I haven’t played Champions since high school, but I remember it as a fine game for the genre (in my own case, it got displaced by TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes, but that wasn’t through any fault of Champions). There’s a bit of bad news from Hero Games, publisher of Champions and the Hero system RPG, that they are laying off two of their full-time staff and remaining with staff of one. Even though I don’t count myself as an avid fan, I hate to see this sort of thing befall a stalwart of the hobby/industry, and hope that things turn around for them soon.
That's too bad. Champions was a very innovative system and a lot of fun to play. At least the 1st and 2nd ed. It seems Hero games suffers from a lot of modern rpgs do with over complicating things and huge door stopper rulebooks. But I wish them the best.
This is indeed a bummer but not surprising to me. Champions is, at least IMHO, over-developed at this point.
As Atom Kid said, waaay too many huge books with waaay too much stuff in them to remember. Plus, the way they went about releasing the 'core' books for this current edition didn't sit well with me.
I am currently running a Champions campaign very successfully using the 4th edition book, just like I did 10 years ago and 10 years before that.
I am happy you go to visit The Complete Strategist, but you miss a large chunk of it! There is actually a very Large Gaming FLOOR downstairs, easily twice the size of the main store. With very high ceilings too boot!
The room fits some eight (!) full game tables, I have seen that room easily fit 56 gamers on a Saturday of gaming. I have seen very full tables run at the same time and the games range from AD&D 1st Ed to Star Wars D6 and Warhammer 40K all within a few feet of each other.
They have open gaming in these areas Thursdays and Saturdays. They keep the store open late Thursdays (9 pm or later) and have Wargame Wednesdays as well durig the summer.
There are long term lockers where veteran players can leave maps, dioramas, paint and minis for thier contiued use that are left there so players don't have to bring all thier game material.
What I consider the best part: The are literally 200+ games that are available to play in the area, anyting from Axis & Allies to to Ogre to Pathfinder. All ready to play for anyone wanting to run a game. Al free of charge. There are even maps and dioramas for game use if you want to bring your own armies. There is some free paint and brushes for those want to work on thier minis while playing.
The level is below street level and The Strad does not charge a dime for the use of the room.
Sad to hear about the Lay-Offs, but I am very glad to hear they will be continuing with at least one full-time staff member. I have yet to play a game of Champions or use any of the HERO system stuff. Some day perhaps.
I do wonder what this means for the Champions: Online MMO that is out there. It looks interesting and is free to play. Anyone try this out yet?