Braunstein On Demand
I just found out that Major Wesely is coming to GenCon, but he doesn’t have any sessions scheduled this year. But I have it on good authority that if people are interested, he’s willing to get together for ad hoc sessions.
Do you want a chance to play Braunstein, the grandfather of all roleplaying games? Do you want to grill him about what it was like gaming with Dave Arneson, before Blackmoor and before D&D? Do you want to hear about antiaircraft artillery in WWII or soldier’s wives in the Revolutionary War?
Speak up and let him know. He’s probably reading this thread right now, so this is your chance.
Leave a reply to David Wesely
This is one of those moments when I hate living on the other side of the Atlantic. I would so much like to take part in a Braunstein Game run by Major Wesely himself. I hope that arsludi or others attending the game will make reports available on the Internet.
-Havard
Hey, Major Wesely! Welcome back to the internet! I won’t be at GenCon this year, but I put up a new post so more people would know that you were coming and could get in touch with you.
Braunstein 2010
Hopefully more people will get to experience Braunstein again this year. I’m really glad last year’s super-secret off-site Braunstein came together. I talked to Tony about it afterwards and it sounded like a hoot.
At last ! a computer that can get past the NetNannies where I work and reach you again.
They have decided to block all sites that use the word “game”: They might be internet gambling! SO here is a really late answer to your last question:
Well it went really well, thanks to one of the guys offering to let us use his apartment in downtown Indianapolis. I had five less players show up than I had expected, but that was only one less than the number of characters I had ready, so it worked out OK.
I threw in some twists, assuming I would have at least one of the players from the first revival of BS 1, who would “know too much”: That proved unnecessary, and everyone was good and confused. I particularly liked the Chancellor telling the French spy that if he did not behave himself in the future, he would never graduate! I will refrain from giving any more away, as I intend to run it again this year.
I will be coming back down to ORIGINS in 2010, and the situation is virtually that same as last year. except LOU ZOCCHI will not be there, so I will be staying at the Comfort Inn.
I will be once again arriving really late Wednesday/early Thursday (after midnight if the train runs late) on Amtrak. (anyone meeting the train to carry my luggage to the hotel will get first choice of character in Braunstein).
This time I intend to spend most of my time at the NSDM (National Security Decision Making Game. I am bringing along my handouts for BS again, and will run it if I can get the people time and space (NSDM may provide the space and time). My cell phone number is still
612 dash 508 dash 7251 and anyone wanting to drop me a line before I leave for the Con on 01AUG10 can get me at
weseld1@medtronic.com
P.S. Rob MacD: Now I have I read your third installment – 20′ by 20′ room and liked it even more than the first two parts. You have say two very perceptive things there:
“That’s a comment Major Wesely could make lightly in 2006, but in 1970 it must have had bottomless implications.”
You said it. Many in my generation could have cared less about the War when it was going on- party, drugs, football, study… they gave meaning to the phrase “A quarrel in a far-away place, between people of whom we know nothing.” For those of us who cared, one way or the other, it is still too painful. Things done, things not done, regrets. That had a lot to do with the great rarity of Commercial Wargames about Vietnam: The publishers (very few of them available during the war) saw it as a non-seller… You could add “Year of the Rat” by SPI to your very short list. And after the War, we mostly wanted to stop thinking about it and the big money was in D&D clones.
Your other very perceptive comment was “D&D characters, by and large, work together. ”
Arneson intended it to be that way. One big inspiration is “The Fellowship of the Ring”
but from the first, his Blackmoor games featured the players as a team and the baddies as NPC’s run by the Referee. Of course, they don’t always work together, look at the Knights of the Dinner Table… but Dave wanted the game (or the GM) to reward/teach good social behavior.
I think Kenneth Boulding should have loved it, but I don’t know if he ever even noticed it.
Enough for now. See you at Gencon!
I heard a rumor that about 10 people played in this session. That’s a great turnout. Who’s got the full report?
Game is on for 1 pm Saturday. Contact Major Wesely at number above for details.
I’d recommend just picking a time and a place to meet. I suspect if you leave it to a cell phone coordination everyone will get distracted by the action of the con. There may also be people reading this who would drop by if they knew where it was even if they aren’t speaking up.
