The Blood Moon has risen! The Champions Online Halloween event kicks off today and runs through Nov. 10, so be sure to log in and save the souls of the 13 undead heroes that have been trapped by Takofanes to unlock the Celestial power set. You can also dive into the new PvP zombie map and start slaying the walking dead.

For more information on the event, check out our recent interview with Executive Producer Bill Roper and watch the new Blood Moon trailer over at IGN. Also, Daeke announced that all players have been granted a free Retcon today due to the server issues over the weekend.

If you're still on the fence about whether to try out Champions Online and are intrigued by all the zombie-killing mayhem in Blood Moon, keep in mind that Cryptic is letting all players try out the game for free this weekend from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

With the eerie celebrations of Halloween on our doorstep, nearly every MMO on the market is gearing up some sort of spooky event for players to participate in. One of the most ghoulish is coming to Champions Online in the form of the “Blood Moon.” Along with the details of the event, ZAM sat down with Cryptic’s Bill Roper to discuss their post launch progress and what players can expect from the future of CO.

If you've been sitting on the fence, unable to decide whether or not to pick up a copy of the new superhero MMO, Champions Online, you'll have the chance to try it out for free over the Halloween weekend. That's right, the folks at Cryptic Studios are hosting an "open-to-the-public" free trial during the Blood Moon live event, from 10:00 a.m., October 30th until 10:00 a.m., November 2nd PST. As we've reported in the past, regular subscribers will get the chance to take place in the Blood Moon event starting on October 27, which includes exlusive in-game items, a new Zombie PvP map and more. Check out the latest developer Q&A for more information on the Blood Moon event.

More importantly for newcomers is the most recent Champions Online newsletter, announcing the "Blood Moon Weekend," when anyone will be able to download the game client for free and try-it-before-you-buy-it during the aforementioned dates. "Hate zombies?" the announcement reads, "Abhor mummies? Detest the dreaded undead? Like to play MMOs for free? You could be the one. You could be the Champion we need!" Check out the full post here, which includes all the links you need to sign up and download the game client for free. If you've been itching to give Champions Online a whirl, you couldn't pick a better weekend to give it a shot!

And the hits just keep on coming. The ZAM staff and Mike "Fony" B. have published the third episode of The BFF Report for everyone to enjoy. For those of you that missed the first two episodes... you should probably go and watch them. Gizmo Duck would want you to!

Enough of the banter. In the third episode of The BFF Report, Fony continues his trek through the hero-filled world of Champions Online. This week he takes a crack at travel powers, retconning, and reads some viewer feedback.

Quit slacking and go check it out!

Cryptic held a Champions Online dev chat yesterday that focused on the Blood Moon Halloween event, which kicks off on Oct. 27. To start things off, Executive Producer Bill Roper said the team is "looking into having ways for players to experience or unlock some of the Blood Moon events at other times of the year."

Roper also said they may make the Blood Moon costume pieces available in the C-Store once the event ends if there's enough demand from players. In addition, you can expect Takofanes to show up again, possibly as a high-level villain in his lair. With the addition of the PvP zombie map and the Celestial power set, it certainly looks like the ramifications of this Halloween event will be felt in Champions Online for quite some time.

The dev team answered a ton of questions during the one-hour chat, so keep reading after the jump for the full transcript.

PvP Designer James "Lucid" Laird has written a lengthly dev blog entry discussing how Cryptic designed the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse map, which will be introduced when the Blood Moon Halloween event launches on Oct. 27. The PvP map is here to stay, so you'll have plenty of time to fight the zombie horde in Champions Online.

The team discussed the map a couple weeks ago in a dev chat, but here's a refresher: one zombified hero fights on the side of the zombie NPCs while the rest of the heroes try to push them back. As heroes die, they'll become zombies and shift the balance between the teams.

So how do you make such a fight both fun and fair? That's what Laird's blog entry is all about. "Over the past month, the map has skewed between far too many zombies (games lasted 30-60 seconds!) to too few (I had to tell one of the playtesters to let the zombies kill him). The initial numbers feel about right now, but the zombie numbers gradually ramp up as the heroes fight; we're still tuning those values," he said. Keep reading after the jump for the full post.

Cryptic announced that new items and enhancements have been added to the Champions Online C-Store today, and they include new emblem packs, new costume sets, additional character slots, character renames, additional costume slots and full Retcons. These items can be purchased with Cryptic Points, which cost real money. For example, 500 Cryptic Points cost $6.25.

Also, the next developer chat will be held on Oct. 22 at 4:30 p.m. PDT. The chat will focus on the Blood Moon Halloween event, which begins on Oct. 27. If you have any questions, you can submit them in advance in this forum thread. Keep reading after the jump to find out how you can participate in the IRC chat.

The Champions Online Blood Moon Halloween event is set to kick off on Oct. 27, but it's currently on the public test server to work out any bugs before the event goes live. Cryptic is rewarding players who participate in the testing process by giving them a Road Cone Hat costume piece simply for logging in today. All you need to do is spend an hour or more on the test server between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. PDT.

Whether you're a Champions Online player or are unfamiliar with the superhero MMO, watch the first episode of the "The BFF Report," a new ZAM video series that takes a closer look at the games we play. Mike "Fony" Bailey checks out the character creation process with some hilarious commentary.

The Blood Moon Halloween event is scheduled to kick off on Oct. 27 in Champions Online, and Cryptic has revamped the event's preview page in preparation of the zombie-filled festivities. The new page features a ton of information, including details on some of the perks and rewards. You'll have to free all 13 Undead Hero Souls during the event to unlock the Celestial Power Set, and there's all sorts of action figure toys up for grabs.

Cryptic will be hosting a Blood Moon play test tomorrow, Oct. 14, on the public test server from 5-8 p.m. PDT. Players will be able to take part in the Millennium City part of the event and submit their feedback in the PTS forum.

While yesterday's Star Trek Online dev chat was absent of devs due to illness, the Champions Online team was on-hand in its IRC chat to answer questions about PvP. Systems Designer Brian "Balseraph" Urbanek kicked things off by explaining that PvE is the primary focus of Champions Online, and the team will always err on its side if there's competing tension between PvE and PvP.

The team also discussed the new Zombie Apocalypse PvP scenario map, which will force heroes to fend off hordes of zombie NPCs for a certain amount of time. "The rumors that you can turn into a zombie hero are absolutely true!" PvP Designer James "Lucid" Laird said. One player will start off as a zombie hero on the side of the zombie NPCs and can't be permanently killed. The zombie hero will get points for picking off living heroes, who will then become zombies.

You can read the full transcript of the one-hour PvP discussion after the jump.