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Question about PDFs
Archived Post
Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User
Sorry if this is in the wrong area, but:
Are there any PDFs of older Champs books online that I can download, preferably free of charge? I love the Lore, but the HERO System website seems to be a little thin on info (unless I'm blind). I've been able to incorprate some of the Lore found there in some of my character bios, but I'd love to get a couple solid books to expand the knowledge.
While I'm on the subject, why isn't there a PnP Wiki for Lore info? That would be pretty awesome too.
Thanks!
Are there any PDFs of older Champs books online that I can download, preferably free of charge? I love the Lore, but the HERO System website seems to be a little thin on info (unless I'm blind). I've been able to incorprate some of the Lore found there in some of my character bios, but I'd love to get a couple solid books to expand the knowledge.
While I'm on the subject, why isn't there a PnP Wiki for Lore info? That would be pretty awesome too.
Thanks!
Post edited by Archived Post on
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free no, but some of the 5th edition PDFs are quite cheap
That said, most of the source books for the Champions PnP line are available in PDF form from the Hero Games website online store. While the newest published books use the Sixth Edition of the HERO System (the game mechanic engine for all of Hero's games), the majority of books are still for the Fifth Edition, and all of those are now half their original price. While some are a bit dated they mostly still conform to official CU continuity.
You can check them out here: https://www.herogames.com/browse.htm?keywords=&categoryID=220001&releaseDate=-1&available=Y&book=Y&pdf=Y&multiBook=Y&damaged=Y
EDIT: OTOH if you have specific questions related to your characters' proposed backgrounds, you could post them to this forum and we'll see if we can set you up.
Should you be interested in a more defined area after that, we can suggest the books to look for.
Champions Universe
Dark Champions
Day of the Destroyer
Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks
Gadgets and Gear
UNTIL Superpowers Database
For purposes of my response I'll assume you mean, which of the listed books should you pick up next. If you mean something different, please specify and we'll respond appropriately.
Your earlier posts on this thread suggested you're interested in the lore of the Champions Universe, i.e. background and history. If that's still what you're asking about, as mentioned earlier, Champions Universe is the book to get. I notice that most of the books on your list are for the Fifth Edition of the game. The current edition is Sixth, and there is a Sixth Edition version of the Champions Universe book; but one can still sometimes find copies of the Fifth Ed version around, often cheaper. Almost everything in the Fifth version is in the Sixth, and almost all the info is identical; but Fifth only covers events in the CU up to 2002 when it was published, and Sixth adds a number of setting elements that appeared in subsequent published book or were added by Cryptic Studios for the MMO.
Dark Champions is a "genre book," i.e. giving advice, guidelines and examples for playing a tabletop RPG game in a particular genre. DC focuses on modern-day adventure: crime fighting, military adventure, espionage, black ops, weird conspiracies, and to some extent "street level supers" like Batman, Daredevil, or the Punisher. This is a separate genre from full-blown supers such as you find in Champions Online; while DC has some characters and "lore" in it, it has almost no connection to the mainstream Champions Universe. Cryptic does own the Dark Champions IP, but has to date done nothing with it.
Gadgets And Gear and the UNTIL Superpowers Database are almost lore-free. They're essentially volumes full of prebuilt superhero gadgets and super-powers, respectively, for the Fifth Edition of the HERO System (the game-mechanic engine for all the PnP game lines published by Hero Games), to simplify character creation in that game with "drag-and-drop" options. If you're interested in playing the Fifth Edition of the PnP game these would be very useful, otherwise not much. Note that this material is now available for Sixth Edition in the books, Hero System Equipment Guide and Champions Powers.
Day of the Destroyer is an excellent Champions adventure featuring Doctor Destroyer, written by our own Scott "Thundrax" Bennie. However, it was written before current Hero Games management bought the Champions IP and rebooted the Champions Universe to its current continuity. Hence the characters and events it describes are not "official" for the present CU, as represented in Champions Online. It's also written for the Fourth Edition of the HERO System, which differs somewhat from Fifth, and significantly from Sixth.
Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks was the first supervillain compendium published for Fifth Edition Champions and the official Champions Universe we have now. Almost all of these villains appear in the Sixth Edition Champions Villains trilogy (which contains many more official villains). However, almost all the background info about the CKC villains still applies today, so this is a perfectly valid and quite useful source for lore about them
I hope that was helpful. As I mentioned earlier, if you need more or different help, please let us know.
Also Thundrax, Fast Forward has framed your autograph on the wall of his basement hideout.
Scott Bennie is a well-established and respected professional writer and designer for tabletop RPGs, and has contributed copiously to Hero Games as a freelancer for nearly twenty-five years. Much of what you see in the Champions Universe was created or refined by him.
Have you fought VIPER? Scott wrote VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent, the source book detailing the whole organization. Have you adventured in CU Canada? Those characters and places come from Champions Of The North, another Bennie source book.
Thundrax was one of Scott's PC characters from his own Champions PnP campaign, which became the basis for much of Champions Of The North. Thundrax is also an official NPC hero in that book, although today he's a Member of Parliament and semi-retired from superheroing.
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/64013-Hero-System-3rd-Party-Products
San Angelo: City of Heroes by Gold Rush Games
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/65273-What-happened-to-San-Angelo?highlight=San+Angelo
Many 3rd Party Products are available on PDF.
The San Angelo: City of Heroes Thread has 2 unpublished Supplements and a Map involved. The campaign setting had a strong Astro City influence.
Cheers
QM