Gaming in the Military - Your Experiences?

[rgard]

Just like the topic says, how prevalent are RPGs in the military?

Somewhat ancient history, but...

1983 to 1985: I was stationed at Camp Stanley, Euijong-bu, ROK. 1/15th FA. Played D&D with other junior officers (in a Oriental Adventures campaign of course) and we played some Dragonquest (SPI). Only when we weren't getting rat-faced off post.

1985 to 1986: Schools (Nuke assembly and Turkish) in the US, with no time to play.

1986 to 1987: I was stationed in Erzurum, Turkey, 27th USAFAD. Played D&D there with 2 other junior officers.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Roadkill101]

I was in the Army from '88-'91. Was sent to Germany for permanant party. I had my parents ship my 1e stuff over to me. Discovered FR by picking up the box-set from the Stars and Stripes bookstore. Picked up a lot of stuff from Stars and Stripes actually, rounded out my collection of 1e material and any FR source books as they were released, and picked up a lot of 2e material (the monstrous compendiums, Phb & Dmg). I was never one for modules.
Funny thing is, I never played for most of this time. Then the unit got sent to Desert Storm, and I was hanging out w/ one of the married guys I worked with but whom lived off post. Turns out he used to play once upon a time. I can't remember if I brought any books, but I damn sure had my dice with me, so I reintroduced him to the game, one of the younger guys we worked with got introduced and a guy attached from a Stinger missile unit.
After we got back to Germany, I ran a more or less weekly game for the few months I remained enlisted. Introduced the married guys wife to the game, and a couple German friends who'd never heard or seen anything like D&D.

 

[J_D]

I served in the USAF from 82-85. I played in a few D&D games in tech school, then when I was stationed at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory I had no problem finding a game. There were always games running in the barracks (the most common were D&D and Star Trek), and towards the end of my time I also got involved with a group of mostly civilian engineers that worked on base; we played at the house of one of the civvies off-base.

And the FLGS in Albuquerque, Wargames West, was the best gaming store I've ever been in. At least it was back then. It's been over 20 years since I've been to Albuquerque.

 

[dpmcalister]

Not US-based, but gaming in the Royal Air Force is pretty common - they even have their own association (RAF Wargaming Association) which includes roleplaying games. I spent 13 years in the RAF and, aside from a spell when I first joined up played pretty solidly. There was a club at every unit I served at (ranging in size from 6-8 up to 20+)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

In the German army, role-playing games seem to be almost completely absent. I don't know why.

 

[paulsometimes]

I seem to be the exception to the rule for military gaming as I have a hard time finding a group. However, while here at RAF Lakenheath it seems more due to my busy schedule than anyone else's fault. While I was at Shaw AFB, SC though it seemed I met nothing but people that said they used to play, but didn't have time any more. Most of that not having time anymore seemed to be due to them just wanting to drink more than anything. So it seems to go for the younger airman though and I know I wasn't much better.
I'm hoping this coming Winter to finally have the time to find a group and get into a regular game, whether it be other USAF personnel or members of the local community.

 

[paulsometimes]

Yeah, US Air Force has its share of gamers as well. Even in basic training a couple of guys knew the rules well enough to run a game on sunday while everyone else was out to various church services. We used a hat with folded up scraps of paper for our "d20"...

It's apparent to me now that I went through basic with the wrong group of people. This is pure genious.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I played throughout my time in the USAF. The best game I ever played in was while I was at Osan AB in South Korea (June 2000 to June 2001). Every Saturday & Sunday we'd take over a dayroom at the NCO dorms and play 12 hour marathon sessions around an old ping pong table. It certainly made the time away from my family (1 year) much more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.

 

[theemrys]

When I was in the Canadian Forces we played quite a bit. Sometimes it was D&D but eventually a group of us got playing Shadowrun (1st and 2nd ed) more often. It worked well because you could use "real world" ideas more (although it was a pain to keep telling the military engineers that they can't "fool" the DM just because they more on explosives than he does). The main reason Shadowrun worked well for us was that it was easier to change up groups. Since each adventure was more of a job/mission, who ever could play that day were the ones "hired" for the job. Worked much better as I'm not a big fan of DD parties having to change up in the middle of a dungeon. Anyway, we had a great time of it. Also there was a pretty big wargaming club where I was at as well.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

As an Air Force Academy cadet back from 1995-1999 you would get room and board, and bit of monthly pay. It's enough to go out on the town every so often, but wasn't enough to do so weekly unless you were one of those who also got money from the parents. A lot of us had to find hobbies on the cheap, and one such was our RPG weekends that went from Friday to Sunday. Mostly us cadets played DnD 2nd edition, Shadowrun, and the old Star Wars RPG. Other times we would take out some rarer RPG or go with a homebrew one of us would create and referee. Good times and good people. I don't think I've played as much since.

Had another gaming group in Florida with myself and a few fellow 2nd Lts. We would fluctuate from hitting the bars, playing cooperative Masters of Orion 2, and DMing DnD. When I was a captain, two of my fellow officers got me into a LARPG session of Vampire from WoD. Not my usually cup of tea, but those two girls were great. They were helicopter pilots and liked their drink, too. It made me wonder if women only got into LARPGs and not regular table top games.