Campaigns or Campains?

The Proctor System

by Victor Otto Schmidt

This is a system to run campaigns with a minimum of fuss, record keeping, expense, and trouble. It is designed to utilize, if desired, existing components from any game, and/ or real life geographic and topographic maps, and to enable the gamers to use their collections in a wide range of actions without being governed by inflexible rules or forced to fight a large number of unsatisfying games.

Further, it distributes the burden of all game functions among the players. Very little set up is required, and the system can function equally well for straight two-sided operational campaigns as well as large multi-player International War Games. Most of all it is designed to enhance the table top actions by fleshing them out and giving them continuity, but it is not designed to be "another game played to play a game."

One serious limitation of the system is that it is predicated on all players willingly shouldering their responsibility when it is their turn, and even more important, that all players are familiar with and conversant with the actual campaign being modeled, or the general political context, and, if need be, in the social, political, and economic forces as well. All players may therefore have to do some reading before they play. This will be dealt with in SETUP.

The basic theory is that the system runs on "meetings" or game encounters, that is, when the group gets together for a game or resolve the campaign. These also are the general ideas, and principles of the game and are in no means meant to be hard and fast rules. you can, and should, adapt them to the specific situation of your group.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

    1. A deck of ordinary playing cards.
    2. A map of the area in which the Campaign will take place.
    3. An order of battle of ALL forces available to a player.
    4. Paper and pencils.
    5. Toy soldiers.
    6. At least four players to play the campaign.

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

The system is best visualized as a "rotating umpire" system. At the end of each game a new "proctor" is chosen. It is the proctors duty for the next game to set up the scenario and situation. That is, he will configure the scenario and set up the path and story leading up to it. The system will be set up with two "designees" and all players assigned to one side or the other. At the end of the game a new Proctor is chosen.

SEQUENCE OF THE SYSTEM

The system operates in "rounds." A "round" consists of five steps. Each "round" is thought to mimic or represent what ought to happen at a meeting when a group of campaigners get together.

    A. Chose Proctor.
    B. Define scenario.
    C. Validate Scenario
    D. Play Scenario
    E. Determination of Victory and Continuation.

CHOICE OF A PROCTOR AND ASSIGNMENT OF PLAYERS

At the end of each game you must chose a new proctor and active players for the next game. This is done by the present proctor taking the deck of cards and shuffling it. Each player is then dealt out cards one at a time. The cards continue to be dealt out until all four aces come up.

    1. Players continue to receive cards until three aces are dealt.
    2. A player who receives an ace does not receive any further cards.
    3. A player who has a card and who receives a new one, discards the old card and the new one becomes his face card.
    4. The player who gets the first ace drawn is the new proctor for the next game. If the proctor gets the first ace it goes instead goes to the person to his right.
    5. The player who gets the second ace is the ATTACKING OR INITIATIVE PLAYER in the upcoming game. He is a PRIMARY PLAYER.
    6. The person who gets the third ace is the DEFENDING or NON-INITIATIVE PLAYER in the upcoming game. He is a PRIMARY PLAYER.
    7. The person who gets the fourth ace is "the spoiler." Immediately upon drawing the fourth ace, distribution of cards stops, unless not all players have been dealt a card. In this case all players who do not have a card are dealt one and one card only. The person who gets the fourth ace is a SECONDARY PLAYER.
    8. All players examine their face cards. If they are of a red suit they are on the Attacking side for the next game. If they are of a black suit they area on the Defending side of the next game. Red or Black, they are SECONDARY PLAYERS.
    9. The game is now set. The players are now marked down.

At the start of the game there is obviously no existing proctor. Persons chose one among themselves to do the dealing.

CONFIGURING THE SCENARIO

    1. It is the task of the proctor to configure the next scenario. He meets with the active players teams, either in person, or on the phone, and gains from them their intentions give the situation at the end of the last battle.

    2. The Proctor may disallow certain actions as far-fetched or inappropriate. (example: if one of the players said he wanted to "smuggle" an entire division of troops into his enemy's capital (hundreds of miles away) he could disallow it. Likewise if one side wanted to make a reflexive action predicated upon an event which he cannot mandate (see below) the Proctor may tell them to chose another. Players should attempt to make their intentions as clear and unambiguous as possible.

