Champions is a role-playing anomaly and phenomenon. Created during the 1990s tabletop revolution (so to speak), it incorporated a lot of elements that circumvented the traditional mold of role-playing. Creating a framework of playing titled the Hero System, Champions greatly encouraged players to go outside the box in both character creation and role-playing to make interesting and varied characters and scenarios. While it did not originally have as detailed a backstory as it does now, Champions has evolved over the years into something as elaborate as the best D&D settings or Shadowrun. The creation system is also incredibly complex, with systems such as GURPS being the only ones rivaling it in terms of breadth and customization. You could make practically any game from the Hero system, and some have!

The current iteration of the Hero System, and Champions in general, is 6th Edition. This edition coincides with the release of Champions Online, as Cryptic bought the IP and then resold it to the original owners, allowing the two teams to coordinate their efforts into creating a cohesive game whole. In practice, this means that players can trasfer their characters form Champions Online into the tabletop world with little to no hassle or tweaking. However, 6th Edition has yet to be released.

The main Champions mythos always takes into account a team of superheroes called the Champions. These heroes are used as archetypes and examples for players to learn how to create their own characters from. While the line-up has gradually changed over the years, several heroes are recreations of previous team members, so the legacy is continued. As of the latest edition, this line-up is comprised of:

• Defender, a power-suit wearing superhero and heroic center of most of the Champions universe
• Ironclad, an alien gladiator with invulnerable skin who is both intelligent and brutal
• Kinetik, a corporate-sponsored hero that utilizes his incredible speed to dazzle spectators and supervillains alike
• Sapphire, a rockstar-turned-superhero with the power to shoot force beams from her hands
• Witchcraft, a sorceress that fights back against the legacy of dark magic that her family propagated.

The big event that shaped the current face of the Champions world is the Battle of Detroit. The mad supervillain Dr. Destroyer, who is a staple of the series since his introduction in an adventure module, decided to bomb the planet by dragging asteroids into the earth until they submitted to his demands. Foiled twice in a brief period of time, he finally lost it and activated an orbital bombardment beacon on his position, annihilating him complete, killing many superheroes, and leveling Detroit. Millennium City was built on the ashes, and iconic superheroes like Kinetik and Defender were inspired by the sacrifice of the heroes, going on to bring about a new era of superheroism.

The Champions intellectual property was slated for another PC game that was never released. Simply titled Champions, it had more in common with the tactical strategy game Freedom Force (perhaps an intentional tribute on the part of Irrational, as Freedom Force uses a very similar system to Heroes). Unfortunately, due to marital issues between the game's lead programmers, it was cancelled and would never see the light of day. There is a revealing and interesting interview at GameSpot that explains a lot of the process behind the game as well as foreshadowing the inevitable Champions Online.


Champions Online is the continuation of this mythos, and the flagship for the brand new Champions and Heroes System editions. However, while the role-playing games rely almost entirely on players to craft their own exciting stories, Champions Online takes a more structured approach, being an MMO. While it has been hyped as a massively customizable game, you shouldn't believe everything you hear, so let's take a look at the hype and deconstruct it a bit for the average joe to ingest.

The first hype point of Champions Online is the character creation system, This system will no doubt be a major selling point of the game as it was for previous Cryptic endeavors. Cryptic does know how to craft a truly engrossing character creator, and all the hype regarding this new creation system should definitely be appreciated. While the system itself is not new (it is a reskinned City of Heroes creator, after all), it adds more options that the previous game does not have, and that's a major selling point for the MMO enthusiast. After all, World of Warcraft and other such MMOs doesn't really let you customize your character.

The next touting point is the archvillain created by you. While this sounds great in concept, in reality it will probably end up nothing more than a rehash of the character creator, only with some villain that shows up occasionally in randomized missions for you to beat on. There will most likely be no sharing of archvillains (unless you drag a friend along) and no deepening of the game world through player-created content. At least at launch. Cryptic is great about supporting games after release, after all, and with predecessor City of Heroes getting a mission.

While everyone loves playing with their buddies, Champions Online appears to have taken the more fantasy-oriented route of opening up the world and only using instancing for specific missions, usually ones which require a team to complete. While this is a definite plus for those interested in interacting with all the unique creations, it's an interesting design choice given the intended dynamic nature of character creation and play. Standard world design can feel very static and stifling, and this is a big contrast to the proposed dynamism of Champions Online.

Champions Online is definitely a game that has a lot of potential as well as a lot of room to gaffe it up. Character creation will no doubt be incredibly robust, both in terms of costume and powerset, but villain creation does not seem like it would be that big without mission creation as well. The game is hyped to be the next evolution of City of Heroes, but many of the features promised, such as a revamped powers system or a power coloring system, have already been added to or announced for City of Heroes. It will no doubt be a polarising game, and those that play it will either dig through the hype and come to their own conclusions, or be bogged down by unfulfilled expectations.