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So, HG Wells might have invented tabletop roleplaying. He wrote Little Wars [1] in 1913.
The full text of the book is available online [2] for those that want to read it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wars
@FredBednarski ooh. This is interesting. I knew nothing about this. Thanks for creating a door open that I can now go and explore. 👍🏼
@minimaldotclick Early in the text he mentions Floor Games: https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500561h.html
@rjrjr thanks for the link. I’m going to read it now!
@minimaldotclick I think the Brontë sisters have him beaten by almost 100 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondal_(fictional_country)
They played a bit of proto-RPGs throughout their lives. It was mostly a personal game so not much has survived the ages, but there are some in-world letters for Gondal, and I think bit for their other world - Glasstown.
Curiously, RPGs as we know them now originated from wargames by doing something similar to what Brontës did.
...but I can talk for ages about proto-RPGs.