Hey everyone!
Recently I started feeling superheroic. After several attempts and bruises in real life (running with a bed sheet attached with a piece of rope is apparently not a good idea for an almost 30 year old guy) I decided that playing an MMO would be a better choice
.
Since I haven't been playing CO for a long time I thought I might give it a try again. I have the lifetime sub, so it's no big deal to just update the game and start playing. However with DCUO being out, I thought I might go and do some superheroic stunts in that universe. In general while I love the customization options in CO - I have much better connection with the DC universe lore. And then I went to the CO site on FB and read
Behind the Mask article on lore... which brought me to the HERO Games store, where I bought
Champions Universe pdf. And I just need to say - WOW!
I am surprised how rich the Champions world is, and how great this book is written. It's a pure pleasure to read it, and suddenly it made me realize that this universe and game gives me much greater possibilities of character creation! It really is absolutely great, and with the direction the game went it all seems to be a lot of fun.
Anyway - I plan on reading the book, and finding inspiration for my new character. I think that the Champions Universe is worth taking a look.
If anyone survived till the end of this long post - congratulations!
I was so amazed by the depth of this world, that I just had to share it!
Comments
I think if there was a more high profile link to the sourcebooks other than a HeroGames icon at the bottom of the site, If there was a link or tab in the c-store, then even more like your goodself would discover the extent of the lore.
http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=139245
Absolutely and totally great idea!
I started reading about CO lore because I really wanted to make a special hero, but couldn't get into any of the roles and ideas I came up with. Then I found the fantastic book that I am reading now (the history of the superheroes in the world is SO well written) and already got some ideas .
The "Black Mask" is just... inspiring. So I'm thinking of a Black Mask rip-off for my own country , dating from 1793 (but in the history of my character it will be said that he was inspired by the Black Mask). The idea of a costume piece being this certain holy grail, the symbol - makes it almost too cool to create new incarnations of the hero's costume! Getting from an archaic look, through more modern to completely futuristic appearance is just too sweet for me to sit here and write instead of designing my new Champion.
I am so excited about all this, that it almost makes me feel ridiculous .
Yeah, I know, I'm writing too much about that, but it's just really good. For someone who's been raised with Batman, knowing basically only a bit of DC Universe lore, it is a revelation to discover how well written and in a way clean (I am really lost how many times did Batman, Flash and all the others die, why they're alive again... or not... etc.) the Champions Universe is.
The one thing I was missing was the background of this world - and now I have it. For me it's very important. I've been writing my own things since... well - before I could really write (my poor dad had to write a "poem" that I was telling him while got really inspired in the middle of the night, when I was 5 or so ), and I try to give at least a vague background to all my characters - wherever I create and play them. Some of them (like Grey Eagle - a character from one of the parallel Earths) have even their own short stories. I guess I should translate one or two into English and try showing them to get totally criticized by people on the forums (I usually write in my language, which is Polish, as clearly I don't know English nearly as good as Polish ).
Anyway.. I wrote a lot - but I just REALLY have to express how amazed and pleased I am to see the background of the world of Champions. Absolutely brilliant!
(other than tons of exclamations and capital letters that I used in my posts here - I am relatively emotionally stable )
The very first edition of Champions debuted in the summer of 1981. Over the decades it's continued to grow and evolve, with many different creators adding characters, groups, and background details, and refining those already introduced. The current Champions Universe volume that you're now reading is the distillation of that long, rich process of world-creation.
If there's any particular element of the setting you'd like to know more about, let us know. We can point you toward the most relevant source.
I backed the Book of the Empress at the kickstarter , and now I'm thinking what should be my next choice. I'm considering following books, and would love some recommendations
1. Champions Beyond
2. Champions Worldwide
3. USA 50-West
4. The City of Shadows
5. The World's Blue Line
6. Galactic Champions
Personally I'm leaning towards the first two, however any advice will be great. What I want to do is simply grasp the nackground of the Champions Universe to have my CO characters better placed in it.
Champions Beyond would be my pick out of that list.
Vote for Champions Beyond!
Since my goal is to create my own heroes that are not US, I wanted to know if there are other heroes from my country, and found out about "Zmierzch" (by the way - nice work, I can hardly think of another Polish word more difficult to pronounce for a foreigner ). She will most certainly be mentioned in my first story about White-Red 0 the hero I came up with yesterday. I will also mention other Polish Champions, but since I created them and their back stories, I didn't really need Champions books for that .
Anyway - I guess I'm gonna sink in the world of Champions books now .
Zmierzch will only be mentioned ... I'm going into a completely different direction than Twilights, Rainbows and other atmospheric features .
Also, love Foxbat. Officially one of my favorite characters of all time.
I already made the first concept of my new character inspired by the lore, so if anyone would like to take a look at him, or more precisely - read about him , the link is in my signature .
That sound great too - thanks! I am very much interested in learning the more mystical and magical side of the Champions Universe, so I'll definitely look into this one!