Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Take World War II To Your RPG Night With War Stories
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 9066077" data-attributes="member: 6945590"><p>How true this (unfortunately) is. I have often wondered why RPG gamers veered off into the fantastic so much. Back in the 80s, there were quite a few popular games that had nothing to do with fantasy or science fiction. It made me think, is it a supply or demand causation? Was fantasy what gamers mostly wanted, so that's what game companies gave? Or is that primarily what game companies made, and that's what most gamers became accustomed to?</p><p></p><p>What I noticed about my early gaming background was that I mostly played games where you were just a regular human, albeit a perhaps highly skilled one. The games I most played included games like:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">James Bond 007</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Justice Inc</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Top Secret (mostly 1st ed, but a little 2nd ed)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Twilight 2000 (1st and 2nd ed)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aftermath</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bushido</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Living Steel</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Recon (both the original edition from RPG Inc, and the remake from Palladium)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A homegrown Vietnam era campaign using the Phoenix Command Combat System rules</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Traveller 2300</li> </ul><p></p><p>I also wanted to play, but didn't have a chance to play the following:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Behind Enemy Lines</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">SPI's Commando (a hybrid RPG/tactical game)</li> </ul><p></p><p>Other than a fair bit of Champions and some Car Wars, it was relatively rare that I played fantasy or other non "realistic" RPG's. Of course, I did play some AD&D, a handful of Runequest, and even some Thieves Guild back in the day. After the WotC debacle with the OGL, I realized that a very large number of gamers simply don't know any other RPG's other than D&D (another mystifying topic in its own right). However, there are a large number of gamers who do know games of other genres exist, but simply don't want to play them. I have always wondered why fantasy resonates so deeply with gamers, and I suspect that over the decades, the escapist aspect of fantasy has become more appealing than playing a character who doesn't have powers...and thus has less control over things.</p><p></p><p>As for WW2 in particular, my grandfather and all his brothers served in WW2 on my father's side. I wish I had been a little bit older so I could have asked my grandfather or great uncles some questions. I remember that my grand father's friend was at the battle of the Surigao Strait, and I remember him saying that they had fired so many rounds at the Japanese, that they were down to firing starshells (illumination rounds) at them. Another of my great uncles was in the 82nd AA, and was in D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Another great uncle, like my grand father, was in the Pacific with the seabees. My grandfather himself commanded a destroyer escort early in the war, and later commanded a destroyer escort squadron. He helped with naval bombardment at Kwajalein, Tarawa, and Guadalcanal (IIRC), and was also at the retaking of the Philippines.</p><p></p><p>I'm also half Filipino (well, quarter Filipino, quarter Bangsamoro), and on my mom's side, my oldest uncle (tito in Tagalog, or bapa in Tausug) was a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese. My mom said he never talked about the war, but according to my aunts (tita or babu), his unit would go Japanese head hunting at night. Where my mother is from, the Moros (the Muslim part of the Philippines in Mindanao, including the Sulu archipelago, Cotabato, and southern Palawan) had basically already drive off the Japanese. The Japanese were so terrified of the Moros that they basically slept in their ships at night. By the time MacArthur had returned, a large part of Moro Mindanao was effectively already free of the Japanese.</p><p></p><p>I do hope we get more of the Pacific campaign, and for that matter, non-American campaigns. For example, the Chindits in Burma or Merril's Marauders.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RareBreed, post: 9066077, member: 6945590"] How true this (unfortunately) is. I have often wondered why RPG gamers veered off into the fantastic so much. Back in the 80s, there were quite a few popular games that had nothing to do with fantasy or science fiction. It made me think, is it a supply or demand causation? Was fantasy what gamers mostly wanted, so that's what game companies gave? Or is that primarily what game companies made, and that's what most gamers became accustomed to? What I noticed about my early gaming background was that I mostly played games where you were just a regular human, albeit a perhaps highly skilled one. The games I most played included games like: [LIST] [*]James Bond 007 [*]Justice Inc [*]Top Secret (mostly 1st ed, but a little 2nd ed) [*]Twilight 2000 (1st and 2nd ed) [*]Aftermath [*]Bushido [*]Living Steel [*]Recon (both the original edition from RPG Inc, and the remake from Palladium) [*]A homegrown Vietnam era campaign using the Phoenix Command Combat System rules [*]Traveller 2300 [/LIST] I also wanted to play, but didn't have a chance to play the following: [LIST] [*]Behind Enemy Lines [*]SPI's Commando (a hybrid RPG/tactical game) [/LIST] Other than a fair bit of Champions and some Car Wars, it was relatively rare that I played fantasy or other non "realistic" RPG's. Of course, I did play some AD&D, a handful of Runequest, and even some Thieves Guild back in the day. After the WotC debacle with the OGL, I realized that a very large number of gamers simply don't know any other RPG's other than D&D (another mystifying topic in its own right). However, there are a large number of gamers who do know games of other genres exist, but simply don't want to play them. I have always wondered why fantasy resonates so deeply with gamers, and I suspect that over the decades, the escapist aspect of fantasy has become more appealing than playing a character who doesn't have powers...and thus has less control over things. As for WW2 in particular, my grandfather and all his brothers served in WW2 on my father's side. I wish I had been a little bit older so I could have asked my grandfather or great uncles some questions. I remember that my grand father's friend was at the battle of the Surigao Strait, and I remember him saying that they had fired so many rounds at the Japanese, that they were down to firing starshells (illumination rounds) at them. Another of my great uncles was in the 82nd AA, and was in D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Another great uncle, like my grand father, was in the Pacific with the seabees. My grandfather himself commanded a destroyer escort early in the war, and later commanded a destroyer escort squadron. He helped with naval bombardment at Kwajalein, Tarawa, and Guadalcanal (IIRC), and was also at the retaking of the Philippines. I'm also half Filipino (well, quarter Filipino, quarter Bangsamoro), and on my mom's side, my oldest uncle (tito in Tagalog, or bapa in Tausug) was a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese. My mom said he never talked about the war, but according to my aunts (tita or babu), his unit would go Japanese head hunting at night. Where my mother is from, the Moros (the Muslim part of the Philippines in Mindanao, including the Sulu archipelago, Cotabato, and southern Palawan) had basically already drive off the Japanese. The Japanese were so terrified of the Moros that they basically slept in their ships at night. By the time MacArthur had returned, a large part of Moro Mindanao was effectively already free of the Japanese. I do hope we get more of the Pacific campaign, and for that matter, non-American campaigns. For example, the Chindits in Burma or Merril's Marauders. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Take World War II To Your RPG Night With War Stories
Top