Back to the Beginning
Aaaand we’re back! The old ‘A Bit of History’ column has been resurrected after a hiatus of over a decade. It’s good to be back, the old office looks just the same, I only wish I hadn’t left a cup of yogurt in the drawer when I left. Whew, ten years, what has happened in that time? I began this column as an exercise in keeping my sanity. I had recently left teaching to be a stay at home dad and needed an intellectual exercise to fill the few hours of the day not parenting, cleaning, and cooking. As my son grew, I launched from writing that single column and onto a career as an RPG writer. It was a blast, and I managed a bit of minor success. A few months ago, my son started high school and my wife’s job allowed her to work from home. I threw on the old teacher hat, found a job, and headed back out into the workforce. A Real World J-O-B folks. Doing the good work of teaching the next generation to quiet down and can we please get out our social studies books and turn to page 94. Hey, the pay’s regular, there is a D&D group among the faculty, and the school lunch is cheap (and palatable thanks to the spice drawer I keep in my filing cabinet). My wife and I run Why Not Games, and while that provides an outlet for my writing, I wanted a bit more, perhaps a bit of history. I got into RPG writing to write historical games, and somewhere along the way while chasing the next paycheck, the next project, the thing that will move my career along, I ended up writing in genres that did not truly interest me just to make ends meet, made compromises in the works I wanted to be so much better, and in the end, I was burned put. Let’s go back to the beginning, back to drink the waters from the wells of home, and back into history. History in Gaming, a History of Gaming One of my favorite parts of history is the origin story. Not the how this or that superhero gained their powers, but how a people or nation came to be. They provide so much detail, not necessarily about history in terms of what happened when, where, and to whom, but in what the people who created the story thought was important. Often, these origin stories are mostly myth, not fact, and that makes them useful for propaganda, forging a sense of unity, and most of all gaming. The most popular origin story of TTRPGs has two men, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, inventing the hobby out of table-top historical wargames. From this came Chainmail and then Dungeons and Dragons (for those taking notes at home, you should begin making your lineage chart now). History was hard baked into those early iterations of Dungeons and Dragons, the settings were clearly meant to be inspired by Medieval Europe but were a blend of that and the fantasy genre (as well as Westerns, the rag-tag band of heroes riding in to save the isolated town is a clue). Early TTRPGs show this historical inspiration in clear terms, such as Call of Cthulhu, Boot Hill, En Garde!, Bushido, and Gangbusters, amongst others. By the 1980s, fantasy and sci-fi dominated the market, but historical games popped up with games such as Pendragon, Ars Magica, Space 1889, Recon, Daredevils, and Behind Enemy Lines. In the 1990s the strongest holders of the historical banner were GURPS, variants of the World of Darkness, and Deadlands, with new editions of older games coming out as well as specialized settings such as Sengoku or Castle Falkenstein arriving. After the turn of the century new ways to play TTRPGs were exemplified in Spirit of the Century, Dogs in the Vineyard, and Godlike, as more traditional TTRPGs such as Qin, Savage Worlds, and Yggdrasil. This list is far from exhaustive but does show that historical TTRPGs have been with us from the beginning and continue to be a strong genre. I should note that certain games that were contemporary or near future at the time, such as Twilight 2000, are now historical in nature. If you recall playing these games as possible future events, your knees hurt, and you should probably do your stretching exercises. Types of Historical Games Categorization is fraught with issues and all too often more subjective than objective. Even so, it has its uses. As I discuss games, gaming, and history, I place games in five broad categories based on their historicity. This is just a shorthand to organize what we are talking about and is in no way a means of casting dispersion on different games. One can enjoy a game that is historically inspired for its inspiration, and indeed, it allows one to have the flavor of the past while avoiding the pitfalls that anything real-world ties has. That said, I prefer to play ahistorical or history-plus games. You might note that alternate history is not a category. This is because save for pure historical and history adjacent, any of the categories may be alternate history. Indeed, by their very nature most are alternate histories to some degree, especially history plus. Pure Historical: These games try to be recreations of historical events. The players take the roles of historical figures, are faced with the same challenges and