Let's Read Champions 1e (pgs 55-56)

Finally! Two pages left, but both are short enough that I'm going to do them both today and get this done. I'll do a final entry talking about my overall impressions of these rules, but for now, let's just finish this off.

The first thing I noticed on page 55 is that we actually have art that fits one of the characters: Shrinker! Yes, we have a cool drawing that visualizes the Shrinking power. I mean, sure, it could be Growth, if you look at it the other way, but on the previous page there's a villain with Shrinking power, so let's go with the obvious. It's nice to actually see some character art that fits what we've seen.

Alright, there's one more character here, but it's not a villain or a hero; it's an agent. Specifically, an agent of VIPER, the bad-guy version of UNTIL. They are mentioned in the background of several characters, such as Crusader and Pulsar, but other than that we've had absolutely no information about this organization. So, here is one of their flunkies. He's almost the same as the UNTIL agent listed earlier; he's stronger, but not as fast or tough. He's a better hand-to-hand fighter, but not as good with his blaster rifle as the UNTIL agent. VIPER is an international organization of top underworld and espionage figures. They hire a lot of mercenaries, including villains, and also hire out their muscle to the highest bidder. VIPER is basically a combination of Hydra from Marvel Comics and SPECTRE from the James Bond series.

VIPER is a mainstay of Champions, existing in every single edition. However, it wasn't until the 4th edition book VIPER that they became something of an actual threat. In fact, once that book came out, VIPER disappeared from a lot of players' Hunteds because of how utterly dangerous the organization became. For now, however, they're just mooks to be mowed down by heroes when they are feeling down on their luck.

The last page is the Afterword. The authors promise to produce more items (a promise they would keep, on a somewhat irregular schedule, for several years) such as adventures, books of villains, and supplements. They also solicit artwork, including character pics and scenes from actual play. Not to mention, they invite new Powers, Skills, Disadvantages, Power Advantages, Limitations, Weapons, Armor, and anything else that might be viewed as necessary. I know that vehicles and bases were a missing piece of these rules, but they would eventually show up.

And, aside from one final piece of art depicting whom I presume is the hero Icestar (mentioned in the Dedications on page 2), that is it for this book. 64 pages, including the eight character sheets in the middle, and we have what is essentially a complete superhero roleplaying game. Imagine that: A complete game in a mere 64 pages. It can be done; many of the early RPGs were on that sort of a tight page count. Today, 64 pages doesn't even cover character creation in most RPGs, let alone combat or campaigning.

So, as I said, I'll do a final overview and collection of my thoughts on this book next time. Let me know what you thought of it, too; I look forward to your comments.