Episode 20 of the GROGPOD is coming later in April and is all about GOLDEN HEROES: a very smartly produced game that had a dramatic appearance, so I’ve made a short film to demonstrate the material.
I was very lucky on eBay. For £22, I managed to get everything that was produced by Games Workshop (in very good condition too), including all of the counters for all of the scenarios.
The pièces de résistance was the un-billed inclusion of the original A5 rules that were published by Simon Burley and Peter Haines. They would schlep these rules around the convention circuit back in the early eighties where they gathered a strong reputation for the ability to replicate scenes from popular Marvel and DC comics.
The game caught the attention of the Armchair Adventurers thanks to the great Brian Bolland cover for the first scenario pack LEGACY OF EAGLES. I ran the game with disastrous results (listen to the podcast for details). At ConVergence recently, we revived the game and had tremendous fun.
The podcast will be released in soon, until then, enjoy this short film.
Loved these when they came out, An excellent rule set.
Nice review. Always liked this ruleset but never saw the original rule set (green cover). Any chance you could scan it and put it online?
Legacy of Eagles was a real step up product, a great scenario, laid out with the crunchy info in sidebars, which was really innovative then, and great maps ready to use. I remember buying this from a half-timbered games shop in Elm Hill in Norwich while on a family holiday.
It read so well i then bought the game.
But as for the game system i remember on the couple of occasions we played, it just got bogged down in tables and figures and wasn’t really fun.
Fast forward 30 odd years and i can report the opposite from Marvel Superheroes RPG, we played it on Friday night for the first time, 3 and a half hours of almost constant punching and zapping.
The FASERIP system was very simple and picked up by the players quickly, whats more it allowed them to do exactly what they wanted to do with no halts to consult charts and tables (bar the Universal Table they all had a copy of) and a simple crib sheet for the GM.
Really can’t praise it enough, as did they, and with the Karma system for spending points to adjust your rolls to succeed, surely one of the first of the now standard ‘burn points to adjust’ mechanics. Except more importantly you have to say you’re going to risk Karma in advance of your roll.
Ahead of its time, an overlooked little gem.
Absolutely love this game. I play it with my grade school aged nephews, who really like it. It’s a shame that there weren’t more published scenarios. The production values on the ones that were published were very high, and the battlemaps were a standout feature. I eagerly look forward to the podcast!
I also want to second the previous commenter’s hope that the original A5 book, which is long unavailable, be scanned. Posterity cries for this material!
Thanks for shining a light on this underappreciated gem. Despite having its roots in 1e Gamma World, GH has several features which are fresh and innovative to this day. No mean feat for a game that is over 30 years old. Sure, there are some anachronistic elements. But, as someone who is currently running an ongoing campaign that is somehow managing to entertain and captivate a group of kids raised on video games, I can tell you that GH has plenty to offer the gamers of today.
I was hesitant at first to check out Simon Burley’s successor game, Squadron UK. But now, I want to see what GH looks like after years of refinement…
Golden Heroes had “Hero Points”, which could be added to a roll once per scenario. How they should be assigned was poorly defined, but we use them in our game.
My first comment above was intended to be a stand alone comment and not necessarily a reply to Rog. I wasn’t trying to be argumentative. Just chiming in to talk about one of my favorite games. I accidentally hit the wrong reply button. Carry on…
Heh, no worries. I suppose the irony is back then we thought complex obviously meant a good system, and simple rules meant a kiddy system – which was bad (teenage rules snobs), GH was probably just beyond us; and now i’m older simplicity is all, so i can’t be doing with learning anything too involved.
But i’ll get out my Golden Heroes rules and have a read so i’m informed for the next podcast!
Cheers.
Nice video- Golden Heroes being a game that I got rid off, like I got rid of most of my RPG stuff, and have been regretting it ever since. Congratulations on your ebay find- most people seem to charging stupid money for it
I managed to get a decent copy including the Supervisor’s Kit for a reasonable price on eBay, I’m not sure how complete it is as I only got it to learn the rules for Dirk’s game, but you should be able to get one without spending too much.
Simon Burley mentioned his “new and improved” version, which I was going to get initially, but I am glad I got this one, it really is a fine example of “if it ain’t broke it don’t need fixing”, it sounded like the only reason Simon “changed” it was because he’d lost the rights to the original.
Perhaps a follow up on the comparisons between the original and the “new” one?