Why Do I Do Remembrance Day Posts?

As some of you know, I make it a tradition to write one article that has to do with Remembrance Day, be it a solo game or even write up solo rules. However, this year, I want to spice things up and instead, write an article on why I choose this day out of all holidays of the year to keep this tradition alive when all others I’ve left to the curb.

At first, I began this tradition simply because I found a neat game to play that I wanted to play repeatedly whenever the time comes to play it. Though, another part of the reason was because the holiday holds a very special meaning in my country, honoring the many people who both placed their lives on the line and sacrificed them to ensure the peace we have now to play games like the ones we have now.

Especially since the games I play on these days capture an essence that I always feel whenever I watch war movies. There’s always a struggle to be had when the troops march down enemy territory, pulses pound when turrets and guns get fired, emotions flare when blood is spilled and lives are lost, and yet, in the end, tales of valor and bravery are sung… Or, if you’re focusing on movies set during the Vietnam War or the War on Terror, a more… cynical outlook.

Thinking about it now, memories of watching these movies flood back to my head and they stick to me. I wouldn’t go as far as to say they shaped me into who I am, but I feel like they gave me such a grand feeling that whenever I play a solo game with a historical war theme, I try to recapture those feelings of both drama and action that I see in those movies. Like I want to pay respect to them somehow. I think what happened was, when I first played Winter, I got that feeling like I was actually playing out a war movie… and after that, the rest was history.

Admittedly, it was sometimes hard to get together a game to play for Remembrance Day, sometimes even doing something last minute. These were stuff like a random, silly game where Adolf Hitler was a statted up enemy or even using a system for playing games related to The Matrix for one such war-themed session. The last one felt especially like me scraping the bottom of the barrel to justify a game.

It got to the point where, during a time where I had privately decided to switch up how I deliver content for the year, I decided for 2021’s Remembrance Day to create a Mythic theme for players. The thought of doing something similar just occurred in my mind, but it is far too late now.

Which brings me to why I haven’t really made a post for this year and, to be honest, I never really gotten around to figuring out what game to play for Remembrance Day, since I had been entrenched in other hobbies as well as working on another solo related project.

In hindsight, some may argue that me not doing a solo game surrounding war might be for the best given the real-life war that is going on right now in Ukraine, but isn’t that more of a reason for why I would need to do one, to honor those who are currently fighting to ensure peace for the country?

Though, it’s a blessing in disguise, as I can get these feelings out, because at one point, I also asked myself “why exactly did I keep this tradition going when there were so many others to keep going?” and thanks to this and even some prodding from BlogNLP for giving me ideas before I ultimately began to write this post from scratch, I was able to understand why.

It was to recapture some of the nostalgia I had with some movies I watched so long ago and live them out once more in solo roleplaying, but also to step in the boots of those who have fought and died for peace, even if it was behind a screen and some virtual dice. I guess that was why I didn’t view the ROLF and There Is No Spoon games highly, since they were huge departures from that feeling… Especially since I was literally beating up Hitler in one of them.

So, as the final hour of the day rolls on, this will be posted, ironically enough, on the eleventh month, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh hour, of the eleventh minute… but… post meridiem.

Happy Remembrance Day, Gamers.

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