Questions regarding Champions tabletop

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  Archived Post Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User

  January 2012 edited January 2012

  Here's the books list: http://www.herogames.com/productsChampions.htm

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  Archived Post Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User

  January 2012 edited January 2012

  DirtyJokerJesse wrote:

  I've been out of the tabletop loop for some time now. The last games I played were Exalted and the D20 Modern/Future games. As far as Superhero games goes, the only canon setting I have ever played in was the Abberant setting, which thematically is very similar to Champions.
  
  I have been considering picking these books up, and I was wondering a few things:
  
  -What books and dice do I need to start?

  
  To play any game using the HERO System (the game engine for Champions and all other Hero Games genres), you need a copy of the universal rules. The full rules come in two volumes, HERO System Character Creation and HERO System Combat And Adventuring. (Players can get by with only the first one, but a GM really would need both.) Alternatively you can pick up the HERO System Basic Rulebook, a much smaller and cheaper, simplified version of the rules. It's specially designed to teach the game to newcomers, and most of the published material can be played with this book alone.
  
  Strictly speaking, these are the only books you would need to play. Hero Games rarely publishes "splatbooks" with additional rules expansions that appear in their subsequent books. All the essential rules are in the core volumes. However, using just those would require you to write up characters, powers, equipment, vehicles, etc. yourself, as well as make a lot of decisions about your game parameters. Fortunately Hero Games has a huge library of supplementary materials that do a lot of that work for you.
  
  Based on your background, you seem to have some idea of the conventions of a comic-book-based game. Still, you might benefit from the Champions "genre book," which explores the supers genre in depth, generally and for HERO in particular. I'll make other recommendations below based on the specific issues you raise.
  
  As for dice, HERO System uses only standard 6-siders.
  

  DirtyJokerJesse wrote:

  -I intend to play a character similar to the one found here: http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?p=2014024#post2014024. What would be the best 'additional' materials to find?

  
  This character appears to be what's called a "street-level superhero" in the vein of Batman, Daredevil, or the Punisher -- basically a highly-trained normal person using weapons and gadgets, with few or no superhuman powers. For that I would suggest the HERO System Equipment Guide, jam-packed with ready-to-play items, both realistic and superhero-fantastic. It would give you a huge range of choices to just add to your character sheet, greatly simplying the creation process.
  
  Since your character is also "into" martial arts, you may want to look at HERO System Martial Arts, detailing many MA styles from around the world, real-world, historical, and fictional, plus traditional weapons, special MA abilities due to advanced training, and MA-based campaign guidelines.
  
  Finally, Hero Games's genre book for modern adventure (police, military, espionage, black ops, weird conspiracy, etc.) called Dark Champions also discusses the street-level-superhero campaign. Although that's not its main focus, you might find inspiration therein.
  

  DirtyJokerJesse wrote:

  -What are some of the best additional materials to add?

  
  Champions Powers provides a vast, highly organized list of diverse super powers fully designed and costed, which you can drag-and-drop onto a character's sheet, or use as inspiration for a character concept. If you plan to base your campaign on the official Champions Universe, the book entitled, appropriately enough, Champions Universe, lays out the whole setting in general terms. Other books describe particular elements of the world in more detail, but this one is the foundation. The Hero Designer software for character creation speeds up the potentially detailed process tremendously.
  

  DirtyJokerJesse wrote:

  -What do the books usually cost?

  
  Check out the prices listed in the Hero Games website online store: https://www.herogames.com/browse.htm?keywords=&categoryID=-1&releaseDate=-1&available=Y&book=Y&pdf=Y&characterPack=Y&multiBook=Y&damaged=Y . Noteworthy point: the current edition of the HERO System is Sixth, but a great many books for Fifth Edition are still available and relevant. The differences between the two editions aren't large or difficult to convert between; but all 5E books in the Hero Games store are available at half their original price.
  
  Any other questions or concerns you have, feel free to post followups. And welcome to our little corner of the hobby!

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  Archived Post Posts: 1,156,071 Arc User

  January 2012 edited January 2012

  I do look forward to it. I'd like to get a group together when I deploy (surprisingly, you can find these in Afghanistan on the bases quite easily). I would like to get this ball rolling. Last time I played a superhero game, we had a very diverse group (A cyborg, a sorcerer, a 'superman' with an ego problem for comic relief, and an alien). While some folks love serious gaming, our supergroup was more like 'the dirty dozen' in terms of 'No one wants these guys, they screw it up'. I'd love to play that in the lighter champions universe again.

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