DC Heroes Role-Playing Game Gets New Reprint from Cryptozoic

The classic superhero RPG gets a new reprint.

dc heroes hed.jpg


Cryptozoic Entertainment is reprinting the classic DC Heroes Role-Playing Game to celebrate the RPG's 40th anniversary. A Kickstarter pre-launch page for the new "archival edition" of DC Heroes went live earlier this week, with Cryptozoic promising a "faithful reissue" of the original game line with upgrades and exclusive dice. From the looks of a promo image for the new project, it appears that the line will be published in a single volume.

DC Heroes was originally designed by Greg Gorden and published by Mayfair Games. The game uses a 2d10 system to resolve checks, with players consulting a table to determine the success or failure of checks. Additionally, the game's attribute point system was logarithmic in nature to allow for the game to handle the immense range of powers within the DC Universe. Three editions of the game was published between 1985 and 1993, with the game incorporating various contemporaneous comics events such as Crisis on Infinite Earths and Death of Superman.

No launch date for the Kickstarter has been announced. A full description of the project can be seen below:

DC Heroes is an innovative and award-winning role-playing game that was first published in 1985. It allows you and your friends to take on the roles of iconic Super Heroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg, or to create heroes of your own. The object of the game is to create brand-new stories pitting these heroes against The Joker, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Sinestro, or any of the hundreds of other villains who threaten the DC Universe!

Over eight years of product releases, DC Heroes produced dozens of adventures and sourcebooks, many featuring contributions from some of DC’s finest writers and artists of the 1980s—Jack Kirby, Alan Moore, Denny O’Neil, George Perez, John Byrne, and many others. Thousands of gamers and comics fans are still playing DC Heroes even though it’s been unavailable for decades.

To celebrate DCH’s 40th anniversary, we’re reprinting the line in definitive archival editions. Whether you’ve never experienced DCH before or you’re a long-time fan looking to plug the holes in your collection, we’ve got you covered.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

eyeheartawk

#1 Enworld Jerk™
I was VERY excited for this. At first I was mad I would have to repurchase the 15 modules I have to get the rest. Honestly…I think the math still works out in my favor over going to eBay. I’m not sure how much crossover there is between comics omnibus and deluxe hardcover collectors with rpg people but having someone from DC collected editions is huge. They have done a way better job than Marvel with quality control and high quality reproductions. I don’t see the complaints about price, besides non-US shipping. $630 for over 50 books and counting and 2 box sets it’s pretty amazing deal in 2024.
I collect omnis. The thing is, yeah they are quality and pricey but I can buy them for 50% off MSRP from instocktrades when they hit retail. Can't do that here. Also, still no PDFs.
 

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Greg K

Legend
And it’s like that across the line. I found the 2e books consistent letdowns, and shifted to getting them only when they covered something 1e hadn’t, even with pre-Crisis vs post-Crisis hurdles.
I loved the 2e New Teen Titans, Man of Steel, and Magic Sourcebooks. My only complaint about the 2e Batman sourcebook is that, unlike the 1e Batman sourcebook, it did not include the Outsiders.
edit: I also liked the 2e Justice League and Man of Steel sourcebooks
 
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aramis erak

Legend
It was more like a lighter Champions 3rd. However, I cannot say how it compared to Ultimate Powers Handbook-based generation.
UPB for marvel? Same mode as AMSH, only longer lists by far. MANY more powers... And random tables for a variety of additional details that AMSH didn't drill down to, such as where a given power emits from...
If you like classic MSH, and preferred AMSH to it, odds are you might like UPB. If you liked MSH, but felt AMSH was overtaken, UPB will be way too «bleep»ing much.
 

aramis erak

Legend
Once cheap scanners existed, the chance any physical product would not exist in pirated digital form turned almost entirely on its popularity. This is hilariously visible in the D&D5e sphere, where such things came into being within literally hours of the physical books being available.
D&D 4E, someone leaked the printer's PDFs the day before the release...

LFL is blamed for no legit PDF of Star Wars... by Wizards, then by FFG. Tho' FFG, the mouse upheld LFL's stance, and software wasn't included; the die roller took a multi-month approval... It's good, too. (The same codebase runs the Genesys one... but free due to no Disney royalties.)

Every Star Wars RPG book seems to be available on-line still, even after the takedown of several key pirate troves by the FBI... and by other US assets abroad, plus a few allies doing simultaneous raids...
Star Wars PDF troves keep cropping up like roaches in cheap motels.
Traveller ones, too... but Traveller, they're all legit available in PDF....

Hell, even before cheap scanners, there were game pirates... Someone retyped the complete text of BX D&D back in the days of WWIVnet (early-mid 90's), and so one could get the text of BX on certain dial-in BBSs. (Scans would have been prohibitively large for the 2400-14,400 Baud modems... Scans began to be practical with the rise of 48 kbps and 56 kbps... but even then....)
 

dbolack

Adventurer
Hell, even before cheap scanners, there were game pirates... Someone retyped the complete text of BX D&D back in the days of WWIVnet (early-

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a very long time... Most folks who BBS network nostalgia just Fidonet. You never hear someone wax on about CandyNet, or VNet. Was WWIV even FTS-001?
 

Thomas Shey

Legend
UPB for marvel? Same mode as AMSH, only longer lists by far. MANY more powers... And random tables for a variety of additional details that AMSH didn't drill down to, such as where a given power emits from...
If you like classic MSH, and preferred AMSH to it, odds are you might like UPB. If you liked MSH, but felt AMSH was overtaken, UPB will be way too «bleep»ing much.

UPB also spent a lot of its space covering, to be charitable, some pretty specialized powers, in a number of cases powers that occur once in the entirety of comics as far as I know (and where the particular way they work gives that away).
 

aramis erak

Legend
Now there's a name I haven't heard in a very long time... Most folks who BBS network nostalgia just Fidonet. You never hear someone wax on about CandyNet, or VNet. Was WWIV even FTS-001?
I don't grasp the FTS-001 reference. Nor CandyNet nor VNet. But I have used UUCP-net and OPUS-Net, too.

For the younger folk: WWIV was a bit of Bulletin Board software which was primarily designed for discussion forums, mostly connecting by part time dial-up (over wired telephone) to the local hub, local hubs networking peer to peer via part-time dial-up over wired telephone connections. It could take days to cross the country.... UUCP-net was a unix mail over dial-up terminal connection. It was not a unified group. OPUS-Net was another nation-wide private network over phone.
 


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