Customer Reviews

Champions, the Super Role Playing Game

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Boy was I shocked to find this book out-of-print. One of the easiest systems to ever use, AND it was FAIR! You KNEW your character and villians were evenly matched using this point based system. Not to mention DISADVANTAGES was probably the best addition to a gaming system. It definitly made people think about rounding out their characters more, and made the whole game much more enjoyable. Please, PLEASE, continue to publish this outstanding game!

I have run campagins using several of the other super hero role playing systems out there and none of them come close to this one. I just wanted to add my recommendation for this system. The rules are on the complex side at first but reward the players and gamemaster with a very balanced and fair system. In a genre where it is often difficult to duplicate the myriad of powers a character can have and on top of that balance one character against another this system excells where all the others I have played fail, often miserably. The character generation for Super Hero characters in hands down, far and away the best ever.

The best part about the Champions system is that it is truely a multi genre engine completly striping the game universe away from the game mechanics. The result is the best superhero role playing game written, and it can still be used for other genres. Many have tried to follow down the multi-genre path but I believe it is best tread by Champions.

As a 10 year old dominican veteran in this field, I encourage everyone out there to purchase this book. The rules are complex at first, but if you have a person who has extensive experience in the game then you should have a blast!. The rules are complex, but they are worthy to learn them because these rules allow you to create any character the player really wants, and they force the player to be creative in every situation the GM presents. However, be ready to argue the rules if you want to survive.

Champions if by far one of the best most diverse rpg systems out. It is designed 100% generic so that the game master can make any kind or type of world and the players can make any kind of character they want that fit into that world. Its the best!

I've played just about every major role-playing game system there is, and I can safety say I'll never play anything else but this again.

Champions is a super-hero variant of the Hero Game System. The HGS is a system that is a universal system of rules, regardless of what genre you are in. There is about 6 pages of good points I could make about this game, but for brevity...

The one thing I'd point out to those considering it is that Champions/HGS lets you create a character the way YOU want (s)he/it to be! It helps create balanced, fun characters. In a battle, it's not just hack and slash, the rules encourage creativity and there are a lot of options.

The only weak spots is that mass combat (10+ characters) can get a bit slow, and there isn't as much source material as say, DC or Marvel Heroes.

Other than that, this system blows everything else out of the water. You do have to be intelligent as some math is envolved, but any mature player will greatly appreciate this system!

Oh, yeah, and another perk is the system uses six-sided dice only! No more scrounging for that d14... =)

Champions is a wonderful game to start role-playing with. As a 16 year vetran of role-playing games, I have seen my share of superhero RPG's. Champions is one of the best I've ever seen. The system is designed to be flexible with beginning characters starting at the suggested 250 point level. Essentially, you would have 250 points in which to build your character, for those who are new to role-playing games. You would then "purchase" Disadvantages to balance your powers and skills.

You can purchace any sort of power from those of Spider-Man to those of Superman. Even characters as complex as The Batman can be built using Champions' seamless character generation system. By purchacing the proper Advantages and Limitations virtually any sort of superpower can be purchaced.

Champions is seamless in most places. However, Champions suffers with some serious rules inconsistensies. For example, a character with Growth (a superpower) who could stand 26 feet tall, has a base move of 6" (which is about 36 feet; each game inch is 6.5') could still only run 36 feet despite being larger than a normal man. By comparison, a normal sized man has an identical movement of 6". This does not, however detract from Champions' playability. The rules are full of these little inconsistensies and should not, or would not, even be noticed by the casual observer. From personal experiance, I've played this game since 1987 and have found it to be one of the best on the market.

Champions is a complex system to master. The various rules (particularly the combat rules) can be very confusing to newer players. This complexity may drive newer players from the game, but the rules benifit from this complexity in most cases.

For those unsure of what the superhero genre entails, Champions includes a section on this very subject. With a detailed look at what makes up a good superhero campaign, the genre book covers everything from Morality to Technology to Classic Villain Bits. The entire genre book tries very hard to detail just what a new player or gamemaster needs to know to start a new campaign.

Champions is a rewarding game to play and can provide hours, if not years, of role-playing enjoyment.

This is simply the best game ever. The Champions (Hero) system is the only system I will use. It is so versatile, one month my friend and I are super heros the next we are medeville warriors defending the realm. The only limit is your imagination. JJJ

Quite simply the best. The most definative system that was initially created with super heroes in mind! I am a veteran of the system from when it was new, that was almost 20 years ago!!! It is the best to create the super powered adolescent fantasy of your dreams!!!

Champions is an excellent role-playing game of the comic book/superhero genre. The game is easily played and the rules are very clear. Overall, I think it is a good system to play by.

The best aspect of the game is the great flexibility in the creation of characters. There is an almost limitless number of characters and powers that can be created through a system of naming base powers that are very simple, and adding varying effects to them. Almost any superhero from any comic book can be recreated using this system.

The downside to this system is that charcter creations takes a good deal of time because characters are allowed a certain number of "character points" and one needs to balance the powers with the points which involves a bit of math.

However, once the game gets role the system is very playable. The book has a number of optional rules that can make combat either very simple or a bit complex, depending on how you like it. All roles in the game involve six-sided dice (it would be good to have ten to twenty on hand).

The book is laid out decently, though a lot of the combat rules takes some cross-referencing in other sections. It takes a decent-sized initial investment in time to get all the rules down, and the authors didn't make it easier by supplying and handy list of charts.

Overall, I would say that after making the initial investment of time, the game more than pays itself off in hours of enjoyment.