The man who invented roleplaying games

Рет қаралды 70,845

Ай бұрын

Check out Eureka on Kickstarter: kck.st/43XIHp1
Playing at the World: amzn.to/3vRsF3m
How to run a Braunstein RPG: kidminotaur.com/how-to-run-a-...
Source of some images: playingattheworld.blogspot.com...
Documentary on early RPGs: www.secretsofblackmoor.com/
A clip from the documentary featuring Wesely: • Secrets of Blackmoor -...
Wesely interviewed: • BrigadeCon 2016: An in...
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@weseld1 Ай бұрын

OK. Thanks for all the nice comments. Just a couple observations: WESELY not WESLEY or WESELEY. It was not accidental, although I had to do a lot of modification and development between the first session in DEC 1968 and when I left for the Army in 1970: I knew I was inventing a "role playing game" when I started writing it in 1968, (PLAYERS would PLAY the ROLES of indiviual characters, not command armies, but I did not like the name "role playing game" because that was already in use for two OTHER things (a group psychiatric session, and an actors improvisational theater training exercise - think 'Cheese Shop'). I did not want my new game to be mistaken for. either of those (and back in 1974 I was approached by someone who was sure I must be a psych major) I liked the term "Interactive Fiction" - but that was quickly used for an early TTRPG Magazine so the rest of us could not use it. After a lot of floundering around for a non-trademarked way of saying "our new game is a game like D&D" someone discovered that "Role Playing Game" was safe from trademarking, thanks to the psychiatric use already being in the public domain. So "RPG" became the industry standard name that TSR could not sue you for using. Also, contrary to some "experts", Chess was not the first RPG, just as all fantasy fiction is not "just copied from Beowulf". Anyhow thanks again for the many nice comments I'll see some of you ar Dave Con next week.

@QuestingBeast Ай бұрын

Thanks for the insights, Dave! I've fixed the title.

@oldehouserules5199 Ай бұрын

Always great to recieve your insights! The history is fascinating...

@greaterqueller1426 Ай бұрын

Thank you so much! I've corrected the name spelling in my comment! It was a real pleasure playing in your game and fantastic to meet you in person!

@Ike_of_pyke 27 күн бұрын

Thanks for your recounting of the situation sir , appericate it.

@troymsmall 24 күн бұрын

Hey Dave! I saw this in my feed this morning, I know all the stories from you but going to give this a listen today while I work. Getting close to retirement but not there. I still need to make it to your Wednesday night game sometime to hang out.

@ganzagaming1849 Ай бұрын

GM: My session sucked. What was even going on? Players: That was awesome! Classic.

@scottnolan2833 Ай бұрын

How true! The more I hated the chaos, the more my players raved about it.

@Stray_GM Ай бұрын

I think it's hilarious that even in the first instance of a role playing game, the players descended into chaos and the GM didn't know what to do. A tale old as the hobby itself.

@weseld1 Ай бұрын

We learn from our mistakes - if we don't just quit trying! Thanks, Dave Arneson for telling me to try again.

@Patrioticification 25 күн бұрын

@@weseld1 I was wondering about this situation when watching Secrets of Blackmoor, especially, if I recall correctly, that you thought it was a flop (but players loved it). Was it disappointing because of loss of control, or waste of prepared material, or was there something else? Thank you for bringing this hobby to life for all of us here, Mr Wesely. It's inspiring to hear how it originated and what it was all about.

@Elric54 11 күн бұрын

...the DM thought it was a disaster, and the players loved it. Classic!

@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Ай бұрын

An absolutely perfect video. I'm playing Braunstein at DaveCon next week! When I was invited to play, I was floored. It will be the zenith of my TTRPG career. So I skipped the debriefing, lest I learn the secrets. Let it be known Professor Dungeonmaster does not cheat!

@NemoOhd20 Ай бұрын

Incredibly cool, PDM

@BusyBadger Ай бұрын

A better video would have been an explanation about why copies of Knave 2.0 were sold at GaryCon before Kickstarter backers received their copy(ies).

@KAM1138a Ай бұрын

Enjoy it and please pass our thanks for his vital role in creating the RPG.

@grumpyinbrooklyn6347 Ай бұрын

@@BusyBadger for real?

