A central player in the story of my imagi-nations world is the Duchy of Khornwallistein. Yes, that is a mouthful to say aloud, but the actual term has personal meaning for me, beyond what many familiar with Games Workshop’s lore will readily see.  This “modern” duchy, in the timeline of my world, is akin to somewhere in the late 18^th century of our real world, but I am also choosing spots on that timeline earlier, or much earlier, and also later, in order to tell the stories and fight the battles that have or will occur.

Currently, I am working on a system of campaign mechanics that will give underlying structures to the evolution and change taking place in my world. I can easily just decide what I want to happen in my world, and in a few cases I am. However, I also want for something less predictable, and a bit more “realistic” in the sense that what occurs is the result of comprehensible influences and motivators that we see in any thorough examination of real-world history.

What I mean is that countries rarely, if ever, go to war on a whim. Instead, some amount of the leadership in a nation, whether it be a single person or a committee, have what they feel to be a rational and logical reason for going to war. It may be for resources, such as Japan in the 1930s and 40s, or it might be religious or religious-ish as it can be argued for the Crusades. In my world, nearly every “historical” war will be fought for purposes that seem reasonable to the antagonists. Yet, in the Mythical Age, wars just happen due the quasi-religious fervor that is present in everyone and is everywhere. This is still rational, at least in the minds of some, but I am more lax in my stating that the different sides will fight “just because” during this age of magic and mystery. This is not very different from the myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, plus it gives me another use for the fantasy miniatures in my collection.

Readers will have noticed my reference to a system of mechanics supporting my imagi-nation efforts. More details on this will follow, but I’d like to explain some of the foundational elements of this campaign “engine.” If you are familiar with or have played Avalon Hill’s History of the World, then you have a very good idea of the core of my plan.

If you have never played that board game, do yourself a favor and find a copy. The most recent version was published by Z-Man games in 2018 (I could not find it on their site, unfortunately), but you can still find the Hasbro (and even AH) version, which I prefer, on Ebay. It is in my top 5 favorite boardgames.

HotW, as it is often abbreviated, is played in a series of rounds, called epochs. Each player receives a card to be played in each epoch, showing the culture they will be representing that turn, and scores victory points based on their success in conquering regions and converting capitals and monuments into cities. As a boardgame, it is an excellent multi-player experience. It is intended for 3 to 6 players, but it is best with six, in my opinion.

The design of the game inspired me, years ago, literally decades ago, as I saw a mechanism for creating change over time in for cultures or nations. By incorporating possible characteristics or cultural differences which act as strengths or weaknesses, each political or cultural entity is motivated to act in a determinative way. Were I to add the religious and economic to the political and cultural, then I’d have a complete foundation from which to create an extended wargame campaign.

Where HotW has players each act as a different nation entirely, in each epoch, the system I am using has each “nation” or “state” go through a period of growth, expansion, stasis, or decline, based on the result of a randomizer, either dice or card draw. For example, the story of Khornwallistein changes based on the result of this system, per era (which term I use in place of epoch), or subset of years within an era. The success or failure in war provides a modifier to the randomizer, allowing for even more change within a given span of years.

While I do have a solid understanding of my intent with all of this, I still have some work to do to get it operational. Also, it is not as though I came to this understanding immediately after playing HotW the first time, back in the ‘90s, but rather it has been a long process of contemplation following a series of moments of inspiration. It is a desire of mine to create a complete system that I can then develop further and perhaps sell as a campaign generator to folks with similar tastes and interests in wargaming.