Much of the information in this article came from Gary Fine's superb sociological examination of RPGs, entitled "Shared Fantasy".

Like all good histories, we begin with a famous genius who sets the ball rolling. In this case, it is the incredible visionary, H. G. Wells. For not only was Wells the grandfather of science fiction, he was also the grandfather of war-games. Which makes him, if you like, the great-grandfather of role-playing games. War-games have pretty much existed for as long as there have been wars. The idea of simulating battles without the personal hazards can be traced back to ancient Sumer, more than four thousand years ago. Chess and Go, two of the oldest games in the world, arose from war-games. Contemporary war games originated in Prussia, at the turn of the 19th century. The game, Kriegspiel (War Game), introduced the ideas of arranging markers on a "sand table", and using a dice to determine any random elements in the battle. After the Franco-Prussian war, the English came up with their own version, and they began to be used wisely by armed services to train in tactics and predict military outcomes It was Wells, however, who first opened up the games for the amateur. In 1915, he published a set of amateur wargaming rules in a book entitled Little Wars, now seen as the "wargamers bible". Wells was also the first to suggest that miniature figures be collected to represent respective forces, to add flavour, and a sense of involvement, to the game. Though the book was popular, wargames did not really take off until, in 1953, Charles Roberts released the first commercially available "board" war game. Though it was a slow starter, Roberts eventually went on to form the Avalon-Hill Game Company, now one of the worlds biggest game companies. Spark to a Flame In fact, in the 60s and 70s, wargaming enjoyed a peak of popularity that it has yet to recapture. It seems all those young people who werent doing LSD and listening to Bob Dylan were playing a hell of a lot of wargames. Soon, it was no longer a game, it was an industry. A huge, well-established and well-defined fanclub, with its own congregations, publications and jargon was evolving, just as it was for science-fiction fans at about the same time. By the late sixties, there was a strong and stable sub-culture for wargamers, a supportive environment that was beginning to foster much creativity and experimentation among its members. It was just this sort of exploration that was to be the fuel for the role-playing fire. But a spark was still required. And what a spark it was: The Lord of the Rings.