Introduction and Appendix
While the main body of the text is the character writeups, the introduction and appendix which bookend the core include a number of important and/or useful elements. The Introduction includes the typical "What is the Golden Age" material; however, it also includes an overview of the character writeup format. This is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it explains and introduces the Public Knowledge chart, a table for each character describing what is known about them, in terms of skill check success margins. This is quite a useful trick, and I expect that many GMs will unofficially construct them for their own NPCs. Secondly, the overview explains a few elements of design philosophy, most importantly, the Speed levels. A casual reading would reveal that Speed is generally far lower in Algernon Files 2 than any Champions book, with the vast majority of characters having a 4. This section explains why that is the case: to reduce the boundary between superheroes and pulp heroes. More on mechanics philosophy later.
Next is a timeline, covering major events in the Algernon Files universe from 1935 to 1952. Thus, it is one of the three components in the book that help fill in the reader about the setting, and it does this quite well, despite being a character book, not a setting book. Last in the introduction is a table providing statistics for all the common WWII era weaponry and vehicles; quite a valuable resource given the changes in technology from WWII to the present.
At the end of the book is a section called Pages in History. Essentially, this gives a brief description of the eventual fate of each character described in the book. This is the third element that fills in the setting, and more than either of the others, it gives the material the feel of a living world, not just a collection of random characters. Finally, closing out the book is a chart of Dex and Spd for every character in the book, along with some suggestions for how to break ties so as to minimize dice rolling.
The Meat
The vast majority of the book is taken up by six chapters worth of character writeups. Four of them deal with groups: the Sentinels, an American superhero team; the Defenders of the Crown, a British team; Die Einsatzgruppen Ubersoldaten, the German organization; and the Emperor's Hand, a Japanese team. The remaining two cover independent heroes and villains, including smaller organizations and groups ( typically composed of more pulpish types ).
The overall quality of the background material is quite good. Each team or group is given a detailed history up to the official setting start date ( 1942 ), in addition to the individual backgrounds. It is this interwoven background, present here and in the openning and closing sections, that elevates the good quality, but often not enormously original, stories of the characters to a level well above the typical roster book. The result is that each individual character does not live or die, so to speak, based solely on his own description, but rather, based on the stories of the character scattered across those other characters whose paths cross him. Thus does the sum become greater than its component parts.
The style of the characters is a mix between pulp and superhero archetypes. However, of particular note is the fact that most of the “pulpish” characters actually draw inspiration from the pre-pulp Victorian adventures, and occasionally other sources. This provides a nice change, especially since many golden age super elements already draw heavily from the most well known pulp archetypes.
The Mechanics
The writeups in Fires of War contain many mechanical surprises for the Hero reader, most of them quite welcome. The most immediately obvious is the aforementioned public knowledge tables. However, with thought, the changed Speed values are an even bigger deal. Not only does the concept of aligning heroic and super heroic speed values help clean up the designs and bring them more into line with origins that do not imply enormous physical ability, but it also would speed up play. The only downside is the reduced compatibility with existing Champions material, as most of the characters would need to be reevaluated, and the fact that this could make non-powered agents more of a threat. The latter, however, is not in fact a real issue, as superhero point values in Fires of War indicate a benchmark nearer to 500 points than the starting 350 of Champions, and it is, in any case, questionable whether 350 point heroes of any kind really should be able to casually stomp agents more than a certain extent.
Another noticeable change is the usage of organizational contacts covering “worlds,” such as the Superhuman World or Military World, rather than individual contacts. This renders the usage of assigned contacts far more feasible, and is an improvement over the prior standby of leaving experience points free to spend on contacts as needed. This usage of organizational contacts, while a bit different than the intended one, should probably be adopted more generally.
Lastly, there are several instances where the method used to represent a given characteristic is notable for its “cleanness,” in terms of functionality. For instance, the character Silent Knight of the Sentinels is, in fact, an identity worn by multiple different people. Rather than crunching this out as some form of Duplicate or Multiform, the writers represented it with a simple VPP of variable attributes, assigned depending on who is wearing the role. Similarly, Feuerzahn, a Nazi-aligned dragon, has both humanoid and draconic forms, with the draconic only characteristics wisely represented as a package of OIHID attributes, rather than a Multiform ( in case you haven’t guessed, Multiform is my least favorite Hero construct ). In a similar vein, Blackwyrm Games is nice enough to give full writeups for almost every Base or Vehicle a character possesses.
There are still a couple of flaws, mechanics-wise. There are a few characters with complex weaponry, and I am almost certain the damage dice from strength are miscalculated. I say “almost,” because I don’t understand the prorating rules very well, myself, so its hardly a major flaw. None of the characters with the Desolid or Resurrection ability have a listed exception condition, but there aren’t many, so this isn’t a big issue. Most disappointing, in my opinion, is the fact that those characters with a Summon ability do not have any example templates for a summoned creature. Still, these are relatively minor qualms, especially for a first work from a company.
In Summary
All told, Algernon Files 2: The Fires of War has much more done right than wrong. Of its flaws, most are trivial; perhaps the most extreme of the “flaws” is the fact that it describes a setting sufficiently interesting that it inspires a desire for a true setting book, a flaw many gaming supplements would be better off having. On the flip side, its strengths are considerable, manifested in every page that convinces you that the setting existed before the characters did.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to all Champions players, with a couple caveats. First, due to design philosophy issues, the material is not “plug and play” for a default Champions game; extensive, albeit minor, modification would be required for one or the other set first. Second, the book makes numerous references to material described in the first Algernon Files book, which has yet to be converted to Hero System. If you are not familiar with that book, then it may be best to wait until it is converted, and start there. Nonetheless, this is quality material, and hopefully, a sign of what is to come in the world of licensed Hero System sourcebooks.
