 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(October 2015) |
| Industry | Role-playing game publisher |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Champions |
Hero Games (DOJ, Inc dba 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.[ citation needed ]
In 1981, George MacDonald and Steve Peterson, from San Mateo, California, printed 1,000 copies of a 64-page rulebook for Champions , their super-hero role-playing game, to take to a Bay Area gaming convention. It sold very strongly, enough to form a company, Hero Games. Later, the pair recruited Ray Greer as their sales and marketing partner. [1]
In the following years, the company published two more editions of Champions, two dozen adventures, and several self-contained role-playing games using the Champions core rules as a universal role-playing system: Danger International , Justice, Inc. , Robot Warriors , Fantasy Hero , and Star Hero . The games were very compatible, but each differed slightly, using new rules or costs. Hero Games used the term Hero System to describe them all.
Ongoing production and financial troubles plagued the company, however, and in January 1986, Hero Games made an arrangement with Iron Crown Enterprises, publishers of Rolemaster and MERP . Initially, this was only to handle the game production and distribution, leaving creative tasks to Hero Games, but in 1987 ICE also took over editorial. During this period the company was led by Rob Bell, followed by Monte Cook, and finally by Bruce Harlick.
The original partners found new interests: Greer worked for Steve Jackson Games, and later he joined a Los Angeles movie special effects company run by Mark Williams, Hero Games's original artist. MacDonald became Senior Game Developer at the software company Strategic Simulations, Inc. Peterson went to work for Electronic Arts, and then became a freelance marketing consultant and technical writer, but remained most connected with Hero Games of the original three.
On April 25, 1996, ICE's role in handling publishing and distribution was taken over by R. Talsorian Games, just before Iron Crown itself suffered financial difficulties in 1997. During this period, Bruce Harlick, who had been the first official hire of Hero Games in 1982, continued in his role as Line Developer. This collaboration also resulted in the Fuzion system, which was successful in itself, but an attempt to publish the Champions game under the new system as Champions: The New Millennium met mixed reviews.
In 2000, Hero Games was bought by Cybergames.com, a gaming portal site which Steve Peterson was working for. Cybergames.com retained Bruce Harlick as president of their Hero Games subsidiary, but eventually decided to leave the publishing market in 2001. In December 2001, a new company called DOJ, Inc. acquired all rights to Hero Games, keeping none of the remaining original staff. DOJ, Inc., consisted of Steven S. Long (line developer), Darren Watts (president), and various support staff. It was formed specifically to acquire Hero Games. The title came from "Defenders of Justice", Watts's Champions campaign.
In 2011 Darren Watts left DOJ, Inc., to pursue other ventures, and warehouse manager Jason S. Walters assumed the role of CEO, acting in consultation with Steve Long and its other investors. The company now focuses on promoting stand-alone products that utilize various versions of the 6th Edition Hero System rules.
Besides the Hero System itself, Hero Games is also the publisher of genre books which supplement the generic system: Champions , a role-playing game where players can create and play superheroes; Fantasy Hero , where characters operate in a fantasy setting; Star Hero , which uses science fiction settings; Dark Champions and its supplement Dark Champions: Heroes of Vengeance , which simulate various forms of the action-adventure genre; and many other games. Champions, originally published as a stand-alone game in 1981, was the catalyst for the creation of the Hero System.
All of the above games, as well as nearly all games published by the company, use the Hero System as their basis. While early editions included the system rules with each genre book, this ended with the Fourth Edition of Champions . Currently, the Sixth Edition of the rules is a pair of books, and the "genre books" show how to use the system to reflect the conventions of superheroic, fantasy, science fiction, and other adventure genres.
Former exceptions to the "Hero System only" rule are Champions: The New Millennium and its supplements, published in the late 1990s using the Fuzion system.
Recent Hero Games publications include Champions Complete, a stand-alone, moderately priced book for playing Champions, and the Monster Hunter International Employee Handbook, a stand-alone roleplaying game detailing the world of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International.
Hero Games also published a series of "ultimate" expansion books for the Fifth Edition, which provided an additional level of detail on specific types of characters or accessories, over what was explained in more general terms in the main Hero System rules or genre books. Examples of this line included The Ultimate Martial Artist and The Ultimate Vehicle. Only one such title has been released for the Sixth Edition, The Ultimate Base, although some older titles are being revised into Hero System Core Library titles such as Hero System Martial Arts and Hero System Vehicles.