@BusyBadger Ай бұрын

@@grumpyinbrooklyn6347 Yep. Premium editions too, not the softcovers. If you poke around Google, YT or Reddit you'll should find out some more details. As I've said a couple of places, I think those 60 copies that Ben & Jacob airmailed to the US in order to sell at GaryCon are going to cost them dearly in the long run.

@manchasdos Ай бұрын

It sounds like he invented them intentionally, he just didn't know they would expand into a whole new genre.

@revylokesh1783 Ай бұрын

In a sense, ot went from wargame to LARP to TTRPG.

@Dr.Quarex Ай бұрын

@@revylokesh1783 I thought the same thing when I played it; I could not believe he functionally invented live-action RPGs before tabletop RPGs really existed, hahaha

@TheValarClan 15 күн бұрын

VERY intentional

@ZachGlazar Ай бұрын

He is a genius and playing in Braunstein I and Braunstein II changed my entire view of RPGs.

@carltonbauheimer Ай бұрын

What did it change for you?

@JeremyLambright Ай бұрын

Gygax and Arneson are rightfully credited as the creators of the first modern RPG in Dungeons & Dragons, which was a merging of the Blackmoor and Chainmail rules. However, David Wesley doesn't get the credit he deserves for his part in the history of roleplaying games. I recognized Wesley and Braunstein because of Jon Peterson's book "Playing at the World", which covers the history of gaming, including war gaming and roleplaying games. Wesley's re-introduction of the referee, allowing players to control individual characters instead of armies, and the infinite potential of playing outside the rules, is what led Gygax and Arneson to their collaboration and creation of D&D. Today, the referee exists as the game master or dungeon master, and that is all thanks to David Wesley. Thank you for the informative and entertaining video! And it's so cool that you got to meet and play with Mr. Wesley.

@NemoOhd20 Ай бұрын

Just so you know, it is Dave Wesely. Makes it easier if you're googling or trying to see other interviews of him. A misspelling gives you a musician or something.

@quantus5875 Ай бұрын

Depending on how you define a TTRPG you could say Braunstein was 1st, then Blackmoor was 2nd, and D&D was 3rd. D&D without a doubt was the first "commercially available" or "published" TTRPG.

@quantus5875 Ай бұрын

David Weseley gets the credit! btw: There is a detailed Wikipedia article on Braunstein and a detailed article on David Wesely on Wikipedia as well. If anyone is interested in more "facts" than were in this video. Enjoyed this video though -- Questing Beast made the topic more consumable than reading Wikipedia articles.

@weseld1 Ай бұрын

@@quantus5875 Although "", a wild west RPG inspired by Braunstein was also introduced in 1970 or 71 by Duane Jenkins, after I had left for the Army. So it seems to be a tie for 2nd place with Blackmoor, which was started up at about the same time. Duane made a critical step in RPG history, with players running the same character in game after game, and each game incorporating the results of the previous ones, rather than just starting a Braunstein (say Braunstein 4) over on the same game day, with new people running the characters from the cast of that Braunstein (1, 4, 5, 6 and so on). That mechanism, was inspired by Mike Carr's where each player would have a card file with one card for each of the pilots he had created to use for each WW1 nation, who gained increasing skills by surviving missions, until shot down (or WW1 ended). Arneson then used that system for character creation and tracking increasing experience in Blackmoor. So two more names should be added to the "Fathers or Grandfathers of RPGs": Mike and Duane.

@quantus5875 Ай бұрын

@@weseld1 Thanks for posting. Loved your post. Yes -- very cool! I like to think of it then as David W., Mike, Dave A., and Duane as the fathers/grandfathers of TTRPGs and Arneson and Gygax as the fathers of D&D. I once went through the OD&D booklets looking for innovations in TTRPGs and it is mind numbing how D&D (as the first commercially available TTRPG) has so many innovations -- but then you really do have to look at them as "published" innovation -- yes -- but many of these innovations came before D&D. It is nice people that came before Arneson and Gygax getting some of the credit -- those were definitely amazing days!! I sometimes always wish I had started back then -- 1974 or earlier -- but I didn't start playing OD&D until 1977. Grateful to all you've done - for such a magnificent hobby!! Thank you!!

@JKevinCarrier Ай бұрын

Wow, what a fascinating bit of history! Halfway through, I was wondering, "Gee, I wonder if Mr. Wesley is even aware of the giant industry his game inspired?" and then there he was! Very cool that you got to play with him. If you ever got the chance, I would love to see you interview him.

