HEROIC is a Neo Clone of the old-school MSH Advanced game by TSR that combines aspects of modernization as well as parts of the Astonishing Super Heroes RPG by Tim Bannock.

In its final form it will be a minimum 200+ page full colour game book, available as PDF, as well as softcover and hardcover POD (Print on Demand) by DTRPG (Drivethrurpg). Everything you need to play will be in the book, including an introductory adventure and characters from the Zenith Comics Universe.

Here is the introduction to the book in the words of the game's creator;

"In 2010 I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Grubb about the classic MSH (FASERIP to most folks) RPG from TSR. In the conversation we discussed retro-clones and the emerging OSR and Jeff said this type of game design was a conversation. When you made a new version, or an update, you were continuing the conversation.

That never left me.

So what is HEROIC the RPG?

At the basic level HEROIC is a neo-clone of the old MSH RPG, a continuation of the conversation, and saying that would be enough... but it is so much more than that.

HEROIC is also a tribute to the greatest age in comic history, the Bronze Age of comics (1970 - 1985), a time of Chris Claremont, Dennis O'Niel, Marv Wolfman, and a host of other writers who were able to bring superheroes out of the silliness of the Silver Age, but without the jaded and bitter deconstruction of the coming Iron Age!

HEROIC is also the official RPG of my own Zenith Universe, a superhero universe that has been built up slowly since 1986 when I ran my first superhero RPGs! Now existing in a pseudo time-lock called 198X, where the Bronze Age has never ended, the universe and game are hand-in-hand together!

HEROIC is also a generic system you can use, modify, or adapt to fit your own setting, or any published setting with a simple elegant and descriptive d100+Colour Chart mechanic to play fast and furious super heroic action!

HEROIC, lastly, is a labour of love that has been in the works for over 15 years and is finally ready to be brought to life, and to do that we need your backing. Your pledges will pay for the editing, the writing team's work, and most importantly the art team!

The game is ready to go right now! We just need to make it look its best and that's where you come in.

Please check out the links below and know that through your support YOU are HEROIC!

-- Andrew "Bear" Collas"

But wait... there's more!

Just for taking the time to read this we are giving you FREE PDF copies of our comics!

So you've decided to be HEROIC! Great, here's the ways you can do it.
Just remember we have a couple of caveats;

Some have asked WHY we are going with POD and not offset (and offshore) printing, and the reason is very simple; savings.

If we printed books, we would then have to pack them, then ship them, and that would raise the costs, which in turn would raise your buy in. So to keep everyone's life as simple and lower cost as possible, we are using print-on-demand fulfillment, where you pay the shipping for your book using the prepaid print coupon we will give you.

Now onto the pledge levels!

As it currently stands any extra money beyond out goal is considered to be going into the art budget, but since that's not really a tangible goal, let's make some!

At $16,000 CDN we will add an original introductory adventure written by HEROIC creator Andrew Collas, called;

Shadows of Chaos will feature 10 sample heroes squaring off in a three-act adventure against a cadre of villains and challenges! This will only be available as a digital PDF reward available to all backers.

At $17,000 we will make Shadows of Chaos as a Softcover Print-on-Demand product and provided to all POD level backer. This represents our new lower Stretch Goal totals!

No printed product will be shipped and backers will pay their own shipping at time of fulfillment of POD coupon at DTRPG.

At $18,000 CDN we will create a special edition of our superhero roster game book called;

This reward will feature a selection of 12 heroes and villains from the Zenith Comics Universe with them fully presented with statistics, background, roleplaying tips, and even ways to use them as an alternate to being heroic or villainous. This will only be available as a digital PDF reward available to all backers.

At $19,000 CDN we will make the HEROIC HANDBOOK as a softcover Print-on-Demand product and provided to all POD level backer.

No printed product will be shipped and backers will pay their own shipping at time of fulfillment of POD coupon at DTRPG.

This one is a bit special, but we think everyone will like it... at $20,000 CDN we will make 3 STLs of original Zenith Universe Comics characters for 3D printing. For each $1000  CDN + beyond that ($21,000, $22,000, etc...) we will add one more character! This will only be available as a digital STL reward available to all backers.
UPDATE: 7 Minis were unlocked.

This new Stretch Goal is to give to you a set of 75+1 Digital Whimsey cards to use with your HEROIC RPG games! These cards will have all original art and rules for their use will be presented in the HEROIC RPG

At $30k we will provide a free POD of the Full Colour Whimsey Card deck via DriveThruCards!

No printed product will be shipped and backers will pay their own shipping at time of fulfillment of POD coupon at DriveThruCards.

At $35k all backers will get another 3-act adventure called Project Paladin!

This will be a digital only reward.

At $40k we will combine SHADOWS OF CHAOS and PROJECT PALADIN as a single POD volume as ZENITH COMICS PRESENTS: TWO-IN-ONE! 

No printed product will be shipped and backers will pay their own shipping at time of fulfillment of POD coupon at DTRPG.

At $35k all backers will get another 3-act adventure called Echoes of the Past!

This will be a digital only reward.

At $50k we will combine SHADOWS OF CHAOS, PROJECT PALADIN, and ECHOES OF THE PAST as a single POD volume as ZENITH COMICS PRESENTS: TRIPLE THREAT! 

No printed product will be shipped and backers will pay their own shipping at time of fulfillment of POD coupon at DTRPG.

The following items can be added to any exiting pledge of Reservist or higher. Some conditions may apply.


