A common complaint of mine about the Champions game line is that it is underpowered. Sure, there are plenty of 1000+ point megavillains, but almost no information is provided about the genuinely powerful heroes that must exist in the world to keep those megavillains in check. I understand that the focus is supposed to be on the PCs, but therein lay the problem: if they are starting point total, then they are far too weak to make any meaningful difference against the major bad guys, anyway. It also assumed that the typical PCs would be, in fact, 350 points.
Aside from Champions, I am also a big fan of Star Hero. Great genre book, great setting material, poor sales. Its a tragedy. The future of the Heroverse deserves more attention.
Naturally enough, I awaited the coming of Galactic Champions with baited breath. Hopefully, it would finally provide canon support for playing genuinely powerful heroes. Hopefully, it would establish the presence of powerful heroes in canon, in the future at least, and perhaps in the present. Hopefully, it would flesh out the Heroverse setting, providing glimpses at both the future of the Champions setting and the Galactic Federation period, which is unfortunately not getting its setting book anytime soon. :(
Hopefully.
As it turned out, my hopes were not to be in vain.
Awesome Cosmic Powers
The first chapter is divided into two main sections. The first covers the genre conventions and tropes of the cosmic/galactic super hero game, as well as how the standard character archetypes exist in such a setting. The genre material is accurate and topical, but nothing especially new for someone who has ever read a Green Lantern or Silver Surfer comic. The archetype ideas are useful, however, giving fodder for character creation ideas. A minor quibble: gadgeteers are not, in my opinion, as limited as they describe. Even high end space opera settings generally have things that are simply not possible with "normal" technology, regardless of how much money you can spend building it. On the other hand, the addition of the Space God/Cosmic archetype is most appropriate.
The second section covers various game elements, with elaborations on how they work in the context of a cosmic setting. Expanded Strength, FTL, and Mind Scan tables are provided, as are rules for moving planets. A good deal of the entries consist merely of mentioning which powers are more likely to occur in a cosmic setting, particularly powers that are normally rare or restricted, like Megascale ones. Of particular use, however, is a two page discussion of variable power pools, and filling in certain rules ambiguities. It also provides a form of de facto sanction for greater commoness of VPPs in such games, in my humble opinion. Lastly, several basic gadgets of use for space-based campaigns are provided, gadgets that deal with issues such as mobility, life support, and communications. Legion readers should find them familiar.
Champions 3000
The second chapter is covers the setting material for the Galactic Champions period in the Heroverse. First, it provides a brief timeline of the events leading up to the period, starting with the final years of the Champions era, specifically, the final battles with Istvatha V'Han and Tyrannon the Conqueror. The fallout of the latter battle resulted in the mana collapse that banished superhumans from the galaxy for the next thousand years. Those thousand years are summarized in five pages; some of the material is already familiar to those who have read Terran Empire and Alien Wars, but particular emphasis is given to the period following the Terran Empire, that of the Galactic Federation. The summary ends with the event that returned mana to the universe, and the invasion by Istvatha that followed, triggering the formation of the new Champions. All in all, the timeline is most interesting, especially the glimpses into the end of the Champions era.
The second section provides details about the Galactic Federation, extant government during the time of the Galactic Champions setting. A brief description of the government opens it, followed by mention of some of the Federation's main rivals and enemies. Last comes information on the more important cultural and technological elements of the Federation. In so far as the material covers, the Galactic Federation fits into prior events nicely; its emergence makes sense given the world in which it formed. However, the details are relatively sparse. One of the few disappointments of the book is the lack of further detail on the Federation, given that this is so far the only book with any information at all. Unfortunately, the Galactic Federation Star Hero sourcebook has been put on indefinite delay. . .
The final section is a glossary covering various terms mentioned in this section and others, names of people and places mostly. The majority of them consist of brief summaries of information provided in Alien Wars and Terran Empire, allowing for one to play in this setting without owning the other sourcebooks. I would advise against it; not only would the setting material from Terran Empire in particular aid in fleshing out the setting portrayal, but the Star Hero line needs all the support it can get.
Example Bricks, er, Galactic Heroes
The third chapter starts, somewhat disconcertingly, with a typo, courtesy of Ultimate Brick. This does not, however, reflect on the chapter itself, which provides the example heroes for the setting. Big ones.
The Champions 3000 roster is, in my opinion, a vast improvement over the Champions 2K team. First, they are built on 700 points ( 750 in the case of Bulletproof ), fitting not only the power level of the Galactic Champions game, but also better fitting their importance in the setting. This importance, however, derives from a very simple fact: they are literally the first superteam since the return of superhumans. As such, even though they are technically "beginning level," they still are logically of great importance and influence. In contrast, the Champions 2K are set up as something significant, and yet are basically glorified newbies. Even given the mass superhero death at the Battle of Detroit, there should be ( and were ) enough major players to have full rosters of established superteams.