@YouTubdotCub Ай бұрын

Totally agree, an interview with him would be wonderful.

@vicdakota Ай бұрын

I game with Wesley almost weekly and host him at DaveCon every year. Great guy and very modest.

@rwustudios Ай бұрын

You should watch the secrets of Blackmoor for the rela story.

@vicdakota Ай бұрын

@@rwustudios Movies are interpretations of information given to them in a very short period of time. I've gamed with Mr Wesely for a a few years now and let me just say, Secrets of Blackmoor while MOSTLY accurate, some details we are only now coming out to see the full truths.

@rwustudios Ай бұрын

@@vicdakota 10 Years of interviews is not a short time. A short time is what it takes to curate the info here in this video.

@sterlingpratt5802 Ай бұрын

Braunstein games are truly the "epic mode" of RPGing. Every GM should at some time or another grab their dice and just say, "Today we are playing a crazy scenario without written rules." It will make you better at everything, and really stretch the imaginations of your players.

@rwustudios Ай бұрын

They work better when based on an underlying framework and existing campaign world.

@HunterMayer Ай бұрын

The film "Secrects of Blackmoor" touches on many details of these first games. I highly recomend it!

@quantus5875 Ай бұрын

And detailed articles on Davide Wesely and Braunstein on Wikipedia -- although this video was much more interesting than reading Wikipedia.

@greaterqueller1426 Ай бұрын

My son and I played Braunstein with David Wesely at the first DaveCon. It was great to get to be a part of the historic experience!

@pixledriven Ай бұрын

For anyone looking to mix it up, the game "En Garde!" can be played in a similar way. Back in my RPGA days the local club ran an En Garde! game alongside our regular game days - prior to splitting up into individual tables and playing D&D we would spend 30-60 mins to do some roleplay and submit our turns to the referee, then we would receive an email with the results a few days later, in a kind of LARP/PBM hybrid.

@drillerdev4624 Ай бұрын

Braunstein sounds like the mix of rpg, murder mystery and werewolf than I've been wondering for a while that should already exist somewhere. Didn't expect it to be so old. What would be sick is a scenario gerenator system like Fiasco, to be able to generate basic stories without much hassle for a weekly event.

@urdinaran Ай бұрын

This is what is forgotten when people argue about who invented the RPG... thanks Ben!

@KAM1138a Ай бұрын

I learned about Braunstein from the ‘Blackmoor’ film. Since then I have found the debate of Arneson vs Gygax to be a moot point. Mr. Wesely deserves far more credit than he has been given.

@pixelamerica6601 Ай бұрын

So, it all started with a mega game, huh? Makes sense to me

@NemoOhd20 Ай бұрын

Blackmoor and Greyhawk were mega games also, like 20-50 players.

@Renkaru Ай бұрын

I met Dave Weseley at Garycon this year. He was so kind! I loved talking about games with him. I also met Bob Meyer who ran a short blackmoor game for me and a group of other folk! He had some great stories as well.

@francescopace7079 Ай бұрын

Can't stress it enough how important it is to play games for your brain

@mythicmountainsrpg Ай бұрын

That was very enjoyable but perhaps the best part is the possibility of a Braunstein kickstarter or published book. I could genuinely see it transforming the RPG hobby for the better.

@TJbutLag Ай бұрын

This week I have learned that not only the Oregon trail game but DnD started in my home state? What the hell?

@timmick6911 20 күн бұрын

Twister and nerf too

@willmistretta Ай бұрын

Haha! I made it into a QB video. That session sure was a blast, though. I only wish everyone had silly headgear provided.

@mattjackson 20 күн бұрын

Thank you for posting actual footage from the game. I have read multiple retellings of game experiences from those who have played but never seen actual footage. I am quite envious of you having gotten a chance to play in one of Dave's games!

@RodSalm Ай бұрын

An honour to have played that game with you at GaryCon. It was a great bit of history, both the history within the game, and the history of Mr. Weseley’s game. Big highlight of the con for me as well. And again, you did an amazing job roleplaying during the game! Severely annoyed the heck out of my ambitions! 😂

@QuestingBeast Ай бұрын

Haha, the commander is an annoying character! Even his own men don't like him.

@vincepale Ай бұрын

I bought Secrets of Blackmoor on prime video and it was really awesome. I think it takes you through a lot of that early game IIRC.

