Live the Legend! The classic RPG returns in a faithful reissue with upgrades, exclusive dice, and more!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
DC Heroes Pledge Manager Launching Today!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 11:11:06 AM
DC Heroes fans,
Happy New Year! Some fantastic news to start the year: Pledge manager surveys powered by BackerKit are going out starting today to all backers. You should be receiving emails over the next 24 hours from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. You’ll be able to finalize your pledge by choosing add-ons, upgrading your pledge level, choosing multiple tiers, paying for shipping, filling out your shipping address, and more. Please note: we cannot ship your items without having your address and receiving payment for shipping. The deadline is March 1 at 10 am PT, at which point we will lock orders and charge cards.
Important shipping notes:
If you ordered more than 455 lbs of items (more than the equivalent of 2 Retailer Tiers), your shipping will show a ridiculously high number. This won’t be the actual amount you pay! For backers who order more than 455 lbs, we provide custom shipping quotes, so please reach out to us via a private message on Kickstarter.
If your shipping cost is very different from our estimated shipping or jumps in a way that makes little sense after you add different items, please reach out to us directly via Kickstarter private messages. If you haven't filled out your shipping country, BackerKit may initially show ROW (rest of world) shipping rates; fill in your address to see your accurate shipping cost.
Instructions Directly from BackerKit
Soon, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.
You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://dc-heroes-rpg.backerkit.com.
If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://dc-heroes-rpg.backerkit.com/faq.
Late Pledges
If you missed the campaign, you still have a chance to pledge! We are accepting late pledges on Kickstarter (with all corresponding stretch goals) until March 1. You can pledge by visiting the main Kickstarter page for this campaign.
Thanks for your support,
The Cryptozoic Team
A Holiday Miracle… PDFs Added!
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Dec 20, 2024 at 12:46:01 PM
DC Heroes fans,
We have some big news: We have been cleared to add PDFs to the campaign! They will not be available separately, but for every book in your order, you will also get a PDF copy. Consider it an extra special late stretch goal!
Details forthcoming but these will be sent out around the time of fulfillment of physical copies. We know this was the number one request during the Kickstarter, so we are thrilled to be able to make it happen.
As a reminder: You’ll be able to upgrade your pledge in the pledge manager, which will launch in January.
Happy Holidays!
The Cryptozoic Team
THANK YOU, Backers!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 12:51:48 PM
DC Heroes fans,
The legend has returned! Thank you for your pledges, lively conversation, and just general support over the past 30 days. You have brought DC Heroes Role-Playing Game back!
For many of us, it’s a return to a game we grew up with and are excited to play (and share) once again. For others, it’s the start of something new… a fresh obsession that we know you’ll love.
Our mission now is to fulfill the promise of this campaign and produce amazing archival editions of all the books and make sure all the new stuff (dice, slipcases, etc.) looks incredible as well. Our friend Jeb Woodard and his team have already finished scanning and restoring 11 of the books, so we are definitely on track.
Late pledges are now available on the Kickstarter page in case any of your friends missed out. We will keep you updated every step of the way!
Before we go, Ray Winninger would like to say thank you…
Ray Says Thank You!
As our campaign draws to a close, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped get DC HEROES back into print—particularly our backers! I’m pleased we had an opportunity to preserve this interesting entry in the shared history of RPGs and DC Comics.
Revisiting work from nearly forty years ago has been a fascinating experience and again, I thank you all for that opportunity. Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to create some new DC role-playing adventures soon!
Just because the campaign is over doesn’t mean your questions have to stop. Keep them coming in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.
Thanks, everyone,
The Cryptozoic Team
Final 24 Hours! Future DC Heroes Products You Want to See
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 12:42:05 PM
DC Heroes fans,
Just 24 hours to go! It’s been an AMAZING ride. We are thrilled to see so many long-time and new DC Heroes RPG fans join for this campaign. Thank you!
Before the end of the campaign, we have a big question for you: IF we get the greenlight to do new products in the series, what new DC Heroes products would you like to see? We’re mainly thinking of books, but open to any and all ideas.
Sound off in the comments here and in the main section.
Thanks for your support!
