Hexagon Universe: the French superheroes!

Do you know superheroes 100% French? There were some named Mikros, Saltarella and Crabby in the magazine called Titans. There was also a hero named Photonik in the magazine named Spidey… But, to my great surprise, there were others as well!

 I discovered that fact in an indirect way, while surfing on a discussion board dedicated to roleplaying games, where a subject grabbed my attention: the XII Singes (Twelve Monkeys) editions were about to release a French superhero roleplaying game!

 Until now the few rare superhero roleplaying game published in French were either translations from the English versions (Marvel TSR, Icons), or indirect adaptations of these universes, like Humanydyne, which featured costumeless characters investigating on costumed heroes without a cause, or La Brigade Chimérique, which was about superheroes… between the two World Wars only.

 I didn’t buy La Brigade Chimérique, which may be a mistake, since the same authors wrote Hexagon Universe, to my knowledge the first frank adaptation, in French, by Frenches, of a classic superhero universe created by French people!

 As a matter of fact, the publisher LUG (which was based in Lyon, France) was not only releasing magazines featuring Marvel comics at the time, but it also created in-house authentic superheroes! But the magazines which saw their birth were taken down by the censors of the time period (for whom Fantastic Four’s the Thing was too traumatizing for young readers!!).

 Under the direction of Jean-Marc Lofficier, champion of geek culture in Europe and in the US (he wrote many comic books, including one where Superman sort of meets our own French comic icon Astérix !), those heroes were reborn from their ashes (among them or own heroine judiciously christened Phénix) during the years 2000. Those heroes were now living in their own shared universe.

 This leads us to this new step in this universe, a roleplaying game, written by Romain d’Huissier and Laurent Devernay, a 176-pages comic-sized black-and-white book. It describes first the Hexagon universe on a global scale, which opposes two organisations, CLASH and CRIMEN. The structure of these organisations is detailed, as well as featuring the characteristics of their leaders. Some hero profile are included, showing the wide possibilities offered to the players, from the urban vigilante (Phénix), to the cosmic hero (Homicron) and the master of mystical arts (Ozark, a native American). There are also a few villains.

 The creation system is fast and simple, as long as the player know what he wants to play beforehand. Being by nature somewhat indecisive, it would probably take longer for someone like me! The creation is oriented towards a « team » from the get-go, it is therefore better to get all the players together at the time of creation to avoid redundant characters, especially since the HQ creation is also made in a collective way.

The game system seems almost too simple to be true! Each hero is defined by three motivations (numbered from 1 to 3), talents (skills from 1 to 3) and powers (from 1 – feeble to 5 – cosmic power!). To accomplish something the hero has to choose, if applicable, one motivation+one talent+one power and throws that many « normal » 6-sided dice. On a 3 to 6 result, it’s a success. On a 6, it’s a success and the player throws again the sixes until he gets other results than a 6! In combat, a test at the beginning of the fight determines a number of tokens which are distributed among the players for them to have their initiative rank during a round. Tactical and elegant. When their turn comes the players can also use all or some of their combat reserve for their test (from 4 to 6 supplemental dice), whose number equals their Energy points (life points), and which regenerate each round. There’s also a Daring reserve, usable in many ways, which regenerates between each scenario.

In short, a universe to discover and encourage urgently. The comics from LUG are reissued by the Rivière Blanche (White River) editions, as well as novelettes anthologies and two novels written by Romain d’Huissier (translation in English exist!) which take place in the Hexagon universe.

The Hexagon Universe page on the XII Singes website :

http://www.les12singes.com/spip.php?rubrique89

Romain d’Huissier’s blog:

http://rom51.blogspot.fr/2013/11/hexagon-universe.html

The Rivière Blanche website:

www.riviereblanche.com/