When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, he left no clear heir to the immense empire he had conquered. It was not long after his death that the Macedonian generals began to war among themselves over who would be the regent or successor to Alexander's empire. By 305 BC they had given up on succession and began to carve out their own kingdoms. Successors is a 2-4 player game based on those wars.

Successors was first published in 1997 by Avalon Hill. Some years later a second edition rulebook was published that gave more options for the Tyche cards. Successors III built on the foundation of the Successors II rules set plus expansion cards that appeared in the Boardgamer.

The fourth edition of Successors includes more generals, more scenarios, new Tyche cards, plenty of new components, and a changed map, with Libya and Cyrene being merged.