Commando (role-playing game)
{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}
{{Short description|Tabletop military role-playing game}}
{{italic title}}
File:Commando, role-playing game.jpg
Commando is a role-playing game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1979.
Description
Commando is a man-to-man tactical combat game that simulates commando operations from World War II to the present.{{cite book|last=Schick |first=Lawrence|authorlink=Lawrence Schick|title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games|publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1991|isbn=0-87975-653-5 |page=253}} Although it was marketed as a role-playing game, reviewers called it primarily a board wargame with a set of role-playing rules grafted onto it. The role-playing rules include character creation, skills, cooperative fire teams, and hero characters.
=Components=
=Gameplay=
If using the role-playing rules, a group of players create commando characters to be sent out on missions presented by a gamemaster. The players can increase the hero rating of their character at the end of each successful mission. These can be used to gain special abilities.
Publication history
Commando was designed by Eric Goldberg{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7}}{{rp|99}} as the first commercial role-playing game with a modern military theme. It was published by SPI in 1979 as a boxed set with cover art by David Wenzel and graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen. After publication, the game appeared on SPI's Top Ten Bestseller list for four months, rising as high as #4.{{cite web | url =https://spigames.net/spi_bestsellers_1979.htm | title =SPI Best Selling Games – 1979 | website =spigames.net | access-date =2020-02-20}}
Reception
In Moves #57, Ian Chadwick liked the game, saying, "It's a good game, a remarkably smooth system which has accepted the compromise of a lightweight framework in exchange for a well designed, complete tactical system."{{cite magazine|last=Chadwick|first=Ian|date=June–July 1981 |title=Commando|magazine=Moves|issue=57}}
In Issue 65 of Fire & Movement, Jeff Petraska wrote, "Commando uses no counters and has square grid maps and at first glance looks a bit unwieldy. With some play experience however, the game shows itself to be a lot of fun and a good simulation of commando operations."{{cite magazine|last=Petraska|first=Jeff|date=April–May 1990 |title=Commando|magazine=Fire & Movement|issue=65}}
Joe Scolari, writing a retrospective review in Simulacrum #6, recalled that the game could be played as both a straight two-player wargame, or as a role-playing game, but noted unlike many modern games, Commando had a plethora of optional rules and charts. He concluded, "Commando furnishes all the details, charts, and rules you'd expect from a wargame from back then, which makes it the kind of game that tends to send today's gamers running in terror!"{{cite magazine|last=Scolari|first=Joe|date=Spring 2000 |title=Commando|magazine=Simulacrum|issue=6}}
Other reviews and commentary
Awards
At the 1980 Origins Awards, Commando won the H.G. Wells Award for "Best Roleplaying Rules of 1979."{{cite web |url=http://gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1970s/The1979OriginsAwards/tabid/3217/Default.aspx |title=1979 Origins Awards Winners |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216052350/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe1970s/The1979OriginsAwards/tabid/3217/Default.aspx |archivedate=December 16, 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.originsgames.com/awards/1979 |title=Origins Award Winners (1979) |accessdate=2007-09-14 |publisher=Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830114234/http://www.originsgames.com/awards/1979 |archivedate=2007-08-30 |url-status=dead }}