@JeremyLambright Ай бұрын

How is that? I've heard good things but I would like to hear your opinion if you don't mind.

@bluemooninthedaylight8073 Ай бұрын

What a wild and fun game. Gotta love the old school gamers.

@nbell63 Ай бұрын

The debrief sounds very much like the Freeforms (well before the 'LARP' moniker was invented) that we were playing at CanCon (the Canberra Games Convention, in Australia, in the very early 80s) - so much fun - SO many people. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. 😊

@argos4444 Ай бұрын

David Wesley will be running 2 sessions of Braunstein at Davecon this month.

@dane3038 Ай бұрын

The players did something unanticipated and he made a ruling. D$D invented itself.

@MisterNizz 3 күн бұрын

Oh, that's David Wesley. I've played with that guy before at HMGS conventions.

@mcolville 11 күн бұрын

Super glad to see Wesely getting more recognition. Ever since I learned about the first Braunstein (which I think I read about for the first time in a now-obscure book called The Fantasy Role-playing Gamer's Bible) I thought "This is where it started." As in, I'm not sure there's a better answer to the question "who invented the RPG?"

@StoryboardsbyStuffPOP Ай бұрын

So excited !! I've been studying up on the Braunstein game record notes from several years ago and working on incorporating that type of scenario design into my games .

@damalailhama Ай бұрын

Where can I find these record notes?

@StoryboardsbyStuffPOP Ай бұрын

Pretty incomplete, but between that and a couple forum post comments, that's what I'd been reading.

@tednovy7762 Ай бұрын

Tactical Infinity . . . good band name.

@commandercaptain4664 14 күн бұрын

Until they start playing polka, then it’s all shot.

@SwordAgainstChaos 15 күн бұрын

So glad this popped up in my feed! Thanks, Ben! The Secrets of Blackmoor was really enlightening.

@RHampton Ай бұрын

Referees did not vanish completely. There were wargames that used Refs in the 20th century other than Braunstein. Otherwise great video. The early hobby deserves more visibility like this.

@mrcatchingup Ай бұрын

It sounds like some of the Living Grayhawk conventions I went to where they had an event called an interactive that was like a larp.

@TheNerdySimulation Ай бұрын

Braunstein (as well as Brownstone and Blackmoor by extension) was such a huge discovery for me and forever shaped my desire as a GM in how I aim to engage the hobby/artform. I've never gotten to play in it though I hope to one day, but fully plan on doing my own hopefully soon within a personal setting, likely online with my many lovely friends. The more folks talk about it and spread the information/story the better. Folks interested in it might also be drawn towards what many call the Megagame genre too, very similar concept!

@rodblaxell2923 Ай бұрын

I absolutely love anything to do with the early days of RPGs, so am really happy that you shone the spotlight on Braunstein and David Wesely. I would have loved to be part of that game. You are so lucky 🍀. Well done on this video and all your amazing content!! 🎉

@Aragura Ай бұрын

Thank you for creating this content and helping inform the hobby and bringing to light it's history.

@captainnolan5062 Ай бұрын

What is the first role playing game depends on how you define 'game". The Military was having people assume roles and playing war games for some time before Braunstein. My father was in the Navy in the late 50s and early 60s and they were 'playing' wargames with referees onboard ships back then. The referees would evaluate the actions of the various role 'players' and make decisions as to the outcomes (e.g. Referee: Your ship has taken a hit and the hull is breached, what do you do? Player (Chief Engineer): We plug the hole with mattresses to stem the incoming water and weld a steel plate over them). Also, Diplomacy is a kind of role playing game (you take on the role of a country's diplomat/ambassador) with a referee resolving the actions taken and resolving army and fleet movements, and that game was released in 1959. I played it in the early 1970s (before D & D). Great that you brought recognition to Braunstein though! Diplomacy article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_(game)

@michaeljpastor 19 күн бұрын

Oh, I hadn't seen your comment when I posted mine above!

