Why a human facilitator

2026-09-14

Every wargame designer faces the same temptation: write one more rule, cover one more case, until the system needs no referee. We resisted, and CRISIS keeps a human facilitator at the center of the table.

The reason comes from the matrix game tradition used in professional education. Players argue their case — what they do, why it should work, what it would take — and the facilitator weighs the arguments and settles the outcome. The format stays flexible precisely where rigid rules break: the unprecedented move, the ambiguous signal, the deal nobody planned for.

A facilitator also keeps the triangle honest. Three-sided balance is not a mirror but a loaded structure, and someone has to watch the whole load rather than one corner of it.

What about the companion web tool? It exists to carry the bookkeeping — tracks, resources, settlement — so the facilitator can spend attention on judgment instead of arithmetic. It is shown on this site as a concept only; the person stays in charge.