Some years ago L5R did something they called a Megagame where the results of the Kotei’s fed into a giant campaign map.

Here in the UK Megagame has a different meaning. It is a large scale face to face event that combines elements of war gaming, live roleplay and tabletop games.

It’s like some of the L5R convention LARPS (Live Roleplays) you may have seen where people stand around talking, plotting and scheming. Rather than playing a normal character with individual goals however you have a position such as president, ambassador, minister for war, etc. and you belong to a group, such as a nation, global organisation or corporation and you are working to advance its goals.

I have long thought this format would be perfect for L5R with players taking the roles of heads of the Clan families and have thousands of koku and samurai at their disposal in a strategic and resource management focussed epic.

If you are new to megagames and haven’t heard of Watch the Skies then here are a couple of links I use to help people learn more. But you really need to watch the videos for the full majesty.

A brief description and cool video to get you going.

https://www.pixeldynamo.com/news/gaming/2014/05/25/11559/megagame-watch-skies/

Megagames have been going in the UK for more than 30 years as a natural offshoot of wargaming but only recently took off in the US.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/xcom-meets-model-un-in-the-first-american-megagame/

Over here they have even made it to the mainstream as this coverage in one of our national newspapers shows.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/welcome-to-the-world-of-megagames-300-players-take-part-i n-watch-the-skies-board-game-10213384.html

Anyway. Having been working on this for some time it looks like the stars are right for me to actually run an event. Following endless discussion in private I am opening up the floodgates to see what happens if I discuss it in public.

Cheers,

Shiryo no Otaku

Banzai. Having played Watch the Skies at PAX East this year, I would be very excited to attend or help run such an event in the US.

Obviously some of the rules and 'minigames' would need to change wouldn't they? Technology for instance would be revamped or repointed a bit. Doing a 'Clan Wars' what if mega-game would be interesting, especially if Toturi's Army and the Shadowlands were played off screen.

Banzai indeed!

Its great to hear I am not alone.

Watch the Skies is the most famous instance of a megagame just as L5R is one of the most famous of the CCG’s. It’s the event that launched a thousand megagames. But there are all sorts of genres and varieties from Napoleonic, post-apocalyptic, WW2, illuminati, and more.

I am looking at about 12 players per clan depending on how many families they have and 100 players in total. Tasks are split into Bushi, Shugenja, Courtier and general. So the Phoenix would have more resources to put to Shugenja tasks, the Crab toward Bushi tasks and the Crane to Courtier tasks. General would be things that advance your clan status as a whole such as matchmaking and Imperial gifts.

It’s a daylong event without a break for lunch. You decide when you stop or eat on the go as time management is one of the key challenges of a megagame. It’s a non-profit event with all money raised going back into improving the game. It will be funded by a Kickstarter happening August/ September and run at the end of October 2016.

Any questions?

Shiryo no Otaku