“Prep Is Play”

 “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”

— Mark Twain

I haven’t engaged with roleplaying games in a while, owing to a lack of interested players and time. Gathering multiple friends for any regular game session these days has become a common meme trope for the adult gamer generations. So I’m exploring a solitaire roleplaying game to engage my urge to return to that form...and immerse myself in some much-needed gaming escapism to deal with an onslaught of personal stress and <waves hand> all this nonsense going on in the world. My game of choice? Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tomkin. I backed it in Kickstarter and, though I’ve read it and explored its numerous oracle tables, I’ve not yet sat down to play it. I’ve been developing a character in the back of my mind, along with an initial contact and a sector with some locations, but otherwise I’ve relied on the random table “oracles” to guide my sector set-up and other bits for which I’ve no immediate inspiration. I’m having fun determining the elements for my future adventures, even though I’m not actually playing the game. Or am I? Starforged includes a heading I think all roleplaying gamers can take to heart: “Prep Is Play.”

A Pilgrimage with Game Diversions

 “The Road goes ever on and on / Out from the door where it began. / Now far ahead the Road has gone, / Let others follow it who can!”

— Bilbo Baggins, The Return of the King

This past week I made a pilgrimage from my home in Virginia to Indianapolis, IN, to attend the funeral of a beloved uncle...and to spend time with family members mourning his passing and celebrating his extraordinary life and the inspirational impact he had on so many lives. Along the way I distracted myself stopping at two game stores to pick up a few small diversions to feed my and my family’s gaming interests. Now that I’m back home I’m busy unpacking, doing laundry, resuming tasks I left off last week, taking a break to examine my gaming goodies, and getting back into some sense of routine...and spending a little time to reflect on a long four-day trip.

Perspective “In This Moment”

 “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Five years ago the covid-19 pandemic hit America hard. School and businesses started to close. News stories speculated about infection methods. Toilet paper and other essentials started disappearing from store shelves. People worked from home when they could. Masks. Social distancing. People dying in droves. Everything changed. Nobody quite knew where it was going...or how it might end. It was a moment in history for those of us used to reading about, studying, or even gaming with history. Suddenly we weren’t just looking back on some distant event with full knowledge of its aftermath. Our immediate perspective offered little insight how the crisis might play out. For once we occupied the position of people throughout history, experiencing history at that moment, unable to see where it was all going, with only future uncertainty ahead. Like playing a constantly changing game, we could only “estimate the situation” to the best of our knowledge and proceed with what seemed at the time as a suitable course of action

Short Games, Multiple Plays

 “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

Over the years my taste in games has skewed more toward more concise games that don’t consume vast periods of time yet still deliver meaningful play experiences. I certainly don’t mind spending an occasional weekend afternoon with a more involved game, but more often I find occasions for something that won’t keep us up all night while still delivering a satisfying evening’s entertainment: our occasional weekday, post-dinner “Game Night,” casual gatherings with friends curious about games, or more educational demonstrations showing how games can enhance learning. (I defer to “short” games because it emphasizes the time involved, although “concise” probably conveys a better sense of both time and quality.) Shorter games have their place in the vast adventure game hobby landscape, suitable environments where they best satisfy the host’s intentions, audience needs, and other contextual constraints (such as time). A well-designed short game encourages more streamlined rules comprehension, multiple plays, and time afterward for discussion...all key elements in both enjoying and learning from games. Many games that fit this “concise” profile prove excellent teaching tools when thoughtfully employed as games for learning.

Watch Read Play: Battle of the River Plate

 “My policy with three cruisers in company versus one pocket battleship — attack at once by day or night.”

— Commodore Henry Harwood

Last summer I proposed a learning rationale called “Watch Read Play” (or WRP) encouraging people to explore interests by first watching media, then reading, and finally playing a game about a topic, usually historical, that might engage them. I haven’t had much of a chance to try it myself, but over time I managed to achieve that trifecta for the Battle of the River Plate. That clash was the first major naval battle of World War II, when the German pocket battleship Graf Spee — after preying on Allied merchant shipping — encountered a British cruiser squadron hunting the commerce raider across the vast spaces of the south Atlantic. The severely damaged Graf Spee sought refuge in Montevideo, Uruguay, and, after some diplomatic controversies with the British cruisers lurking in international waters, the crew scuttled the ship. I explored the battle through a variety of media, including the 1956 film The Battle of the River Plate, two books, and the latest game on the subject, The Hunt. Each offers a different perspective to experience.

The Cycle of Estimation & Action

 “War itself has been declared to be a game, and rightly so, for it has the game characteristic of the presence of an antagonist.”

— Captain W. McCarty Little, USN

I believe games of all kinds can teach us about ourselves and the world around us. Playing them can inform our lives, adjust our perspectives, and broaden our experiences. I’m also encouraged by the increasing trend of using games for learning — notably in professional military education, government consulting institutions, and even universities — and am sometimes dismayed when they aren’t used for learning in environments where they might inspire young people (such as libraries, museums, historical sites, and secondary education). The value of “estimating the situation” (and all that entails) remains one of the most important lessons games can teach us. It’s a phrase pioneered at the U.S. Naval War College that succinctly summarizes the process a player uses — knowingly or subconsciously — when making decisions in any game. It also applies to how we might make decisions in real life, though far too often we stumble along simply reacting to the flood of challenges inflicted upon us with little time for anything but reflexive instinct. We rarely have the time or clarity to step back in our hectic lives, consider immediate events or even the big picture, and rationally reflect on our situation and what we can do to affect it in our favor. We can take time to estimate the situation and form a course of action in a game; the more we do so, the more we train ourselves to use that approach to our benefit in everyday life.

“Write What You Know”

 “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

On those rare occasions people ask me for writing advice, I tell them “Write what you know”...and it’s just as valid for game design. It’s one of those trite maxims we parrot as “advice” that, without reflection, means little beyond its superficial simplicity. Yet it’s not an axiom on which to sit complacently, to limit one to writing or designing only based on what they know at that moment. It is a challenge. Write and design what you know...and if you want to work with something you don’t know, strive to know it. Research. The concept is related to another saying worthy of reflection, from Socrates: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” (expressed in other times and cultures by various people). And if we know nothing, we must go out and learn something, experience something, so we can draw on that knowledge in our future endeavors...especially activities we do for fun.