Recently the local gamers have been suggesting/complaining that there should been more variety in how arguments are evaluated. The complaint arose from a player who had Just had something bad happen to his troops which he considered to be completely unfair and (of course) unrealistic. I felt frustrated by the fellows lack of sportsmanship, since the comment seemed wholly based on his not winning. But there was a good idea in it anyway. Why not add a little more variety into the resolution system? Right now MG turn resolution is done by rolling a six sided die per argument. Depending on the argument different numbers have to be rolled. Strong argument 4 or less Normal argument 3 or less Weak argument 2 or less The numbers themselves suggest that I could easily add in a 5 or less success roll (le very strong) and a 1 success roll (i.e. very weak). Very Strong argument 5 or less Strong argument 4 or less Normal argument 3 or less Weak argument 2 or less Very Weak argument 1 The determination of strong or weak is still determined in the same ways as before. Either: 1. the referee makes rulings based on his Judgement of the argument or 2. the group members say they think X is strong, weak, etc, but these rulings can be shot down by one person saying "no" (which makes all arguments 50/50 rolls). I've been noticing that in friendly, cooperative games, the players like to use the second method. It even works well in games where there are two distinct sides with teams of players competing. Unfortunately, in Machiavelli, Diplomacy style games, too many people put their ego's on the line and require a strong referee to tell them what the rolls SHOULD be. All in all, very frustrating for gamer like me who likes to play for the joy of moving little men around. Still, this new addition gives referees two now bones to throw to conscientious players. Back to Experimental Games Group # 18 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.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com