Tag: Simulation

Posted on

New Scenarios for MartyCon 2025

Martycon 2025 starts today! This is a mini weekend long convention of my friends involving lots of game playing and enjoying rural Western Australia. This has been running for three years now and last year was a blast! As with last year I have volunteered to run another multiplayer Space Weirdos game for the crew. My mind is always full of scenario and campaign ideas so instead of one scenario, I’ve dreamed up two. One longer and more involved, while the second is a quicker more brutal affair. I’ve also made sure to tie them narratively into my Mordax Prime setting.

As always these are multiplayer affairs and I try to include a mix of immersion, differing objectives and emergent play. I really want to maximize the engagement of the players, giving them fun and different experiences each time.

Scenario 1: Void Ship Boarding Action

For my main scenario of the weekend I wanted to continue one of the more recent Mordax Prime narratives; the manifestation of a Saint on Helios Magna. Additionally, I wanted to replicate the tight confines of a boarding action in a 40K setting. We pick up the story where the villainous Ferrymen seek to escape the system in their ship, only to be boarded by the pursuing Imperials.

Setting the Scene

With a roar of void engines the Revenant bore away from the world of Helios Magna. The blighted Ferrymen and their cargo were safely on board, and it was time to strike for home. Mad Claw stalked the bridge nervously, the authorities would be on to them soon enough and he needed to escape fast. Raiding in the heart of an Imperial system was decidedly not his style, he preferred isolated settlements or orbitals. But the rewards offered by the Ferrymen were too good to be ignored and worth the risk. So, he had thought at the time.

Klaxons screeched over the vox system, enemy ship closing. But from where? The adversary must have been jamming his sensors. Mad Claw realized that his pursuers had much faster ships than anticipated. Though hardened and battle tested, the Revenant was no speedster. Intrigued, he squinted at the viewing screen pausing as what he saw sank in. Chilling his blackened soul. While not large, the enemy vessel was painted black and red with the stylized I emblazoned on its foredeck. Inquisition. With a roar Mad Claw bellowed commands, sending crew and servitors alike scurrying to position. It would take all his guile and cunning to escape this trap.

=][=

Aboard the Strike Ship Purgator’s Blessing Inquisitor Jaegermann watched the pirate vessel draw closer. His teams failure in the Drula Sector of Helios Magna had enraged him. But on reflection, fighting a three-way battle to the objective had been his error. Hurriedly he made amends with the understandably angry Prioress of the Veiled Light.

A team of Lancet marines and Battle Sisters supported by a contingent of Inquisitorial storm troopers stood by as the Purgator’s Blessing closed the distance. They could not let these foul heretics escape with the so-called Saint. Who knew what the Ferrymen had in store for the poor unfortunate. A green globe flashed rapidly on the control slate and Jaegermann smiled grimly. Time to bring these wretches into the Emperors Light.

With a lurch the boarding torpedoes released, speeding towards their prey.

Objective

This will be a team game, fought under time pressure. The Imperials have two objectives:

  • Capture the “Saint” and get them off the enemy vessel within 4 turns
  • Damage the Geller field generator to provide an additional 2 turns of game time

The Chaos players must prevent this from happening, allowing their ship and it’s cargo to escape the system.

Each team will have a secret objective as well, to add a little spice to the game.

Teams

The game will revolve around two teams of three players.

Imperial

  • Inquisitorial Lancet Hereticus space marines intent on getting revenge on the Ferrymen
  • Sisters of Battle team tasked with retrieving the “Saint”
  • Imperial naval troopers tasked with knocking out the Geller Field Generator

Chaos

  • Ferrymen Plague marines who need the “Saint” to enact a terrible ritual
  • Captain Mad Claw and his pirates who wants his ship kept in one piece
  • First Mate Chaos mutant Head Bustin Billy who wants to destroy as many Imperial boarders as possible

Set Up

The board will be relatively small and full of tight corridors with lots of twists and turns. I want it to feel like the claustrophobic interior of a sprawling spaceship. The Imperials will deploy in the upper right of the board while the Chaos pirates can deploy anywhere else.

Not only that, but the Chaos players will get two objective tokens representing the saint, one real and one false.

Imperials go first.

Sisters of Battle intent on getting their Saint back!

Scenario 2: Under Hive Raid

The second scenario is based more along the lines of the inter gang conflicts of the underhive. It is an asymmetric scenario that should last for just over an hour. I have just finished painting my Adeptus Arbites kill team and wanted to use these 40K lawgivers in a game. The key here was to have an asymmetric game. The outnumbered lawmen on one side and the chaotic, are they allies are they not, gangers on the other.

Setting the Scene

The under-hive gangs of Kasanaan Tertius in the southern hemisphere of Helios Magna are revolting. The Adeptus Arbites have sent enforcers to stamp down on this insurrection. We are playing one such encounter. A small team of Arbites attempts to capture/kill crews of gangers hoping to make their escape from the kill zone.

