Golden Heroes / Squadron UK

[Pascalahad]

That english super-hero roleplaying-game from 1984 was so much fun, I know it exists now as Squadron UK, but I miss the old books. It never had a chance to really show its potential twenty-five years ago, I would like a new edition.

[Greg Smith]

Oh, that was a classic game that we played so much.

[Renny]

Still think this would be a cool game to publish. Now known as Squadron UK in a new 2nd edition but
I think this would be a good fit for Mongoose.

[Hopeless]

Using the same game system or their own?

[MongooseMatt]

This has actually been discussed

[Hopeless]

Ordered a copy off of Amazon, admittedly before I read the latest message!

Back when I had a copy of Golden Heroes I got inspired by Secret Wars to use up all those characters I generated up but never got to play or run in a game.

Got a bit x-rated when I wrote it up unfortunately this was before I had my first computer, well okay a computer with a word package but I did have access to a filing cabinet however when it was returned I lost pretty much all of the stuff I had done on this and some other rpgs I had at the time.

I had previously bought and printed out the pdf of this but both were lost when I moved house and my computer got replaced a few times over the last decade alone!

Well does this mean we could have a section to discuss this specific game in the near future maybe?

[Pascalahad]

Nice to see the thread come back!

This is the superhero roleplaying game we had the most fun with, and we tried a lot. I mastered the first Marvel TSR and card system, Mayfair's DC Heroes, and Golden Heroes, I played Champions and read a good chunk of all the others, but Golden Heroes still has a unique feel.

The random generation system (completely random, whereas it's less random in the subtables in Squadron UK) is a blast. Having to find a rationale for all the powers makes truly unique characters and not just clones of existing ones.

The system in play is just magnificent, very tactical and yet simple: must I keep that frame for attacking or use it to try to dodge out of the way? Should I use next round's frames in advance? (Superheroes have four frames a round). You can even play the game just as tactical miniatures encounters. Two games in one!

The main drawback I saw in the game is that Superstrength is really the holy grail of superheroes in this one. It works all the time when energy attacks have a very limited power supply, and punching only cost one frame when other attacks cost two. Anyway, awesome game! I would very much like to see a 'goose spin on that one!

[Hopeless]

Is there actually a thread or discussion forum to discuss this game?

[Renny]

It's important to understand that the current iteration of Squadron Uk is different from Golden Heroes. This change was imposed upon the author by a certain large British game company who shall remain nameless. To the author's credit, rather than let the game die, he reworked it, using a new variation on the system which retains much of the originals' unique flavour. I would like to see Mongoose take this game on because the author is currently a one man band. The game as it stands is good but could use the polish that Mongoose could bring to the table. IMHO the game could use an editing pass to clarify one or two things but other than that is pretty much good to go. It is an area of the RPG market which Mongoose have not tapped, i.e. the superhero rpg. There could be potential for miniatures, perhaps even a tabletop miniature wargame torun concurrently with the rpg. As you can tell, I really want this to happen and for Squadron UK to rise again with a British game company behind it seems like the sort of ending you would only expect to read about in the comics.

[Renny]

And no, i'm not the author, I just love this game

[Renny]

Is there actually a thread or discussion forum to discuss this game?

http://eaglesnest.forumotion.co.uk/

This is a forum which I set up (full disclosure). Not much activity, to be honest but more voices always welcome.

http://squadronuk.co.uk/

This is the author's website.

There is also a Squadron UK group on Yahoo.

[Hopeless]

Much obliged for the links!

[Renny]

You're very welcome

[jamat]

I agree with Renny this is a great game and I've tried many times to get people talking about it on various forums to no avail.

People seem to like the more popular games but give these less known ones a wide berth which is a shame as this one is great and up there with Supers! and ICONS in my opinion and for a one man band Simon has done a fantastic job.

[Hopeless]

So has anyone tried setting up a game of this here?

Actually what would be the best way to introduce new people to this?

[Renny]

Well, this probably isn't the place to run a game as Mongoose aren't publishing it (yet ). As far as introducing new people to it, I know that Simon Burley, the games' author, runs players through character creation. This is almost a mini-game in itself and one of the selling points of the game. He then tends to move onto a typical superhero type encounter, bank robbery or the like. I believe that SQUK will be run again at Dragonmeet this year and has been run at several events over the year. If you have a gaming con near you, pop over to the Squadron UK website and send an email to Simon. He may be able to oblige by running something or find someone else who can.

[Pascalahad]

It's one of those games that you really have to play to discover how great it is. I don't think you can realize it just by reading the rules. For example, the initiative system seems ridiculous at first glance: roll a D10 for each side and the margin indicates how many frames you have before the opposition can react. And yet it's an awesome part of the whole game, since it forces players to revise their tactics each round.

[Hopeless]

I've been wondering how a campaign would be handled if it starts off in the present modern world and then they get shifted into a parallel world set during the second world war where the Germans have recently gained their first supers and the players are running the only superheroes in this parallel Earth...

Sorry keep forgetting I should be posting these kind of things elsewhere!