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DC Heroes

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For Heroes in the DC Universe, see List of DC Comics characters.
"Blood of Heroes" redirects here. For the 1989 science fiction film, see The Blood of Heroes.
DC Heroes Role-Playing Game
DC Heroes 1st Edition Box Cover
DesignersGreg Gorden (3rd Ed.)
PublishersMayfair Games
Publication1985 (1st Ed.)
1989 (2nd Ed.)
1993 (3rd Ed.)
GenresSuperhero
SystemsMayfair Exponential Game System

DC Heroes is an out-of-print superhero role-playing game set in the DC Universe, published by Mayfair Games. [1] Other than sharing the same licensed setting, DC Heroes is unrelated to the West End Games DC Universe or to the more recent Green Ronin Publishing DC Adventures game.

DC Heroes was critically well-received, [1] and despite its out of print status still retains an unusually large and active online community (Statistics).

Gameplay

The game system in DC Heroes is sometimes called the Mayfair Exponential Game System (or MEGS). DC Heroes uses a logarithmic scale for character attributes. For example, a value of 3 is double a value of 2 and four times a value of 1. The scale allows characters of wildly different power levels to co-exist within the same game without one completely dominating a given area. For example, although Superman is many orders of magnitude stronger, Batman is capable of surviving a straight brawl with him for a short period. Conflicts are resolved using an Action Table and two ten-sided dice. The die-rolling system involves re-rolling any double result (the same number on both dice), so that any result is possible. Depending on the result on the Action Table, play moves to a Results Table to determine the degree of success if an action succeeds.

Characters have a set of Attributes, Powers and Skills. Attributes are the nine qualities every character has, while Powers and Skills reflect innate ability or training.

Hero Points, which are used as experience points, can be spent during play to influence Action Table Results. Hero Points are also used in the creation of original characters -- as in other points-based games all abilities cost a certain number of Hero Points to buy and improve. Because the power level of characters in the DC Universe varies so greatly, characters are built using varying amounts of Hero Points depending on the scale of the campaign.

History

Mayfair Games published the first edition in 1985. During the same time-frame, DC released its twelve-part "maxi-series" Crisis on Infinite Earths, which dramatically reshaped the DC universe. As a result of this timing, both Silver Age and pre-Crisis writeups were included alongside new, post-Crisis versions of the characters. While it was groundbreaking in its time, this edition of the game is now considered obsolete by the online community.[citation needed]

An simplified version of DC Heroes, called The Batman Role-Playing Game was released in 1989 to coincide with the Batman film. [2]

The second edition, published in 1989, was a boxed set which contained a "Read This First" introductory booklet, a "Rules Manual", an introductory adventure "Exposed", and a "Background/Roster Book" with game statistics for almost 250 DC characters. The set also contained "GM Screen", an "Action Wheel" for resolving gameplay, two decks of cards with statistics for DC Comics characters, and dice. [3] The rules incorporated material from the Batman Role-Playing Game and the Superman Sourcebook. These materials also included rules for advantages, drawbacks, and gadgetry. [3]

The third edition, published in 1993, further refined the rules by revamping the point costs of various abilities. SInce the release concided with the Death of Superman and Rise of the Supermen storyarcs, it included ratings for all four variant versions of Superman that appeared in that storyarc.

Blood of Heroes

Mayfair Games eventually sold the rights to the Mayfair Exponential Game System to another company, Pulsar Games, which later released the Blood of Heroes role-playing game. Blood of Heroes is largely derived from the third edition of DC Heroes but without a license to use DC Comics' intellectual property. DC-brand characters were instead replaced with new characters created specifically for the Blood of Heroes universe.

The setting included with the game is a 1990s-style superhero world with a heavy influence of occult and magical beings, which accounts for the much more detailed magic system included in the game.

A subsequent edition, Blood of Heroes: Special Edition, incorporated a large number of rule tweaks as well as lots of new material, often derived from proposals from the online community.

In 2004 Pulsar Games was sold to new owners. Since then, nothing has been done official with the game, leaving it inactive.