Objectives

The game lasts for 4 rounds with the players split as follows. Two Arbites players working together, each with a team of 2 stronger operatives. Four or more gang players working individually, each with a crew of 3 weaker gangers. Scoring will work differently for each.

Arbites (collective points)

  • 1 point for each ganger taken out of action by Arbites personnel

Gangers (individual points)

  • 2 points for each crew member escaping off the opposite side of the board
  • 1 point for each Arbites taken out of action by your team
  • 1 point for each opposition ganger taken out of action by your team

Set Up

The battlefield will be set up to represent the warren of industrial tunnels that make up the under hive. Gangs will set up on the right hand edge, hoping to escape from the left side. The Adeptus Arbites will set up in the left hand half of the board ready to capture as many gangers as possible.

To add additional flavour the players will name their gangs and Arbites fire teams.

For those who play space weirdos the stats for this game are as follows:

If an Arbites moves next to a downed/staggered model and takes an action – it is manacled and considered out of action

Final Thoughts

I’m really looking forward to running both of these new scenarios at Martycon 2025. They are both filled with opportunity for emergent narrative to explode. Faction rivalries and player inventiveness is bound to make for memorable games.

Once the dust has settled I will report on how they went and any lessons learned.

Posted on

Can Roleplaying be Used as a Powerful Forecasting Tool?

using roleplaying as a forecasting tool

I came across this paper titled “Role Playing: A Method to Forecast Decisions” by J Scot Armstrong (2001) a couple of years ago and thought it was worth sharing here. Armstrong’s paper discusses the effectiveness of using role-playing simulations to forecast decisions in various real-world scenarios. It presents five situations where interactions between two parties significantly impact the outcomes. These include labor negotiations, lobbying efforts, product design changes, legal defense strategies, and contract negotiations. The paper argues that using role-playing simulations can help accurately forecasting decisions and their consequences in these complex, interaction focused situations.

It highlights the importance of accurately forecasting the decisions of other parties involved, citing historical examples where inaccurate predictions led to detrimental outcomes. One such example was the failed stock sale of the British-owned Falkland Islands Company to an Argentine consortium in 1975, which ultimately led to the Falkland’s war. Accurate forecasting of each other’s decisions might have prevented the conflict, instead resulting in mutual benefits. The author suggests that role-playing simulations can help improve decision-making accuracy by simulating interactions between parties and predicting their responses to different scenarios.

In many ways this is similar to the concept of Red Teaming. This involves running a simulation with a real opposition force (red team) to test a companies strategies and contingencies. I wrote about Red Teaming and roleplaying games in a previous article here.

Running a Roleplaying Simulation

The paper outlines the basic elements of creating these role-playing simulations. Including realistic casting, clear role instructions, accurate situation descriptions, active participation, and thorough coding of results. It also emphasizes the need for multiple sessions with different scenarios to obtain reliable predictions.

  • realistic casting: where possible roles should be played by people who are similar to those they represent.
  • clear role instructions: the role players should read and understand their roles before reading the situation details. Players should be asked to improvise but to remain firmly in their role.
  • accurate situation descriptions: describe the situation as clearly as possible, and provide realistic surroundings where possible.
  • active participation: Ask players to act out their responses and try to keep their decision making as realistic as possible.
  • coding of results: all players should write their view of their decisions

When to Run a Forecasting Simulation

Of course using roleplaying simulations for forecasting does not work for every situation. The paper suggests ideal conditions include: involving conflicts, large changes, or interactions between a few parties. Most important is the need for faction interactions to have a large influence on the outcome.

Is Roleplaying as a Forecasting Tool A Valid Method?

Finally, the paper provides evidence on the value of role-playing simulations, including studies demonstrating their face validity, predictive validity in contrived situations, and effectiveness in predicting decisions in actual situations. It concludes that role-playing simulations offer a valuable method for forecasting decisions and improving decision-making processes in complex scenarios.

An example of a crisis focused forecasting simulation

Final Thoughts

This paper was an interesting read and I could immediately draw parallels with Red Teaming and Megagames in the way the suggested simulations would work. But are companies and other organizations using this methodology? Unfortunately, that is not made clear in the paper. Though we do know that the military do use roleplaying in some of their wargames.

Given the suggested ideal situations and the cost associated with running a roleplaying forecast simulation implies that this methodology would only really be viable for larger organizations. For example, companies like Airbus, Richemont, and HSBC have participated in crisis simulation exercises that involve role-playing to improve decision-making under stress. In fact there is an existing industry providing such services.

Unfortunately, it seems clear that this sort of activity would be of limited use for the small to medium enterprise.

Nonetheless, an interesting journey into another avenue of roleplaying and its use within an organizational setting. Has your company used roleplaying as a forecasting tool?