Champions is a long-standing and well-established superhero tabletop RPG from Hero Games. It’s a Platinum bestseller at DriveThruRPG and costs about $20.
When I say “long-standing”, I mean we’re up to the 6th edition, and there are very many supplements for it. It uses the Hero System, and there are many supplements for that too.
It must be daunting approaching Champions for the first time. I’m a veteran of decades of experience, and I had to stop and think about which book on DriveThruRPG to reference at the start of this article. I decided on Champions Complete.
And that’s why Champions Begins is a good idea.
Champions Begins is a tutorial adventure designed to teach both Game Masters and Players how to play Champions, the Super Role Playing Game! This introduction to superhero roleplaying puts you in the costume, fighting villains and saving lives from evil plots. All character designs and illustrations are included, with full maps and information.
It’s not an unqualified good idea, though.
Firstly, Champions Begins is free and effective.
There’s a lot of work in Champions Begins, a project from The Hero Fan Base, and so making it free is incredibly generous. It would need to be free to achieve its goal of helping onboard new gamers into the world of Champions, though.
Secondly, Champions Begins is effective. Read through this is and you can play Champions, and read all of it, and you can run a Champions game for friends.
So, the qualifications? Champions Begins is another alternative starting point for Champions.
There are also 7 (SEVEN) files in the main download and a further 21 HD files for software a beginner won’t have in the download. Did I mention that it must be daunting starting out with Champions?
Skim through the Information DOCX first, with the usual warning of making sure you can open DOCX files safely, for a summary.
You’ll learn there that the 21 files are probably the pre-made characters for the Hero Games app Hero Designer. That’ll cost you $25 for a two-year subscription, and I think I would have tackled the communication around that differently.
I recommend starting with the Champions Begins Player Book.
It’s 20 pages of charismatic and informative introduction to the game, starting with understanding your character, and that’s a good coupling to the pre-made characters that come with the download.
You’ll be much more confident about the game after reading through this.
Accompanying the Player Book is the Character Book, which weighs 62 pages and shows those pre-made heroes. I especially like how the art shows female and male versions of each hero because the gender of a super-soldier really isn’t an issue, but picking a look and feel for a character to play is.
Then, if you want, you can step up to tackle the 52-pages of the Game Master Book. It’s just as good but has a more complicated challenge of helping readers understand the rules well enough to explain them to others.
Lastly, or just whenever you’re curious, you can tackle the Villain Book.
Much later, once you’re sure whether Champions is for you, you can go back to think about the $25 app. You’ll probably have added some paid-for Champions downloads to your collection by then.
Quick Links
- Download Champions Begins.
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