Reception

Reviewing the second edition of DC Heroes in Dragon magazine, Allen Varney praised the games' rules, stating DC Heroes "combines broad combat options with speed of play. It quantifies noncombat interaction, such as interrogation, better than any game I know. Its AP system shows true ingenuity and, in the second edition, improved realism." [3] However, Varney criticised the game's rules for building gadgets, saying that the second edition was "Mayfair's third try at gadgets, and the rules still don't work." [3] Varney concluded his review with "if you find other superhero RPGs too slow or complex for your taste -- and if you don't mind one-table systems -- use the DC HEROES rules as a fast-paced superheroic combat system for your own campaign world." [3]

Status of the MEGS Game System as of February 2009

The original owners of Pulsar sold the company to its current owners in late 2003 (http://www.pulsargamesinc.com/). The new owners have stated their intention to continue the Blood of Heroes line as recently as March 2007 (See message #39370 of the DC Heroes Yahoo Group) but cited the need to address certain issues first, including the legal question of the game's ownership.

Ray Winninger, author of the DC Heroes RPG Second Edition and editorial director for Mayfair's DC Heroes line, summarized his understanding of the ownership question as follows:

"1) Our contract with DC specified that DC Comics holds the copyright on every product we released. If you check the indices, you'll note they all say 'Copyright (C) DC Comics Inc.' The contracts didn't specify anything like 'Mayfair owns the copyright to the actual game rules, while DC retains the rights to its IP' or anything similar, just 'all DCH products are copyright DC Comics-period.' This would suggest that DC actually owns DC HEROES. I know for certain that DC *believes* they own all rights to the game and everything produced for it and I suspect they're probably right.

"2) Greg Gorden believes that his contract specified that he retained ownership of the DCH game system once DCH was out of print. When I was at Mayfair I looked for this agreement and couldn't find it-but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. One potential problem is that it's unclear that Mayfair could have made such an arrangement with Greg in the first place. Remember, the DC licensing agreement specified that DC would retain full and perpetual copyright over everything we released.

"3) Pulsar licensed DCH from Mayfair but it's not 100% clear that Mayfair ever had the necessary rights to grant such a license in the first place (#1 and #2 above)." (Quoted from message #45554 of the DC Heroes Yahoo Group)

John Colagioia, one of the new owners of Pulsar Games, commented on their current status in March 2007:

"We've been dealing frequently with the owner's legal team to try to get a handle on who owns what, who licenses/can license what, and how much room there is to change things. When I have an update of use, I'll relate it here, because it'll mean big things are coming on Pulsar's side, too." (Quoted from message #38995 of the DC Heroes Yahoo Group)

As of January 21, 2009, no further public statements have been made by any of the involved parties as to the current status of the game.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Michael A. Martin, "Superhero Role-Playing Games" in Gina Renée Misiroglu and David A. Roach, The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Comic-Book Icons And Hollywood Heroes. Visible Ink Press, 2004, ISBN 9781578591541 (pp. 512-515).
  2. ^ Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio. The Many lives of the Batman: critical approaches to a superhero and his media. Routledge: London, 1991. ISBN 0-85170-276-7, (p.58).
  3. ^ a b c d e Allen Varney, "The State of the Art in Superheroics, Part 2", . Dragon Magazine, January 1991. Cite error: The named reference "av" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

