The third edition of Champions (1984) is basically a quality-of-life upgrade that leverages three years of publishing and design experience to produce a clearer, more polished experience. There’s typesetting and spacious layout! If you think that’s a silly thing to crow about, you’ve not tried to navigate the mono-spaced first and second edition rules to make a character.

I am sure there are changes to the rules that came with a third editing pass and a greater attention to the larger universal rules ecosystem, but I can’t really tell. But it certainly reads better. Also, as with Justice, Inc. (which we’ll see in a couple days), we have the addition of a campaign book that gives advice on running campaigns, building worlds and writing scenarios. This is complimented by a series of scenarios detailing actions against the local VIPER cell and a suite of character profiles to start populating your world.

Cover art by mainstay Mark Williams. He’s joined inside by Mike Witherby; those two have similar styles that mesh nicely. Pat Zircher’s art is a little rougher, but then Denis Loubet is a little more polished. I find his line work to be almost unnervingly smooth. In a good way!

Also, copyright is listed as 1984 on the insides, but the text casually mentions the possibility that player might have experience with Danger International, which did not hit shelve until 1985. Did this actually hit shelves in 1985? I can’t find any ads in a random pull of three 1984 issues of Dragon Magazine. On the other hand, it is possible that the text originally referred to Espionage! and was changed to reflect the forthcoming revamp of that game. That would be smart and clever!