Dark Champions is Hero's entry into the 'Modern' genre. This new book is Espionage/Danger International -and- the old Dark Champions combined into one new sourcebook for Hero 5th edition. On the back cover we're told "
Dark Champion discusses and describes the modern-day action-adventure genre for gaming, covering everything from costumed vigilante crime-fighters, to spies, to cops, to military action stories, to weird conspiracies, and beyond."
So does it deliver? Is it everything it promises to be, perhaps more, or less? Thus the basic question I'll try to answer in this review - whether or not Dark Champions lives up to the promise of being a complete solution to 'Modern Day Action/Adventure' gaming.
For contrast, not all that long ago I was psyched up to get my copy of d20 Modern. "Cool, DnD -on the street- this should be fun." It didn't take long for me to lose that excitement though. It happened at around the point I looked into how to punch somebody, and got worse when I pondered using a semi-automatic and tapping for burst mode. Suffice it to say that facing a system with no damage for non lethal brawling and where you could not even attempt many actions without a feat I started considering just how hard it would be to use Shadowrun for a modern game - because by comparison, that was at least playable.
Now I'm looking at Dark Champions and an odd phrase has just popped into my head: "This is like d20 Modern, but on all the right drugs." Ok, that's probably a really bad way of putting it, but that's what you get when you're a little tired and not screening your random thoughts. The point of that thought was, I believe, that this book looks like it will deliver a playable modern genre RPG that does not break down the moment a player who has used a gun in conflict or been in a real fist fight sits down at the table... And like or not, be it military experience or street, many of us do indeed fit into those categories.
Sure, this isn't reality, it's a game and games are meant to be fun. The people who are about to start telling me I should remember it's a game have a very valid point. But when you can't even do the most basic things you expect to do in -BOTH- reality AND in the genre fiction, the fun is lost. So... it looks like time to sell off my copy of d20 Modern.
We start the book with an
introduction in which author Steve "I write everything" Long lets us know, in long form, that this is his baby - this is the book who's first edition made him a gaming professional and was itself inspired by the need to address how his PC in a number of games didn't seem to fit the available gaming material at the time. He goes on to tell us that this update hopes to be much more than it's predecessor, that this time "I get to delve back into the genre that brought me to game writing, with a dozen years of experience and the authority and resources to do the book the way I want to."
From there the book breaks down into nine chapters on topics such as genre, character creation, combat, forensics, crime, weapons, gear, GMing, and a sample character group. There's also a handy bibliography with some rather technical entries on guns, crime statistics, PI work, criminology, and so on - plus fiction, movies, and comic books. The whole thing ends with a very nice 8 page 4 column index.
Chapter One is the genre chapter. Steve starts out by asking 'What is Dark Champions?' His answer breaks it into three elements - real world, modern day, action. He then looks at each of these aspects and gives us a bit on how they can be used, stretched, or even in the case of 'real', stepped outside of. He is also apt to note that the action genre is indeed more violent than the real world, just in case any of you Hollywood, TV News, and COPS junkies have lost touch.
Right from the get go on the sub genres section we know this isn't the same book as we saw years ago. There's a lot more here. We get a detailed view on 'Vigilante Crimefighting' (Batman), 'Caper' (playing the bad guys), 'Dark Champions: The Animated Series' (dark, but with cartoon morality - a newer genre that anyone who watches super-cartoons today will know), 'Esionage' (Bond et al), 'Law Enforcement' (Law and Order: Hero System, you know they'll make that spinoff eventually...), 'Monster Hunters', 'Special Ops / Military', 'Technothriller' (CSI:Hero, or Tom Clany's novels, etc), and 'Wierd Conspiracy' (Hero-files?). The sub genres are discussed with some suggestions on shades of morality, character power level, mood, what they're about, and even some sub-themes such as what type of Cop or type of Spy and so on.
We then get the section on mixing genres, which reminded me of similar sections in Star Hero and Fantasy Hero - this portion of the book talks about putting in the meta-genres of Comedy, Romance, Horror, Tragedy, and Mystery. After that we get ideas on mixing in other Hero-genres such as Champions, Fantasy, Ninja, Pulp, Star, Victorian, or Western. While this section has appeared in other Hero books, in each such appearance it is written from the point of view of the genre book you're reading, so here we get specific ideas for mixing the themes of this book with the themes of those books or genres.
Finally for chapter one we have two pages on some key elements of the genre. 'Dark Champions Elements' discusses such fun as car chases and explosions, conspiracies, crisis, guns, amazing technology, revenge-plots, and so on. Yeah, it's like reading a guide to how to make a Steven Seagal movie - only better, cause your players are better actors or you're a better screen writer... (and I don't even need to know you to say that with confidence). This section might seem superfluous, but it is also something of a handy reminder list of the things that are constant themes in the genre.
