Introduction
Those who have read my prior reviews know that one of my biggest oft-unfulfilled interests, in matters Champions, is that of heroes. Very seldom do heroes of any level beyond the lowest power receive any attention in Champions products, leaving the PCs in an apparent vacuum.
In addition, I find organization books to be interesting reads, because an organization involves extensive amounts of linked setting material. Personnel, history, tactics, plans in the world, all these are elements of an organization.
Thus, my interest in the UNTIL sourcebook, a book about a heroic organization.
A Union of Justice
The first chapter provides the history of UNTIL, as well as its necessary antecedant events. This chapter is brief, but packed with interesting information. In some ways, it parallels similar chapters in Champions Universe, except specifically detailing how UNTIL fits into the history of the Champions universe, how it has responded to various events in the timeline. The chapter ends with a brief "mission statement," summarizing what UNTIL has jurisdiction over, and where.
Under One Banner
Chapter two provides an overview of the United Nations, the body in whose name UNTIL acts. The broad outlines of the chapter are formed by real world information about the UN, such as membership requirements and organizational structure. However, interlaced throughout are changes based on the different world elements of the Champions Universe. For instance, one of the Permanent Observer positions in the UN is held by Atlantis. Many of the changes are connected to the very existence of UNTIL; in particular, the Secretary General of the UN circa 2002 is himself a former UNTIL field agent.
The second half of the chapter consists of an overview of a related matter, international law. This includes such popular topics for comic storylines as territorial sovereignty and diplomatic immunity. Much like similar sections in Champions Universe, this section should allow a GM to deal with matters international without looking clueless, at least.
Overall, this chapter is enough to convince even somebody who views the real world UN as a joke ( like me ), that at least within the confines of the Champions Universe, the UN in general, and UNTIL in particular, is a force for good in the world.
The World's Police
Chapter three opens with a detailed discussion of the organizational structure of UNTIL, from the Secretary-Marshall down to how field teams are organized. Two elements are, in my opinion, of particular interest. One is several offices or bureaus that deal specifically with superhumans, such as the Office of Superhuman Resources, which among other things, manages Unity, the UNTIL superteam. For non-UNTIL campaigns, these can provide a source of interaction for player-characters. Second is a series of internal political divisions inside UNTIL, such Americanists ( who feel UNTIL should be run by the US ) or Humanitarians ( who think UNTIL should focus more attention on disaster relief and such ). These can both be used to make individual UNTIL members distinctive, and to contrast against villainous organizations, for whom such difference oft prove catastrophic, rather than constructive.
The chapter concludes with a section dealing with UNTIL's activities in various parts of the world, geographical or otherwise. For any organization sourcebook, this is necessary data; after all, no organization is going to have the same activities in the US, China, and sub-Saharan Africa. In the case of UNTIL, these activities are well thought out and reasonably logical, as is the norm for Champions sourcebooks.
The Front Lines
Chapter four provides information on the basic agents of UNTIL. In many ways, it parallels the similar section in the VIPER sourcebook. Most of the chapter is filled with character templates, representing basic UNTIL training, as well as the various forms of more advanced skills. Other information include agent motivations and rank details. Of particular interest to me, however, are the details on the UNTIL Special Projects, though not all of the interest is good.
The Special Projects are essentially permanent subdivisions of UNTIL dedicated to specific threats. The biggest are Project Snakecharmer, UNTIL's anti-VIPER division, and Project Shiva, UNTIL efforts to oppose Dr Destroyer. In effect, this section provides a nice overview of how UNTIL deals with various major threats in the world ( though I know not why it was placed in the agent chapter ). On the other hand, this section also shows off one of the poorer elements of the Hero system, in the form of the Ragnarok. The Ragnarok is a hovership assigned to Project Shiva, and meant to serve as an aerial battleship and center of fire for opposing Dr Destroyer ( or other major superhumans ). Unfortunately, it suffers from the poor Hero vehicle writeup tendency, and is both somewhat lacking in firepower for an aerial battleship, and so fragile that two to three good hits with even heavy manportable weapons will knock it out of the air. UNTIL's super aerial battleship should not be something killable by five VIPER grunts firing a tripod-mounted railgun.
