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Avatar photocraig cartmell
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I really need to spend more time on this sub-forum… my bad.

When Charles and I began writing our first skirmish game (In Her Majesty’s Name) we had several discussions regarding the nature of the game we were creating. The term “narrative wargame” had not yet come over the event horizon, but we both agreed that the game should be both story and character led.

By the time the Ministry was formed we had encountered the term and adopted it into our design philosophy, especially as we had built a workable campaign system by then.

In our view, if after a game the players talked about the daring deeds of the characters and the story they had created, rather than die rolls and military tactics, then we had succeeded in producing a narrative skirmish game.

Looking at the tales, often illustrated with photos, by our players on our FB page, I’d say that we mostly succeeded.

Narrative wargaming has carved its own niche into the cathedral of the wargaming hobby. The success of games by authors such as Dan Mersey, Joseph McCullough and, dare I say, us, would indicate that this is true.

Footnote: Charles and I are lifelong roleplayers first and wargamers second. I suspect that this influenced our love of a shared story over historically-accurate reenactment.