Wargame RPG

DragonQuest and other Hex-Map Games
I have written about DragonQuest before and will probably do so again at some point because it is a game I think deserves attention. DragonQuest was released by the hex-map wargames specialists at Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI). The lead designer, Eric Goldberg, had previously done excellent work on traditional historic map and counter wargames covering subjects like the epic WWII tank battle of Kursk. SPI was a relative late-comer to fantasy and role-playing, but brought a lot of game design experience to their efforts. Unfortunately, DragonQuest came right near the end of the company's independent existence and perhaps it didn't get the support it deserved.
TSR's White Box had hit the market about 5 years prior to DragonQuest and had introduced the world to a new type of game around which a whole hobby quickly developed. The designers of White Box were themselves wargamers, most recently engaged in writing rules for tabletop battles using  miniature soldiers. That is why White Box refers to movement and ranges in terms of inches to be measured with a ruler on the tabletop. The designers had also played map and counter wargames and those experiences also figured to play a factor in their gaming gestalt.
The new hobby drew folks in from outside the wargames community as well as from within. As other game designers tried their hand at the new fantasy role-play or adventure game genre, some came at it directly from a hex-map and counter perspective. Steve Jackson designed the Microgames Melee and Wizard using such components and offered the hobby a very tactical alternative to the combat and magic systems of White Box and other early games. DragonQuest is also such an outgrowth of tactical wargaming using counters and hex-map. For some, this approach may have seemed more realistic than less tactical approaches. For others, it may have just been more comfortable - more what they were used to when coming over to the new hobby from hex-map and counter wargames.
The idea of a tactical display, what DragonQuest calls the hex-map and counters, is used by other later Editions of The World's Most Famous RPG and its imitators. In fact the popularity of the tactical display seems to swing back and forth over time. I think its use offers certain advantages regarding knowing where everyone is and whether the spell can reach, etc, but has certain disadvantages when gamers play the display rather than imagine the action in their head.
Whether the referee chooses to use a tactical display or not may influence the particular rule system he/she prefers as some are more tied to it than others. The number of hobbyists who play hex-map and counter wargames is smaller today than it was in the 1970's and I doubt there are many gamers who come to role-playing today directly from such wargames. At one time I think the numbers may have been significant and the cross-over among players and designers of wargames and RPGs has given the hobby some nice games, some like DragonQuest remain good games despite being long out-of-print.