[OT] Champions 5th Ed at at DunDraCon

[Black Omega]

Credit to John Taber of http://la.znet.com/~demon/ for this report. 5th ed sounds very cool so far. Called FREd for Fifth Rules Edition.
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Here is a summary of what happened at the Hero seminar at DunDraCon. This stuff is entirely IMHO so please take my comments with a grain of salt. []

Before the seminar I approached the Hero dealers table and chatted with Steve and Darren. They were glad to see all of the interest and the booth always seemed to have folks milling around. Lots of new folks also stopped by which made me feel good. Steve gave me a cool T-shirt for supporting Hero over the years. It made my WEEK. Thanks Steve!

I also checked out the new FREd book. It looked spiffy. The new character sheet looks different and to be honest my reaction was not as great as Steve’s enthusiasm. You’ll have to see what you think. Another thing that caught my eye was the plethora of tables. There is a lot of material here guys. The tables are graduated gray (i.e. light on the top and dark on the bottom). It sounds weird but I actually really liked the way it made the tables very easy to read. Again…matter of taste. I didn’t read anything in too much detail but everything I saw I liked. We have a winner.

The packed seminar started with Steve and Darren talking about FREd. They mentioned a date of 4/1 through 4/10 for appearance of the book at your local stores. One comment that blew me away was an estimate of 1 new book a MONTH! They mentioned the following as items that would be released close on FREd’s heels…
+ Hero System Resource Kit – Includes GM screen, cardboard figures, a summary of the rules, and some maps.
+ UMA – Revised
+ Hero System Bestiary – Includes system for designing hit location charts for animals and such! Also how to build creatures and use them in your games.
+ Champions Genre Book – Mentioned excitement about Aaron writing the book.
+ Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks – First enemies book.
+ Star Hero – Written bu Jim Cambios (?). Guessing end of this year.
+ Fantasy Hero – Guessing by end of 2003.

After this they starting fielding questions. Here are some notes that I took…
+ They are in negations about Creator software.
+ They are working on the Hero System timeline. This is a genre thing that will be posted to the web site. Initially all of the genre books will attach to this timeline somewhere.
+ Genre books will have setting books. Imagine a Millennium City sourcebook for the Champions genre book and you get the idea.
+ They should be posting submission, writers guidelines, and Legion Of Hero information THIS week. One interesting submission restriction is that products must wait for the genre book to be released. For example, no making Fantasy Hero supplements BEFORE the FH genre book. Make sense if you think about…they want to support the main product line.
+ They are in negotiations with Gold Rush Games regarding San Angelo stuff. Steve and Darren mentioned being big fans of the material so they are hoping to work something out.
+ They mentioned a Hero eZine! It would be run by Dave Maddy (?) the guy doing the current Hero eZine. It would be roughly $30/year for 10 issues. Each issue would cost $5. Two weekly columns will be written by Steve. Steve recommended this as the best way to convince them that you have what it takes to write for DOJ. They mentioned that this should be announced within the next couple of months.
+ When asked how they planned to get new players they mentioned three ways…
- Publish good material.
- Make a PDF that helps people get started.
- LOH demos and such.
They do not feel advertising reaches gamers. The posted several compelling arguments that I will not detail here.
+ They are working on trademark issue for posting a Hero logo on your website! Sounded kinda cool. You can bet the Demon will be researching this one… []
+ How did Darren and Steve meet? Steve played in one of Darren’s Champions games at DunDraCon! They hope forming DOJ will give them lots of control. One interesting thing they mentioned here was that the Sept 11 tragedy actually delayed FREd by almost 2 months! The DOJ deal would have occurred sooner.
+ They do not plan on messing with licenses. No Star Trek hero. []
+ They mentioned an Ultimate Vehicles book. Sounds great. In my mind this has always been a big hole.
+ Derek asked about a “Hero lite”? When things ease up a bit they would like to do this project.

Here are some things they mentioned would be new in FREd…
+ 333 sample powers! WOW! Most powers have SEVERAL examples.
+ Some new advantages like the Mega scale one. This will allow jumping into space for example.
+ Some new adders. They specifically mentioned an adder to shape shift that allows you to imitate objects. No more disguise roll to get the effect.
+ Some minor changes on talents.
+ One big comment was that you will not HAVE to convert 4th ed PC into FREd but you will WANT to convert 4th ed PC into FREd because of the new options.

After the seminar Derek and I had dinner and talked all about the seminar and the new direction from DOJ. We were extremely impressed. As Derek put it these guy seems to be backing up what they say and seem very serious. When they mentioned a book a month Derek and I glanced at the other with awe. After dinner we “hob knobbed” with the Hero guys in their private suite for a bit then I took off. Had to get home to the wife. Sorry guys…some things are higher priority…

Thus ends my DunDraCon Hero report…

 

[Kirowan]

Thanks Omega! The info is much appreciated. I

 

[EOL]

As strictly a system Hero has got to be my all time favorite. The breadth and elegence of it is just unbelievable. I think 3E is easier to pick-up and play, but if I was going to use some system to create some kind of behind the scenes rules and balance in a novel, Hero would be it. I'm glad there's going to be lots of support. Sounds like it might be time to dust of the cape and fight evil.

 

[Horacio]

So if you like Hero System, why don't you pre-order Hero System 5th Ed? Right now some distributors don't trust on Hero Games (bad memories from the last years are slow to die), and pre-order could make them change their opinion.

To find a list of retailers to pre-order, look at Hero Games website, in the link 'retailers'.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Sweet!

Though I really have no problems with 4th edition, I am happy that someone has picked up actual Hero System (rather than Fuzion) and run with it

 

[The Crimster]

Oh yes. Fifth Edition.

My precioussss....

The Crimster

 

[bolen]

So this will be a game like "GURPS" now and champions will be an option. like "GURPS Supers" is.

or will it be more like D&D is now with the D20 system. Ie. you dont buy the players handbook if you want to play Star Wars.

 

[Uvenelei]

Sweet indeed. Thanks for the news! I've played 4th edition before, but I can't find the books anywhere, and I wanna introduce my friends to the game. Perfect timing.

 

[MulhorandSage]

So this will be a game like "GURPS" now and champians will be an option. like "GURPS Supers" is.

or will it be more like D&D is now with the D20 system. Ie. you dont buy the players handbook if you want to play Star Wars.

It'll be like GURPS. Which is pretty close to the way it is in 4th edition. Champions is one of the Hero sub-genres (albeit the flagship of the line.)

Scott Bennie

 

[NLP]

So this will be a game like "GURPS" now and champians will be an option. like "GURPS Supers" is.

or will it be more like D&D is now with the D20 system. Ie. you dont buy the players handbook if you want to play Star Wars.

The Hero System Fifth Edition will cover all the rules, skills and powers that you will need to play the game. With this book you will be able to play in any genre, but will not be genre specific. There are hundreds of examples covering every possible game-type as well as a campaign creature section giving you basic information on various genres that you can play.

Later, in August (targeted for Gen Con) will the the Champions genre book. This book will detail Hero Games' super-hero game world. It will also give information on how to create your own super-hero world. This will probably be one of the most heavily supported genre books, as super-heroes are the birth-parents of the game.

So, I guess to answer your question, the Hero System book will be more like GURPS than d20, but without all the licensed material. It will have various genre books published covering, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dark Superheroes, and probably quite a few other genres (Wuxia/Martial Arts, Pulps, Espionage-type, etc), but you'll need the Hero System Fifth Edition book (known on the Hero Boards as FREd) to play the game.