On Reading Leonard B. Scott and Designing Forgotten Heroes

The birthing of the original Forgotten Heroes was a serendipitous event. I’d never been more than casually interested in America’s involvement in Vietnam. In fact as I've grown older I find myself less and less interested in poorly written and equally dusty history books.

In 2002 my brother in law, Marty, died. After his funeral a relative offered me Marty’s library. A large box containing fifty-some paperbacks, there seemed to be very little of interest to me, but more from politeness than an attraction to the material, I accepted the box. Late one fall day, with nothing to read, I chose an historical novel on the Vietnam War from the box. Written by Leonard B. Scott, the novel was The Expendables, and it would start me on the road to designing Lock ‘n Load: Forgotten Heroes.

I blasted through The Expendables and Scott’s other Vietnam era, historical novels (Charlie Mike and The Hill), loving every detail. The three books captured my imagination, and like most war gamers, I began thinking of a game that would let me recreate, let me understand, the conflict Leonard B. Scott described.

You might think this led to the design of Forgotten Heroes, but you’d be wrong. What it led to was a gaming night with my oldest daughter. We played Avalon Hill’s Platoon. As many of you know, Platoon is a man-to-man game set in Vietnam. We had great fun, but despite the fun I felt there was something missing in the game.

In fact, I had that feeling quite often. Since 1990 I had been writing extensively in the computer, and to a lesser degree, board game industry. I reviewed games for magazines, analyzed games for their publishers, and wrote in-depth industry examinations for a now defunct firm. And what I found was that with few exceptions, the games I studied could have been better. After that night of playing Platoon, I resolved to design something better. Whether I have is debatable, but it certainly has been fun trying.

To read how I went from idea to playable game, from a self-published, desktop endeavor to a contract with Shrapnel Games, you’ll want to read my upcoming book, 1D6: The Complete Guide to Designing Games.

I’ll provide details on how to purchase the book in the very near future. Stay tuned.