Golden Heroes:

The original version of Golden Heroes was a self-published fanzine-size book, penned by Simon Burley and Pete Haines and  released in 1981.  The first that I, and many other people, knew about it was when Games Workshop picked the title up.  GW had hoped to use the game as a vehicle for a licencing deal with Marvel but, when Marvel awarded TSR the agreement, GW ran with Golden Heroes as a non-affiliated system.  This culminated with the release of the nicely designed and packaged box set in 1984.  In eminently British fashion Golden Heroes fell behind to its American counterpart, Marvel Super Heroes, but, for two or three glorious years, we had articles and scenarios published by GW and taking up space in the, at that time, still openly accommodating role-playing magazine, White Dwarf.

It is true to say that there were other Superhero RPGs' out there at this time (some will say "better" but, hey, each to their own), such as Champions, Superworld, and Villains and Vigilantes, and I confess that I ran a Marvel Super Heroes campaign for twenty years straight, but there was "something" about Golden Heroes that kept calling out across the void....forty years on, and here I am, writing about a game that I have great fondness for, as I develop characters and ideas for a new campaign that I plan to run in the near future, with players I have yet to discover....mid-life crisis, eat your heart out!

As 1984, 1985, and 1986 came and went, the slavering British Superhero RPG community were sated by adventures such as The Pilcomayo Project by Peter Tamlyn in White Dwarf 78 (1986) and the epic time-travelling masterpiece that was Strikeback by Marcus L Rowland in White Dwarf 58 (1984), as well as several articles regarding role-playing and campaign tips, mega-villains, and new characters in the form of The Starlight Pact from White Dwarf 69 (1985).  I shall present as full a list of the publications as I can on a separate page.

There were also a couple of boxes worth of metal gaming miniatures released by GW, sculpted by Aly Morrison.   That didn't happen for Marvel or DC's RPG games, so how fantastic is that for Golden Heroes?   Game author Simon Burley lamented that he had no input regarding the figures and that the finished items did not resemble any of the art in the rulebooks, which would have made a lot of sense.  The figures, as offerings in their own right, would have been fine at the time, but are somewhat lacking by modern standards; still, you could always use the cardboard cut-out-and-stand-up figures from the box set and supporting adventures The Legacy of Eagles, and Queen Victoria and the Holy Grail.  Now, they were nice....

GW basically lost interest when the money stopped coming in, and after 1986 nothing was heard of Golden Heroes again.  GW still retain ownership of the Golden Heroes system and refuse to let it go back to the authors, even though they themselves do nothing with it.  Shame.

Simon Burley put his efforts into the Superhero U.K. fanzine, and ran it until issue 5; Jonathan Clark took over the heavy lifting from issue 6.  These are now extremely difficult to locate, and even people who have some copies don't have the entire 20-issue run.  It would seem that these fanzines fall under "unobtainable nostalgia" nowadays.  If anyone reading this has any issues or, more preferably, scans of them, please get in touch!

Get to 1990 and Fantazia magazine hit the ground running in issue 1 with an interview with Simon Burley and the adventure written by him: Contagion, Confusion, and Coincidence.  The magazine was the brainchild of Jonathan Clark, who had been part of the Superhero U.K. fanzine creative team prior to forming Fantazia.  It became more of a movie and media magazine from around issue 12 or so, but for that initial year of releases it held a torch for the Superhero RPG and comic scene; good times.

Simon Burley attempted to release an updated version of Golden Heroes but was informed by GW that he didn't have the rights to it, so he re-packaged the whole thing as Squadron U.K.  This system enjoyed a good run with several really good supplements from the author, though many are no longer available.  Simon Burley has since released several new lines of RPG, including Super Hack and Manifold.

So, we have a great little RPG with limited published material, no longer available to purchase except on auction sites, and no ongoing support, but it still holds a place in the hearts of....literally....dozens of gamers in the U.K. and, if the internet is to be believed, a handful of people in the U.S. as well.  I know that it will never become the world's favourite Superhero RPG, but believe me when I say that it is definitely one of the best systems that you have never heard of.