DC Heroes RPG returns for 40th anniversary Kickstarter campaign

DC Heroes, the tabletop role-playing game that’s been out of print since 1993, is getting a revised edition to celebrate the game’s 40th anniversary. On Monday, Cryptozoic Entertainment launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring the iconic TTRPG out of the archives and back to the table. The campaign, which is in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, runs now through Dec. 18. 

First published in 1985, DC Heroes was the first to officially license DC’s catalog of heroes and villains for tabletop. The line of sourcebooks had contributions from comics legends like Jack Kirby and Watchmen writer Alan Moore. Cryptozoic wrote in the news release that DC Heroes is responsible for three major mechanical innovations in tabletop — attribute points, subplots, and exploding dice.

The crowdfunding campaign will include reprints of the original texts, scanned and restored from archival editions, a few of which Cryptozoic shared with Polygon. To turn these reprints into physical products, Cryptozoic is working with Ray Winninger, original DC Heroes co-designer and former executive producer of Dungeons & Dragons. 

Players can preorder the two DC Heroes box sets via the Kickstarter. The sets come bundled with a number of supplemental materials alongside accessories like slipcases, oversized superhero-inspired dice, dice trays, and bookmarks. Pledge tiers start at $60, and Cryptozoic said sets will ship in October 2025.