D&D in the Military?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Over the years I've read comments from people about how they played D&D in the military. I'm curious about how that works. Does the military frown on it? Approve of it? Not care? I think I read that the Israeli army disapproves but I'm not 100% on that.

I would think there's more pros than cons. At a minimum D&D encourages strategic thinking.

When do you play in the military? (especially when deployed)

How much time do you have for a session?

I would think you've got a captive pool of potential players. If only we had that in the regular world!

 

[Vascant]

No one I knew in the military frowned on it unless it was strictly based on personal point of view (Keep in mind this was the 80's). It was and still is some of the best gaming experiences of my life.


Playing while deployed was never an option for my job.

 

[Ze]

Until some fifteen years ago, there was Conscription in Italy.
During my Conscription year, I recklessy played at Magic:tG, mostly during the long and useless night watches inside the barracks. :\
D&D was simply not popular among that people, but I never knew a military who frowned upon it.

 

[Ebon Shar]

I played quite a bit while in the military, but I was never deployed. I was stationed at a DoD base in Germany and had my weekends free. I imagine it is like that for any military occupation while not deployed or at a time of war.

 

[SkidAce]

Playing in the military since 86.

You didnt talk about it much at work...but that was not the fault of the MILITARY it was the massive individual predjudice. An exmple..I was only an E2 but was so high speed (their words not mine) that they were going to train me for duties normally filled by an E4. Until my flight sgt found out i played that "demon worshipping ".

We were the old sci-fi/fantasy/intellectual/semi-geek social click and in the 80s it as a minority. In the 90s it got better, there seemed to be the same amount of folks like us...but the other folks didnt care or just shook their heads at the sillyness.

But as I said that was individual prefs. We played DnD after work and on breaks. We also played the origional system of Champions (now HERO). And Rolemaster. OH! and Traveller, and Star Fleet Battles. (I love SFB, but can't find anyone to play after I explain the rules..hehe).

Never played while deployed. My career field is in security and during wars you are to busy or you were resting, never seemed to have time for more than a movie on occasion.

Sadly, I am now so high ranked (E8, one more to go!!!) that I cannot find a game with military folks in my unit. I was in charge of about 100 people and knew of several groups that played, but as their boss I could not go over their house and "hang out". and groups with non mil folks have been difficult to find because of military schedule and not much in common after 22 years.

To sum it up...lost of mil folks play and the numbers seem to be growing or keeping steady.

Later!

 

[Glyfair]

A friend of my brother was on the crew of a submarine in the Navy. He has said it was pretty common to find cliques that played regularly there.

 

[Kerrick]

Yeah, lots of folks who play are in the armed services. When I was in the Army in the mid-90's, I was part of a rather large group (11 people at its height). We were very rarely all together, though, because of duties, RL, etc. Having a military background does add something to the play - we tended to use better tactics and such.

The military (US at least) doesn't really care what soldiers do on their offtime, as long as it's not illegal and doesn't affect their duties. Playing while on deployment is iffy (not approval-wise, just time-wise), because you're usually too busy to find time for it. I have a friend who'd play in the back of an APC with his buddies, and I know there are plenty of folks in Iraq/Afghanistan who play/run groups.

 

[Xath]

D&D is pretty big in the military. A friend of mine in the Air Force plays pretty regularly when he gets shipped overseas. It's easily portable, and the outcomes are pretty endless, which makes it popular when you spend 20 of the 24 hours of the day sitting with nothing to do.

My current group has one Army turned Air Force and one ex-Marine.

 

[Gold Roger]

I've been in the airforce for one year by now and have yet to meet another active gamer.

So for all the gaming in the military, it's not as big in the german one, at the very least not where I am.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's pretty common, and certainly not looked down upon in my experience. We had a lot of players in my last unit -- heck, the CSM was a gamer, and during one extended field problem the chaplain and chaplain's assistant were running a game in the combat trains (it wasn't D&D, but it was a fantasy RPG with a Christian twist). The Ft Hood shoppette sold a bunch of gaming material, mostly D&D but also CCGs and other stuff.

With lots of slow time between periods of chaos and excitement, we certainly encourage soldiers to find constructive ways to spend their time, and gaming fits.

Sadly, I don't get to play with military gamers, because I've reached a rank where my gaming peers are very few in number -- the RPG O-Club we formed hasn't had a substantive post in two years. Most of the gamers I've met were EMs, and playing with them on a regular basis would be a fraternization problem for me. But that has nothing to do with gaming, and much more to do with fraternization rules and maintaining good order and discipline.