D&D in the Military?

[HeavenShallBurn]

This isn't the 80s anymore, there aren't a dearth of players. When I was in I never had a problem finding a group. Course as a few have pointed out the longer you stay in the more problems you run into. The majority of gamers in the service (just like the vast majority of servicemen) will be lower ranking and for officers you can't really just hang out with them cause of fraternization regs and discipline issues. Then even if you're enlisted you'll be on the upper end of the non-com ladder and as SkidAce pointed out a CSM can't just hang-out and game with a bunch of privates and corporals.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was a military dependent, as were most of my fellow early co-gamers.

Since then, I've played alongside active duty & retired members of all forces except the Coast Guard.

I noticed that RPGs weren't as common as wargames- I remember several contributions in magazines & supplements regarding Star Fleet Battles from military players, for instance- but never saw any formal dissaproval from command. (Parents, maybe, but not anyone within the service.)

And when I donated some Ars Magica 4th, sets of 3.0 & 3.5 Core books, Oriental Adventures, Hero 5th and about 6 sets of die to a group collecting entertainment goods for the troops, they were mighty thankful!

 

[Peni Griffin]

Service brat, here, living in a big service town. (San Antonio, mother-in-law of the Army, home of basic training for the Air Force) and I am shocked that one poster here has been in the Air Force for a year and found no one to play with. The German AF must be very different socially than the American!

I've been playing with service people since I started to play in 1979 on a college campus. Since the game was a regular one - we had a room in the Student Union Building reserved for Sundays - we got players from nearby Ft. Sam dropping in. One of my friends is a jewelry maker, a large chunk of whose business has always been concessions at bases and posts; he used to live down the block from the Security Hill gate at Kelly AFB (since decommissioned) and would pick up players to bring home while chatting up customers. Since his most lucrative concessions were associated with training sites a lot of these were short-term and crossed a lot of services, but we also had long-term regulars contacted in this manner, including a training instructor whose freedom to play was tied to the basic training schedule. When my husband lived in the dorms at Kelly, I used to attend games in the day room with him.

Another pastime I've always seen a lot of involvement in was medieval recreation, specifically the Society for Creative Anachronism. I've mostly played tabletop with noncoms and enlisted men, but a lot of my SCA acquaintance was commissioned. This may be because the fraternization problems are easier to cope with in large outdoor gatherings that include formal social structures and frequently draw people from long distances. Also, whereas you might have to build a new gaming group from scratch every time you were reassigned or went for training, you could walk into a new town, look up the nearest regional SCA organization, walk in, and be with family.

 

[DM_Matt]

I think I read that the Israeli army disapproves but I'm not 100% on that.

Didn't that turn out the be a mistranslated article? I think the issue was one specific LARP or something.

 

[Drew]

I'm currently in the army, a brand new active duty soldier (a lowly private). I'm public affairs working near Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio, TX. One of the NCOs in my unit is familiar with D&D, although he doesn't seem to hold it in much esteem. One of my civillian bosses (former army) is pretty familiar as well. I generally don't talk about gaming at work, although I don't exactly hide it either.

During AIT, I recruited a bunch of guys to play during weekends. Loads of fun. I was surprised at the sheer number of people who wanted in on our game. There were a few that mocked us, a few that thought it really weird ("I thought you played it on computers"), and a few that didn't know what it was at all. The vast majority of people, however, had some gaming experience and at least some level of interest in playing with us.

I work in a building full of airforce and civillians. Among them, Warhammer 40K seems to be the game of choice among those that play anything at all. Oddly enough, the 40Kers have never heard of my favorite Games Workshop Game...Bloodbowl.

I think that there is a probably a slightly higher percentage of gamers among military types, if only because there is a lot of down time. I'm not deployed, but I can guarentee you that I'm taking some dice over to the "sandbox" if and when I go.

 

[Yair]

The rumours regarding the Israeli army are exagerrated. The army does send people he thinks are engaged in LARPs for a psychological evaluation. That's about it.

I'm not familiar with any D&D gaming in the Israeli army. In my limited experience (as an infantary field-intelligence sergeant), I didn't come across any games or so on - not even any other gamers that I know of, really.

 

[Aries_Omega]

I found a few gamers while I was in the Army from 95' to 01'. There isn't a lot of variety but all were pretty open to try new stuff. While I was in they did not care what you did in your off time. For a deployment it isn't a matter of not approved...were would you do it and when is more the issue. Mission is first.

Ironically it was in the Army that I taught my a few guys in my platoon and a few other units how to play Battletech/Mechwarrior. We were all scouts, tankers and one mechanic so playing an armored unit in the future wasn't a stretch. They had no idea of the universe was like so that part took some time to teach. The combat system and the weapon systems were easy for them to grasp. They did not like the war doctrines of the Innersphere and thought the Clan war doctrine was asinine. When we went to big deal Con we had to come up with a unit or play an existing unit.

We signed in as a unaligned mercenary company. The Con organizers gave us a certain amount of C-Bills to purchase mechs, spare parts, ammo and the like. We had to come up with a guidon, unit insignia and all the stuff you would expect to find in a typical gaming supplement about a given unit. We had all that already and a S.O.P. Manual (Standard Operating Procedure) written up and looked like our RL S.O.P. A friend of ours working in S-2 helped us out with it. Anyhow to make a long story short we kicked ass, didn't have time to take names...we just took down initials. We won the tournament but was accused of cheating for breaking Battletech traditions. Things like spending the max amount on artillery and using it like you do in modern warfare instead of how you traditionally did in Battletech. Using lots of spotters, intel gathering units, and purposely shooting cockpits if outmatched rather then slugging it out.

 

[jaerdaph]

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all you EN Worlders in the military for your service - past, present and future - because it isn't said enough!

 

[Tarlonniel]

I'm an E-4 in the Navy, stationed on an aircraft carrier, and within reactor department alone there are multiple roleplaying groups (not just DnD). During our deployment overseas last year we had at least three campaigns running simultaneously. I'm sure there are more groups in other departments, and I know for a fact that some of the E-7s and officers are current or former gamers. I also found gaming groups while I was in the training pipeline before coming to the ship. It's everywhere!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

My current group has one ex-Marine.

Former Marine, I hope.