resources, and must solve those problems in some way. Usually, this is only found in boardgames or miniature games. Prime examples include the many Avalon Hill bookshelf games such as Panzer Leader,Squad Leader, or Wooden Ships and Iron Men. Tabletop miniatures games have historically (ha) featured this style of play, but in the past four decades have trended more towards ahistorical styles. Ahistorical: This type of game uses history and adheres mostly to historical accuracy but alters events and details to make them more playable. Our heroes are creations of the players and not historical figures. Game play is based on historical events and challenges but may themselves be entirely made up. While rare, some role-playing games take this approach, such as the old TSR history sourcebooks and many games by Battlefield Press, but you see this more often in the realm of wargames. I am a fan of Bolt Action and Saga, both miniatures games that allow you to build ahistorical forces but play them in matched point based play. History Plus: Much like an ahistorical game, history plus uses history as a setting and base, but introduces the fantastical and speculative. Magic, monsters, myths, and even aliens are a major theme of the game, all set against a historical backdrop. Most historical role-playing games are of this type. King Arthur Pendragon, Call of Cthulhu, Vampire the Dark Ages, Godlike, and my own Rocket Age are fine examples of history plus. History Inspired: A staple of fantasy role-playing, these games have settings largely inspired by, but are not strictly, historical in nature. An artificial world allows for completely impossible blends (Ancient Egypt and Imperial China), allows one to carefully skirt some real-world issues of historical events as well as the lack of inclusion in the past. Middle-Earth and Hyperborea are the ur-examples, but more recent (for a certain degree of recent) settings such as Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms follow the same format to some degree. Other examples include (oddly) Battletech, and my own Heartlands or Northlands Saga. The former is meant to be inspired from the get-go and is set in the Real World but well after an apocalypse, the latter was meant to be historical, but compromises were made. Far too many if you ask me. History Adjacent: The type of game the furthest from pure historical are those that simply borrow parts of history with no attempt at accuracy or context. Pathfinder’s Golarion comes to mind, as does just about any fantasy RPG in the classic mold. These games grab this or that, here and there, and bash it all together with little thought as to the origins of the things they are using. Honestly, at this point we are talking about genres outside the historical, and thus they will not be covered in any detail. The Format The previous run of A Bit of History lacked a clear format, I rambled about whatever I felt like rambling about that day (much like my history lectures). This time there will be a little more order and organization. Each column will have a topic, a tip, an analysis, an in-depth how-to, or a look at a historical period, person, or event. That will take up three-quarters of the column. The final part will be a review of something table-top related. An RPG, a wargame, a boardgame, accessory, miniatures, non-fiction, and fiction, whatever I happen to have that calls for a review. These items will be given a read and a play, and then discussed as to their historicity and fun at the table. If you are a publisher, and especially if you are a smaller publisher, send something for review and I’ll feature it here (you can reach me at [email protected]). PDFs are fine, hardcopies are lovely. The December column each year will still be “I Want Games for Christmas”, because I do. Next up is “Ahistorical: When it is Right to Get it Wrong” where we look at why it is a good idea to break from history in your gaming, especially to aid in playability and fun. A prime example is in my long running Great Pendragon Campaigngame. Of course, there are women as knights (as well as LGBTQ knights), and on the childbirth tables those capable of having children may do so, but I do not punish women Player Knights (called PKs, kinda cute and I like it) by having their characters die in childbirth. All of this is a break from strict history, but hey, I’ve got Arthur and fairies, so why not be inclusive? Until next time, put a bit of history into your gaming and reap the rewards. Disclaimer: In academic research it is best to list any possible biases one might have, and the easiest way to do so is to state who you are in clear terms. I am a white (Scottish/ English/ German), middle-aged, middle-class, midwestern heterosexual cis-male Catholic. I am college educated (BA in Anthropology, Geography, and a Secondary Teaching Certificate), politically liberal, a father and a husband, teach in a small rural Catholic middle school (Go Cardinals!), and my French is terrible (not that that stops me, Bwahahahaha!).
0 Comments
|
Ken SpencerTeacher, Writer, Gamer ArchivesCategories |