Choose Your Own History Path

 “Historical game design is the ultimate historical research project for non-specialists!”

— Dr. Jeremiah McCall

I love interactive fiction, both narrative programmed stories like the Choose Your Own Adventure and Endless Quest series and similar fare incorporating basic game rules, like the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. I enjoy exploring numerous historical periods. And I’m an advocate for using games for learning with various age groups in different environments. What better way to learn about history than explore a specific topic and incorporate it into a game activity. Dr. Jeremiah McCall has developed a history assignment for his high school students integrating all these interests. His Student-Designed Histories are a model educational tool for exploring historical topics and sharing that knowledge in an engaging interactive format.

One Battle, Multiple Games

 “There is nothing insignificant in the world. It all depends on the point of view.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Every gamer has their favorite genre periods and game systems, whether for wargames (both miniature and board), roleplaying games, or board games. Some folks maintain avid interests in numerous favorites. In many cases — but perhaps mostly with wargamers — players enjoy multiple games on the same subject, each title emphasizing something different about the theme. This seems almost stereotypical of wargamers, who fixate on historical periods or even focus on single battles: Gettysburg, Rorke’s Drift, Cannae, D-Day, and, of course, Waterloo. People interested in specific episodes in history rarely settle on reading just one book about them; they read several, often expanding their curiosity further into the period, and sometimes even related subjects. No one book tells the definitive story; neither does one single game perfectly depict a historical event. Different books contain new research, approach from a new perspectives, or incorporate particular biases; multiple game rules simulate conflicts differently in how their systems account for or interpret historical factors. Just like reading several books with different perspectives can broaden our understanding of a historical period, so, too, can multiple games on a subject present different ways of modeling a conflict and hence give us varied experiences from which to learn, both about the history and about effective simulation techniques.

Morschauser’s Wargame Rules

 “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

— Henry David Thoreau

I’ve enjoyed many of John Curry’s volumes in his History of Wargames Project, from republication of early wargame rules and historical wargames used for training and analysis to treatises on matrix games and other serious wargaming. I recently acquired one that had previously eluded me, Joseph Morschauser’s How to Play War Games in Miniature: A Forgotten Wargaming Pioneer: Early Wargames Vol. 3. I was initially lured to it by the claim it included an introduction of a gridded play surface into miniature wargaming, but I pleasantly found it filled with intuitive, concise rules, options for basing, and overall solid advice for miniature wargaming newcomers just as relevant and inspiring as when it was first published more than 50 years ago. It was a refreshing affirmation of many miniature wargaming elements I’ve come to enjoy over the years: concise simplicity; based units; flexibility between open battlefield and gridded surface; flexibility between eliminating units or keeping a roster for a multiple hit system; and an overall informative and welcoming approach to hobby.

Designer’s Cards-or-Tables Dilemma

 “Random chance plays a huge part in everybody’s life.”

— Gary Gygax

To use cards or not to use cards? That’s a question some designers might consider when developing mechanics for a particular game. Cards can deliver a similar infusion of effects we get from rolling dice on random tables. Differences exist in the two systems, but the result — generating a randomized element from a thematic list — remains the same. I’m debating whether to use cards or tables for a game I’m in the early stages of developing, a solitaire simulation focusing on supplying the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. As a player I love cards: the tactile nature, the space for illustrations, blurbs of lore, and stylized icons for values and functions. But at this early stage, and from a designer’s perspective, I’m leaning toward random tables as an expedient to focus more on concepts and system rather than give in to my urge to obsess over physical components.

Sharing Our Toys

 “A toy is seen both as a bauble and as an intellectual machine.”

— Brian Sutton-Smith

Sharing my Star Wars Mos Eisley
toys at a convention back in the
20th century.

I have a lot of gaming toys (some would argue too many) and I don’t share them enough. Roleplaying game books. Boxed wargames. Board games. Piles of material for miniature wargames of numerous kinds. Even a few card games. Having a much smaller circle of acquaintances than in my youth — and hence fewer possibilities to gather folks around the table for a game — I’m always seeking new opportunities where I can share my “toys” with others. I also find taking advantage of playing with other people’s shared toys can expose us to new experiences and help evaluate if they’re something we’d pursue on our own.

Remembering Jean Rabe

 “Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues can but encourage one’s own efforts.”

— Thomas Paine

Jean Rabe, 1957–2026

Beloved author and game industry luminary Jean Rabe passed away on January 19, 2026. She was among what I’d consider the “old guard” in the tabletop roleplaying game industry, a veteran of early TSR, head of the Roleplaying Gamer Association (RPGA), host of numerous writers symposiums, and prolific author of fantasy and science fiction literature. She was also a staunch advocate for many who sought opportunities in writing and publishing. Her friendship and efforts helped me during one of the most difficult times of my life: my “Desperate Freelancing Years” after West End Games went bankrupt and dismissed its creative staff.

Exploring Outcomes & Inaction

 “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”

— John F. Kennedy

My estimation of serious simulation “wargames” — like tabletop exercises (TTXs) and matrix games — has deteriorated in the past 18 months. Many seek to explore outcomes of various emerging issues with an eye toward affecting policy or future action. These rarely achieve any objective on their own beyond educated speculation how different elements affect the situation and where various actions lead, even with post-game discussion; their success and impact requires subsequent, meaningful action to put the conclusions to any effect in real-world policy. And I don’t see that happening against the overwhelmingly indifferent filter of societal and institutional bureaucracy. The past few years we’ve seen several political simulations, some more tabletop exercises than wargame-adjacent matrix games, intended to “game out” what might happen with various developments in American politics. Many came to presciently frightening conclusions. But this kind of simulation means nothing if participants don’t use what they learned to affect policy moving forward.