Chapter Two is all about character creation. We start with a number of backgrounds, move to personalities, and then get a number of archetypes. My first thought was that these three sections should have been combined. They're more or less the same thing - rough frameworks for characters. An example background is "(reformed) criminal" - where it talks about what that means for a character and suggests some package deals. An example personality is "The Sociopath" and the only difference from the background is that we get a few suggested disadvantages. An example archetype is "Conspiracy Theorist" and this time we get some skill suggestions. The ideas are great, but the three sections would make more sense combined and done in a unified manner. As they are, they look like different writers did them, or perhaps Steven did them on different dates and didn't realize he'd done the other section. I doubt that, I'm just saying it looks that way.
After those sections we get the hard gaming section of sample
package deals. This is also another 'background / personality / archetype" section except that it comes with a full on package of abilities for each entry. The packages are split into types -we get spies, criminals, law enforcement, military, and then some miscellaneous entries. They're all fairly solid with a lot of variety and several options on most of them. I particularly liked how spies were broken down into cinematic, realistic analyst, and realistic field agent - that section also discusses some major real world spy agencies and what you might do with them. They are almost all the 'action heroes', with a few 'intellectual heroes' such as the hacker and analyst. That said, there are no 'charismatic' types in the list, no occultists, an no 'shaggy' (man out of place or real weirdo types). For a complete modern genre, you'd want those. Certainly I and my players would make use of them. If we were translating over the existing archetypes to DnD we'd find ourselves only having the fighter classes, the rogue, the barbarian, and the expert. Me, last modern game I played in I was a nun miracle investigator in a party that also had a stripper, a military technician, and a cop (
For you 70s kids: I was Velma, the stripper was Shaggy/Scooby, the Cop was Fred, and the technician Daphne). Before that I ran a game with a mad scientist, a debutante, and a Shaggy-clone with matching fashion statement. So while I really liked the ones that were included, I feel some major parts of the modern genre were missing. At least in the prebuilt packages - it's trivial to make those character types yourself using the backgrounds or simply the Hero rules without a package.
Next we get a three pager on
characteristics giving us advice on what stats might be valuable in the genre, as well as how to deal with the smaller range of used stat values in a Heroic level game.
Skills come afterwards, and the core Hero system rules for skills are greatly expanded here with several new situational modifiers. A lot of this information is going to find itself filtering out to Hero system games in many genres - there's a lot of good stuff here. I really liked the change to computer programming, and the new skill enhancer of Expert - hopefully those will make their way into Hero Designer soon (even options should be supported for the people who use them).
Under
Perks, the list for fringe benefits, used to confer rank in an organization, is given quite a bit of expansion on types and details -with ranking charts for business, criminal (aren't those two the same thing?), law enforcement, and so on. Unfortunately page 89 gives us the modern 'acceptable form' of racial stereotyping in one of the illustrations...
We get
Talents after that, and there's about two pages of new ones (although several of them are taken from previous Hero supplements. Deadly Blow for example is in Fantasy Hero, and Combat Shooting is just Combat Archery for guns - still they fit here, and as they weren't in the core book they end up needing to be repeated).
Novices to Hero should note - most of these that affect combat improve your ability to do something anyone could try. Unlike d20 feats, in Hero you can usually always try to do, and the Talent or special skill just makes it easier to do well.
The
Powers chapter talks mostly about two themes - using them for equipment and designing 'super skills'. The super skills concept is just the idea of building a power and defining the special effect as being trained beyond normal means. Super skills are given their own 43 page section. One new power is present, called Piercing, and I'm personally not exactly sure why you would use it - it lowers the targets PD, ED, or whatever. However it does so by small amounts for large costs if the numbers are working out right in my head it seems cheaper to simply buy an additional dice of damage for normal attacks, though it might be useful for killing attacks.
The
disadvantages section comes before that super skills section though, and discusses using the disads in the Dark Champions (modern) genre. I liked the floating hunteds idea - wherein you are hunted not by some specific person or persons, but by a theme - such as perhaps you're always being chased by ninjas (think Tick), or evil sorcerers (think Conan). Some of the sample psych limitations could have just been called "Psychological Limitation: Player Character," as they're the sort of thing any PC in a game of this genre is going to do. 'Obsessed with Crimefighting' for example, is something every PC in a crime fighters game is going to be able to assume... Vigilante mentality is about the same for almost every genre roleplayers engage in... Players could take these if they don't want to have to do any roleplaying different from anything they've always done and have a GM foolish enough to let them in... Others in the list have good solid advice, such as the warning under Loner or the breakdown of different Codes against killing.