$70 CDN - Premium Colour Softcover Add-On

$100 CDN - Premium Colour Hardcover Add-On

Let's take a look at some of the previous awesome art Oliver has created for Zenith Comics as a teaser for what calibre of work he will be delivering on our final product!

The above graphic represents the basics of how the money we raise works. If we were only producing PDFs we would be in the clear, but as we also need to make Print-on-Demand coupons for backers, it suddenly doubles our cost. Put simply, the money you pledge for a printed book must be converted into a purchased coupon for nearly the same amount.

This means, were we to fund, without taking that into consideration, we wouldn't have enough money to be able to pay for art, or the layout, or other various production costs that we would occur.

We always wish to be transparent with our backers, this is why showing you the above breakdown, as simple as it is, allows you to have an understanding of how expensive this is, and how little ZEG Media will take home after making sure everyone is paid for their work.

It's a lean market this indie RPG publishing business.

While the obvious answer is YOU for backing this project, it would be remiss if we didn't mention the fantastic team of individuals who are bringing all their skills to the table on this one in a truly HEROIC way!

Let's meet them!

-Creator-

Andrew Collas - Creator
Andrew is a curmudgeon and 80s' throw-back who loves superheroes, RPGs, movies, comics, good music, TV shows, and lots of other things that we all share. Gen-X right? Andrew also run YouTube channels, under his moniker Bear the Gen-X GM, not the least of which is The Society of Role Playing Gamers (@TSRPG) which has one of the most amazing communities ever! Andrew brings years of writing, gaming, acting, voice work, and other skills to this labour of love.

-Art Team-

Oliver Castañeda - Artist
Oliver Castaneda is an artist and illustrator based in St. Catharines, Ontario Canada and Co-creator of the self published comic book called Lady of Wrath. Born and grew up in Manila Philippines where he had his formal training in creating comic books from attending Whilce Portacio’s Comic Creation Course. He worked on exclusive retailer variant covers for titles such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the last Ronin, Zombie Tramp, Vampirella, Amalgama. He also worked on some pages and covers for independent comic book publishers and creators such as Heroic of Zenith Comics , Jaded of Iron Age Comics, Spider-Squirrel of Xion Studios and more, and now you will see most of his works on Upper Deck trading cards for Marvel.

Gary Scott Beatty - Colourist
Gary Scott Beatty’s latest graphic novels are Strange Horror #1 and #2, illustrated by him, Sandman artist Vince Locke, and others. Gary's Gods of Aazurn webcomic is 66 terrifying chapters published on Webtoons. His comic shop owner drama Number One (with artist Aaron Warner) was released through Source Point Press in 2022. His Jazz: Midnight graphic novel won a Xeric grant -- that work, Wounds, and Worlds graphic novels are all published through Caliber Comics. Gary has been graphic storytelling for decades. The first alternative comic he produced (They were called underground then) was on his high school's ditto machine, after hours, without permission.

Shane Taylor - Art Director
Shane first experienced MS Paint in Seoul Korea hasn’t stopped coloring and painting with a mouse since. Along with making his own art, he loves to assist other artists. Either through mentoring, developing partnerships, or merely being a sounding board as they make their magic. Shane really loves digging into words and expressions to try and take things a bit farther than the way he found them, having worked with a wide range of delightful people along the way, helping with their indie projects. Shane is currently based in North Carolina, spending his off-hours as Art Director, Editor, Colorist, and part-time Writer.

Craig Williams - Layout
Craig has been a layout designer for the last 10 years, turning words & pictures to reasons to read and flip pages.  He has worked with Fainting Goat games, from their iconic Extreme Earth conversions to Legendary Games and over 150 projects under my belt.  Craig is also an amateur photographer and world traveller, gamer and long standing RPG geek.

-Writing Team-

April Dawn Duncan - Writer
April Dawn Duncan holds a B.A. in Education, but her career has spanned more than teaching high school and middle school English and History. She’s been an editor for a small publishing house (Damnation Books/Eternal Press), a freelance writer and editor in the gaming industry (Shadow Run FanPro LLC, Sword & Sorcery Studios), a self-publisher of her own fiction works (Land of Enchantment, Monocle of Shai), a management consultant with an innovative startup in team building, a massage therapist, a martial arts instructor, and a soccer coach. One of her favorite pastimes is gaming in all its various forms. LARPing ranks first, although tabletop RPGs, board games, and video games all run a close second. www.thewillowandthefox.com

Wilfredo Martinez - Writer
Wilfredo Martinez was born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. He has a degree in electronics and is a former member of the American Translators Association. In recent years, he has worked in the Tabletop Role Playing Game industry. In addition to being involved with the development of The Heroic Role Playing System, he has done work for Basic Action Super Heroes and Fainting Goat games. In 2023 he also started his own company, Submarine Productions, and published his own game, The Eclectic Role Playing System.

Ade Smith - Writer
Ade Smith has worked in the RPG business for over a decade writing for Star Trek Adventures, Mutants and Masterminds as well as third party projects for Icons, Savage World, Old-School Essentials, Judge Dredd and Dungeons and Dragons. He is also an artist, RPG mapmaker and layout guy as well as a writer for Ghost Show Press's series of movie books. 

Andrew here again, I just wanted to take a moment to give some shouts out to folks who really mean a lot to me. Without these people there would be no HEROIC, I give them my special thanks for their help, inspiration, and guidance over the years;