Primeval Games Press

A Call for Brief Imaginative Games

Many a gamer has discovered that, suddenly, he no longer has the time he did in high-school; that he cannot play an epic role-playing campaign spanning months; that he cannot commit to play every week, or for ten hours stretches. The constraints of the outside world are often the blame, but so too is the gamer’s own development: he has other things to do with his time, for fun, and cannot put up with a flabby gaming experience: every minute must count.

Defeating the Accumulation of Advantage

“Accumulating advantage” is a general term, describing the tendency of the rich to get richer though positive feedback. This happens in many strategy games, in two slightly different ways. First, the rewards of success, like money, can be turned into an engine for later success, like the purchase of factories. This is positive feedback through accrual. Second, there can be positive feedback through loss, where reductions in initial resources create disadvantage. Many naval wargames show this behavior. They demonstrate classic attrition warfare: nothing like terrain or morale complicates a relatively straightforward game of inevitable resource degradation.

primeval games press

Trials of the Grail

City of Birds

Blessed

Anaxis

Me and the Rat

Anteel

Clash of the Ancients

A Call for Brief Imaginative Games

Defeating the Accumulation of Advantage