Last week was Gen Con, one of the biggest gaming conventions in the country. If you follow our blog, you know that Walt and I both run games at Gen Con. This year I wrote and ran a game based on the Gold Rush of the 1870s in the Black Hills of South Dakota. And I used our history for RPG inspiration.

So what does this have to do with family history? Well, I used a number of things from my history and my family history to influence the story. My dad’s family is from the Black Hills area. My great-grandparents lived in Sundance, Wyoming, where they ran the dry goods store. I wrote about that here.

I made a number of visits there as a child and have traveled to the area as an adult, camping, fishing and hiking. (And doing research!) I knew my way around. I have a great-uncle who was part Oglala Sioux (read about him here). Many of the places I used in the adventure were places I knew well, so it was easy for me to give good descriptions.

Characters

The characters I created were also based in part on family history. The Civil War soldier was based on Walt’s great-grandfather John Swisher Hole. I recently got his pension records and have been pouring through them. (That will be a post for another day.)

Another character was based on the good friend of my grandmother Irene James. Several others used bits and pieces of people from both of our families. One of the characters that was there to provide information to the players was based on an exit sign we passed hundreds of times while driving to visit family. Kickapoo Edwards is an exit on I74 in Illinois, and that was the name of the strange old prospector.

Me running a game in 2024

So I was able to use my experience, research and personal knowledge to write a story and characters that made people interested in the adventure. At the end of each of the sessions I ran, I had people telling me how much they enjoyed the realism. I used information from history, such as the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and the Thoen Stone (which may or may not be a hoax), to provide realism in a fantastic story of strange creatures guarding Paha Sapa from the invading miners and settlers.