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I received word today that Brian Degas, the last surviving designer of Escape from Colditz, has passed away. Brian was substantially larger than life, and it's a true privilege to have known him in the time that I did.
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![I received word today that Brian Degas, the last surviving designer of Escape from Colditz, has passed away. Brian was substantially larger than life, and it's a true privilege to have known him in the time that I did.[Thread]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUyl0ljWoAAhO5T.jpg "I received word today that Brian Degas, the last surviving designer of Escape from Colditz, has passed away. Brian was substantially larger than life, and it's a true privilege to have known him in the time that I did.[Thread]")
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I know Colditz is nostalgically remembered in Britain, but I don't think it gets the credit it deserves for how ground-breaking a design it was. Brian wrote the BBC t.v. series based on Pat Reid's WW2 memoir of the prison camp at Colditz castle and they became close friends.
There was a period where Pat was going through a dark time, and Brian encouraged him to pour some of his focus into this board game - both as a way to take his mind off it, and a unique (then and still now) way to document his experience.
Colditz was many firsts - a game based on a license intended for adults; an early example of action point allocation; a one-versus-many game released a year ahead of D&D; a semi-cooperative game where cooperation was a viable strategy. It was decades ahead of several curves.
When I was developing Colditz for the @ospreygames edition Brian and I would have hours-long back and forths about the horrendous ambiguity of some of the rules, the design decisions, the things it chooses to focus on. The subject of roll and move came up and Brian laughed.
It turns out dice were a choice rather than a default - the original design of Colditz was purely tactical with that element of luck removed.
Pat Reid at one stage turned to Brian and told him that he had seen the most meticulous escape plans fail, and the most stupid succeed.
Pat Reid at one stage turned to Brian and told him that he had seen the most meticulous escape plans fail, and the most stupid succeed.
To Pat Reid, without luck you wouldn't truly be escaping the Nazis.
The dice were a choice.
The dice were an act of autobiography.
The dice were a choice.
The dice were an act of autobiography.
In an era of abstracts and chit-based wargames, Colditz was specifically designed to simulate emotion rather than rifle stats. The more I learn about the game, the more it inspires me.
I feel very privileged to have played a part in it, and I will miss the friend who made it.
I feel very privileged to have played a part in it, and I will miss the friend who made it.
