Research Findings Part 1 (With Links!)

As I mentioned in my general overview of my topic, my research for game design class this semester is dealing with the history of role playing games (non-computer). In this portion of my research findings, I will discuss the history of RPGs pre-Dungeons & Dragons, since, as I mentioned before, that entire tale is far too complex to relate in just part of a post. The D&D saga is probably going to be its own mini-series of posts so that I can throughly cover the information and still keep things relatively short. (I know I've already failed to do that in some previous posts!) I've already found some great information about the beginnings of role playing games, or at least their origins.

Role playing games grew out of strategy and wargames. According to Steve Darlington's "A History of Role Playing, Part 1", as far back as four thousand years ago, people in ancient Sumeria simulated battles, and Chess and Go, which are the world's oldest games, are based on teaching military tactics. Darlington mentions that contemporary wargames developed at the turn of the 19th century in Prussia, and was called "kriegspiel", which means "war game". I'm going to make all of my English teachers cringe and cite Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia page gives a bit more detail into kriegspiel. The Wikipedia article on the subject states that the Master of Pages to the Duke of Brunswick created a similar game 1780, and the Prussian General Staff developed the game between 1803 and 1809. In kriegspiel, pieces would be moved around the table, with blue pieces indicating their forces, while red pieces represented enemy forces. Dice rolls were used to indicate random chances in battle and a referee would score the results of the game. Games such as kreigspiel became a routine part of military training.

According to an article from E-zine Articles, parlor games that incorporated elements of role playing became popular. A game called "Jury Box" involved players in a mock trial. In the 1960s, historical re-enactment groups would every now and then host "creative history" events which re-enacted historical events with a few fantasy elements incorporated in.

Separate from the live-action role play games, most RPGs were still wargames. Referring back to Darlington's article, it was science fiction visionary H.G. Wells that brought wargames from the armies to the amateurs. Wells published a set of wargaming rules in 1915 in a book entitled Little Wars. The games laid out in Little Wars suggest using miniature figures, such as toy soldiers, to play the game and create a sense of involvement and realism. In 1953, Charles Roberts released a commercially available board-game-type wargame. By the 1960s, wargames had caught on, and were recieving popularity. The battles were still historically based, and there was little role playing action. This changed when The Lord of the Rings trilogy was release in the United States in 1966. I just have to use this quorte from Darlington's article because I love it's references, and it speaks volumes about the impact that The Lord of the Rings had on the wargaming world and its players:

"No longer did players want to recreate the battle of Gettysburg, but the battle of Helm's Deep. The Napoleonic Wars were discarded in favor of the War of the Ring, goblins and orcs replaced foot soldiers and calvary. People wanted to know just how much damage a Balrog could do, and what the range was on a lightning bolt spell."

That about brings us to the next phase in the history of RPGs, which is the partnership between Ernest "Gary" Gygax and David Arneson. These two men are responsible for role playing games as we know them today.