Friday, 19 February 2010
Wargames and RPGs in context
Sometime before 1984--I remember this in context of where we lived and when we moved to the "country"--my father brought home two books from the Ft. McPherson library. I don't recall the title of one, but the contents I recall detailed weapon systems, past, present and future (there was a chapter on the theoretical effectiveness and application of the "neutron bomb"). The second however was James F. Dunnigan's The Complete Wargames Handbook. The book has since been in reprinted in three editions as it is still used as a reference in military schools.
The Complete Wargames Handbook was a big influence on me. I read and reread the book. Printed the game Drive on Metz, made counters, and even designed an amateur game based on the principles Dunnigan set forth in his book of a North African battle between the German Afrika Corps and the British.
The Complete Wargames Handbook, 2nd Edition, is available online at StrategyPage.com, where Dunnigan is an editor and podcast host. Chapter 5, The History of Wargames details the humble, and influential, beginnings of companies we are likely very familiar: Avalon Hill, SPI and SDC. Dunnigan writes:
Emphasis above is mine. Dunnigan praises and acknowledges Gygax and Arneson, their history of wargame design in Chainmail and play in the International Federation of Wargamers, and naturally, as well as correctly, he ties the origins of our favorite hobby back.
As a reader of blogs dedicated to grognard play styles of RPGs or wargames, I remembered my early days in gaming, my father's influence and my play today. Chapter 5 goes into great detail; anything more here is unjust. Go forth and learn.
The Complete Wargames Handbook was a big influence on me. I read and reread the book. Printed the game Drive on Metz, made counters, and even designed an amateur game based on the principles Dunnigan set forth in his book of a North African battle between the German Afrika Corps and the British.
The Complete Wargames Handbook, 2nd Edition, is available online at StrategyPage.com, where Dunnigan is an editor and podcast host. Chapter 5, The History of Wargames details the humble, and influential, beginnings of companies we are likely very familiar: Avalon Hill, SPI and SDC. Dunnigan writes:
Some of these smaller publishers developed highly innovative ideas and have themselves contributed to profound changes in the hobby.
The most innovative and influential of these new game systems was the role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons) developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1973. The closest SPI ever came to this was a game we published in 1973 called Sniper, which involved man-to-man combat in an urban area. Players had a tendency to individualize their playing pieces in Sniper. But I, as the designer, did not bother to take it as far as Dungeons and Dragons, which was also the first, or at least the most widely successful, of the fantasy games.
Emphasis above is mine. Dunnigan praises and acknowledges Gygax and Arneson, their history of wargame design in Chainmail and play in the International Federation of Wargamers, and naturally, as well as correctly, he ties the origins of our favorite hobby back.
As a reader of blogs dedicated to grognard play styles of RPGs or wargames, I remembered my early days in gaming, my father's influence and my play today. Chapter 5 goes into great detail; anything more here is unjust. Go forth and learn.
Posted by at 10:28 PM in d10
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