Another positive factor is the relative lack of strict archetypes. While some of the members fit the standard molds ( Defender 3K is obviously a powered armor guy, Rampart and Sage are your standard brick and psion ), you also have interesting combinations like the indestructible brawler ( Bulletproof ), and the demispeedster rogue ( Charm ). While its good to have examples of the main archetypes, the problem with such archetyping is it tends to result in the designing of an archetype first, and a character second.
Lastly, all the characters are solidly built, with backgrounds that are, at the very least, consistent and useful for plot ideas. None of them result in massive "What were they thinking/smoking!?" responses. In other words: No Nightduck. :-)
Aside from the Champions themselves, the Star*Guard receives some coverage. As they described, they serve nicely as Green Lantern Corp analogues in the setting, though with the twist that they are only recently coming back into the open ( during the low mana period, they acted as a covert organization, using infiltration and cunning to advance the cause of good ). As such, the example character, Star*Shield, is pretty much going to reestablish the Star*Guard, much as Defender and the Champions are reestablishing super heroes in general. This adds interest to an otherwise relatively generic character. Important note: I have not read the previous Digital Hero articles on the Star*Guard of the 20th/21st century. However, said material might be useful.
Villains Galore
The next three chapters all cover the same topic: villain writeups. They are divided into master villains, villain teams, and solo villains, though the differentiation is sometimes vague. The first thing you notice when reading these sections: these villains are powerful. While there are relatively low level villains, such as the Recruiter, a mostly-unpowered slaver, Mechanon 3000 and his 4800 point build sets the tone. Even experienced galactic champions player-characters will not have an easy time dealing with many of these foes. Despite the power level, though, there is still variance in archetypes and roles, sometimes in spite of point cost. Echo, the super mercenary and power mimic, is quite pricey, yet fills a relatively low-end roll in the setting. This is because of how expensive power mimicry is within the hero system.
The high points among the new villains, in my opinion, are Maraud, the Sword of Ackal, and the afforementioned Mechanon. Maraud can be best described as a Xenovore Captain America, unleashed into the "present" day. While he is built on relatively few points, he is source for any number of atrocities. The Sword of Ackal, on the other hand, are less a villain team and more a team of "heroes" to a vastly different culture ( in my opinion, the Ackalians are the least evil of the "enemy races" ). While several have what can best be described as villainous tendencies, others do not, and they have as much potential to be allies as enemies. In addition, it acts to demonstrate how non-human cultures are not uniform. As for Mechanon, he fills the roll of "damn scary megavillain" and he fills it admirably.
The weakest of the bunch are Tempo of the Overlords and the Nibu Gemani. Tempo's origin is very, very generic "scientist given powers and driven made by experimental accident." Nothing to see here, move along. As for the Nibu, they fill the roll of "alien locust hoard" well, but lack any real usage other than as marauding hoards. Nonetheless, Hero Games is traditionally very good at producing villains, and overall, they do indeed produce.
GameMastering
The final chapter covers material for properly game mastering a cosmic level campaign. Some of the material covers creation of a properly cosmic setting ( primarily for star and galaxy spanning games ). The information is relatively brief, and Star Hero would help immensely for world building. A large section is devoted to creating and adjudicating high point characters, in terms of how many points to give ( base and disadvantage ), and some issues that may come up during the assignment of those points. This advice can definitely be used by non-space based high level campaigns, especially since, with a little consideration, one can take potential problems ( such as "ultra powers" and concept overlap ) and turn them into non-issues at worst, advantages at best. Rules for making objects, especially starships, less durable are also provided. Now, a personal pet peeve of mine is the tendency to arbitrarily make anything wearing a spandex costume capable of trashing anything and anybody who isn't, regardless of actual power levels and point values. However, I think I can swallow the "max Body vs objects and vehicles" option.
In case it isn't obvious, this is a short chapter. The GM's vault consists of little more than plot ideas for the Champions.
Final Thoughts
Like all books, Galactic Champions has its pros and cons. The biggest con I can think of is simply the fact that the book could have been bigger, with more material. In particular, further coverage on the Galactic Federation, as well as more detail on the higher tech levels and what differentiates them, would be very welcome. Aside from that ( and a few villains of lesser quality, inevitable in any book including so many ), however, the book is overall, a worthwhile resource. It shows that high-level campaigning can be done with the Hero System, and it shows you how.
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