List of DC Heroes Supplements

  • 201 - DC HEROES RPG : Original Boxed Set
  • 202 - H.I.V.E. by Troy Denning.
  • 203 - Blood Feud by Jeff O'Hare.
  • 204 - Siege by Jerry Epperson and Craig Patterson. 1st Edition.
  • 205 - Batman Sourcebook (1st Edition)
  • 206 - Wheel of Destruction by Matthew J. Costello.
  • 207 - All That Glitters by Greg Gordon.
  • 208 - Project Prometheus by Greg Gordon and Lee Maniloff.
  • 209 - Countdown to Armageddon by Dan Greenberg.
  • 210 - Doomsday Program by Mark Acres.
  • 211 - Four Horsemen of Apokolips .
  • 212 - Night in Gotham By Walter Hunt.
  • 213 - Legion of Superheroes: Vol. 1 : Character Sourcebook
  • 214 - Escort to Hell: Jonah Hex by Matthew J. Costello.
  • 215 - Fire and Ice By Bruce Humphrey.
  • 216 - Legion of Superheroes: Vol. 2 : World Sourcebook
  • 217 - King of Crime : Flash's Rogues' Gallery Adventure by Jeff O'Hare.
  • 218 - Don't Ask! By Scott Jenkins.
  • 219 - Lines of Death : Green Arrow/Black Canary Match-Play by Mark Acres.
  • 220 - When A Stranger Calls by Ray Winninger.
  • 221 - Eternity, INC. by Lawrence Schick.
  • 222 - An Element of Danger By Steve Perrin.
  • 223 - Pawns of Time Legion of Super-Heroes Adventure series #1 by Steve Crow and Chris Mortika.
  • 224 - Knight to Planet 3 LSH Adventure series #2 by Mark Acres.
  • 225 - Mad Rook's Gambit LSH Adventure series #3 By Mark Acres.
  • 226 - King For All Time LSH Adventure series #4 By Mark Acres.
  • 227 - Who Watches the Watchmen? By Dan Greenberg.
  • 228 - The Dream Machine By Mark Acres.
  • 229 - Rigged Results by Bruce Humphrey.
  • 230 - Belle Reve Sourcebook featuring the Suicide Squad By Steve Crow and Doug Franks.
  • 231 - Lights, Camera... Kobra by Ray Winninger.
  • 232 - The Hardware Handbook : Gadget Sourcebook #1
  • 233 - Superman Sourcebook (1st Edition) By Steve Crow and Chris Mortika.
  • 234 - The Green Lantern Corps Sourcebook by Ray Winninger.
  • 235 - Watchmen 2: Taking out the Trash by Ray Winninger. Features the

essay "The World of the Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Winninger

George Pérez.

  • 240 - City of Fear : Flash Adventure by Scott Jenkins.
  • 241 - Justice League Sourcebook By Ray Winninger. 2nd Edition.
  • 242 - Operation: Atlantis by Stephen R. Crow. 1st Ed.
  • 243 - War of the Gods : Superman/Wonder Woman Match-Play by Dan Greenberg.
  • 244 - Apokolips Sourcebook : Darkseid & The New Gods by Scott Paul Maykrantz.
  • 245 - DC HEROES RPG : Boxed Set (2nd Edition).
  • 246 - Batman Sourcebook (2nd Edition) By Mike Stackpole. 2nd/3rd Ed.
  • 247 - The Atlas of the DC Universe by Paul Kupperberg.
  • 248 - Come on Down! by Ray Winninger and Jack Barker.
  • 249 - The Otherwhere Quest Green Lantern Adventure by Ray Winninger.
  • 250 - Deadly Fusion : Batman/Superman Match-Play by Thomas R. Cook
  • 251 - The Law of Darkness : New Gods Adventure By Scott Paul Maykrantz.
  • 252 - The New Titans Sourcebook by John J. Terra.
  • 253 - In Hot Pursuit : Action Comics Anthology By John J. Terra, Joe Pecsenyicki,

Douglas P. Franks, and Willaim Tracy .

  • 254 - The Watchmen Sourcebook by Ray Winninger.
  • 255 - Magic : Sourcebook on DC Magic by Dan Greenberg.
  • 256 - Swamp Thing : Sourcebook/Solitaire By Ray Winninger.
  • 257 - The World at War : WWII Sourcebook By Ray Winninger.
  • 258 - Superman Sourcebook (2nd Edition). By Roger Stern.
  • 259 - World in the Balance : JLI Adventure By Mike Moe and Beverly Hale.
  • 260 - Who's Who #1 : Backgrounds of Characters and Places #1. Based

on Who's Who in the DC Universe.

  • 261 - Who's Who #2 : Backgrounds of Characters and Places #2.
  • 262 - Sandman Sourcebook based on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Unpublished.
  • 263 - Legion of Superheroes : 2995 Sourcebook By Tom and Mary Bierbaum.
  • 264 - Who's Who #3 : Backgrounds of Characters and Places #3
  • 265 - DC Technical Manual : Gadgetry Sourcebook 2.
  • 266?? - The Flash Sourcebook Unpublished.
  • 267 - DC HEROES RPG : Revised Softcover Edition (3rd Edition) by Ray Winninger.
  • 268?? - Who's Who #4 : Backgrounds of Characters and Places #4. Unpublished.
  • 2004 - New Teen Titans 5-Pack : Contains various Modules

202, 203, 208, 210, & 215 & Information on how to convert First Edition rules to Second Edition ones.

  • 299 - The Batman Role-Playing Game by Ray Winninger.
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