|
GLOSSARY
|
|
Meta-Campaign: A style of free-form
campaign created from an existing open-ended game system linking
scenarios with home-made rules for tracking unit status,
engineering, logistics, air and artillery support, etc., quite
possibly in a multi-multi-player format. |
|
|
Microgame:
Small, inexpensive game concept pioneered by
Metagaming, adopted by
other publishers such as SPI and
TSR. Later associated with desktop or
other non-traditional publishers, in time, the definition of a "microgame"
expanded to include inexpensive games published on a desktop in a
more conventional 8.5" x 11" format, perhaps with unmounted and
uncut counters. |
|
|
Miniatures:
A form of wargaming dating to the late 1800s using physical
models of soldiers and equipment in place of counters, and generally
using model terrain rather than a ruled map surface using hexes or
squares. |
|
|
Mission Builder:
A program which enables a user to create scenario files for a PC
game. May be referred to by a variety of names; may include any
combination of the following abilities:
|
|
|
Module:
Open-ended games or game systems are often broken into modules, of
which one or more are necessary in order to make play of the game
possible. Advanced Squad Leader's core modules differ from
the “gamettes” of the original Squad Leader series in that
while both act as a vehicle to introduce new rules, counters, and
terrain into the system, the gamettes were incremental and each was
a prerequisite for the ones that followed. The core modules have a
lesser degree of interdependence in order to be functional. |
|
|
Monster:
Best left to individual interpretation in many circumstances,
generally refers to a board game that takes a concerted logistical
effort to play, meaning it may have a large map area, many counters,
long time limit, or some combination of these. The game itself may
be large, or the term may refer to a single scenario of an
open-ended game. The classic “Monster” game at the operational level
was The Longest Day which portrayed the fighting in Normandy
on a map which required the better part of a regulation billiards
table to set up, and all the forces involved were broken down to
individual companies. “Monster scenarios” are often discussed with
regards to board games (such as “The Last Bid” for Red Barricades
or “The First Bid” for Valor of the Guards) but the term
doesn’t seem to have transitioned into PC gaming. |
|
|
Mounted
Mapboard: A playing surface permanently attached to a
hard surface. Avalon Hill was most renowned for providing these; for
example Patton’s Best or Storm Over Arnhem, though
most of their tactical level games included them. The added expense
of mounting the maps was prohibitive for many other game companies,
while including them in magazine games was logistically not
feasible. |
|