@wesleystreet 18 күн бұрын

The most stripped down definition of a game is any activity that has a) participants, b) rules, and c) a win condition, so a military wargame would count as a game. However, a military wargame exercise - as I understand it - does not have the participants assuming roles that they do not hold in real life. An Army logistics officer is simulating coordinating Army logistics in a military wargame, the Navy Chief Engineer is taking on the role of a Chief Engineer, etc. In a roleplaying game, as this video is describing it, the participants are taking on roles that they do not hold in real life, such as a French revolutionary, and acting out those role through a combination of make-believe and improvisation. The improv part is especially important in differentiating it from a military wargame as wargame participants have to follow the roles as they've been trained to do. You can't just make something up on the spot as it's a training exercise whereas in an RPG, you have the freedom to do so so long as the ref/game master is rules it appropriate within the bounds of the setting and rules-as-written. Diplomacy is certainly closer to an RPG than many other board games of the time but, in Diplomacy, all the players have one role, that of a diplomat. TTRPGs divide different roles amongst players (not to mention, the game master [who is also a player]) - and Diplomacy relies on a board map to track events. While traditionally, RPGs have been played with maps for miniature movement, it's not a requirement, as Braunstein shows.

@captainnolan5062 18 күн бұрын

@@wesleystreet I disagree.

@commandercaptain4664 14 күн бұрын

@captainnolan5062 I completely agree. This all relates to how roleplaying games equates to D&D and how it is a progenitor to Braunstein’s efforts. Evolution is rarely clear cut, but the tropes are evident in this evolution from tactile wargame to imaginary story game.

@captainnolan5062 14 күн бұрын

@@commandercaptain4664 RPGs came out of Wargaming. Arneson and Gygax were both wargamers before they became famous for RPGs. TSR stands for Tactical Studies Rules.

@dmxoan 28 күн бұрын

I did a long video on Major Wesley's Braunstein, I love your coverage of the topic and the shorter form of this massive topic. I am also super envious of getting to play in a game.

@gatewallice7933 21 күн бұрын

Thanks for showing me this mile deep rabbit hole, Questing Beast.

@Skeloric 11 күн бұрын

This is my first time ever hearing about this. I arrived into gaming in around 1978 - by the time DnD came out in that purplish looking booklet just prior to the red cover version. Just a kid then, no clue the twisty path RPGs had taken to get to 1978.

@marksable5753 Ай бұрын

So cool that you got to play Braunstein with its creator. I really hope the rules are published.

@wesleystreet 18 күн бұрын

I'd heard the story of Braunstein a few years ago but, for the life of me, I couldn't remember the details. Thank you for sharing this, QB!

@TheManyVoicesVA Ай бұрын

This is a very interesting game. Almost more like a murder mystery dinner party type of thing. I think that would be a good way to run it.

@philmophlegm Ай бұрын

Great video! I was in that very same Braunstein with you at GaryCon. (I was Tavern Owner 2, one of the French spies, and you can see me in the black & white Paladin in Hell t-shirt.)

@JasonThies-sz4js Ай бұрын

Shock of my gaming life when I was told the guy sitting across from me in a tactical Napoleonic ship combat was Dave Arneson. Lovely elderly man, and I was honored to hear some of his stories about the beginning days of Gaming.

@BX_Disciple Ай бұрын

So crazy you posted this,was just thinking about Wesley today and how he doesn't get enough credit for our hobby!!

@garryame4008 Ай бұрын

I am so jealous that you were able to participate in that game. It sounds like such a blast!

@Finfizzle 15 күн бұрын

Thank you so much for this video! I knew about Braunstein because over 20 years ago I got my master's degree by writing a thesis on "The use of fantasy role-playing games in social work". But I didn't have THAT much insight into the story of Braunstein. I mentioned David Wesely and that he felt the experiment had failed - unlike his players and I also mentioned Dave Arneson's Blackmoor later, but for me too the first role-playing game was D&D. For this reason, thank you again for teaching me better. You have gained a new subscriber! @weseld1 And of course a BIG THANK YOU to you Sir! I really hope to see Braunstein in print! I would love to play it with my Game-Group of "Old men still playing kids-games" 😜 Greetings from Germany!

@PhD777 19 күн бұрын

Good video! The Quick Reference Sheets (QRS) look as if they were patterned after the ones in early Avalon Hill board/wargames.

@emmanuelkanter4477 Ай бұрын

Amazing! Thanks for sharing this experience

@Ozblock1 25 күн бұрын

I didn't know this story or about browstein games but they look amazing. Would love to see some published materials. Thanks for sharing this.

