Chapter One: A Prelude to Adventure (1964–1974)

[The Perilous Dreamer]

At the beginning of chapter one he says:

For those that know the game intimately, it is even harder to accept that its first incarnation lacked so many familiar qualities and left unexamined many crucial subjects that, in retrospect, urgently required clarification.

This is his first mistake, he incorrectly assumes that people who are not familiar with the original D&D know the game intimately. This is simply not true, if you do not know the rules of and have never played the original game, it is just not true that you know the game intimately, you may know a later version quite well, but you do not know the real thing, the original thing well, let alone intimately.

The first incarnation did not lack any qualities crucial to the game and did not leave anything crucial unexamined. IMO this quoted statement is both untrue and illustrates the authors lack of understanding of the subject of his "history" book.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

He makes a big deal, too big of a deal IMO of the statement on the cover “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures” which when you actually examine and play the game, it is clear this was a marketing ploy towards the wargaming community. Gygax and Arneson, knew that all their friends loved the game, but they did not understand the broader implications yet, so they chose a description to market the game to people like themselves and their friends. In fact, it is not a wargame and it does not require Miniature Figures. On the other hand roleplaying game is not a great name either since roleplaying has meaning and usages that have nothing to do with what we call a roleplaying game. The truth is to have a fully accurate name for the RPGs we would have had to create a brand new word and it is far too late to do that.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

A good sized chunk of the first chapter delves into the history of wargames themselves and is quite interesting reading. Although the full chapter title is "CHAPTER ONE: A PRELUDE TO ADVENTURE (1964–1974)" he goes back much further than 1964.

IMO one of the most significant things that happened during the 1960s company wise was Avalon Hill's development of play-by-mail kits for their games. Play by mail, moves so slowly that you have to be fanatical about a game to play it play by mail. That dedication is the basis of the hobby, there is a qualitative difference between casual players and serious players.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

The mid-60s saw the rise of wargaming clubs, the first attempts as convention and the learning pains associated with it in 1967 and then a more successful one in 1968 which eventually became Gen Con.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Wargames are covered in this chapter, both miniature wargaming and board wargaming.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

The thing most evident from the later 60s part of this history is how crucial the fanaticism of Gygax in doing a lot of writing and heavy lifting was to the wargame hobby, especially in all of the groups he was part of and in the wider region he was part of. A lot of people will participate in things when someone else steps up and does the hard work of organizing it, doing the follow up and the setup work. It is, in effect, the difference between Referees/DMs and players.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

One thing you gather in this chapter is that both here and in the UK there was some interest in fantasy wargaming to greater and lessor degrees some dating back into the 1950s. Mention of them remain, but often nothing was published and each was a local or small region thing with no or very little cross pollination across a broader area and interested groups of people.

You can also read about those who cast cold water on those interested in fantasy. Yeah, some respected wargamers were nevertheless naysayers to their eternal shame.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

One interesting tidbit is that the concept of a long running campaign goes all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century with H.G. Wells and Robert Louis Stevenson.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

(David A. Wesely)

Wesely read widely in the literature of wargaming and, in 1967, found inspiration in a wargaming book published decades before Wells: Charles A. L. Totten’s Strategos: The American Art of War (1880).

In this book is found:

Strategos instead defers to the so-called “free” kriegsspiel movement associated with Meckel and other Prussian authors post-1870

… the office of Referee should be regarded, not so much in the light of an adviser, as of an arbiter. He should bear in mind the principle that anything can be attempted. The advisability of an attempt is another thing, and one that it is the object of the War Game to make evident to all concerned by results. The Referee, therefore, should generally require a positive statement of intention, as the basis of his decision; the attempt must be
willed into operation by the player.

The success of such a game depends wholly on the quality of the referee:

And that boys and girls is why the referee wields the power he does AND why the players must trust to the impartially of the referee AND why if the referee proves to not be impartial you should walk away.

[hengest]

Mar 21, 2024 18:24:47 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

He makes a big deal, too big of a deal IMO of the statement on the cover “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures” which when you actually examine and play the game, it is clear this was a marketing ploy towards the wargaming community. Gygax and Arneson, knew that all their friends loved the game, but they did not understand the broader implications yet, so they chose a description to market the game to people like themselves and their friends. In fact, it is not a wargame and it does not require Miniature Figures. On the other hand roleplaying game is not a great name either since roleplaying has meaning and usages that have nothing to do with what we call a roleplaying game. The truth is to have a fully accurate name for the RPGs we would have had to create a brand new word and it is far too late to do that.

I still think "Murkhillian gaming" is a good choice. 

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Mar 22, 2024 16:38:38 GMT -5 hengest said:

Mar 21, 2024 18:24:47 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

He makes a big deal, too big of a deal IMO of the statement on the cover “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures” which when you actually examine and play the game, it is clear this was a marketing ploy towards the wargaming community. Gygax and Arneson, knew that all their friends loved the game, but they did not understand the broader implications yet, so they chose a description to market the game to people like themselves and their friends. In fact, it is not a wargame and it does not require Miniature Figures. On the other hand roleplaying game is not a great name either since roleplaying has meaning and usages that have nothing to do with what we call a roleplaying game. The truth is to have a fully accurate name for the RPGs we would have had to create a brand new word and it is far too late to do that.

I still think "Murkhillian gaming" is a good choice. 

Thank you!