Hero

The Ultimate Gamer's Toolkit

Widely regarded as the best roleplaying game system ever created, the HERO System has become even better with this Revised version of the 5th Edition rules!

Unlike any other roleplaying game, the HERO System provides you with unfettered flexibility, allowing you to exercise your own creativity without hindrance. Build any character, power, gadget, skill, weapon, ability, or vehicle you can think of! It's the ultimate gamer's toolkit, allowing you to do what you do best: create great characters and games.

Whatever you want to do, in any genre, time period, or setting, the HERO System lets you do it!

Become the ultimate Hero gamer with these super-cool, super-sleek Hero dice!

Each set comes with six 6-sided dice. Each face displays the STUN count as well as pips for counting BODY. And the "1" side proudly displays the Hero logo.

With these dice, you can now truly be a Hero!

Most gamers are familiar with the dragons, ogres, and vampires of European myth and legend - but not necessarily the Pennangalan of Malaysia, the Oni of Japan, the Ch'ing-shih of China, or any of dozens of other monsters from the lands of Asia. The Asian Bestiary provides complete details and character sheets for these wondrous beasts and demons for Fantasy Hero and Ninja Hero.

Every gamer’s heard of dragons, vampires, werewolves, and zombies — but how about kitsune, langsuir, aswang, nat, tokkaebi, penanggalan, or rolang?

The Asian Bestiary, Volume II is the second Hero Games guide to these and dozens more strange, eerie, and dangerous monsters, creatures, beings, and fantastic animals from the cultures and folklore of Asia. It includes monsters from:

Pull on your night-black cloak and slouch hat, strap on your gleaming twin automatics, and get ready for action! These sixteen never-before-published tales of uncanny mystery and strange adventure take you from the skies over the Mexican badlands, to the gritty streets of New York, and the secret-shrouded heart of the African jungle. Astounding Hero Tales presents original works by such critically-acclaimed and bestselling storytellers as Hugh B. Cave, Robert Weinberg, Ed Greenwood, Robin D. Laws, Thomas M. Reid, and Will Murray, as well as a newly-discovered yarn by Lester Dent, creator of the pulp icon Doc Savage!

Editor James Lowder has helmed more than a dozen critically acclaimed anthologies, with subjects ranging from Arthurian Britain to zombies, and has written several best-selling novels, including Prince of Lies and Knight of the Black Rose. He’s been a finalist for the Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award, and is a two-time Origins Award winner.

THE TIME OF THE DESTROYER Of all the villains in the Champions Universe, the most powerful and most feared is Dr. Destroyer. Gifted with phenomenal intelligence and possessing some of the most advanced technology on Earth, he’s dedicated all of his resources to conquering the world and defeating anyone who dares to oppose him. The Book Of The Destroyer is your guide to everything Destroyer. It features: —a thorough look at the man himself, including his personal history, his many attempts to take over the world, his personality and psychology, and detailed information about his powered armor —complete information on Shadow Destroyer, a strange new denizen of the Champions Universe who seems to have taken Dr. Destroyer’s place —character sheets and information about Dr. Destroyer’s followers, including supervillains, agents, and more —descriptions of his technology, including weapons, vehicles, and his legions of robots —details about and maps of his many secret headquarters and bases around the world (and beyond!) —a chapter on gamemastering Dr. Destroyer, with tips on how to work him into your campaign, ideas for how he can interact with your heroes, and plot seeds So tell your heroes to get ready — it’s time for them to face the might of Destroyer!

Champions Battlegrounds is a collection of five adventures for Champions, each focusing on a particular location that you can use repeatedly in your campaign. You can run the scenarios individually, or as part of a single story arc. Do your heroes have what it takes to survive.

Most superheroes and villains may live and fight in the United States, but America's neighbor to the North is no stranger to superhuman activity. Champions Of The North is your guide to the Champions Universe in Canada. Written by native Canadians and edited by Americans, it's the perfect resource for superheroic campaigning and adventure in the Great White North!

It’s been five years since the publication of Champions Universe, and a lot’s happened since then. Villains have come and gone, hero teams have gone through all sorts of changes, and more than one master villain has tried to take over or destroy the world. Champions Universe: News Of The World takes a look at the current state of the Champions Universe setting and lets you in on everything that’s taken place.

It includes:

SUPERHUMANS AROUND THE WORLD

The United States may have a major share of superhumans in the Champions Universe, but it's not the only place you can find heroes and villains. Every continent has plenty of costumed criminals and crimefighters of its own, ranging from people with trivial abilities to those with the power to shake the world.

Champions Worldwide is your guide to superheroes and supervillains from outside the United States. Featuring over seventy new characters, plus information on the current state of the Superhuman World in each continent or region.

