What Really Happened

Roleplaying is All Good Fun

Sure it's fun pretending you're someone from the past. But there is a background that every roleplayer should know, and every American citizen should know. It involves the real events of the American Revolution and the real people who made it happen. Perhaps a history lesson is not what you came her for, but it's useful to have this information on file so that you can access it and compare it to the happenings in the game world. The real history is very important when you are trying to recreate the environment that these people lived in.

A Human Drama

History, as author and college professor Jared Diamond writes, "is not just one damn fact after another." History is a human drama and our greatest teacher, if you care to listen to it. If the leaders of today do not look at the leaders of yesterday for guidiance, history's greatest mistakes will repeat themselves.

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull. Images like this give us windows into the world that we're trying to recreate.

Attention to the great human drama is especially important in a situation like the one in creating Shadows of the Past. I must admit that a great deal of research went into designing the environments, the rules and the NPCs. My bedroom is stacked with books about the Revolution, everything from biographies of the great politicians and soldiers to general-facts school textbooks. Right now I'd like to thank my neighbor, Mrs. Davis, for the loan of many of these books!

What peeves me about most of the textbooks is they don't go into the interesting stuff, like the women in Alexander Hamilton's bank scandals. It's things like that that make history interesting. If you think John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are stuffy old dead guys, I would reccommend you think again. These men had personalities that shaped the way America ended up. Some great reading will be reccommended later, if you're interested.

Historical Fiction vs. New History

Most people have read historical fiction novels. That's not quite what this is. It's supposed to be a rewriting of history rather than the lives of minor characters in the grand play. Though you'll recognize some of the NPCs, such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington and Lord Charles Cornwallis, these characters are but supplements to carry the plot of our little play along. The object of this game is to rewrite history. Remember that this game is going to differ from the history that you are used to. It also may get a little confusing.

The American Revolution: Causes, Conflict and Results

In this light, we're building a small archive of information in timeline format. In the future we are anticipating adding essays, an image gallery, &c, to it, with the help of members. So, logically, if you have a tip, email it to me. Everything helps.