DC Heroes
Encyclopedia
DC Heroes is an out-of-print superhero
role-playing game
set in the DC Universe
, published by Mayfair Games
. Other than sharing the same licensed setting, DC Heroes is unrelated to the West End Games
DC Universe
.
DC Heroes was critically well-received, and despite its out of print status still retains an unusually large and active online community (Statistics).
(or MEGS).
DC Heroes uses a logarithmic scale for character attributes. 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.
Hero Points, which are used as experience points, can be spent during play to influence Action Table Results.
" 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.
The second edition, published in 1989, incorporated material from the Batman
Role-Playing Game and the Superman
Sourcebook. These materials included rules for advantages, drawbacks, and gadgetry.
The third edition, published in 1993, further refined the rules by revamping the point costs of various abilities.
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.
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:
John Colagioia, one of the new owners of Pulsar Games, commented on their current status in March 2007:
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.
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
set in the DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, published by Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English throughout the world...
. Other than sharing the same licensed setting, DC Heroes is unrelated to the West End Games
West End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
DC Universe
DC Universe Roleplaying Game
The DC Universe Roleplaying Game is a Legend System-based role-playing game from West End Games, and set in the DC Comics universe.-History:The game system had several supplementary publications in print during the 1999–2002 timeframe, including:...
.
DC Heroes was critically well-received, 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 SystemMayfair Exponential Game System
The Mayfair Exponential Game System or MEGS is a rules system developed for role-playing games. It is noteworthy for its use of an exponential system for measuring nearly everything in the game. This system makes it possible to have both cosmically-powered characters and ordinary human characters...
(or MEGS).
DC Heroes uses a logarithmic scale for character attributes. 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
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
is many orders of magnitude stronger, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
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.
Hero Points, which are used as experience points, can be spent during play to influence Action Table Results.
History
Mayfair Games published the first edition in 1985. During the same time-frame, DC released its twelve-part "maxi-seriesLimited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
" Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
, which dramatically reshaped the DC universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
. As a result of this timing, both Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
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.
The second edition, published in 1989, incorporated material from the Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
Role-Playing Game and the Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
Sourcebook. These materials included rules for advantages, drawbacks, and gadgetry.
The third edition, published in 1993, further refined the rules by revamping the point costs of various abilities.
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.
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
Ray Winninger
Ray Winninger is a game designer who has worked on a number of roleplaying games, including the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.-Career:...
, 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.
External links
- DC Heroes Yahoo Group - main online community for the game
- Writeups.org – very large database of detailed character writeups for MEGS
- Character Index – MEGS statistics for and general information on DC universe characters
- DC Character Builder – character creation software
- Pen & Paper RPG Database - details on DC Heroes products