A forum post by dev team member Steve Long over on the HERO Games official forums has given us pretty convincing evidence that the recently revealed Cryptic MMO Champions Online, is in fact based on the Champions table-top roleplaying game first launched back in 1981. If true, this piece of information gives a slightly more clear view on what kind of game we can expect Champions Online to become.There's definitely some exciting possibilities with the system offered by Champions, which has arguably one of the most flexible rule set we've ever seen. We're talking custom powers here.
Champions is a game based on point allocation, meaning that everything from character stats, abilities or even powers function and scale on a points-based system. This allows for copious amounts of customization for players, since they aren't forced to pick any one set of powers. There's a lot to absorb about the rule set, but essentially characters with similar point totals are usually equals. The biggest complaint given to the Champions table-top game is that it's very math-heavy for whoever is running a play session, but this isn't a problem in a massively game.
Cryptic could have a real killer license on their hands here, considering one of City of Heroes' biggest strengths was character customization. Just imagine if players could customize not only how their powers work, but how they appear as well. It could be a comic book geek's new online haven, which could spell bad news for any superhero competitors if done properly.