This Is My Weapon
Continuing the parallels to the VIPER sourcebook, chapter five details the technology of UNTIL. It is divided into four main sections. The first covers personal equipment, primarily weaponry. Overall, the gear is roughly comparable to VIPER equivalent, albeit slightly inferior ( representing the slightly worse tech base UNTIL has compared to VIPER ). On the other hand, UNTIL has a superior selection of non-lethal weaponry compared to VIPER. Also of significance is the Peacekeeper armor, a fairly powerful, albeit expensive and limited production, model of powered armor, significantly superior to VIPER's Dragon armor.
The second section covers UNTIL's AI computer system, HUGIN, and the remote nodes used for individual bases and vehicles, MUNIN. Like the personal gear, the computers are similar to equivalent VIPER units in functionality, but slightly inferior in technology. However, they are not as integrated in the history of UNTIL, in the same manner that Serpentine is in current VIPER history.
The third section covers vehicles, ranging from high tech motorcycles to flying submarines. Thankfully, the writeups have fewer glaring problems than with the Ragnarok, though their are a little underarmed. Still, this would only be a problem if set-piece vehicular battles figure heavily into a game; the police-type vehicles are perfectly adequate for police-type situations.
The final section is the true meat of the chapter, from the reader's perspective: information on the major UNTIL facilities of the world. These include the UNTIL World Headquarters at the UN complex, the Guardhouse ( UNTIL's superprison ), Gateway ( UNTIL's space station and first line of defense against stellar invaders ), NAUTILUS ( UNTIL's underwater facility ), and the Aegir ( UNTIL's super submarine ). Of these, the last three are given the most detail. The story and details of all three are quite nice, and provide for numerous plot possibilities; the writeups leave some room for improvement. Nonetheless, the good outweighs the bad here; aside from combining Explosive and Armor Piercing on Gateway's missiles ( a minor pet peeve of mine ), the writeups actually make sense. On reading, one will find the desire to have one's character visit these places grow.
Fighting Crime
Chapter six opens with information on agent combat, pasted almost directly from the VIPER sourcebook. This is not a bad thing, however, as the VIPER advice on how to run agents and make them effective is equally valuable here. A mere three pages of information is enough that, if followed, players will not enjoy becoming fugitives hunted by UNTIL. Some information about UNTIL liason program with superheroes is also provided, for non-UNTIL members who wish to become sanctioned in this manner.
The meat of the chapter is information on Unity, UNTIL's superhero team, however. At this point, I view them from two different angles. The first is with regard to my desire for powerful superheroes to explain why the bad guys haven't won yet. From this perspective, Unity is not entirely palatable. While they have two members of around 600 points, one of them is essentially a non-combatant, and the other has a fairly large weakness. The rest are between 400 and 500 points. While this still makes them the most powerful superhero team until the Champions 3000, this is more a measure of how few and how weak published superheroes have been.
From the perspective of individual characters, however, the team is a success. All the members are interesting, with interesting plot hooks and personalities. Also, within the limits of the team's power level, they would be quite effective. Mentiac, the non-combatant previously mentioned, has the most potential, and could very easily be turned into the Champions Universe analogue for the DC Comics character, Oracle.
Gamemastering UNTIL
The final chapter is a GM's Only chapter, providing information on running a campaign involving UNTIL. Most of the suggestions are somewhat predictable, if you have read prior Hero supplements. This is not a bad thing; rather, Hero has found a "template", so to speak, of how to figure campaign options possibilities, and it works. One thing you will not find, however, is options for UNTIL to be inept "cannon fodder." This fits with prior efforts by Hero to make agents actually considerable, in the player's mind. Aside from this, a GM's Vault ( with the usual selection of juicy secrets ), glossary, and stat sheets for common agent types are provided.
Conclusion
The UNTIL sourcebook certainly has its flaws. Relatively weak superheroes and some wonky vehicle writeups are the most noticeable. On the other hand, it also has much to say for it, the most important being a detailed, interesting element of a likewise interesting setting. The measure of any sourcebook for an RPG is a simple question, asked and answered by the reader: "Would I want to use this in a campaign I am running, or encounter these people and places as a player." I am confident, that the answer is yes.
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