There have been a few proposals, but nothing finished, as far as I know.

Emily Care Boss has used Eero Tuovinen's Zombie Cinema to "sim" the Iraq war. It was largely still narrative in nature, not really non-fiction in the "documentary" or "history book" sense, but I think that's largely based on how roleplaying is traditionally structured, playing characters and what not. For example, I played a Blackwater security contractor who was trying to protect a convoy while other folks played US soldiers at checkpoints, NGO relief personnel, Iraqi small businessmen, etc. It was definitely intended primarily as an educational and advocacy (of engagement with ongoing events, not a specific political perspective) game. Jason Morningstar's Grey Ranks operates pretty much in the same territory, though about a historical conflict and with more explicitly narrative components in the mechanics. He wants play of Grek Ranks to create an interesting story, which isn't really the case in the way Em runs "A Day in the War." Em, Eero, and I have had discussions about creating a more general version of the Zombie Cinema engine to cover global conflicts, but nothing has yet resulted.

I wrote a short Dogs in the Vineyard hack about the 2008 Tibetan unrest last year, inspired by what Em was doing. It hasn't been played, as far as I know. I also have a couple of Cold City/Hot War hacks in development that are meant to explore two conflicts in which chemical and biological weapons were actually used (by South Africa's Project Coast in Angola / Namibia and by the Japanese Unit 731 in North China), but those may be a bit more narrative in nature than what you have in mind.

I don't yet know of any roleplaying games that intend to teach actual skills or knowledge (aside from awareness of historical or current events). Jason Morningstar's upcoming game Medical Hospital is focused on creating the feel of TV medical shows, not actually teaching you anatomy, though I guess that could happen on the side.

Here's a link for U.S. military simulations. (link) Basically everything on there from Major Field Exercises to Map Exercises includes role playing (conscious role playing, not the kind we do every minute of the day).

The games don't have to specifically be for definite later real world adoption, like teaching the position of grocery check out clerk by pretending to be a customer, but hypothetical real world adoption counts too. The military often teaches roles through role playing scenarios that potentially may occur. Since the trainees need to be ready for action, adherence to reality is a must.

I'm not looking for historical re-enactment. I'm looking at improving people's real abilities for potential future real world role playing (unconscious) Think doctor training through role playing versus playing Grey's Anatomy.

My brother, Bill White, and Dave Petroski have put some effort into a game called 'Persuaders', which is intended to be a game for the classroom in which the students take on the roles of advertising and marketing executives and personnel. I've posted a couple of actual play audio files at the internet archive here: Persuaders I found it pretty entertaining.
Mel

Posted By: Jonathan WaltonSo yeah, if you're specifically interested in military / grand strategy sims, I have a lot I could potentially say on that subject

I hope you do! If not in this thread, then perhaps a new one?

You might also look at Barnard's Reacting to the Past program.

I think there's an interesting place for "stealth pedagogy" in roleplaying games, but it doesn't seem like that's what you are after.

David, the "grand strategy" exercises that I'm familiar with mainly involve non-military, non-governmental consultants (like people from my office) and folks from various other offices associated with the Pentagon, the State Dept, etc. If there are soldiers participating, they're typically officers with desk jobs, not folks who will be commanding units directly out in the field. These are folks who will be responsible for looking at what potential adversaries are doing and advising top-ranking civilian and military leaders about what the appropriate course of action is. The main problem, as I see it, is that the actual adversaries the US potentially faces out in the real world don't act very much like they are depicted in these sims. That might not be as much of a problem in small scale, unit-based sims, because you still get to practice, y'know, managing a conflict and ordering troops around and such. But the entire point of the "grand strategy" exercises is to practice interacting with difficult situations that might actually happen in the world and that's undercut by an inadequate understanding of how other, non-American folks in the real world actually operate. That said, I have not yet been one of the principle folks participating in one of these sims, though I have talked extensively to folks who have and may potentially be invited to one this summer. Hopefully then I'll have a better sense of things and be able to talk more authoritatively.

NOTE: I am explicitly not talking about field exercises in which you actually move soldiers and equipment around. That's way beyond my level. I'm talking about abstract games that are played out by talking in conference rooms at hotels.

I think you want to talk to Graham and Bill White then.

Posted By: howandwhy99Aren't there psychologist and such studying potential enemies to better help those folks playing the Red Team?

Lordy, I hope so.

What elements do you think Forge games and theory could add to them?

You want the list? Keys (from The Shadow of Yesterday) or another form of "win conditions" or goals that vary between players but can also be changed during play, depending on the context. The insight from Fallout (Dogs in the Vineyard) that small scale conflicts can be valuable learning experiences, not things to be avoided, but small scale conflicts can easily blossom into bigger ones. Also, ritualized escalation / negotiation / deescalation (from Dogs & Polaris). Resource management techniques from a variety of different games. Endgame mechanics from the My Life With Master-inspired tradition of "countdown" games. I could go on and on.

I have been having a tough time making "The Persuaders" work in the classroom. The core of the game works fairly well; players create "ad campaigns" by using the motifs from a randomly dealt hand of cards as prompts for the product -- "Hmm . . . a luxury item related to masculinity: penis extender?" -- and then coming up with snippets of ad content and ideas for media placement. The communication majors in my "Advertising Regulation & Ethics" class think that's fun once they get it, finally. But the larger context -- the one that would let me bring up issues of professionalism and ethics -- is difficult to pin down. I've thrown out the notion of "character creation," in the sense that players don't really generate alter egos for the game. But I think I've gone too far the other way, so I need to redress that imbalance. The next time I run the game in class will be Fall 2010, so I have time to think about it. MJ, if you want to see what I have, I'd love to hear feedback and suggestions; whisper me an e-mail and I'll send off the current version.