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Wargame Meets RPG: A New Hybrid Ruleset

In the world of tabletop gaming, players are often expected to choose between the large-scale strategy of wargames and the immersive storytelling of roleplaying games. But what if you didn’t have to choose? This experimental Wargame-RPG Hybrid offers a path for those who crave both—the thrill of commanding units on a battlefield and the nuance of developing personal stories through character-driven decisions. Whether you're leading squads across a war-torn valley or guiding a lone hero through a symbolic journey, this system is designed to bridge the gap between the tactical and the narrative.

The foundation of the system is intuitive. Each unit on the field represents forty individuals, divided into four miniatures, with each miniature standing in for ten soldiers. Units are divided into two main categories: Light and Heavy. Light units are quick, moving six inches per turn, while Heavy units move at a slower pace of four inches. Repositioning or changing formation uses half a unit’s movement allowance, encouraging players to plan and coordinate their tactics carefully.

Each unit has a simple but effective stat block: Attack, Defense, Hits, and Morale. During combat, the number of dice rolled for Attack and Defense determines the outcome—attackers roll a number of d10s equal to their Attack value, and defenders roll d10s equal to their Defense. Each unblocked attack results in one hit. If a figure takes a number of hits equal to its Hit Points (typically one), it is removed from the board. Morale adds an emotional layer to combat: when a unit loses over half its figures, it must pass a Morale Test or retreat toward the edge of the battlefield. If it leaves the board, the unit is considered routed and out of the fight.

Gameplay flows through a three-phase turn structure: movement, ranged combat, and melee engagement. This streamlined order of operations allows for fluid decision-making without sacrificing tactical depth. Units with ranged weapons may strike targets within six inches and line of sight, while melee combat takes place once units are engaged in close quarters.

The heart of the RPG integration lies in the Hero Units. These are single-character figures with 2–3 hit points, capable of influencing the battlefield in powerful ways. Any friendly units within four inches of a Hero receive a +1 bonus to all stats, making them natural leaders and focal points. However, the risk is just as significant. If a Hero falls, all allied units within their influence must immediately take a Morale Test or retreat. Outside of combat, Hero Units are defined by character stats ranging from 1 to 100—Strength, Intelligence, Will, and Charisma—used in narrative scenarios, campaign decisions, or special challenges.

My favorite roleplaying experiences came from two video games: Mount & Blade: Warband and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Those games shaped how I believe a tabletop campaign should feel—fluid, seamless, and deeply immersive. When I began playing traditional systems like Dungeons & Dragons, I quickly realized they didn’t deliver the kind of integration I was looking for. I wanted a game that allowed for both large-scale conflict and personal storytelling, one that could be played solo, and one that didn’t require a dedicated game master to function. I had these ideas in my head for years, but it wasn’t until I began working with AI assistance that I found the time and clarity to finally codify them into something playable.

One of the most unique elements of this system is that it requires no dungeon master or referee. Instead, all players at the table participate equally in managing the world and keeping track of the game’s events. This democratic structure allows for shared storytelling, more seamless worldbuilding, and a stronger feeling of collective agency. It also opens the door for immersive solo campaigns, where the player can operate both strategically and narratively without needing to improvise rules or content.

Another design priority was to make the relationship between the wargame and the roleplaying aspects feel organic. I didn’t want to create two separate systems glued together. I wanted them to feel like two lenses on the same reality. What happens in battle influences the characters’ stories; what happens in narrative scenes affects battlefield morale, power, or presence. I also wanted the system to be intuitive—rules built off common sense and natural logic, not endless tables or memorization.

Above all, I believe the most innovative aspect of this project is the seamless transition between the wargame and the RPG modes. There is no hard line where one ends and the other begins. You could be deep in a skirmish one moment, and then focus in on a single Hero making a story-defining decision. These transitions don’t feel like switching games—they feel like shifting perspectives within a single, cohesive experience.

As of now, the ruleset is fully playable in its current form, but it is also designed to be modular and expandable. Planned future features include a ritual-based magic system, weather and terrain effects, fatigue mechanics, Hero leveling, and fully integrated campaign rules. Each addition will be created with care to preserve the fluid and intuitive feeling of the game’s core structure.

This blog post—and the game system itself—was written and developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The AI has acted not as a replacement for creativity, but as a collaborative design partner: helping structure, clarify, and synthesize years of ideas into something tangible. The process has allowed me to accelerate the translation of vision into form, and I hope the results speak for themselves.

This hybrid system is an invitation: to tell stories and make tactical decisions in the same breath, to explore character and consequence from multiple scales, and to collaborate in building a world that grows from your choices. Whether you’re a solo tactician or a group of storytellers looking for a new way to play, I believe this system has something unique to offer.