Finally, the company publishes a number of game settings for its most popular genres, along with supplements to flesh those settings out. The "main" (that is, most strongly supported) setting for Champions is Millennium City; for Fantasy Hero , The Turakian Age; for Star Hero , the Terran Empire; and for Dark Champions , Hudson City. Other settings are also available for those who prefer a different "feel" than these provide. All fit into a single, universal timeline, known as the Hero Universe.
All of the above are supported, to varying extents, by the Digital Hero online magazine.
Many characters seen in the early Champions rulebooks later appeared in comic books from Hero Comics (later, Hero Graphics), and kicked off with a limited series by Eclipse Comics. Few of these characters are still used by the company (now known as Heroic Publishing), although Icestar is mentioned as a casualty from "The Battle of Detroit" in Champions Universe. Like the Villains and Vigilantes comic book limited series, the early issues printed write-up sheets allowing readers to use characters introduced in the comics in their own Champions campaigns. Strangely, this is even true for characters included in the core rules, such as Icicle, Pulsar, and Mechanon.
Digital Hero was the official online magazine for Hero Games, supporting its Hero System games including Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, Dark Champions, and others. It was published bimonthly in downloadable PDF format, each issue being a fixed 64 pages long not including the cover (and a blank "fluff" page serving as an inside front cover to facilitate double-sided printing). The final issue, number 47, was published in January 2008, although the company did indicate the possibility of a return in the future. [2]
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.
Superworld is a superhero-themed role-playing game published by Chaosium in 1983 that uses the generic Basic Role-Playing rules system. The game began as just one part of the Worlds of Wonder product before being published as a stand-alone game. In competition against other well-established and popular superhero games, Superworld never found an audience, and was discontinued after only three supplements were published for it.
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.
A generic or universalrole-playing game system is a role-playing game system designed to be independent of setting and genre. Its rules should, in theory, work the same way for any setting, world, environment or genre in which one would want to play.
Castle Falkenstein is a steampunk-themed fantasy role-playing game (RPG) designed by Mike Pondsmith and originally published by R. Talsorian Games in 1994. The game is named for a legendary unbuilt castle in the Bavarian Alps. Players play the roles of gallant adventurers who take on quests of intrigue and derring-do in the spirit of Victorian adventures such as The Prisoner of Zenda.
R. Talsorian Games (RTG) is a publisher of role-playing game books and accessories. Originally based in Berkeley, California, but moved to Renton, Washington in 1997. Their titles include the Cyberpunk 2020 series and anime-related titles such as Dragonball Z. Their major product line today is the Fuzion system.
Fantasy Hero is a role-playing game book originally published by Hero Games in 1985 that allows gamemasters to plan and present fantasy role-playing games using the Hero System rules. Several revised editions of the book have subsequently been published.
Mekton is a role-playing game which centers on the conventions of mecha anime and science fiction. It has seen several editions since its introduction in 1984, the most recent, Mekton Zeta being first published in 1994.
Fuzion is a generic role-playing game system created by the collaboration of R. Talsorian Games and Hero Games. The rights to Fuzion are jointly held by Mike Pondsmith of R. Talsorian Games, along with Steve Peterson and Ray Greer of Hero Games. Fuzion is a combination of the Interlock System,, and the HERO system. Fuzion is an adaptable system which can be played in any genre and setting imaginable.
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) is a tabletop role-playing game originally produced by Guardians of Order in 1997 that was designed to simulate the action of anime and manga. The title alludes to the common anime drawing style of characters with large expressive eyes and comparatively small mouths.
Steven S. Long is a role-playing game author and one of the owners of Hero Games.
A role-playing game system, is a set of game mechanics rules used in a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions.
Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He is best known for founding the publisher R. Talsorian Games in 1982, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines. Pondsmith is the author of several RPG lines, including Mekton (1984), Cyberpunk (1988) and Castle Falkenstein (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Darren Watts was an American game designer who was one of the founders of DOJ Inc. and the president of Hero Games, publishers of roleplaying games using the Hero System such as Champions, Fantasy Hero and Star Hero. He contributed to multiple conventions for Double Exposure, podcasts such as Explain This, Comics Guys!, and wrote, contributed, and edited many other RPGs.
A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech, and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually containing Dice-Rolling. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.
Bubblegum Crisis is a near-future cyberpunk role-playing game published by R. Talsorian Games in 1996 that is based on the anime television series Bubblegum Crisis.
Steve Peterson is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Ray Greer is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
The Hero System Bestiary is a supplement published by Hero Games in 1986 to provide a variety of creatures for superhero, espionage and fantasy role-playing games that use the Hero System rules. As new editions of the Hero System rules were published, new editions of the Bestiary were also published.
