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Hero System
Widely regarded as the best roleplaying game system ever created, the HERO System returns to print with its new 5th Edition. Written by award-winning game designer Steven S. Long, the 5th Edition updates the classic HERO System rules, providing new options, clarification, and information for Hero gamers everywhere.
Whatever you want to do, in any genre, time period, or setting, the HERO System lets you do it.
The 5th Edition
- The complete HERO System rules, rewritten and revised to adress commonly-asked questions and improve clarity
- Hundreds of new options for Hero gamers, allowing them to better create and define characters, abilities, vehicles, and more
- Over 300 example powers, gadgets, abilities, weapons, and spells for all genres
- A detailed, comprehensive index
Whatever you want to do, in any genre, time period, or setting, the HERO System lets you do it.
The 5th Edition
- The complete HERO System rules, rewritten and revised to adress commonly-asked questions and improve clarity
- Hundreds of new options for Hero gamers, allowing them to better create and define characters, abilities, vehicles, and more
- Over 300 example powers, gadgets, abilities, weapons, and spells for all genres
- A detailed, comprehensive index
372 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2017
When I'm fully functional I read and write and create. When I'm too stressed or tired for that, i just read. When I'm too tired and stressed for that, I watch old TV shows. when I'm too tired and stressed to even follow reruns of Justice League Unlimited, I always, always have headspace for building Champions characters.
Mind you, I don't actually run anything with the Hero Games system. I don't play anything with the Hero Games system. But I was introduced to Champions with the 3rd edition way back in the mists of 1984 and internalized its inherent mechanics enough that now it's like a jigsaw puzzle. You have an image, you work the pieces to fit. It calms the mind, gives clarity on what the character you're playing in another system would look like if you drilled WAAAAAAAY down into the weeds, and that's usually enough.
It's not really a good system for the games I want to run. Bill Stoddard once referred to it as the best super hero combat simulator ever, but not being good for super hero stories, and he's got that right. The system is too mechanically balanced when super hero team characters aren't. The stores run on narrative rather than real world logic. The color and flash of the fights are secondary to the story, and most often end with the hero having a clever trump card or brilliant idea. Champions/Hero isn't built to support ANY of these. Mind you, you can still do it in a campaign, but it's so much a product of, hell a DEFINER of, early 80's gaming style that it doesn't have anything to help the players or GM get there. They have to do it on their own.
Still, when the players and the GM are all on the same page, when everyone who cares about the mechanics share the idea of what the mechanics should do, it can work. But the book itself is like a mandala to me - the system calms the mind, and if it bring things from other games into focus, all the better.
Mind you, I don't actually run anything with the Hero Games system. I don't play anything with the Hero Games system. But I was introduced to Champions with the 3rd edition way back in the mists of 1984 and internalized its inherent mechanics enough that now it's like a jigsaw puzzle. You have an image, you work the pieces to fit. It calms the mind, gives clarity on what the character you're playing in another system would look like if you drilled WAAAAAAAY down into the weeds, and that's usually enough.
It's not really a good system for the games I want to run. Bill Stoddard once referred to it as the best super hero combat simulator ever, but not being good for super hero stories, and he's got that right. The system is too mechanically balanced when super hero team characters aren't. The stores run on narrative rather than real world logic. The color and flash of the fights are secondary to the story, and most often end with the hero having a clever trump card or brilliant idea. Champions/Hero isn't built to support ANY of these. Mind you, you can still do it in a campaign, but it's so much a product of, hell a DEFINER of, early 80's gaming style that it doesn't have anything to help the players or GM get there. They have to do it on their own.
Still, when the players and the GM are all on the same page, when everyone who cares about the mechanics share the idea of what the mechanics should do, it can work. But the book itself is like a mandala to me - the system calms the mind, and if it bring things from other games into focus, all the better.
November 8, 2018
J'ai eu un gros coup de coeur pour cette cinquième édition du Hero System, un système de jeu de rôles générique aux règles complexes mais très riche, et capable de s'incarner dans plusieurs genres représentés par différentes gammes (Fantasy Hero pour le médiéval-fantastique, Star Hero pour la science-fiction, Champions pour les super-héros, etc.)
September 6, 2025
This is one of the most popular versions of the classic point-based TTRPG rules system that powers Champions. I thankfully am just as comfortable with this one as I am with the Sixth Edition. And I have run a couple of games powered by this system, so I am glad to have it at my disposal again.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews