Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Some New Old Champions Stuff


Continuing the Super RPG theme:


An eBay pickup, this one has duplicates of a few thing but that's the price you pay with these grab-bag type lots. The main initial attraction was another copy of the 4th edition Champions rules -  you can never have too many copies of the core rules floating around the table. There are some other tasty nuggets though:

  • On the right is the 2E Gamemaster's Screen. I didn't even know they made one of those until about a year ago, and they don't turn up all that often. I doubt I'll be running 2E any time soon so I suppose this is more of a collector type thing, which is a path I really do not need to tread. Probably too late now though. It's two 2-panel screens with things like the speed chart and a list of powers and skills and most of those charts that were all over that rulebook printed on both sides. I really could have used this about 1983 when Draco and Solar Flare and Titan were rolling full-force against Gladiator, Lobsterback, and all those bads from the rulebook and Enemies 1 & 2. It's still kind of cool even now.
  • The Island of Dr. Destroyer : I've seen it online but I did not own a copy - now I do! This is the first published Champions adventure and it is comparable to some of those ICONS adventures I keep downloading from DriveThruRPG. You have a supervillian threatening the world from his fortified island base and the heroes have to go in and stop him - simple and straightforward, if a little more James Bond-ish than comic-bookish. It has pretty detailed maps of the island and the base, notes and stats for the defenses and the patrols and the vehicles that are involved, and an outline of the plan - it's ready-to-run. I think it would make a nice not-first adventure, as there should be some reason that the heroes are called in to stop Destroyer and a group of brand-new heroes seems like an unlikely choice to do that. It might make a good climax or penultimate adventure for Season 1 if you were running a campaign in seasons like a TV series.
  • The Great Supervillain Contest - I don't think I like this one as much as IoDD but I didn't have a copy before. If nothing else it's a framework for a certain kind of campaign and it does have some maps of a secret base and some new villains in the back.
  • Enemies III - Known of it for some time, have never owned a copy. I'll be scouring this one for Unfortunate Characters this week. The format is a little different than the first two but I see some likely candidates right there on the cover.

6 comments:

Adam Dickstein said...

Bring on the Unfortuates! I love those guys.

Of course, what I actually love is to modify and update them so they're not so lame.

Nice haul there my friend!

Blacksteel said...

Old Champions is not terribly expensive so it's fun to hunt and easy enough to do online. I'm also still surprised sometimes at what turns up in the used bookstores around here - makes me wonder both where it's been hiding and where the owner was when I was trying to get a game together.

Hedgehobbit said...

I played tons of Champions back in the day. I had the screen but not the other stuff (Enemies I maybe). They put my name in Champions II after I sent a handwritten letter describing some new powers (a multiman type power, immovability and some sort of poison IIRC). Because it was hand written, I don't have a copy.

Today it would have been a simple and quickly forgotten email but back then writing out all my ideas on paper mailing it made it one of my most memorable early gaming moments.

Doc Savage said...

I would love to have that 2nd edition GM screen. I still play 2nd edition; 4th and up got more complicated than I really want.

Blacksteel said...

Hey Hedge that's cool - I think feedback was a lot more personal back then.

Matt - keep an eye on ebay. My copy is so worn I'm not sure you could really play with it but I would bet there are others out there.

Doc Savage said...

Finally found a 2nd edition GM screen and it's in
nice shape, too!