City of Heroes Collectible Card Game
Overview
The City of Heroes Customizable Card Game (COHCCG) was designed by David Williams and produced by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). There were a total of two sets of cards released for the game. The first, Arena, was released in January, 2006. The second set, Secret Origins, was released in October, 2006. Since then, there have been no official releases. An interview with AEG CEO John Zinser notes that the game was discontinued due to a failure to "reach critical mass."
Distribution
Both Arena and Secret Origins were released with the traditional 11-card booster packs. However, instead of the traditional 50-60 card starter deck, the COHCCG used "Battle Packs," 25-card packs similar to boosters, with a rules sheet, 11 fixed cards (including 1 Hero, 2 starting powers, and other cards useable by the Hero) and 14 randomized cards which were designed to be useable in most decks. This design was created to allow for random, yet still playable, decks which minimized the cost to consumers. Some promotional and preview cards were available at conventions and as pack-ins with other products (like the City of Heroes Comics). Alternate versions of the rare cards were also available with foil printing.
Arena Retail Packs
The primary packs available at retail for the Arena set included Battle Packs and Booster Packs.
- Battle Packs consisted of 25 cards -- 11 fixed cards, 13 mixed cards, and 1 rare card.
- Booster Packs consisted of 11 cards -- 7 common, 3 uncommon, and 1 rare.
- Battle Pack Boxes contained 22 Battle Packs
- Booster Pack Boxes contained 24 Booster Packs
- Battle Box Starter Kit contained 4 Battle Packs, 4 Booster Packs, and 3 copies of the "Provoke" promo card. The box doubles as a 1000-card storage box.
Secret Origins Retail Packs
The primary packs available at retail for the Secret Origins set included Battle Packs and Booster Packs.
- Battle Packs consisted of 25 cards -- 11 fixed cards, 13 mixed cards, and 1 rare card.
- Booster Packs consisted of 11 cards -- 7 common, 3 uncommon, and 1 rare.
- Battle Pack Boxes contained 16 Battle Packs
- Booster Pack Boxes contained 24 Booster Packs
Gameplay
The COHCCG was designed to be a quick game. Rather than using a turn structure where each player takes multiple actions in a row, the game used an alternating action structure. This lead to faster and more interactive games.
Each player was represented by a Hero card, which began play with 2 starting powers. As their action, a player had many choices, including:
- Play a card, being:
- a Sidekick
- a Power that can be used by the Hero or a Sidekick
- an Enhancement on a Power already in play
- an Edge card with the keyword "Action" or "React"
- Activate a Power already in play
- Move the Hero or a Sidekick
- Search your draw deck for a Sidekick
- Recharge your Powers
- Play a Mission card
- Use the Defeat text on a mission to complete it
- Draw 2 cards
Unless otherwise specified by the cards played, play continued until only one Hero remained, who was declared the winner.
(Please see the Official Rules Sheet or the technical rules sheet for more details.)
Building Your Own Hero
In addition to the 33 Heroes available in Arena and the 22 Heroes available in Secret Origins, players could create their own hero using "Paragon" Hero cards. These cards allowed a player to create new combinations of powers that were not available on existing Hero cards. Players could either play solely with the Paragon Hero cards available in the Arena set, or go online to access the HeroBuilder which allowed players to create Hero cards in the same template as the already available Heroes, including a picture uploaded by the player. Although the generic Hero cards listed all power sets available to the archetypes at the time, it wasn't until The Hamidon set was developed that many of those power sets were codified for use.
Artwork
The artwork for the Arena Deck was provided by Top Cow Productions, largely from art originally appearing in the City of Heroes comic book. The lead graphic artist for Alderac Entertainment who worked on the project was Nate Barnes.
Unofficial Expansion
After the official game was discontinued, two players, who went by 'nlesgold' and 'Landar' on the Alderac forums, took it upon themselves to create cards for the remaining City of Heroes powers (excluding any power sets added or changed after Issue 11) in an unofficial expansion called "City of Heroes: The Hamidon." There are two ways to access the original files, a set of web-accessible text files and a zip file of those same text files. Eventually, graphical representations of the the cards were developed and are linked in the listing below.
See Also
- Arena Card Listing
- Secret Origins Card Listing
- The Hamidon Card Listing
- COHCCG Card Image Categories
External Links
- Original press release
- City of Heroes CCG Official Website includes Rules Sheet and Hero Builder
- Hero vs Villain includes Deckbuilder, Card Lists and Card Spoilers
- Alderac Forum post announcing Unofficial Expansion (login required)