Disappointed at Champions MMO

[kent_allard_jr]

I stopped by the Champions Online website, and damn was I disappointed. According to the FAQ: "Champions Online does not use the HERO System." Goddamn it! It looks like they're using Champions for the background, not the rules, which seems a little weird to me, since I never thought the Champions universe was all that interesting. The rules were the whole point!

For those of you who are new to RPGs and never played Champions, let me just say it was the primordial point-build system; like GURPS or Tri-Stat, but 10 times as disgusting. The point wasn't to actually play the game -- the rules were so cumbersome it took forever to do anything -- as to create the most obscene characters possible, by abusing the rules as shamelessly as you could get away with. Third edition understood this appeal, and gave us some gloriously disgusting examples:

• "PlanetMan: This is your average guy -- with the ability to shrink planets down to pocket size ... if he is annoyed, he pulls one out and throws it, turning the Shrinking off while one of his six DNPCs teleports him to another dimension...
  
• "Landlord: For only a handful of points, you can build a base with grounds that cover the known universe. The Landlord bought it. He owns everything. And for 165 more points, Landlord can have 4 billion loyal followers (that's everyone on Earth)[at the time].
  
• "NovaMan: A man with an explosive temper. If bothered while in his private intensive care ward, he explodes, doing about 700d6. This will level skyscrapers within about a kilometer radius..."
  

Now what kind of spoilsport would keep guys like NovaMan out of their MMO game worlds? Game designers have no sense of adventure anymore.

Update: Joking aside, I really do admire the HERO system, even if it was an easy game to satirize and it probably wouldn't work in an MMO.

Comments

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the PNFOS of RPGs.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Nope, Spawn of Fashan was the P9FOS of RPGs.

Champions was closer to being the Forrest Gump of RPGs...influential but really slow.

::B::

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Nooooooo! Joking aside, Champions was an incredibly influential RPG, and by far the most popular superhero RPG (TSR's Marvel Superheroes being the only potential competition). The game was a real trail-blazer. often considered the first "3rd generation" RPG. It was just awfully cumbersome to play, and the chargen system, while wonderfully flexible, was easy to break.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

For superhero RPGs, the only one I knew of back when I played a lot was V&V.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

V&V had its enthusiasts -- especially with 2nd edition (1st edition supposedly sucked so much its own creators admitted as much) -- but Champions more or less dominated the market after it came out.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Tri-Stat has similar problems, but at least it's not quite so cumbersome, and at it's, if anything, even more genre-appropriate to have such problems (YOU can destroy planets? Wow, so can I!)