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It was in 1992 when I first bought the original Dark Champions, a sourcebook for Champions (4th edition). The book was terrific as it perfectly captured a sub-genre that was at the top of the comics hill at the time: the dark vigilante. The book stayed well within its costumed confines but there was an underlying current of more. I always got the impression that Steve Long, the author, wanted to head in a larger direction and make a book of larger scope. Even with it’s limited scope, Dark Champions is a classic in the Champs 4th edition line.

Fast forward 12 years and Steve Long is revisiting this classic and this time, he captures the scope perfectly.

Dark Champions for 5th edition Hero is a book that is a lot broader and wider in scope than its predecessor. The original tended to stay close to it’s core genre of vigilantes and superheroes. The new edition still covers that area as well as the first book did but really expands it out farther…

Dark Champions might as well be called Modern Hero because that is really what the new book encompasses. This is not a slam against the title at all. In fact, the title is more of an homage than what the book truly covers.

DC covers the entire genre of modern, action- adventure RPG’ing as it applies in the Hero system. The book takes the system and lays out how best to use it. DC really takes the whole toolbox method of the system and tells you what tools, in what usage will best reflect the genre conventions.

My personal favorite section in the book and the one that really makes the book for me is the section on super-skills. This is the compromise between the superheroes that Hero does so well and the skill/talent-centric genres out there. This section opens up the idea of cinematic gaming. This really expands the possibilities. You can now accurately depict all the crazy stuff you see in movies and TV without having to turn your maverick cop into Daredevil. I think that GM’s probably have done things like this before but it has never been laid out so cleanly.

The book does a great job of snapshotting different genre’s and giving all the fixes to make them functional. I can’t wait for Dark Champions: The Animated Series!!!

All in all, this is a breakthrough book for Hero. Modern gaming has made its way to the forefront and one of my favorite systems is now ready to lead the way

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