As I noted before,
Super-Skills have their own section. What you see here is a number of genre conventions built as low cost (for the most part) powers and called 'skills' by special effect. You have such things as gaining benefits from the use of analysis, hypnosis, skill levels for hit locations when using guns, quick draw tricks, using scenery to deadly effect, the old trick of being deadly with playing cards, and so on. The whole section follows a consistent structure to how these are built and it is quite likely we will see many more of these 'super-skills' in the future. Several of them could be grabbed for use in other genres.
After Super-Skills we get another new concept;
Resource Points. These are used to manage equipment, contacts, and a number of related elements. This idea gives you a couple different point pools - equipment, bases, contacts, and misc. You get a value for what you have access to in an adventure, and a value for your total resources. The total resources is somewhat unlimited after start of game, but the on hand pool is governed by the GM and/or spending character points to increase it. Instead of buying resource items with character points or money you buy them with your resource pools. In some ways you could think of it as a Variable Power Point Pool that can only be changed out between adventures or via the actions of the character in the game (stealing a car for example). This is a handy way of tracking equipment - but it also requires tracking point costs of gear which can be pulling back more of the curtain than some players in non supers games want. That said, I suspect this concept is going to very quickly filter out through the Hero community of players and we will probably see it ported into future supplements or versions of other genre sourcebooks. I will probably adopt it into Fantasy Hero myself, but not until after the players are comfortable with other aspects of the Hero system - I do not want my players thinking and tracking in terms of points anymore than they have to.
Chapter three is about Forensics. This is the 'CSI' chapter and it begins with a little note in the sidebar informing us of the constantly changing nature of the sciences behind the data used. We get less game statistics here, and more information essay. The first section is criminology - notes on how you do an arson investigation, understanding blood evidence, tracking computer data, using DNA, document work, drugs, fibers, fingernail scrapings, fingerprints, ballistic evidence, photographs, and more. Even a note on superpowers. We end with a section on the contents of a lab. Forensics comes next, starting with establishing identity and moving to determining time and cause of death. The information here is detailed, and definitely on the 'more than you will usually need to know' side. On the other hand, this is the kind of information that when you do need to know it most gamers will be lost as to how to figure it out, so the chapter comes across as useful.
Chapter four is Combat and Adventuring. We start with a note about the issue of drama versus realism in managing game combat. We're also given a handy sidebar on roleplaying combat - sort of a reminder to players and GMs to keep roleplaying even during the fights. From modifiers through maneuvers we get commentary on how to use each of the core rule entries in the modern genre. In the Damage section we get something new - five new hit locations to target, critical hits and fumbles and options for stun or mystery damage (these last two look much like they did in Fantasy Hero).
Gun fighting gets its own special section. Suggestions cover topics like altering range modifiers, close quarters gunfights, keeping your cool in a fight, reloading, recoil, slower guns, speeding up the hail of bullets, adding some cinematic tricks - such as shooting from mirrors or never running out of ammo and so on. The ideas in here are good and can give your game a certain genre feel - using or that option will change the feel of Hero and they should of course all be considered with care precisely because of that.
Chapter five covers weapons. 57 pages on guns and how to customize them with different types of ammo - this first section is one of the places where this book really shines. If you're a gun nut, you're going to really love this chapter. It does however start with a note that in any argument between realism, genre, and playability - Steve chose in roughly the reverse order: rules for guns were built to be playable, then genre, then real. That said, he claims to have done his homework on the research and where he could he provides options for heightened realism. We start with firearm basics - the core of how they're built in Hero, then move through Ammunition, firearm point costs when you use different ammunition, accessories, and how they can be customized.
Most of the section is about the ammunition, covering all sorts of different bullets - how to build them in Hero and what they are meant for in the real world. A sidebar even covers a few fictional bullets - anti-vampire, blessed, silver, and more. Ammunition is in two subsections, one for bullets and one for shotguns - both with way more information than I personally ever considered. The charts for how different ammunitions change the point costs of guns are a little complicated and you will definitely want to read the instructions that precede them, they do however go into great detail and will let you figure it out even to the degree of having multiple clips with different sorts of ammunition. Since Dark Champions uses the Resource Points system rather than a cash economy for characters your players will have to understand the workings of these point costs as well.
