So, 6th edition looms on the horizon.

[Law Dog]

I've been playing Champions since it in it's second edition (owned first edition). Loved it when 3rd came along and consolidated everything into one book. Loved it when 4th came along and cleaned up a lot of rules. 5th edition was nice, but started to feel a little gargantuan.

Now we find the prospect of 6th edition looming large.

How does this make the HERO player's around these parts feel?

The jury is still out with me.

[TAROT]

I guess that I found it somewhere in its third edition. At some point, I think I picked up some supplements from second. I really liked the change to fourth.

When fifth edition came out, I read it, and didn't find the changes significant enough to convert, or to justify carrying around the extra 300 pages.

The game was always good if you already had ideas and wanted to implement them, but most of the fifth edition material that I've read was dry and uninspiring. I've also always been disappointed with the lack of guidance for actually running a session, setting the scene, creating a mood, etc.

The game has always been more concerned with the mechanics of a situation than any sort of dramatic reason for having the scene in the first place. When I was fourteen, I didn't care, but as I've aged, I've found that the game is a little more fiddly than I want to deal with (or at least in areas where I don't want the fiddly), and I've mostly switched over to M&M (aka HERO lite).

For the sake of nostalgia, I'm sure that I'll browse the book, but I'm not as excited as I was about previous new editions. While I'm sure that it would appeal to my fourteen-year-old self, I doubt that the changes will be extensive enough that it will perform in a way that is appealing to me now.

[Skunkape]

I bought 5th, but found it didn't enough advantages to outweight the disadvantage of a 300 page book!

6th edition, I think I'll pass, and trust me, Champions is one of my favorite games.

[Moritz]

I didn't realize there was still such a draw for this game system. Guess if WotC can come out with a new version and make money, why can't Hero?

So, like many others, I played the hell out of this system.

[nijineko]

the ones i know who play champions seem to stick with 3e/4e. i'll trust their opinion when it comes out, and if i can get a copy read over it.

[Valdar]

Can you elaborate on when 6th ed is coming out? I have two friends that I want to run a 2-player game for, and I asked one of them what they wanted to play, and she said "Champions" without missing a beat.

I haven't played since high school back in the 80s, and don't have the books anymore, so I'll need to pick them up. Is 6th so close that I should hold off, or will it be like 6 months?

Thanks!

[TAROT]

I'm pretty sure that it's scheduled for Gencon. (August) I think that HERO is pretty good about hitting their publication dates in general.

Of course, having books on the table at Gencon is not always the same thing as having books going through the distributors into the FLGS.

For me, there's the additional one to two month delay for crossing the Canada/US border. I don't expect to see it in a store until October/November.

[Moritz]

That's kinda sad. You can get drugs from Canada overnight, but books take months.

[ErikGraybill]

I haven't played Champions in forever, but I always loved it, and I am looking forward to looking over the 6th edition. I hope I can find a good game to join in with as well soon.

[TAROT]

That's kinda sad. You can get drugs from Canada overnight, but books take months.

Now everything is printed in China, but ten years ago there was the added frustration of opening up the books when they finally did get here to see, "PRINTED IN CANADA."

[Moritz]

"PRINTED IN CANADA."

Would that be 'printed in Canada', shipped to China, distributed to the US and Canada?

[ronpyatt]

Hero System 6th Edition!!!

Yes, I'll be picking up the rule set and maybe the background book. I heard it didn't make the full print for GenCon, but I feel it should be any moment now that it will show up somewhere.

I love what I've heard about the modifications to the system. They took away derived stats, which means Speed will no longer derived from Dex. Area Effect advantage has been drastically overhauled. Phases are the same. Comeliness is gone but replaced with a talent.

Overall, I'd say the learning curve for new players will be greatly improved!

I found a few Hero System Changes. There's not as much revealed as I'd liked.
--- Merged from Double Post ---
GenCon was their original target release, but they had to move it out to late 2009 / early 2010.

[Slipstream]

I'm looking into it as I initially had never heard of it until 2007 with the announcement for Champions Online. I'll consider picking up the book. So many other systems I wanna try with friends (Star Wars d20, Savage Worlds, Cortex), maybe I'll just do a bunch of one-offs, including Champions, and we'll see which we like better.

[ronpyatt]

Got it!

The PDF version has been released, and I'm reading through it. It's pretty straightforward, and I'm liking what I'm seeing. It appears to be a little less daunting on the character creation side. There's also a lot of advise on GM'ing, rule tips, and tweaking the rules for your particular style. The Hero Action Points are pretty cool too.

Of course, the power details are fantastic, and some great example for each power.

[Frydaddy]

I got the pdf at GenCon and just got the hardbacks about a month ago. The 6th ed is GARGANTUAN. You can tell Steve is an attorney. LOL

There are two volumes: character creation is one book to itself and is almost 500 pages. The second volume is combat and adventuring and is almost 300 pages.

Full color (finally!) and very nice.

Changes are not major from 5e but good.

Now if I could just find some players in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I would be good to go....