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Take World War II To Your RPG Night With War Stories
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<blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 9067584" data-attributes="member: 6945590"><p>Well, usually the natives don't like to be occupied by a foreign power...so yes. Almost all of South East Asia was colonized by a European power except Thailand. The rest of Indochina by France (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) , Burma (Myanmar) and Malaysia by England, Indonesia by Holland, and the Philippines by Spain and America.</p><p></p><p>But which Vietnam war do you speak of? The French used the pretext of the killings of Catholics (including Bishops) in the early/mid 1800s to invade Vietnam. Later in a turnabout, while Catholics were a minority in Vietnam, Ngo Diem (the President of South Vietnam that both France and the United States would eventually abandon), was a devout Catholic and his brother was an Arch Bishop. Hoping to get more recognition for his brother, he confiscated Buddhist temples and monasteries, and forbade some Buddhist holidays...one of them being the Buddhist equivalent of Christmas. The famous picture of a monk self-immolating was not a protest about the French or the war. It was in defiance to the Catholic persecution of Buddhists.</p><p></p><p>Talking about war in Vietnam could also mean the fighting against the Japanese during WW2 (and the Viet Minh....the precursors to the Viet Cong...also fought against the French). At first, despite being Communist, Ho Chi Minh and othe Vietnamese communist leaders thought the Americans would be more sympathetic to their cause given similiar origin stories. And indeed, many Americans <em>were</em> in support of Ho Chi Minh, including military officers. But by late 50s, and early 60s, the whole Domino Theory was entrenched, and it became anathema to support Communism at all.</p><p></p><p>So, after the French catastrophically failed at Dien Bien Phu, the Americans thought if Vietnam fell, neighboring South East Asia would succumb too. The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon aka Hukbalahap (for New People's Army) was gaining steam in the Philippines over grievances with the Hacienderos (typically Mestizo, or mixed Eurasian Filipinos descended from the Spanish/Mexican authorities) who held almost all the wealth and power in the Philippines. So this fear of Communist contagion to neighboring countries began the inexorable lead up to war by the Americans against (ostensibly) the North Vietnamese. The South Vietnamese government was rotten to the core, but if you were anti-communist, you were golden in America's eyes at the time (eg, see the Contras vs Sandinistas, or why we supported a dictator like Ferdinand Marcos for so long)</p><p></p><p>And while technically fought in Cambodia, you could call the Vietnamese "rescue" of the Cambodians against Pol Pot's madness as a "Vietnamese War" since no one else in the world was doing anything about the Killing Fields. And then lastly, there was the failed war of the Chinese against the Vietnamese...which I actually don't know that much about (other than the Chinese being mostly humiliated).</p><p></p><p>This is why I love history, and why I am somewhat mystified why gamers want fantasy so much. Real history is far more intriguing and fascinating than anything George Martin or even JRR Tolkien ever dreamed up of. While historical military games do have some challenges such as being true to history (what about minority representation? Well, if it is ok to play a race/gender the player is not...I honestly don't see it as being a big deal to play a ethnicity/gender authentic for the period). The problem of player agency was never really a problem for our group. First off, players (not characters) should learn to become more cohesive. A team of characters needs to be just that....a team. Not a gang of maverick lone-wolfves who just happen to have the same end-goal in mind. If this means taking orders, even from one of their own, should not be an issue.</p><p></p><p>And if this really is an issue, and players (not characters) truly don't like the idea of being told what to do, then there's always solo roleplaying</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RareBreed, post: 9067584, member: 6945590"] Well, usually the natives don't like to be occupied by a foreign power...so yes. Almost all of South East Asia was colonized by a European power except Thailand. The rest of Indochina by France (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) , Burma (Myanmar) and Malaysia by England, Indonesia by Holland, and the Philippines by Spain and America. But which Vietnam war do you speak of? The French used the pretext of the killings of Catholics (including Bishops) in the early/mid 1800s to invade Vietnam. Later in a turnabout, while Catholics were a minority in Vietnam, Ngo Diem (the President of South Vietnam that both France and the United States would eventually abandon), was a devout Catholic and his brother was an Arch Bishop. Hoping to get more recognition for his brother, he confiscated Buddhist temples and monasteries, and forbade some Buddhist holidays...one of them being the Buddhist equivalent of Christmas. The famous picture of a monk self-immolating was not a protest about the French or the war. It was in defiance to the Catholic persecution of Buddhists. Talking about war in Vietnam could also mean the fighting against the Japanese during WW2 (and the Viet Minh....the precursors to the Viet Cong...also fought against the French). At first, despite being Communist, Ho Chi Minh and othe Vietnamese communist leaders thought the Americans would be more sympathetic to their cause given similiar origin stories. And indeed, many Americans [I]were[/I] in support of Ho Chi Minh, including military officers. But by late 50s, and early 60s, the whole Domino Theory was entrenched, and it became anathema to support Communism at all. So, after the French catastrophically failed at Dien Bien Phu, the Americans thought if Vietnam fell, neighboring South East Asia would succumb too. The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon aka Hukbalahap (for New People's Army) was gaining steam in the Philippines over grievances with the Hacienderos (typically Mestizo, or mixed Eurasian Filipinos descended from the Spanish/Mexican authorities) who held almost all the wealth and power in the Philippines. So this fear of Communist contagion to neighboring countries began the inexorable lead up to war by the Americans against (ostensibly) the North Vietnamese. The South Vietnamese government was rotten to the core, but if you were anti-communist, you were golden in America's eyes at the time (eg, see the Contras vs Sandinistas, or why we supported a dictator like Ferdinand Marcos for so long) And while technically fought in Cambodia, you could call the Vietnamese "rescue" of the Cambodians against Pol Pot's madness as a "Vietnamese War" since no one else in the world was doing anything about the Killing Fields. And then lastly, there was the failed war of the Chinese against the Vietnamese...which I actually don't know that much about (other than the Chinese being mostly humiliated). This is why I love history, and why I am somewhat mystified why gamers want fantasy so much. Real history is far more intriguing and fascinating than anything George Martin or even JRR Tolkien ever dreamed up of. While historical military games do have some challenges such as being true to history (what about minority representation? Well, if it is ok to play a race/gender the player is not...I honestly don't see it as being a big deal to play a ethnicity/gender authentic for the period). The problem of player agency was never really a problem for our group. First off, players (not characters) should learn to become more cohesive. A team of characters needs to be just that....a team. Not a gang of maverick lone-wolfves who just happen to have the same end-goal in mind. If this means taking orders, even from one of their own, should not be an issue. And if this really is an issue, and players (not characters) truly don't like the idea of being told what to do, then there's always solo roleplaying [/QUOTE]
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