The open gaming area of Embassy Suites is an excellent spot, because in evenings there are lots of people gaming there. A public spot makes it easier to draw curious people in, even if they have no idea what Braunstein is.
Friday night at 7 pm is a seminar called Gamer Oral History:
“Written histories never tell the whole story. That is why it is important to preserve the oral tradition. Come hear the truth, rumors and myths about the history of gaming, unfiltered, as they have been passed down to us.”
I know nothing about who’s running it, but that sounds like something you should really drop in on Major Wesely. I think you could shed a lot of light on the subject.
It’s SEM0900532, listed as being in Marriott Indiana Ballroom F.
OK-
So far only for or five takers for Braunstein at Origins,
Tony Dowler
Chgowiz
Tim Jensen?
Rich Forest
Tavis Allison
which will make for a pretty weak Braunstein game, (eight to twelve would work better)) but maybe we can drum up support and recruit more after we get down there. I will be staying with Lou Zocchi at the Marriot. I will be arriving really late Wednesday/early Thursday
(after midnight if the train runs late) on Amtrak. (anyone meeting the train to carry my luggage to the hotel will get first choice of character in Braunstein).
I will have to register on Thursday morning (oh the lines! the lines!) but here is my cell phone number: give me a call on Thursday and we can meet somewhere to plan where to game.
612 dash 508 dash 7251
[I obfuscated the number a tiny bit to throw off bots -Ben]
I would totally be down for Braunstein! Last year I listened to your talk about the original games with great pleasure, but had to leave right when play began :(
I’d be glad to do either #1 or #4 – if #1 is faster for you to set up that’s a good reason to do it right there.
Maybe next year. This year, I’m swamped at work, and trying to buy a house.
(I may have lost my mind. Let me know if you find it lying around Indy somewhere.)
Bob, nooooo! We’ll miss you buddy.
Count me in!
No Gen Con for me this year, otherwise I’d totally be down for it.
Oh no! Well, thanks for reading. And if you feel inspired to recreate your comment, I’m all ears. Or eyes.
Have a great GenCon.
Glad to hear from you guys.
I will be taking the train to Gencon this year, arriving very late (nearly midnight)
on Wenesday night and leaving very early (about 4 am) on SUnday. A shorter
con than usual, but then, I have to provide my own room and badge and so on,
as the War College speaker’s program has been cancelled. And I cannot take as much time off work this year, so no driving down and back for a day and a half at each end.
I will probably be staying with Ross Maker, or maybe with Lou Zocchi (housing is a little vague right now)
I will also probably be hanging around the Gamescience (Lou Zocchi’s dice company) booth in the dealer’s room.
Depending on what people tell me they want to do, i can bring down the notes for the original “Braunstein 1”, source of the quote –
“That’s LIEUTENANT Student A to you, Mister!”
or the better organized “Braunstein 4” (which might be harder to set up)
or my notes on Women as Warriors or Railroads at War or AAA in the Battle of Britain…
Both BS games play better with more people – eight would be good – though that will make it harder to find a place to stage them. If that doesn’t work out, we can
fall back on talking about them…
If we can get some agreement on what to do and when, we may be able to run BS out of a room, or in an open gaming area or I can just give an informal seminar on early RPG-ing in a hotel lobby, like I did three years ago (ask Ping).
You can just post answers back here.
P.S. Rob MacD: I read your Dungeon Master Zero and liked it a lot.
Unfortunately, my rather long comment to it vanished when I tried to submit it.
I’m definitely interested, and I’ll be there. Is there some way to make sure I’m in the loop if it works out? I’ll be at Gen Con for the full con, and I’m flexible with scheduling.
I played Braunstein with him last year and it was amazing…a once in a lifetime opportunity. Anyone with an interest in the history and future of roleplaying games should play “the first RPG” at least once.
Absolutely, I would love to experience playing an original and fascinating game. Everything I’ve read about Braunstein sounds like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
I’m not going to GenCon, but if Major Wesely is reading this thread and has some time on his hands then I’d be flattered and pleased if he checked out my trilogy of posts on Braunstein and its influences: Dungeon Master Zero; R & D; Fantasy Vietnam.
Cheers!
Yeah, I’d love to have a go at Braunstein. It sounds like a blast! Let me know where and when.