@BoredToBoard Ай бұрын

Let’s not forget the influence that Diplomacy or “Dipo” had on the style of play as well

@vertigo1055 Ай бұрын

The last part with the, I guess kinda interview?, was AMAZING!. I love the history of role-playing as I was introduced in grade school when they had the Red, Blue, and I forget the color boxes for the rule sets still in there. And in middle school for 1 year in the Library they had 1st ADD ed. rules until it was decided theft took too much money. But I still played and always wondered where it all started and WHO this man learned from to think of all this wonderful stuff I was using. Cheers! Stay Healthy and Stay Sane!

@brianmiles4917 19 күн бұрын

What an amazing video to come across. I played a game of Braunstein, with Wesley running it. This was around 2008 or 2009. I just finished a political game called NSDM: National Security Decision Making. Wesley came by and invited us to play. I received the role of the local nobility's son. My friend was the tavern owner. Sadly, I didn't get to join the revolution. The staff kicked us out, before the room reservation ended.

@Wastelandman7000 27 күн бұрын

Very interesting! Now we know where player agency came from!

@theoldwarlock Ай бұрын

Thank you for this video! I've long thought Dave Wesely deserved more credit for creating the modern RPG than he gets. I'm jealous you got to play in a game he ran - it's long been a goal of mine.

@ernestnatiello Ай бұрын

Nice. You make some of the best vids on the internet. Thanks!

@trynda1701 Ай бұрын

That was a really interesting video. I hadn't heard of David Weseley, Strategos N or Brownstein(?), and I'm glad you have corrected this, Ben. 👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎

@quantus5875 Ай бұрын

fyi: Detailed -- entries for David Weseley and Braunstein on Wikipedia.

@bistronomics Ай бұрын

3:24 Good to see that me feeling like my game was a complete disaster, but my players loved it has been around since the beginning :P

@trevorstrugatsky1172 Ай бұрын

I used to attend cons in Melbourne in the 90s and this sort of game was commonly played under the label "freeform", without any dice or game mechanics. I was involved in some design workshops where we developed the tightly intertwined character goals etc. It's a really interesting type of play. I've also tried introducing similar character descriptions into a standard one-shot TTRPG and for great results a players discovered each other's conflicting motivations in the course of play.

@freethrall Ай бұрын

The way Dave Wesely runs Braunstein seems to share a lot with Chinese Jubensha. Check out the People Make Games video The Murder Game Revolution.

@blackbarnz Ай бұрын

Once in a lifetime experience,very cool kudos.

@vinimagus Ай бұрын

Great video. I like that type of game better than the nitty gritty combat rules, Dungeons etc. It becomes clearer now the styles of each one (Weseley, Arneson, and Gygax). Thanks, Ben.

@csudab Ай бұрын

Do I inherently like Ben's voice or does it just give me warm fuzzy feelings of association with discovering the OSR 🤔 Well don't know don't care! BTW did we ever find out what that cosmological looking poster is?

@QuestingBeast Ай бұрын

It's the Map of All Creation from Time Bandits.

@MarkCMG Ай бұрын

Thanks for the video!

@toddpickens Ай бұрын

Truly fascinating stuff. Thank you for the history lesson.

@user-pl7dr4pv8t Ай бұрын

Fascinating history!

@seanbarber7 Ай бұрын

Great video! I love the historical context. History, now a days, is a forgotten/discarded subject. 😢 Thank you for contributing! I was wondering if the board game Diplomacy (created in the 1950s) had any influence? 🤔

@weseld1 Ай бұрын

We had all played Diplomacy, which does have making deals with other players as the main element of play. But it differs in (1) it is a "rigid kriegspiel" (You can only do the very limited set of things laid out in the rules: No asking the referee to let you invent paratroops or submarines or minefields... and THERE IS NO REFEREE. (2) Every player has the same objective (conquer the majority of countries in Europe) and same powers (raise armies or fleets, tell them to move into adjacent countries or to support other armies or fleets in moving into or defending). All armies and fleets have identical powers. I remember some games that were clearly derived from Diplomacy with double value fleets or armies and assasins or aircraft, but again, every player got to have them and still had the same objective. Ditto Risk. (3) every player ran an entire country and did not have any "personal" objectives like find a husband for his daughter, or improve the health of his people.

@JackPitmanNica 17 күн бұрын

Wicked video I learned a lot from this !

@Dr.Quarex Ай бұрын

I played in Braunstein at Gary Con in 2023, and I have to say the game was fun and listening to David Wesely telling us stories about the original era of the game was equally fun. Especially the anecdote about how Dave Arneson set the precedent for all future obsessed RPG gamers by repeatedly calling David and asking "when's the next Braunstein???"

