The Gaming Outpost

The Sidekick Sourcebook is the companion book to the Blood of Heroes RPG. In it, you’ll find updates to previous rules, new powers, skills, drawbacks, combat rules, and more. There’s also new characters that can be used for exisiting campaigns, and a starter scenario for those first-time BoH players.

A Little Bit of Trivia History

The Sidekick Sourcebook, as stated on the back cover, is the result of over four years of improvement. If memory recalls, it was originally intended to clairify a certain superhero RPG that is known as the DC Heroes 3rd Edition. The author (Joshua Marquart) and a host of others on the DC RPG mailing list compiled many revisions for the powers, skills, and rules. The author then compiled them all into the book, and would have released it over the Internet, if it weren’t for the announcement that Pulsar Games bought the rights for the system of the DC Heroes RPG, and released it as the Blood of Heroes RPG. Josh submitted it (with the permission of those vital to the Sidekick’s creation) to Pulsar, and the company was smart enough to pick it up. The rest is history.

The Book

Almost at the very beginning, there is the list of the skills, powers, advantages, drawbacks, bonuses and limitations that have been revised and/or replaced. It then goes straight into the action with the “A Word About Creating More- or Less- Powerful Characters”–excellent advice for those who want to create Cosmic Characters. New Advantages like “Omni-Scholar”, “Local Hero”, and “Ultra Luck” are well done, and the Drawbacks like “Cannot Heal”and “Oblivious” are just mean enough to delight any devious GM.

The Powers Section of the Sidekick Sourcebook has new powers like “Alert” and “Defenseive Adaptation”, while older powers like “Neutralize” and “Superspeed” are either replaced or clarified. Of course, you can’t go wrong with powers like “Dismember”

Chapters 9 and 10 deal with the rules, particularly game physics, combat, environmental situations, and game situations. Pay special attention to the “Rolling Infinite Doubles”, because how many of us have rolled a score of 105 thanks to doubles?

The new characters kick off with the introduction of the Guardians, a hero group formed during WWII, and was reestablished in the 90s. Some good characters, even though some may look familiar to comic readers. The villains are, well, villains! There is Subplots chapter which makes it very easy for the GM to use these heroes, so no excuses!

Finally, we get to the scenario located at the end of the book, entitled “The Game Within A Game”. Yes, there are rules for Live Action Roleplaying using the BoH rules (fans of LARPing should read this section!), and if you are one of those types who hate LARPing, then you should definitely read this section, as the Atomic Soul Suck power is a must for anyone’s roster of LARP powers.

As for the the main plot of the scenario, the setting is at a gaming convention, so why are the heroes there? Seems a celebrity was killed at another con, and an anonymous caller said “He was the first”. Can your heroes discover who’s behind this before the killer strikes again?

The Verdict

If you want the Sidekick Sourcebook for the art, don’t bother–it’s “OK” at best. Otherwise, it’s just plain awful. Some of the art looks unfinished, while others have no such excuse. At the time, they are in the process of adding some new talent, so good luck.

The new layout of the Sidekick Sourcebook is a step above the old format found the Bloof of Heroes. It’s easier to read, and just looks better. However, there are a few mistakes that can be found, which could interrupt your reading.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Blood of Heroes, then pick up the Sidekick Sourcebook. It’s got solid writing, and the information is something you just can’t do without. The Sourcebook is also completely compatible with the DC Heroes 3rd Edition, a fact that one should primarily consider when deciding to purchase this book.

Oh, and the author advises against drinking milk or soda while reading the adventure found in the Sidekick Sourcebook. Seems that it could be forced out of your nose. You have been warned.

For those interested in joining the DC Mailing List, the URL is http://w3.one.net/~joshdm/dch.html