WHAT IS BRAUNSTEIN?! Cerulean Rex explains, clarifies misconceptions and offers new insights.

Braunstein, possibly the worlds very first roleplaying game, gave rise to Blackmoor roleplaying game style, which its creator later sought partnership with Gary Gygax to bring to market. They did just that, in the form of Dungeon's & Dragons in 1974. But before there was D&D, before there was Blackmoor …

There was 𝕭𝖗𝖆𝖚𝖓𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖎𝖓

A fabled game at this point, created in 1967/68 it inspires game players and experimentation to this very day. It is a game form that might have been lost to the dusty past had it not been for Dave & Gary. It's creator, however, U.S. Army Major David Wesely still runs this game at conventions to this day.

There is some misconception about what the nature of this traditional first roleplaying game actually is. I have played it with Mjr. Wesely and I have also analyzed it's play structure and developed my own variant as a tribute game called Umberfelz. I am pleased to be able to share here, my own observations and theories about what Braunstein is and how it plays.

Links foir Arnecon 2 —
Arnecon on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/arnecon
Arnecon on X - https://x.com/ArneconTFotT
Tabletop Events - (for tickets!) - https://tabletop.events/conventions/arnecon-2

Chapters
0:00 Topic Intro
0:51 Intro Sequence
2:36 What's In A Name?
5:29 Reason for this Video
7:50 Worlds First RPG?
8:08 What is Braunstein? What is Braunstein not?
10:24 R-O-L-E-playing Vs R-O-L-L-playing
11:36 No Dice!
12:10 Not a Wargame!
13:00 Non-Zero-Sum Game
14:14 No Future!
14:53 The Poor Characters
17:37 Mundane Events and Actions
18:39 The Setup - A History Lesson
20:38 Complex Characters
24:31 CREX Theory - The Main Character
25:42 The Most Interesting Thing About Braunstein
26:24 Low Impact / No Impact
27:31 Run of the Mill Motivations
29:11 Nothing Deadly!
30:18 Purpose is Immersion & Story
34:35 Braunstein is Not Diplomacy
36:40 Dave Arneson's Addition - Not what you think!
40:13 Is Braunstein a LARP?!
41:32 Umberfelz - A Braunstein Variant
42:42 Umberfelz at Arnecon 2
44:11 Outro