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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CarlZog" data-source="post: 2118061" data-attributes="member: 11716">Ignoring all the hobby baggage, the terms "wargaming" and "role-playing" definitely have some overlap. The more interesting question is where they diverge.Wargaming is act of simulating warfare as a means of studying the effects of warfare methods without actually going to war. These methods can range from deterrence to grand strategy to individual unit tactics.In the act of conducting a wargame, you are assuming a role -- whether it's the general or an infantryman.  By virtue of inventing a scenario in which to test the specific methods you're interested in, you've created a "plot" or a "story".The tools used don't really define it either. Professional military wargames can take the form of a field exercise with real units, or in a conference room with no other tools than some scrap paper. It depends on the scenario and the specific goals of the game.As a recreational endeavor, wargames traditionally involved representing units on a scale map and mathmatically modeling their actions and interaction.Even if each person involved in the game is representing a single person (character, creature) in the scenario, you may still be involved in a wargame."Role-playing" as a tool and activity is less concerned about testing specific outcomes and more concerned about the experience of assuming the role of another person (character, or creature). Shrinks use it so the clients can experience being in "someone else's shoes"; theatre uses it so audience members can experience some narrative or story.I would suggest that the dividing line between role-playing and wargaming comes when the reasons for the game begin to change. If you're less interested in modeling the results of some specific conflict and judging the outcomes; and more interested in jsut creating a narrative around the activities of the unit(s) you're representing, then you have begun to slip from wargaming to role-playing.Carl,on whose bookshelf SPI's Nato Division Commander sits next TSR's Forgotten Realms Set. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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