That takes us 31 pages into firearms, and after it we get accessories - putting in cameras, flash suppressors, recoil compensators, sights, flashlights, silencers (in two sections for cinematic and realistic) and a number of other 'gun toys.' After that we get customization - making it ambidextrous or left handed, watertight, improving the trigger, coating the barrel for accuracy, and on and on. Finally we get the actual list of guns in game 'statblock' format. Here I have an actual complaint - they aren't described. Fantasy Hero for example, told me what a cinquedea was (it's a kind of italian sword), this book however, never tells me what a CZ100 is, nor a Remington XP-100R, nor even a glock or any other of the many many entries. This is the point where if you are not a gun nut, you will end up confused. After the amazing detail that went into describing and even illustrating different types of ammunition we get nothing here. I'm not a gun nut, and so while I understand all the Hero mechanics I have no idea what most of these guns look like, what their role or history is, or anything else real world about them. They could have put 'Flash Gordon Pistol' on the list and it would go right past me, save that I've actually seen that one on TV... 9 guns get pictures, but only 4 of those have their names with them.
When the section wraps we get some pages on
other weapons - blackjacks, chains, brass knuckles, bayonets, chairs and stools, a rifle butt, and some other entries common to the modern era. After that, a list of explosives and incendiaries and how they work in the Hero system (and the chart has a 'tab' error in the layout for ANFO - the damage is under the scaling section and the weight is under the effect). Finally after that we get information on restraints and non-lethal weapons. Here we get everything from handcuffs to lasers designed to blind people.
Chapter six gives us all the other gear. The chapter classifies equipment in four different categories of availability - from standard stuff you buy at the local corner store to the stuff you get from your top-secret Congressional budget. We then have separate discussions for how it is obtained in the campaign world and how it is obtained in game terms. A price chart follows, but the dollar prices are often listed as a range. In game though you'll be mostly concerned with the category the item falls into - is it standard gear, military gear, or whatever. The dollar prices aren't used due to the Resource Point system, so the ranges there are only a flavor issue, so you can have that scene where the PCs get yelled at for wrecking so many millions of dollars of government equipment, then get handed yet even more equipment which is even more expensive (hey, if Bond can pull it off, why not the PCs?). Pages with game stats and explanations follow - breaking the items down as if they were powers in the Hero system, and telling us a bit about each. While we're never told what a FN Model 30-11 Rifle is, we do get a paragraph on what binoculars are.
Chapter seven is about the antagonists - constructing your enemies. We open with
organized crime, and the book covers several real world groups - giving their structure, activities, how to join, their rules of 'honor' if they have such, and so on. We see the Mafia, the Chinese gangs, The Russians, A note on Hispanic organized groups. the Yakuza, and then street gangs. It is interesting that the note for the Crips does not mention one of its two founders - Tookie Williams -who now writes children's books warning of gang life from death row- is missing. Of course, it also fails to mention that the gangs formed originally to protect their neighborhoods from crime, but spiraled down a different path (there's a great caution there about vigilante behaviour)... Moving forward, after the organized groups we get a number of others tossed into a miscellaneous category - Jamaican posses, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and Vietnamese gangs.
From there we get coverage of
other types of criminals - cinematic masterminds (and if you follow criminal justice, almost any criminal with an education or rational mind is cinematic), costumed criminals - fitting of the vigilante crime fighting and 'Animated Series' sub genres, robbery crews (that band of criminals who in movies put together a well planned heist), and serial killers.
Finally we get the type of antagonist on everybody's mind these days -
terrorists. This section described a number of real world terrorist organizations and what they have done in the world, as well as some groups of the past in case the GM desires a plot where they resurface. Of curious absence is any mention of the militias - which did after all spawn the guys who did the Oklahoma bombing and often publicly advocated violent resistance before that bombing took place. That is not a race-card issue though, as the listing does include the KKK and a few other 'domestic' groups alongside the international players.
Chapter Eight talks about gamemastering for Dark Champions. We start out with information on
building characters - how to think about what genre you desire and what character types and power levels you should choose given that. Restricting paranormal powers is advised, in fact the book suggests they generally be in the hands of NPCs and be 'deniable' or 'explainable' as normal - suggesting the example of the X-Files. Essays are present on Morality, Realism, and Tone. On setting your tone the book notes that Dark Champions will usually have a 'grey' morality, but that the outlook (level of optimism) can vary.
Campaign
sub-genres are readdressed. Having been introduced at the beginning of the book, here we get see them from a GM and structuring a campaign point of view. We also have some suggestions on setting a theme and subject. These two look to be about the same thing to me, with themes such as 'Money' and subjects such as 'Politics'.
