Journal jd's Journal: Teaching history via RPGs 3
There were, at one point, quite a few historical wargames (Britannia, Decline and Fall, etc) but they were mostly about large-scale strategy rather than the history itself (which was mostly an excuse for blowing up other people's counters). History lessons via roleplaying games sounds quite an interesting approach and could be used to cover all kinds of events.
The expansion pack isn't out yet (it's still in kickstart) but there's enough information about it to get a good feel for how much depth there is in there. If it's done well, it could be very effective in the same way "...and then the Huns came and beat the sh*t out of the Romans before leaving again" isn't. Unless you're a Hun.
I'd like to get people's views on the use of roleplaying games and which system would be best for such gaming. Rolemaster? Call of Cthulhu? The ever-present Dungeons and Dragons? ("My 20th level mage casts a fireball at the fleeing Scots" sounds ahistorical.)
Ain't nobody got time for that (Score:2)
D&D doesn't have to be about fireballs (Score:2)
Use the D20 SRD (3.5e) rules and pare out the magic and that should work [d20resources.com] though I'd also suggest leaving the Psionics behind. :)
CoC involves everyone in the party eventually going insane and killing themselves or everyone else, so is probably not a good choice.
With all of the above said, why not use GURPS? This is pretty much what it was designed for.
Limitations of the approach? (Score:2)
I think it could be used to teach "social history", what things were like in certain periods, but not so much the actual paths of events, which are largely random. I'm not saying the big events are just lucky breaks, because sometimes (probably most times?) they are largely determined by large-scale trends and circumstances, but rather the details are basically the accidental results of tiny decisions. Kind of a butterfly effect? It's not that any random Joe could have been Napoleon or Wellington, but even