We liked the way it handled variable damage. We liked the way it distinguished between mental and mystical attributes. We liked the way it handled key powers, such as mimic, growth, superspeed and sorcery. Even though most of us were Marvel fans, we eventually settled on DC Heroes as the system that better suited our needs. I just know what I like and what I don’t.īack in the 80’s, my gaming group was torn between two superhero game systems: DC Heroes and TSR’s “Classic” Marvel Super Heroes Role-Playing Game. I’m not a designer, developer or writer, and I don’t know two cents about the gaming industry. I’ve got no connection with Pulsar Games whatsoever. Where am I coming from? I’m just a gamer. After a long wait, the Special Edition is now available. Pulsar decided to merge the two books into a “Special Edition” with an aim toward (1) improved art and layout, (2) a more interesting and coherent character setting, and (3) even more bells and whistles. The general consensus was that this was a good to excellent rules supplement, but that the art still left a lot to be desired. This production met with substantially better reviews on RPGnet: See articles by: Robert Dalmont (7-9-99), Adam Stein (7-24-99), and Christopher Tatro (7-27-99). Pulsar wisely acquired this material and assembled it into the 180-page Sidekick Sourcebook. Meanwhile, Joshua Marquart, a talented freelancer, had compiled, with the aid of a fanatical and masochistic cult known as the DC Heroes Mailing List, a wonderful compendium of new powers, advantages, drawbacks and stunts, tailor-made for the game. Citing poor layout, bad artwork and a hackneyed setting, he concluded that the consumer would be better served by buying a copy of the Mayfair version on e-bay. Kitkowski praised the award-winning Mayfair Exponential Gaming System (MEGS), but observed that Pulsar’s version added almost nothing to it. A scathing, but accurate, review was posted on RPGnet by J. Pulsar’s first effort, Blood of Heroes, was not generally well received. To make a long story short, Pulsar, Inc., a small fish in the gaming industry, obtained the rights to the underlying game system, tacked on an original campaign setting, and gave it a go. Later, the company went into financial reorganization. At some point, Mayfair lost the license to the DC characters. The core rules are drawn from the Mayfair’s DC Heroes Role-Playing Game, which went out of print several years ago. Though the game mechanics could be used for almost any genre, make no mistake about it, this is a superhero game. BoH:SE also includes new rules material, a revised campaign section, new interior artwork, and a Dave Dorman cover. Blood of Heroes: Special Edition (BoH:SE) essentially combines Pulsar’s Blood of Heroes and its Sidekick Sourcebook into one seamless manual.
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