Prussians & Dragons
 

pics:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fo...Article=625745

This is a 200 year old Prussian strategy-game that can be seen as the ancestor of today's role-playing games and strategy simulation. It is the first known effort to use a rastered map, and used game mechanisms that are in principle not different to today's use of probability tables and dice.

article (German):
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/spiel...625745,00.html

The article so far is German only. Der Spiegel has an English edition as well, if they ever translate it there, I'll post it again.

The chest of drawers containing the game stands in Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin.

Incredible. Not exactly portable, though:).

1.) The origins of todays RPG's point squarely at DnD

2.) I believe its Dragoons not Dragons :rotfl:

See they kind of relate to one another. :|\\