    3. The players may not excessively "conditionalize" their moves. "I'll move to the town of Foggy Bottom only if the enemy doesn't move to Sleepy Hollow" or "I will take up an impregnable position where the enemy will be slaughtered if he tries to attack me" are two examples. Legal equivalents would be " I will move to Foggy Bottom if the enemy seems to be sitting put for a while." Or I will look around for the strongest position to defend."

    4. The proctor will then figure out how he is going to run the next scenario, based upon the input of the two players. He can make any scenario he wishes or thinks would be interesting save only that he observe the following rules.

    5. He may not reflexively assume a unilateral condition that is by nature binary. Let us assume that a battle took place in the last action between the forces of Floridanica and Hardiharhar at Snodbelly and the Floridanicans won. He cannot make a new scenario saying "After their victory at Snodbelly the Floridanicans were disasterously defeated at New Palmolive, and they now are fighting a desperate rear-guard action. Such a battle is a "binary" event, that is it requires the participation of both sides to decide an issue one way or the other. In effect the proctor cannot upset past history, loop time (refight a battle just fought) or insert a critical event that is clearly unfair.

    6. He cannot craft a scenario for more figures, terrain, or players than are available. He may craft it for less troops and terrain, but all players must be allowed to play. He cannot craft any scenario which is clearly contrary to the general wishes of the players when they are not inappropriate. He cannot, for example, craft a scenario for one side to be the attacker while that side's intention is to be on the strategic defensive.

    7. He is free to construct any event or table top scenario he feels like given these restrictions. He does not have to use all the forces either side has, and he does not have to even make an event that would seem to be in the major thrust of the campaign. He could configure a "side-show" between small forces of either side, or a bold decisive move. So long as it is not an implausible action it should be valid.

    8. He is required to write up the general nature of the event and distribute it to the players. They may caucus among themselves, meet at the bar, over the phone, snail-mail, e-mail etc. At this time all players CAUCUS. In a caucus, "The Spoiler" the player who got the fourth ace, does not vote. If a majority of the players decide the event is implausible or invalid then the proctor must either make a new event or they can play the event but it is ruled "UNIMPORTANT" - that is, it has no strategic importance. If the game is played as an "Unimportant" event, the Proctor who designed it loses one Victory, if he has one. The Spoiler may however invalidate this decision on the part of the players (if they deny the scenario) and force its use as an "IMPORTANT" event.

    9. It is up to the Proctor to determine the victory conditions of the game. It does not matter which side the players are on, only the PRIMARY player (attacking or defending) gains the Victory. Unimportant Victories have no bearing on the game.

DETERMINATION OF VICTORY AND CONTINUING THE GAME

At the end of each meeting or game all players (not sides) must CAUCUS to decide if they wish to continue the campaign. The Spoiler does not vote. If a majority of the players wish to discontinue the campaign then it MAY be discontinued PROVIDED they agree on who has won. At this point the Spoiler may invalidate the vote, and the campaign must continue, and NO winner can be chosen this meeting.

No player may be declared the winner unless he is a VIABLE WINNER which is defined as having won four or more IMPORTANT encounters. If there is no VIABLE WINNERS and a two-thirds vote is made, then the campaign is over and it is a draw. If only one player is a VIABLE WINNER then it is by default the winner if two-thirds of the players wish to discontinue the campaign. The spoiler, even if he is the only viable winner, cannot be nominated or win by default. The spoiler, however MAY, if there is only one viable winner, veto that win for this round, that is, he may nullify the default win.

Where more than one player is a VIABLE WINNER then each such player (except the Spoiler) MAY (but is not required to) nominate himself as the victor. He may not be nominated by any other player . Immediately after nomination, all players MUST CAUCUS and vote. If the player nominated gets a two-thirds majority then he has won the campaign. If he does not gain the victory then he has not. If he does not gain the Victory all players who are viable winners (even the nominated player) lose one victory (but NOT THE SPOILER!). A player may continue to nominate himself many times for successive votes.

The Spoiler may invalidate the vote for a Victory and if he does he also terminates all voting for this meeting. If he does this he loses one Important Victory if he is a VIABLE WINNER himself.

THE SPOILER

1. Once The Spoiler vetoes or overturns a decision he loses his quality of being The Spoiler, and cannot overturn another decision. Thus, if he overturned the decision of the players to rate an event as "unimportant" then he cannot later on that round veto the winner of a campaign.

More Campaigns or Campains?

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