"Once upon a time, long long ago, people played games that had rigid, hard fast rules that could not be altered. Glorious knights and beautiful ladies enjoyed games of chess in the courts of Richard the Lionhearted, and Edward the Third. But when they wanted real entertainment they turned away from their backgammon boards and listened to the troubadors sing stories about chivalry. If it please your lordship, some times they even made up the story as they went along!" There is a common thread that runs between story telling, role playing, and free kriegsspieling. They all tell stories, but what is more important is the way they tell stories. Each of these activities seems to be charaterized by a loose free style that is always open to change if the story needs it. This can create wonderful stories, but it is a difficult style to master. The following is a look at the strengths and pitfalls of this approach. "In history, events seldom happen when they should and sometimes not at all. The good historian can correct for this error." --Heroditus The critical difference between a loose style and a rigid one is how "critical events" are handled. Critical events are the stuff of excitement. "Will the Germans break through?" "Can the heroes hold out fox Just a day longer?" "Will help arrive in time?" etc. Unlike Heroditus, modern historians feel the need to use a very rigid style and only tell what they know happened, in the order In which it happened. The story teller on the other hand can freely change the story every time he tells it. He can change who the hero is. He can even change the outcome of the critical battle, if it suits him. Indeed, the Troubadors where adept at altering their songs to suit the mood of the crowd they happened to be in. Modern journalists might not approve but it kept the minstraels In pay and told the people what they wanted to hear. In the history of wargaming, hard rigid rules proceed loose fast rules In appearance and being spread out. Both miniatures rules and board games date back to the 1950s. While amateur free style games only come along in the 70s. Why is this so? Free Kriegsspiel is 150 years old in military circles. But it did not spread outside of those circles. Rigid Kriegsspiel is only about 200 years old, yet it has been in amateur circles for over 100 years. There is obviously something about the nature of what it takes to run one of these games that prevented the explantion of this genre. The answer is probable in how the two styles handle critical events. Take chess for an example. It take only a few minutes to explain the ways each chess man can move. So it is possible to have a new player playing (and probably losing) inside of ten minutes. Miniatures and board games are not that easy to teach but they are very concrete in how conflicts are resolved. A new player may not be an expert at running a game but he knows that if he has any difficulties, he can always read through the recipe like rules to find out, "what next?" Back to Experimental Games Group # 14 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com