As we’ll learn, role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons are basically just fancy versions of “let’s pretend” or “let’s tell a story.” However, modern RPGs did not grow directly out of the make believe games that kids play. Instead, the invention of RPGs was inspired by another kind of play: table-top wargaming.
People have enjoyed playing board games for thousands of years. In some ancient games, two players competed to move all their game pieces across a board first. In other games, pieces were captured like soldiers in a miniature battle. Chess is the most famous of these. Invented in India over a thousand years ago, chess represents a war between two armies. The pieces represent the resources and military might of a kingdom. The players act like generals, using strategy to defeat their opponent’s forces.
READ MORE
Purchase options below
Find the complete article and many more in this issue of
Skeptic
-
24.1
If you own the issue,
Login to read the full article now.
Single Digital Issue
24.1 |
|
|
$7.99
|
|
|
This issue and other back issues are not included in a new Skeptic subscription. Subscriptions include the latest regular issue and new issues released during your subscription.
Annual Digital Subscription
Only $
5.75 per issue
|
SAVE
28%
|
|
$22.99
|
|
|
About Skeptic
BEHE’S LAST STAND
COLUMNS
The SkepDoc: Is Low-Dose Radiation Good for You? The Questionable Claims for Hormesis, by Harriet Hall, M.D. • The Gadfly: Define Your Terms (or, Here we Go Again), by Carol Tavris
ARTICLES
Making Gasoline from Water: John Andrews and the Invention of a Legend • Online Gaming: A Virtual Experiment in the Dark Side of Human Nature • Duped by Data Mining • How Science Will Explain and Fix Fake News • The Cult of Falun Gong: A Dance Troupe and Victimhood Raises Big Money • The Opioid Epidemic Misunderstood • Why the Human-Centered View Has Not Served us Well • Behe’s Last Stand: The Lion of Intelligent Design Roars Again • Straw Man on a Slippery Slope: The Case Against the Case Against Postmodernism • A Disproof of God’s Existence
REVIEWS
Reviews of: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure; The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake; Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits; Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post- Facts, and Fake News; Hoax: A History of Deception: 5000 Years of Fakes, Forgeries, and Fallacies; Truth’s Fool: Derek Freeman and the War Over Anthropology
JUNIOR SKEPTIC
Quest for the Truth about Dungeons and Dragons