There's a lot going on. Recent Items of Note in the Superhero RPG field:
Champions is moving in an interesting direction with Champions Complete. A note on the product says it best:
"This
product (Champions Complete/HERO2000) is a stand-alone, moderately
priced book for playing Champions: arguably the most popular and
longest-running superhero game in roleplaying history. It contains all
of the rules necessary to play Champions: The Super Roleplaying Game,
with no other book required."
I'm still not sure how I missed this one, but the chatter on the forums has it as a sort of 6th edition version of the 4th Edition BBB in design philosophy. I wholeheartedly endorse that approach! I get the whole "it's a system" thing but I think it's a lot easier to sell people on a single game book than it is to sell them on a basic book + advanced book + campaign book just to get started. This should be a positive move after a rough year or two for Hero.
The only negative is that it's a $40 softcover with a black and white interior. Where are they printing these? That's the same cover price as the DC Adventures hardcover that's full color and presumably has some licensing costs built in. I won't compare to WOTC or Paizo hardbacks these days as I know the volume is quite different, but that seems high to me for what it is. The Marvel Heroic basic book (full-cover softcover) is half the length (128pgs) and half the price at $19.95. M&M's basic rulebook (full cover softcover) is slightly longer and only $32.95. If you like the game it's probably not a huge thing but it seems like we are past the point where black and white interiors are standard, so I was hoping for full-color or a lower price to draw in some new attention.
For ICONS there's a nice new brochure and map of Stark City here. Other free previews:
I'm looking forward to this one quite a bit. Since I already have my own roughly-outlined city, I'm either going to steal parts of it or I may turn it over to one of the Apprentices to take a shot at running a Supers game themselves.
Also: Still no Team-Up!
For Mutants and Masterminds the anniversary kickstarter continues and is about to hit a stretch goal that would add in writeups of characters from old editions for 3E.
Power Profiles is winding down and is supposed to wrap up by the end of the year. Since we just got #36 "Death Powers" I'm guessing it will end at around 40 of them. They are a neat little package.
There is also something in the works titled Cosmic Power. I'm assuming that it's a sourcebook on that kind of campaign but I'm sure more details will follow.
Marvel: Amazon has the Annihilation books releasing in July. Could be fun. Maybe I will have run some Civil War by then...
4 comments:
Great Caesar's Ghost! This is some very interesting news my friend.
My takes...
Champions Complete - Some combination of AWESOME! and No Duh! Why didn't you do that in the first place. I will definitely get this.
Don't play ICONS but will check out Stark City to add to one of my many, many Superhero campaign universes.
While Mutants & Masterminds news of any kind is great, I would be very happy to see the Anniversary Edition be as awesome as it can be. I haven't really followed all the Power Profiles too well. What I am waiting for is a book called 'Power Profiles' that contains them all. Finally, 'Cosmic Power' huh? WHAT TOOK YOU SO DAMN LONG?! Seriously. I can't believe we got a Manga/Mecha and Sword and Sorcery book for an American Superhero RPG before we received a book on Cosmic characters and settings. Sheesh.
Marvel Heroic, now there's a game I would play more often if they, ya'know, put out stuff for it. Annihilation is an super cool Event Book. I look forward to getting it. But July? I can't really plan on using a book for a game coming out next year. I may be in the middle of a different campaign. Say, if the one I'm in is still going on. Or I could be moving that weekend. Or I could meet someone special. A lot can happen in 9 months.
Step it up a little huh MWP?
I gave up to insanity when I read "The Book of the Empress" cost: USD 50 + USD 50 of SHIPPING to Europe!
Mick -shipping to Europe can be pricy but that does seem high. I sent some Ebay stuff to Poland a while back and it was "only" 40 for shipping.
BA - I think the standalone Champions book should be a standard for them going forward as it's the flagship game. Build on that!
Power Profiles is supposed to be compiled into a book/pdf next year. It should end up like what they did with the Threat Report from last year, which was nice.
I'm with you on the Marvel thing, but they are still trying to finish getting the rest of the Civil War supplement books out - 50 states, Young Avengers, X-Men - so that may be keeping them busy at the moment. Amazon's date for Annihilation may be a placeholder too, but it's the only one I've seen.
Champions Complete is a nice book, half the art is subpar, but otherwise it is much more friendly to he user and potenial user. It's not as good as 4E. And the price is a total ripoff. At that cost it shoul at least be a sturdy hardcover. Mine is already getting bent up just from reading it.
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