The Cryptozoic Team
Green Lantern Dice Revealed! Final Book Unlocked!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Dec 16, 2024 at 10:07:37 AM
DC Heroes fans,
Just over 48 hours to go and so much excitement! In brightest day, in blackest night, the headline today is Green Lantern Dice! Backers overwhelmingly voted for Green Lantern as the fifth set of dice in our earlier poll. We hope you like it! These oversized dice are included in the Legend and Retailer Tiers and will be available as an add-on starting today.
Note: You'll get 2 of the dice.
(Sidenote: We know we initially called these dice a "social media stretch goal," but we realized there was some confusion due to how we explained the dice at the start of the campaign. The initial plan was for the 5th set to be a regular stretch goal. BUT we wanted fans to vote on the final set of dice and we needed the fan vote to happen early in the campaign since licensor approvals take at least 2 weeks. So we revealed the 5th set was coming from Day 1 in the tier graphics and reward listings, but it was still seen as a stretch goal. We made it a social media stretch goal to make it clear that there was pretty much no chance of missing out on it if fans wanted it. BUT we don’t want anyone to feel misled, so now it’s just a reveal and won’t be listed with the other stretch goals.)
The other major news is that you unlocked ALL the remaining stretch goals, starting with the final book: the Hardware Handbook for Bundle 1. The 100-page book features expanded rules for creating super-powered gadgets and vehicles.
After that, you unlocked the Bundle 7 and Bundle 8 slipcases back to back!
There you have it… the full DC Heroes Role-Playing Game collection! And it’s just in time for the final 48 hours! We hope to have lots of new fans join for the final stretch… please make them feel welcome.
Without further delay, here is Ray with his memories of his own DC Heroes campaign, which ran about 10 years!
Ray Remembers: My DC Heroes Campaign
While I was working on the game, I ran a DC HEROES campaign that lasted from 1985 until 1994. There are three things that made that campaign special. Perhaps these tip-lets will inspire your approaches to your own campaigns.
1) The Magic of DC HEROES. The players and I all loved the Giffen/DeMatteis 1987 reboot of Justice League, and shortly after that book appeared, we adopted its irreverent tone in our games. In an early adventure, the heroes were squaring off against Kobra and his fanatical snake cult. In those days, one of the things that made Kobra interesting is that he’d never been captured. He clashed with Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Outsiders, but always managed to escape justice in the end. The final showdown between Kobra himself and my players took place in an airship ten thousand feet above Metropolis.
The first hero to act in the very first round of that battle targeted Kobra with a gun that fired powerful blasts of compressed air and rolled an astonishing 82 to resolve the attack. (In DCH, remember, as long as you keep rolling doubles on your 2d10 roll, you can roll again and add the new roll to your total.) A confrontation that was months in the making suddenly turned into a Looney Tunes cartoon. Kobra was blasted through ship (leaving the requisite Kobra-shaped hole in the hull) and out into the sky, where he fell—Wile E. Coyote-style—two miles to the ground below. Confused heroes and cult members alike gathered at the window to watch him fall, and when he struck the ground, his minions were so stunned and demoralized that they simply gave up.
The game system gave us a great gift. That single crazy die roll inspired a long series of entertaining plots and subplots that unfolded over the next four years. Finally capturing Kobra (yes, he survived the fall) turned the heroes into celebrities. A beer company hired them to recreate their feat in a series of popular commercials. A rival beer company convinced the undead Green Lantern Driq to serve as its mascot, bringing our heroes into conflict with the Green Lantern Corps. Later, the heroes discovered that the “Kobra” they so unceremoniously defeated was an imposter, and tried to cover that up to preserve their merchandising empire.
2) The Daily Planet. When I began the campaign, I had just acquired one of the first Apple Macintoshes. I used the Mac to produce a front page of the Daily Planet I distributed at the beginning of every game session. I mostly used the newspaper to deliver amusing summaries of previous sessions, but I also planted subtle clues and hints of things to come in various stories. Players loved it; eventually, they wrote much of the material themselves.
3) Switching up PCs. To convey the epic sweep of the DC Universe, I’d often schedule sessions in which the players would assume the roles of the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, or other established characters from the comics. The stories in these sessions were always related to the campaign’s ongoing plotlines—in fact, they usually delivered vital clues that would assist the players in their “own” adventures. Hero Points earned playing comics characters were transferred to the players’ own heroes. This approach was very successful. I wish I’d suggested it in the printed rules.
Ray Winninger is the co-designer of the DC Heroes RPG and former Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons.
