An Epiphany

I was listening to the fine podcast “The Grognard Files” — namely, episode 20 part 2 today. It covers the 1980s Games Workshop superhero RPG called Golden Heroes, and the Grog guys did their usual fine review of the game. Their co-podcaster “Daily Dwarf” did his usual roundup of Golden Heroes articles that appeared in White Dwarf magazine, back when it covered things other than Warhammer’s skull-based economy.

Anyway, the first GH adventure he talked about was in issue 58 and was called “Strikeback”. This little gem, written by Marcus Roland, did a bang-up job of showing that traditional trope of Superhero games and Sci-Fi stories; namely the time travel adventure. In particular, (WARNING! Spoilers for a 36 year old adventure!) this scenario had the heroes traveling back to the 19th century and meeting characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Baron Frankenstein, and Count Dracula.

Does this sound familiar, gentle reader?

After checking my collection, it turns out that this issue (October 1984) was my very first issue of White Dwarf. Remembering it a bit now, I recall buying it mostly because the adventure was also statted for Champions as well as Golden Heroes (my fave SH game of the 1980s), so I bought it from Alan’s Comics in Longview TX. I usually bought most of my gaming stuff from Alan and even worked for him at the shop for a while, being paid partly in cash and partly in credit. Since I was a supers fan, this credit ran out quick as you can imagine.

So, does Victorious owe its existence to Marcus Roland, the “Strikeback” scenario, and early White Dwarf magazine? Pick up a copy and you be the judge!

Genteel Magistrate

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