More than 20 years ago I can remember playing the Champions pen-and-paper role-playing game where instead of playing generic swordsmen and wizards, each player designed their own iconic superheroic alter ego and played his or her superhero fantasy right there on the tabletop. At the time, video games were about as sophisticated as a simple toys. The most popular video games were to be found arcades, and most were worked additive and simple fare. Fast forward to an unimaginable future. Sophisticated video games – far more fantastic than anything found in an arcade of the past – now reside on our desktops, and role-playing is moving into an online age. The Champions role-playing game that once broadened our horizons on the tabletop is coming to the desktop.
The precursor to all of this, a labor of love known as City Of Heroes, was created by the same company that has now purchased the rights to the original Champions. Cryptic, the studio that brought us the original superhero Massive Multiplayer Online RPG, has learned from its first game and blown past its limitations to create something very much closer to its tabletop or roots.
The MMO space is cluttered with various human fantasies played out in any number of different permutations. Standard sword and sorcery fantasy seems to be the most popular for people trying to get a piece of the World of Warcraft pie, but with everything from Warhammer to Aion either already online or in the pipe – it is not unusual for people to want something a little different.
Champions Online stands out as a sophisticated step forward in creating a very different type of game. Many of the tried-and-true elements are there. Quest givers have exclamation points over their head; although here the exclamation points are surrounded by comic speech bubbles. Heroes are given quests with story names and a list of tasks to complete. We all know the drill.
But from the very beginning Champions Online, like it’s precursor, had to be more sophisticated in its approach to character creation. The designers at Cryptic rightfully divined that players would not want to start off with a boring level I character wearing a gray union suit and a ski mask for costume. Instead they have opted for one of the most complex character creation setups ever made available. Characters can choose to look like almost anything or anyone; barring copyright infringement.
From the beginning these iconic characters are thrown into crisis situations that simulate the kind of action comic book fans love seeing their favorite characters get into. The fantasy of being a super powered Champion in a world where all of our problems come down to simple, easy to define obstacles (like super villains) can be a heady one. Most games in the MMO genre built on the idea of an unknown character with little or no reputation attempting to make his fame and fortune in a rough fantasy world. It can be difficult to stand out with such limited choices. Race is based on a predetermined template as our jobs.
Champions Online, on the other hand, promises the chance to create a nearly fully fleshed out character that has the potential to stand out by nature of a player’s design ability, and their ability to tell a good story through costume and codename. Fighting through the initial crisis zone, characters will emerge and receive a travel power as well as a hero’s reception in the fictional Millinium City. Heady stuff indeed when most people are used to working for hours for no more reward than a shiny belt or shield with a few magical +’s on them.
In the end, of course, the MMO space defines its own. Its own successes and failures. Our personal preferences for what fantasies we wish to live out tend to get canceled out by the overall opinion of the crowd. If superheroes don’t appeal in this context , then perhaps Champions Online will go the way of it’s precursor.
But as the child of an era of towels clothespinned to my back, leaping from the family front porch, I can only say that I am ready to be a Champion again.
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