And I was there! Pacific Origins at the Dunfey in San Mateo! Played Champs all weekend and bought my first copy before I left.
Thanks for this Thundrax and Happy Birthday Champions!
You beat me by a few days. I got my copy from a friend at the Comic Shop in Vancouver. He'd just gotten back from Origins and was raving about this new superhero game. I picked up the only other copy he brought in and played it with my friend Steve Sloane (who did much of the development work on Necrull in Champions of the North) and fell in love with it prety much instantly. I typed a short, clumsily written review for DRAGON that was my second professional sale.
I started reading through some of the more recent IP stuff. Kind of faskinated over how well designed some of it actually is, and how logical some of the progressions are.
I remember going to Ryder's Hobbies and seeing Enemies on the shelf.
I didn't play Champions, but I figured I would use the characters as models to make characters for another game.
I was so enthralled by the stat blocks that I just had to know what was going on there, and at the next opportunity I went back to Ryder's and bought the 1st edition.
Still have it, along with many other Champions books from various editions and a handful of the old Adventurer's Clubs, today.
Reading Scott's and Scott's reminiscences makes me feel almost like a young whippersnapper. I started playing in 1982 when someone first got a copy of the rulebook here in my hometown of Greensboro, NC. I still fondly remember those early games... and many, many more over the past three decades.
Got my light-blue box for Christmas '81... I was 10, in Swarthmore PA. My parents were the best. Spent my first night trying to figure out the powers of the guy on the cover (with the helmet). Then later got the Enemies book and realized I was totally wrong... he was a TOTAL badass.
I'm fairly sure that I became as good at math, as I was, because of that game.
p.s.: I still have all 6 of the D6's that came with that box set... dots are a bit faded though.
Just needed to pop in and extend my own "Happy Birthday" to Champions. After my first exposure to D&D in about 1982 or so, I became an RPG addict. Though I rarely found friends willing to play for any serious amount of time, I collect nearly all of the PnP games I could find. To this day, Champions was one of the most memorable of those early discoveries. I already loved comics, but this point-based, open system where you could design your own hero....AMAZING! The tactical combat. Knockback! You could literally build any hero you wanted! Speedster. Galactic police officer. Armored industrialist. Savvy crimefighter.
Man...great times, and a great game. Thanks to all those that created it and continue to give it life....THRITY YEARS LATER!
Wow! If you played in any of the Champs demo games run by Glenn Thain or Stacy Laurence (at the end of the hallway opposite the dealer's room) I may have actually gamed with you! I virtually lived there once I stumbled across it...
And yes, yes we are... but only physically... And you know what? 30 more years from now I expect both of us to be giving the exact same response...
I'm sure I read it too. I hungrily sought out any Champs review I could. I loved it so much I REALLY wanted it to be a hit. I'm sure I still have that issue, along with the Space Gamer and Different Worlds review issues as well (both doubly awesome because they published Champs scenarios in future issues; White Dwarf had some great stuff too). Scott, in my mind that gives you a premium slot in Champions history. A precursor to the awesome Hero Games work you did...
Wow! If you played in any of the Champs demo games run by Glenn Thain or Stacy Laurence (at the end of the hallway opposite the dealer's room) I may have actually gamed with you!
I remember being in a game with Glenn that weekend. So, who knows? Pretty cool, eh? Frankly, what does it say that a bunch of us who stumbled into this little RPG at a hotel 30 years ago are still here enjoying the descendants of that original IP online today? Nifty, eh?
Here's to another exciting 30 years. Who knows? Maybe we'll meet up with each other in some kind of virtual 3D holographic chamber being projected into our living rooms by then. Of course, by then, we'll also be so old and creaky that we can't get off the couch to work the interfaced motion controls of the future. Ha ha ha!
Comments
\o/
I started playing in 1983 and haven't stopped!
Happy birthday Champions, and here's to many more!
And I was there! Pacific Origins at the Dunfey in San Mateo! Played Champs all weekend and bought my first copy before I left.
Thanks for this Thundrax and Happy Birthday Champions!
You beat me by a few days. I got my copy from a friend at the Comic Shop in Vancouver. He'd just gotten back from Origins and was raving about this new superhero game. I picked up the only other copy he brought in and played it with my friend Steve Sloane (who did much of the development work on Necrull in Champions of the North) and fell in love with it prety much instantly. I typed a short, clumsily written review for DRAGON that was my second professional sale.
Good times.
Happy Birthday, Champions! Thank you for the many years of entertainment you've given me. Here's to the many years to come! *raises a glass*
Here's to 30 more, mates. Cheers.
my dad introduced me to it on my 18th b-day just like he was when he started lol
Happy birthday, Champions!
I didn't play Champions, but I figured I would use the characters as models to make characters for another game.
I was so enthralled by the stat blocks that I just had to know what was going on there, and at the next opportunity I went back to Ryder's and bought the 1st edition.
Still have it, along with many other Champions books from various editions and a handful of the old Adventurer's Clubs, today.
I never really played the game, but CO turned out well, so it's for the better, innit?
Here's hoping for three more awesome decades!
I'm fairly sure that I became as good at math, as I was, because of that game.
p.s.: I still have all 6 of the D6's that came with that box set... dots are a bit faded though.
Man...great times, and a great game. Thanks to all those that created it and continue to give it life....THRITY YEARS LATER!
(God we're old...)
Holy crap, i remember reading that! :eek:
Happy 30th Anniversary Champions...
...May i still be playing CO on your 50th!
Wow! If you played in any of the Champs demo games run by Glenn Thain or Stacy Laurence (at the end of the hallway opposite the dealer's room) I may have actually gamed with you! I virtually lived there once I stumbled across it...
And yes, yes we are... but only physically... And you know what? 30 more years from now I expect both of us to be giving the exact same response...
I'm sure I read it too. I hungrily sought out any Champs review I could. I loved it so much I REALLY wanted it to be a hit. I'm sure I still have that issue, along with the Space Gamer and Different Worlds review issues as well (both doubly awesome because they published Champs scenarios in future issues; White Dwarf had some great stuff too). Scott, in my mind that gives you a premium slot in Champions history. A precursor to the awesome Hero Games work you did...
As do I, my friend; as do I...
I remember being in a game with Glenn that weekend. So, who knows? Pretty cool, eh? Frankly, what does it say that a bunch of us who stumbled into this little RPG at a hotel 30 years ago are still here enjoying the descendants of that original IP online today? Nifty, eh?
Here's to another exciting 30 years. Who knows? Maybe we'll meet up with each other in some kind of virtual 3D holographic chamber being projected into our living rooms by then. Of course, by then, we'll also be so old and creaky that we can't get off the couch to work the interfaced motion controls of the future. Ha ha ha!