@commandercaptain4664 14 күн бұрын

Arneson channeling 💯 Will energy.

@UliTroyo 27 күн бұрын

Great video! I love the original Braunstein story, but I love even more that Wesely came back to run it! That French spy was sly.

@robertbengel2689 27 күн бұрын

Reminds me of Blood on the Clocktower. BotC has a lot of rules that the players interact with to make deductions, but it has a similar theme

@ryanofottawa Ай бұрын

Super interesting to learn about. I'd love to give it a try. Really cool precursor to TTRPGs and Social Deduction games.

@QuestingBeast Ай бұрын

Check out Eureka on Kickstarter: kck.st/43XIHp1 Playing at the World: amzn.to/3vRsF3m How to run a Braunstein RPG: kidminotaur.com/how-to-run-a-braunstein-rpg-1756ec4e73f0 Source of some images: playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2013/01/strategos-in-twin-cities.html Documentary on early RPGs: www.secretsofblackmoor.com/ A clip from the documentary featuring Wesely: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h76qo6d5vKiqZqc.html Wesely interviewed: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pJeDja2bv5O5aX0.html

@leespiderpod 12 күн бұрын

War gaming probably goes back to the dawn of man, scratching maps out on the ground

@dallaspalmerton5725 11 күн бұрын

It was Dave Arneson who took the step that changed Strategos into the modern tabletop rpg with his game Blackmoor.

@QuestingBeast 10 күн бұрын

See my other video about Blackmoor

@izlear Ай бұрын

There is a pedogogy in higher education called “Reacting to the Past” in which students do this very kind of Interaction in situations related to historic events - it feels like they both have a common starting point!

@NemoOhd20 Ай бұрын

Love this video. Very interesting history.

@jfridy Ай бұрын

At gencon I try to do an event with the National Security Decision Making Game, which is like this, very Freeform, but with players representing power blocks in national and international politics. You get a title, basic description of what you can do, and a goal or two. Then the players are let loose, usually with the referees starting the game with some sort of crisis. Great stuff, though you need lots of players.

@bensdecoypoondummy1189 Ай бұрын

This was so great lol. Thanks for sharing

@rlgood Ай бұрын

This is the sort of thing I like to see in a gaming video. I learned a lot here. Thanks.

@ChrFlor1978 11 күн бұрын

Larping started as *part* of miniature wargaming and *led* to d&d?

@TheValarClan 15 күн бұрын

1965 was when he came across Strategos It goes like this: 1963 - MMSA forms 1964 - Arneson joins recruited by Weaely 1965 - Strategoes is adapted into Strategoes N & Stragetoes C 1968 - Strategoes

@dantherpghero2885 Ай бұрын

I Love ALL QuestingBeast videos!

@shanewinter7251 Ай бұрын

You should look into Fletcher Pratt’s naval wargame, especially how he ran campaigns.

@drewneedsmoresleep6680 Ай бұрын

I try wait before leaving a comment and I’m glad, because very early I thought this sounds just like 90s Larp. Glad to hear we agreed.

@JasonVDM Ай бұрын

Great Video - David Westley's contribution should be a part of 50th Aniversary celebrations. He deserves more respect for his contribution. He was the first referree i.e the first Game Master or DM History needs to note Westley - Arneson - Gygax as the invention of not just D&D but of roleplaying itself.

@michaelweigand9346 Ай бұрын

Aww man, I gotta play this before I die. Forgot this existed!

@BuckFu Ай бұрын

Great video!

@Jescribano1 Ай бұрын

Damn, this seems so incredibly fun. I would really really love to run something like this for my players

@DMTalesTTRPG Ай бұрын

This sound AMAZING. And I had known the story, but it’s so great you actually got to PLAY it!!!😊

@ivancarabano Ай бұрын

Great video 😊

@timz9862 18 күн бұрын

I have that Time Bandits map, as well. 😊

@iPivo Ай бұрын

Ben, your videos are love letters to the hobby! Thank you for sharing this piece of TTRPG history

@ChanceDrive 15 күн бұрын

You should cover the Bronte sisters story game, those three as children before their writing careers played in a colonial north Africa and would publish in world newspapers and have their characters interact ECT. In my opinion that's the first ttrpg, (tho it lacked rules and a GM and wasn't published)