No matter where your Champions campaign takes your characters, Champions Worldwide has plenty of exciting new adversaries and allies for them to meet!

One of the HERO System’s greatest strengths is its character creation rules, which allow you to create any type of character you can dream up and to define his abilities as precisely as you need. The basic rules in Chapter One of The HERO System 5th Edition, Revised rulebook, combined with the more advanced or genre-specific rules in various HERO System books, provide the most detailed and flexible character creation rules available.

To help your game run as smoothly and enjoyably as possible, The HERO System Character Creation Handbook compiles the character creation rules from The HERO System 5th Edition, Revised rulebook with key character creation rules from supplements like Champions and Fantasy Hero to create a comprehensive HERO System character creation reference. Additionally, The HERO System Character Creation Handbook supplements that material with new rules, expanded and clarified rules, and other information so you have all the character creation rules you need right at your fingertips!

Not every organization in the Champions Universe is as big and powerful as VIPER or DEMON... but that doesn’t mean they’re not every bit as dangerous! Crews, Cops, And Cabals provides complete information about several organizations suitable for any Champions campaign. It includes the mutant-hating Institute for Human Advancement, bounty hunters who specialize in superhuman prey, the Metahuman Activities Response Squad of the Millennium City Police Department, laboratories dedicated to studying supertechnology, and many more.

Even in Fantasy Hero worlds where magic exists and characters can rule kingdoms, sometimes a hero needs just the right equipment to get the job done. That means magical items — weapons, armor, staffs, and other objects with enchantments placed upon them to give them power.

Enchanted Items contains hundreds of pre-generated magical items for your Fantasy Hero games. They’re organized into thirteen categories:

Not everyone can have superpowers and fight crime. But the guy selling newspapers down on the corner, the woman working as a receptionist for a superhero team, a lawyer specializing in defending supervillains, and a superhero's kid brother - all these are important characters, too, with stories of their own to tell and lots of flavor and adventure they can add to your Champions games. Everyman takes a look at these unsung, ordinary, but all too important people in ways that can add depth and excitement to any Champions character or campaign.

EVIL WITHIN YOUR GRASP!

As every Champions fan knows, you can never have too many great villains! But with so many Champions books in print, sometimes it’s hard to find just the villain you’re looking for without a lot of page-flipping.

That’s where Evil Unleashed comes in. It saves you the effort of carrying a lot of books to the gaming table and the time needed to look through them for the particular villain you want. It collects the villains from nearly a dozen supplements:—

- Champions, Champions Battlegrounds, Champions Universe, Millennium City, Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth, the Ultimate series, UNTIL, Vibora Bay, Villainy Amok

and puts them between two covers so you only have to refer to one book when you’re searching for a superpowered bad guy. And for a little added fiendishness Evil Unleashed includes five all-new villains: the supervillain team Merc-Force 1; the mysterious, demonsouled supermage Josiah Brimstone; and Vixen, a swift and seductive cat burglar with other goals on her mind than just robbery.

So you’d better make sure your heroes out on patrol tonight keep their eyes open! Some evil’s about to be unleashed on your campaign....

Tens of thousands of years before the modern day, Earth was a very different place: a realm where Magic took the place of Science, strange monsters walked the land, and the Dominion of Atlantis was the most powerful land in the world.

The Atlantean Age is your guide to this wondrous High Fantasy setting for Fantasy Hero—to a world where characters possess awesome powers of might and magic that may make them the equal of the gods themselves!

It includes:

Need maps, exciting locations, and scenarios for our Fantasy Hero campaign? Fantasy Hero Battlegrounds has just what you’re looking for. In addition to several scenarios (all linked together into a story arc, but each suited to be used on its own), it has maps and descriptive text for numerous locations suited to any fantasy world — castles, temples, wizards’ towers, village inns, alchemist’s shops, and more.

AN ARSENAL OF GADGETS

Superheroes (and villains!) are famous for the super-science gadgets they use - everything from blaster pistols, to flying platforms, to armored capes, to super-handcuffs... and more. Gadgets And Gear brings you thousands of such amazing devices for Champions!

Take you Champions game to the stars - and beyond! - with Galactic Champions, a sourcebook covering the high-powered, hard-hitting heroes who protect entire galaxies and realities. Galactic Champions heroes are cosmically powerful, with abilities that dwarf those of standard superheoes... but the villains they fight are just as tough!

“Gestalt” is Scott Bennie's unique world of superhuman archetypes. Superhero comic books contain worlds of Archetypes, individuals who represent important symbols. They are populated by characters who represent concepts such as Heroism, Strength, Speed, Cleverness, The Elements, Kindness, Cruelty, and Ambition. All fiction deals in archetypes or symbols, but comic books apply them more consciously than most fictional forms.

