It's a Wargame

It says so right in the subtitle.

Like many who came upon the game before me and a few that were introduced to the game after me, The World's First Role-Playing Game came to many as a new fantasy "wargame" on the man-to-man scale. (Each figure represented a single combatant, hence the wargames term "man-to-man".) I was not among the first to discover this new "fantasy game" as it was sometimes referred to in the early-mid 1970s, but eventually it called to me. The original edition of The World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game had already reached its 5th printing by the time I got ,y hands on a copy. The first three printings were shipped in a woodgrain box (I have only seen a few copies of these printings and that being years ago!), but my 5th printing came in the box like the one pictured above. (Hence my referring to this beloved edition as the "White Box".)

Like many fans of the then-new hobby phenomena, a hobby we now somewhat generically refer to as "playing D&D", I had (and still maintain) an abiding interest in many other types of games, especially those involving an historic topic. In my personal background of interests and experiences that I bring to gaming, and which I first brought to the "adventure game" table, were experiences with various favorite games I had previously found among the American Heritage series of boardgames published by Milton Bradley starting in the 1960s, followed by various paper map wargames published by Avalon Hill and SPI game companies as well as several game systems involving the use of historical miniature figurines and tabletop terrain pieces (often borrowed from model railroading).

The game concepts that I found and immediately understood in the new White Box edition's little brown rule books were those that were somewhat similar to rules and conventions I had previously encountered while playing various wargames. The measuring of tabletop distances in inches, I could relate to this concept from a similar practice used in miniature figure wargames. Taking turns moving and "attacking' with the figures under my command, I had also done playing such wargames and I found very similar to the turns and rounds I saw being described in the fantasy game rules. Weapons and armor and game terms such as "light foot", "heavy foot" and "armored foot" all referencing the armor protection worn, movement rate, and morale ratings and training of various types of troops, this all made sense when I compared these to concepts I had previously found in my various experiences with prior wargames. 

Weapon reach and the idea that longer weapons strike first, that the "setting" of spears against a charge in order to maximize damage to the charging enemy as a sound tactic - it all made perfect sense to a wargamer as I read those rules in the early edition of the new fantasy game. The Original RPG included an end-game in which fighting men have progressed through adventuring to the point they have acquired wealth and power and a stronghold to attract a loyal following, and in essence, to become the "lords of the realm" commanding a host of troops with which to wage various battles defending and expanding their holdings - this all makes a lot of sense in a wargames campaign context. 

Dividing the fictional game world into opposing sides for the purpose of determining who will fight against or alongside who is another concept familiar to experienced wargamers. The World's First Role-Playing Game contains just such a list of the creatures, fantastic and mundane, who inhabit the setting and who all are aligned with the forces of either Law, Chaos or Neutrality. Interestingly, the creature called "humans" (presumably us!) appear on all three alignment lists!

The original adventure game (role-playing is not a term that was used at the time) breaks new ground in many ways when it is first released in 1974, chief among its innovations is the inclusion of fantasy tropes (and troops) borrowed from popular science fiction-fantasy sources. Elves, trolls and dragons are common in games today, but that was not so in 1974 - and certainly not so in wargames which to that point had almost universally adhered to real-world historical subjects and themes. 

The inclusion of (the now) classic fantasy elements was (and remains) appealing to a growing Fantasy audience and to many of the purchasers of the new game and increasingly so to those purchasing its successor editions. Having been an avid reader of adventure stories including many genres prior to my discovery of the new hobby, most importantly those works of the  many authors specifically mentioned by the designers of the original role-playing game, my imagination quickly grasped onto several possibilities of having great gaming fun while imitating the adventures of characters such as Conan the Barbarian or John Carter of Mars - fictional characters which had already captured my imagination through books and comics. And coincidentally, I also knew what a "hobbit" was from my having been handed the book prominently featuring the same name by a kindly school librarian some years before - a book I have read and reread over the years since! The new fantasy game seemed a natural fit.

In the decades since publication of The World's First Role-Playing Game, fantasy tropes have become more a part of popular culture. It is not difficult today to find various products from cinema to computer and console games that feature fantastic creatures. What each gamer brings to the table when they first explore role-playing games will still shape their interests and interpretations of the game, however. Whether they are steeped in older classic fantasy tropes like elves and hobbits or those found in more recent media, I suspect they will imagine recreating adventures of their own informed by the inspiration gained through what they have previously encountered. It seems to be the way of things.

Therefore the nature of our game changes with whatever each player will bring to the table. This is one of the strengths of the hobby and an obvious appeal that the game can be whatever its players desire it to be. By way of their own unique background, every player will use their imagination in a personalized vision of the game's "fantastic". Wargamers will of course share certain common experiences with other wargamers, especially those with similar background, and this will be true of other non-wargamers sharing similar non-wargame backgrounds. Readers of certain select works of fiction will have similar understandings of the fictional concepts involving magic and of the fantastic and supernatural. Cinema and even other game media will influence our personal and shared preconceptions of what we shall find among the pages of the fantastic role-playing game. And your game will vary accordingly!