Champions Now: a first look and the first PC
While the final product is theoretically about five months away, those of us who Kickstarted the quasi-retro-clone of Champions 3rd Edition called Champions Now got the files of the old editions of the game plus the playtesting document. Champions 3rd Edition was the first edition of Champions I owned and had a major impact on my high school gaming until I went to college and discovered the famous 4th Edition/Hero Games "Big Blue Book," which became the core of my roleplaying experiences for years.
Taking another look at the third edition, I was filled with a huge sense of sentimentality, as well as a bit of appreciation for the much more simplistic rules in comparison to 4th Edition. Gone are all the perks, talents, contacts, etc. that allowed Hero Games to be used for non-supers games (or detail supers ones). Back was the steep Endurance cost that could leave a hero gasping for air after going full-bore for a couple of actions.
But this is a time for playtesting, so I recruited by daughter, who has been writing her own superhero graphic novel/ongoing series to stat up her main character, Dark Matter. Dark Matter is actually a villain who finds herself constantly being compelled to do the right thing. She's got several villain acquaintances, including the supervillain frat bro named Bronze Behemoth, whom I went ahead and built on a slim and tiny 250 points.
Both character creation exercises were fun and easy, and I'm thinking this will be both a great way to do a little side-campaigning and also spend some quality time with my daughter. More on Dark Matter (including some of my daughter's illustrations) hopefully to come.
Taking another look at the third edition, I was filled with a huge sense of sentimentality, as well as a bit of appreciation for the much more simplistic rules in comparison to 4th Edition. Gone are all the perks, talents, contacts, etc. that allowed Hero Games to be used for non-supers games (or detail supers ones). Back was the steep Endurance cost that could leave a hero gasping for air after going full-bore for a couple of actions.
But this is a time for playtesting, so I recruited by daughter, who has been writing her own superhero graphic novel/ongoing series to stat up her main character, Dark Matter. Dark Matter is actually a villain who finds herself constantly being compelled to do the right thing. She's got several villain acquaintances, including the supervillain frat bro named Bronze Behemoth, whom I went ahead and built on a slim and tiny 250 points.
Both character creation exercises were fun and easy, and I'm thinking this will be both a great way to do a little side-campaigning and also spend some quality time with my daughter. More on Dark Matter (including some of my daughter's illustrations) hopefully to come.
I look forward to seeing more about Dark Matter and your daughter's work.
ReplyDeleteI have had fun reading through the older editions but I am really no sold on Champions Now itself. I'd be especially curious to know what you think of that game in particular as we learn more about it.
There's some big differences. Endurance is a major factor, because it is back to 1 END per 5 points in a power, plus there's so way to increase Endurance with points at PC creation.
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