Many years ago, the our war gaming group found a hex map war game we really liked. With only 30 pp of rules and two sheets of results tables, it was easy to learn and play. We played it often; so often that we figured out the optimal opening moves and counter-moves and knew, half-way through, who would win.
So we started creating house rules which quickly led to a series of optional rules intended to add realism. There came a point, however, when the execution of all our optional rules and realistic details resulted in a game that would take two or three times the original playing time, the record keeping became unwieldy, and playing the game became a bit of chore because of all the realistic details of which we had to keep track.
In the same way that we justified the micromanagement of detail (scale) for the sake of realism we started eliminating the more laborious (literal) elements of our realism for the sake of playability.
At some point we started to realize our efforts to instill realism was actually duplicating what the game designers had already put in the game. We were just taking those hidden elements and making them apparent. We were changing the scale of the game but not necessarily changing the realism.
But, to realize this, we had to go through the process of making the game realistically complicated (literal) in order to appreciate the realistic (figurative) simplicity of it.
In the end, we found that increasing options and results, increased realism and complexity without it increasing micromanagement. Also, we were reminded, that the map and units on it were figurative representations; not literal ones.
So we started creating house rules which quickly led to a series of optional rules intended to add realism. There came a point, however, when the execution of all our optional rules and realistic details resulted in a game that would take two or three times the original playing time, the record keeping became unwieldy, and playing the game became a bit of chore because of all the realistic details of which we had to keep track.
In the same way that we justified the micromanagement of detail (scale) for the sake of realism we started eliminating the more laborious (literal) elements of our realism for the sake of playability.
At some point we started to realize our efforts to instill realism was actually duplicating what the game designers had already put in the game. We were just taking those hidden elements and making them apparent. We were changing the scale of the game but not necessarily changing the realism.
But, to realize this, we had to go through the process of making the game realistically complicated (literal) in order to appreciate the realistic (figurative) simplicity of it.
In the end, we found that increasing options and results, increased realism and complexity without it increasing micromanagement. Also, we were reminded, that the map and units on it were figurative representations; not literal ones.
