DAVID WESELY: The Godfather of RPGs

Finches by Chuck Darwin

Despite what you read on the internet, D&D was NOT birthed from a wargame*. D&D arose when Gary Gygax was invited to a game Dave Arneson's Blackmoor which was a spin-off of David Wesley's Braunstein game.

Here is an old post from Pits Perilous who interviewed Wesley about the Braunstein game. Which is a great companion piece to the documentary The Secrets of Blackmoor and the book, Playing at the World.

* Its combat system certainly was, but not the idea of roleplaying individuals delving a dungeon under a castle. You switch any skirmish-size combat system into D&D and it will still feel like D&D.