The Gestalt campaign takes the idea of "character as Archetype" one step further. In this campaign world, Gestalt-Earth, the characters are the symbols. A physically powerful superhero might not just be a strong guy - he could be an embodiment of Strength. A Gestalt martial arts master isn't just a superb fighter - he's also a human representation of his chosen art. The master lives its philosophy at all times, getting into situations where he demonstrates his art and its virtues, championing those who follow the art, and using the art to advance his or her personal fortunes.

While characters in the Gestalt-Earth setting look and act like superheroes, in many ways they fulfill the role of mythological gods, becoming the champion of concepts and portfolios.

SECRET LANDS OF DANGER

The Champions Universe contains many places and races hidden from the sight and attention of everyday people. Whether they’re benevolent or evil, each of them may create peril or trouble for your heroes.

FIENDISH PULP MENACE!

What’s a good hero without a great villain to oppose him? For truly exciting Pulp Hero adventures, you need just the right villains, and that’s what Masterminds And Madmen gives you: over 80 Pulp villains ranging from world-threatening master criminals to petty crooks suitable for one-on-one battles with your heroes. No matter what type of Pulp Hero campaign you’re running, Masterminds And Madmen has just the villains you need!

MONSTERS, MINIONS, AND MARAUDERS! Located just a hundred miles from Japan is a strange and deadly island — a place where gigantic alien monsters battle one another for supremacy, evil entities search for artifacts of power, and villainous organizations scheme and collaborate. This is Monster Island, where even the boldest, strongest superheroes come face to face with enemies powerful enough to give them pause. Monster Island is your guide to the entire island, including: a detailed history of Monster Island, from its creation by the alien Qularr in 1965 up to the present day character sheets for the giant monsters living on the island information on Bureau 17, the Japanese organization that keeps the monsters under control a region-by-region review of every area of the island — Wayfarer Coast; Slither Beach; Wells’ Pass; the Feral Tangle; the ARGENT Corporate Wildlife Preserve; Echinocos Shore; and Andrithal — with plenty of maps of key locations a description of the various factions competing for power and territory on the island — such as the Qularr, VIPER, the Elder Worm, and the Lemurians — including their leaders, lieutenants, and resources Inspired by and based on the Monster Island zone from the Champions Online massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, Monster Island is lavishly illustrated with screenshots, character pictures, and other art taken directly from the game. So get your heroes ready for their greatest challenge yet: Monster Island!

Every Fantasy campaign needs adversaries to challenge the PCs, whether those adversaries are the darkest-hearted of Evil beings, greedy dragons, or duplicitous nobles bent on using the heroes for their own gain. Nobles, Knights, And Necromancers details dozens of enemies for Fantasy Hero. Although the enemies it features are taken from Hero’s “Turakian Age” setting, they’re suitable for almost any Fantasy campaign.

FROM OUT OF THE RUINS... One of the most popular and enduring types of adventure fiction is the post-apocalyptic story, in which brave heroes struggle to survive in a world where mankind’s civilization has fallen. Rooted in ancient myths about the end of the world, these stories mix thrilling adventure with profound ethical issues.

Post-Apocalyptic Hero is your ultimate guide to the post-apocalyptic genre for gaming. It covers the genre in all its many forms, providing information and resources for both players and GMs. It includes:

Predators is a book of enemies for Dark Champions. It's filled with criminals, killers, terrorists, druglords, thieves, and every other sort of scum you can imagine, from the mundane to the bizarre.

SCHOOL IS IN SESSION!

Welcome to PS238, the world’s first school for metaprodigies — children with superpowers! They have to learn how to be superheroes along with their math, history, and social studies, and PS238 is where they do that... and occasionally get into an adventure or two.

The PS238 Roleplaying Game brings you the fun and touching world of PS238 from Aaron Williams’s acclaimed comic book. Using the award-winning HERO System rules, it lets you create and play your own metaprodigy character. It’s fun for children of all ages!

THRILLING PULP ADVENTURE!

The Twenties and Thirties were a golden age of adventure as two-fisted heroes and daring explorers came to life in the pages of pulp magazines. Now you can create roleplaying games and characters set in this thrilling era!

Pulp Hero discusses and describes the Pulp genre for gaming, covering everything from masked crimefighters, to globetrotting adventurers, to daring pilots, to eerie menaces... and beyond! It shows how to create characters, campaigns, abilities, weapons, and other elements of the genre using the HERO System rules.

When the deadliest villains of two universes - Dr. Destroyer and Kreutzritter - team up to threaten both realities with their evil schemes, it's up to the heroes of both worlds - The Guard and the Champions - to join forces and stopthem... but they need your heroes' help if they're going to succeed! Reality Storm presents this pulse-pounding superhero adventure for two game systems - Champions and Silver Age Sentinels - with enough action and adventure to satisfy any campaign!

Reality Storm includes: