''Heroes Unlimited'' is a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

written by

Kevin Siembieda Kevin Siembieda (born April 2, 1956) is an American artist, writer, designer and publisher of role-playing games. Career Siembieda is a third-generation Polish American. He attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit from 1974 to 1977. ...

and first published by

Palladium Books Palladium Books is a publisher of role-playing games (RPGs) perhaps best known for its popular, expansive '' Rifts'' series (1990–present). Palladium was founded April 1981 in Detroit, Michigan by current president and lead game designer Kevin ...

in 1984. The game is based upon the Palladium Books

Megaversal system The Megaversal system, sometimes known as the Palladium system, is a role-playing game system used in most of the role-playing games published by Palladium Books. It uses dice for roll-under percentile skill checks, roll-high combat checks and sav ...

and is compatible with other games that use the Palladium system.

Description

Heroes Unlimited features superheroes fighting

supervillains A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are ofte ...

in a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

-like world. The game's introduction states that the game was designed to be a "thinking man's" superhero role-playing game where the characters were vulnerable and could not amass an incredible number of skills or abilities. The experience point-system of the game allowed users to defeat one's enemies with heroic sacrifice. Characters in the game are defined by "the eight attributes," skills (dependent on education level), and class, which allows the selection of certain powers or enhanced skills or equipment. The classes include super-powered beings to aliens to technology-based or special-training-based characters. Some classes and super-powers (such as the ancient master class or invulnerability powers) start powerful but do not mature, while other classes and powers have effects strongly tied to character level. The second edition of the game added updates to the previous supplements, in addition to the new play options, along with several new supplements produced by Palladium Books. This edition added new powers and minor rule changes which allowed users to expand play options by adding superpowers to classes, the introduction of the "crazy" heroes option, and added magic-powered characters to the game at the request of the players. The revised edition also included a short rules summary of the Palladium game ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness'' is a role-playing game based on the comic book created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The core rulebook was first published by Palladium Books in September 1985 – a couple years before the ...

'', adding mutant animal character rules and a shortened selection of animals for character creation. The mutant animal characters are generally weaker than standard heroes as the TMNT supplement ''

Turtles Go Hollywood ''Turtles Go Hollywood'' is a supplement published by Palladium Books in 1990 for the comic superhero roleplaying game ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness'' using the Palladium Megaversal system. Publication history ''Turtles Go Ho ...

'' noted.

Publication history

''Heroes Unlimited'' was first published by

in 1984 and revised in 1987. A second edition was published in 1998.

Sourcebooks

#''The

Justice Machine The Justice Machine is a fictional team of superheroes originally created by Michael Gustovich and appearing in comic books from many small publishers in the 1980s and 1990s. Publication history Justice Machine debuted in Noble Comics' ''Justice ...

'' — first printing in 1985 #''Villains Unlimited'' — first printing in 1992 (revised for ''Heroes Unlimited, 2nd Edition'', 1999) #''Aliens Unlimited'' — first printing in 1994 (revised for ''Heroes Unlimited, 2nd Edition'', 1999) #''Gamemaster's Guide'' — first printing June 1999 #''Century Station'' — first printing February 2000 #''Gramercy Island'' — first printing November 2000 #''Aliens Unlimited Galaxy Guide'' — first printing May 2001 #''Mutant Underground'' — first printing February 2003 #''Powers Unlimited'' — first printing June 2003 #''Powers Unlimited 2'' — first printing February 2004 #''Powers Unlimited 3'' — first printing August 2006 #''Armageddon Unlimited'' — first printing February 2011 (ties in with the Megaverse-wide Minion War)

*"Ninjas & Superspies" includes rules on buying martial arts forms with Heroes Unlimited characters *"Rifts Conversion Book" includes notes on modifications to Heroes Unlimited characters *"Skraypers" a

Rifts (role-playing game) ''Rifts'' is a multi-genre role-playing game created by Kevin Siembieda in August 1990 and published continuously by Palladium Books since then. ''Rifts'' takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, deriving elements from cyberpunk, science fic ...

Dimension Book (the 4th) was co-designed as a Heroes Unlimited sourcebook.

Reception

William A. Barton reviewed ''Heroes Unlimited'' in ''

Space Gamer Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

'' No. 72. Barton commented that "if you desire hero-types like Batman, Captain America, Robotman, or Wolverine, ''Heroes Unlimited'' is a superbuy, even if you use it as nothing more than a sourcebook for an existing game." ''Heroes Unlimited'' was ranked 40th in the 1996 reader poll of ''Arcane'' magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time. The UK magazine's editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Superhero roleplaying for the ''Palladium'' player, but not all that easy to pick up."

Reviews

*''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' #40

References

External links

*''Heroes Unlimited'' official discussion board a
Palladium Books ''Forums of the Megaverse''
*''Heroes Unlimited'' a
RPG Geek Database
*''Heroes Unlimited'' a
RPGnet Game Index
{{Authority control Megaverse (Palladium Books) Role-playing games introduced in 1984 Superhero role-playing games