Culture. Nurture. Tincture. Enrapture.

Outscale your game nights - How to prepare a MegaGame

Today, I encourage you to dip your toes into a game subgenre that is definitely worth more attention - MegaGames. It is exactly what it sounds like: a huge group of players (dozens to hundreds) in an all-day experience bridging board game, role-playing and social gathering. For those in the known, it can be seen as a sort of LARP, but larger - A LOT larger. It might sound intimidating, but you would be surprised that I know several non-gamers and light gamers alike who love such games. Don‘t dismiss it right away and let me take you through what you need to know if it might be for you.

Scaled-back history

MegaGaming shares many aspects with wargaming, its progenitor. But don‘t be fooled: a “war game“ is not about violence, tanks and infantries. Rather, war games are about players making unpredictable decisions with imperfect information in an environment simulating a particular time, theme or aspect. And so, we see MegaGames with zombies, aliens, politicians or even explorers. Yet, understanding where MegaGames came from demands some knowledge of where War Games themselves came from. Let me give a quick overview.

Modern wargames have roots in the warfare simulations made by Prussian officers since the late 18th century. If someone can be given the title of father of wargames, that would be Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig. In 1780, Hellwig created a chess variant attempting to shape it into a better simulation of the warfare of his time. It would be called Kriegspiel (a war game litteraly). Saying Kriegspiel was just a chess variant would be an understatement of its influence. Hellwig added new victory conditions, implemented a more realistic setting, 3 unit types (infantry, cavalry and artillery), terrain types and a customizable board. All groundbreaking elements for his time. And, of course, much copied. Military chess variants would continue to appear between 1770 and 1830. The next major innovation would come thanks to Reiswitz‘s version of Kriegspiel (in 1824). Reiswitz introduced two important elements of wargames: a referee (the Umpire) and uncertainty (dice in his case). If Hellwig brought simulation to the forefront, Reiswitz would add imperfect information. Wargames as we know them were born.

Wargames would increase in scale and complexity with time. These games would influence pretty much every other hobby game to follow. Remember that it is largely accepted that the idea of DnD came to Dave Arneson during a game of Braunstein - such a kind of wargame. Yet, if MegaGames themselves have a father, that would be Paddy Griffith. While working at Sandhurst Army Academy in Britain, Griffith would run wargames for his students with ever-increasing scale and branching out of typical warfare simulation. It would be one of his students - Jim Wallman - who would design such “MegaGames“ (as Griffith would call them) for the general public.

MegaGames came to more popular attention thanks to Shut Up and Sit Down‘s coverage of the 2014 game of Watch the Skies (a very popular MegaGame). Watch The Skies splits players into high-ranking government officials and simulates how the international landscape would react to extra-terrestrial first contact. Many more accessible MegaGames would follow including some played online only. It includes another popular option - Urban Nightmare: State of Chaos.

Making the big picture happen

So, how could you run a MegaGame? For that, you need to understand the typical roles needed for such a game. Everything begins with the game director. Remember that MegaGames have VERY large ambitions that need to synchronize a large group of people. The game director is responsible for organizing and scheduling the game. Next, you need people to guide players during the game itself - that would be the referees. The lead referee (the Umpire in times of old) is there to coordinate and ensure that game rules are followed. Being a referee in a MegaGame demands quick thinking and judgment. Obviously, the referees need some rules to base themselves on and that is the job of the game designer. I won‘t lie - this is a colossal task. Creating game objectives, themes and mechanics that all fit together as simply as possible in a game isn‘t easy, even less so at that scale. Thankfully, many MegaGames are available if you don‘t want to bother yourself with that, I will give some good options later. If you are up to the task, here are important aspects to consider:

  1. How many players should your game have?
  2. How many player teams are there? Two or more? Maybe just one?
  3. How much information can players share?
  4. How much time is the game allowed to take?
  5. How is that time managed (running time or game turns)?
  6. What feeling/situation/period does your scenario want to replicate?
  7. How should unpredictable events be managed by the Umpire?

Another important role in war games is game analyst - responsible for studying the game afterwards. We see them less often in MegaGames but they can still have a place and lead to very interesting results.

That is all you need to make your own MegaGame. As I said, such a task is not for everybody but still very rewarding. If you just want to run a MegaGame, I encourage you to go see first if there is any MegaGame near you for you to join at https://www.megagameassembly.com/megagame-calendar. You can also organize your own, basing yourself on some great pre-made and free MegaGames at https://www.megagameassembly.com/free-megagames.

I‘m looking forward to you giving MegaGames a chance. You‘ll see that they are unforgettable experiences. Until then, see you next week.

References

  • Wargamer‘s Handbook - A Guide for Professionnal War Gamers, David DellaVolpe, Robin Babb, Nick Miller & Gordon Muir, United States Naval War College.
  • Schuurman, P. (2017). Models of war 1770–1830: the birth of wargames and the trade-off between realism and simplicity. _History of European Ideas_, _43_(5), 442–455. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2017.1366928
  • Playing at the world : a history of simulating wars, people and fantastic adventures, from chess to role-playing games, Jon Peterson, 2012

Megagame written accounts:

  • Shut Up and Sit Down coverage of Watch the Skies: https://youtu.be/hN71v9H_gg8?si=PfYqTIGro3vrZMaj
  • https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-intrigue-of-massive-scale-megagames/
  • https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-i-survived-a-zombie-apocalypse-only-to-wind-up-in-federal-prison/