Those wargamers who lack imagination, those who don’t care for Burroughs’ Martian adventures where John Carter is groping through black pits . . . will not be likely to find DUNGEONS & DRAGONS to their taste. But those whose imaginations know no bounds will find that these rules are the answer to their prayers.
Gary Gygax, from the forward to OD&D v1: Men and Magic
Camp Steever, Lake Geneva, Summer 1918. Source: wikimedia commons
Young Men's Christian Association of Camp Steever
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin ~ Military Training Camp for Boys
Tuesday*
My dear little daughter -
I have a few minutes before next drill period so I thought I would write you, Mamma & the boys; but as I will have time for but one letter this must be for all of you.
They called us out at ten last night and instructed us in night operations across country. We got back at 12:15 am. All pretty tired as we had had bayonet fighting & hand grenade throwing in the after noon -- the former very strenuous.
I think we have trench work this afternoon; but am not sure.
I hope you had a pleasant trip home
*undated, but probably August 13 or 20, 1918
Geneva is a deep, clear-water lake. The water is never warm and the swimming is fine. It is one of the deepest lakes of its size in the country and goes right off within a few feet of the shore into deep water. At one place Government soundings show it to be 1027 ft. deep but I did not go down to verify the report. I derived considerable benefit from the training, especially in the matter of the new spirit of military instruction. I believe three months intensive training in an officer's training camp would make me a regular guy again as I feel that I was after my five years at Orchard Lake. I notice in the new draft law that bald headed men with three children are to be put into A-1 class so I suppose you and I will soon be in the front line trenches.
Excerpt from: Cohen, Matt (Ed.) Brother Men: The Correspondence of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Herbert T. Weston. Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2005.
In September, Burroughs was promoted to major and assigned to the command of the First Battalion, Second Infantry, making the cover of The Oak Parker. After the war, he returned to California, where he would spend the next major phase of his life.
It's doubtful whether Gary Gygax or anyone in Lake Geneva knew that Edgar Rice Burroughs participated in military training in their town during World War I - but it makes for an interesting footnote in the history of role playing games, nevertheless.
I believe the 1000 ft comment must refer to the Swiss LG; LG Wi is only about 130 feet deep.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a tongue-in-cheek comment to his friend, Bert. Along the same lines as the "new draft law" further down. Burroughs displayed a very dry sense of humor in much of his correspondence...
DeleteGreat story! Thank you for that little gem. It's a small world afterall....
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome - even biographer Irwin Porges got this one mixed up, stating that Burroughs did his training that summer at "Geneva Lake, Illinois"
Delete