Champions

by Ron Dulin
design by Ethan O'Brien

In 1981, the first edition of Champions was published. Designed by Steve Peterson and George MacDonald, the superhero role-playing game was an instant success, establishing Hero Games as a serious player in the then-competitive pen-and-paper RPG market. The game differentiated itself from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the like by not being experience based, and to this day many avid gamers consider the Champions system one of the best role-playing systems ever developed.

With this kind of success, it was only natural that a PC game based on Champions would go into development. And the success of such a game seemed almost a sure bet. Computer games were still a fringe phenomena at this point, but the crossover between role-playing gamers and computer gamers was immense. Throw in the comic-book factor, and you had a game with a potentially huge audience.

So it was no wonder that, shortly after the launch of the pen-and-paper game, Steve Peterson began formulating the idea for the electronic adaptation of Champions. But, due to the technical limitations of hardware in the mid-'80s, it would be several years before the game would actually go into development. And it would never be finished.

Despite the seemingly perfect combination of elements behind the game, the PC version of Champions wasn't to be. Perhaps, like so many non-AD&D-based role-playing games, it was affected by that mysterious ailment that caused the disappointing adaptations of games like Magic: The Gathering and Bureau 13, and killed other adaptations outright, such as Interplay's GURPS (which transformed into Fallout).

Or perhaps it was the curse of the superhero game, which began with Champions. While it is a common cliché to cite this so-called "curse," it's hard to ignore the fact that many promising superhero games (Microprose's Agents of Justice, Bullfrog's The Indestructibles) have been shelved during development. And while numerous games based on superheroes have seen the light of day (such as Steve Meretzky's Superhero League of Hoboken and Scott Adams' Marvel Comics-based adventure games), no game has managed to invoke the feeling of playing a being endowed with incredible powers.

Champions would have been that game.

Next: What was it? And what happened to it?