After that '
Running the Game' covers building adventures for your players. There's setting up a structure - plotted or unplotted, and if plotted how to put that plot together. Following that is a piece on dealing with disconnects - things that work in fiction but have trouble in gaming. This is a very section by the way. So far each of the Hero system genre books I've read have had something like this (it's got a different name in the Champions genre book, but it is there on page 138 of that book), and it is the sort of thing a lot of genre gaming books shyly ignore or try to deny. Every GM has that story of when they tried some great idea and watched it fall completely flat... Any GM who claims to not have that story is probably lying... This section mentions some of the major issues and how to handle or avoid them. Some examples include dealing with deduction, cautious PCs, why the cavalry doesn't show up to save the day, and that age old classic - splitting the party. From there we get notes on how to manage the Hero system disadvantages in Dark Champions which as in other genre books is full of handy advice.
A section on
constructing villains and other NPCs follows. It looks at some basic qualities and archetypes and suggests how you can use them and what problems you might have in trying to do so. As an example we get 'The Warped Vigilante' - a personal favorite, this one gives us a short essay on what it is, then some features of using it as a way to get PCs to question their own actions, notes the risks involved in an NPC who might be overly willing to get lethal, and finally suggests how to alter it to different tones or needs in the game.
Chapter nine covers a vigilante organization known as Libra. You get the five members (built on 100 base + 100 disadvantage points), some suggestions on using them, and some of the villains they might face.
Is this Modern Action/Adventure gaming?:
Mostly, yes. The book does a good job of covering the major aspects of the genre, and in some cases such as ammunition goes into rather extreme detail. It is lacking a few twists on the genre - the package deals all seem to be the lead action or the brain in a party. Contrasting this to d20 Modern, we're missing the 'Charismatic Hero' and the 'Dedicated Hero'. Barring that however it does cover a fairly wide scope, and would definitely let you do a game with nearly any sort of modern focus. After all while the package deals for those concepts are missing, they are present in the text on personalities, backgrounds, and archetypes.
Visual Appeal:
The design and layout are fairly standard for Hero games. The cover art immediately sets the tone that works for much of the book. The bulk of the art is both well done and genre appropriate. I would say Hero's art has been improving of late, and this book holds to that trend. The sidebars are easier to follow than they have been in past books - they're used mostly for extra facts and notes and less to build out game statistics. Game statistics are when short in the text and when not in blocks of data similar to the format used in books like Sidekick, the Fantasy Hero Grimoires, and the Until Super Powers Database. That's a format that stresses readability and ease of use in my opinion.
Summing it all up:
All in all, the book is excellent. There are a few flaws here and there that I have mentioned above, but despite this the larger package is still valuable. I really would have liked some gun descriptions, but in counter as someone who is not a gun nut I'm just as likely to choose for my character by game stats. Pictures though, would have helped to let me choose by mood. Throughout most of the book is the assumption that the PCs are the good guys, which shows the link to this book's roots as an add on to 'Super Hero Champions.' It leaves it feeling in places more like a sub-genre of modern gaming than the full genre.
If you want to do modern gaming, and you want to do it with a system that enables you rather than obstructs as the main 'competitor' often seems to do, Dark Champions should be your choice. You can't go wrong with it. Hero system really shines through at the 'Heroic' power level, and it particularly does so in this book. New concepts such as Super-Skills and Resource Points are bound to be very popular with Hero veterans. Novices who simply want a modern game that will keep them going for countless campaigns to come cannot go wrong here - Dark Champions might very well make an ideal entry point into the Hero system and you could probably handle this genre book fairly well with only a copy of 'Sidekick' for your rulebook.
This review -is- based on a complimentary copy of the book, something which I must own up to, but don't let that fact sway you against what I've said. I was not a fan of the original Dark Champions - back in the day it was an add on to Champions and to me, took that genre in places I did not wish to see it go. As a separate genre however, as a full on book about modern day gaming, I'm left with a very different impression. This is the book I now plan to turn to for my needs in genres as diverse as spy thrillers to detective stories, to Scooby Doo knock-offs, to Urban gang-life plots and everything else 'Modern' and not super hero that crosses my mental desktop. I hope that in this review I've been detailed enough to show you some of why I'm now thinking that way - despite the few faults in the book.
Style and Substance:
For art and design I'm going for a 4 out of 5 - this is an improvement in my opinion over past Hero works, and I'm seeing what to me feels like better use of some of the design elements. It could be better though, but that would take a break from the 'Hero look.'
For substance I'm going to likewise go for a 4 out of 5. It would be perfect, if not for missing a few details. This is a great book despite those flaws, a must buy for any Hero system gamer. I would say it is time to shelve your copies of d20 Modern, as this book will handle almost everything you want to do there better.
