26. "2004 Noms and Winners". Ennie-awards.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-07-30.
  27. "2005 Noms and Winners". Ennie-awards.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-07-30.
  28. Champions ,no. 1–6(June 1986 – February 1987). Eclipse Comics .
  29. Villains and Vigilantes ,no. 1–4(December 1986 – July 1987). Eclipse Comics .
  30. Champions ,no. 1(Sep 1987).Hero Comics.
  31. League of Champions ,no. 1(Dec 1990).Hero Graphics.
  32. Champions ,no. 1(Feb 1992).Heroic Publishing.
  33. Heroic Publishing at the Grand Comics Database