The Culture: Even The Bots Know Braunstein Is Better

The bots get it.

I hit up Grok again and made this query: "Do you know what the game called Braunstein is?"

Grok's output:

Yes, I can tell you about Braunstein! Braunstein is widely regarded as a groundbreaking game in the history of role-playing games (RPGs). It was created by David Wesely in the late 1960s and first played in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, with its initial session occurring around 1969. The game emerged from Wesely's experiences as a wargamer within the Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA) and is considered a pivotal step in the evolution of modern tabletop RPGs.

Originally, Braunstein started as a Napoleonic-era wargame set in a fictional German town called Braunstein (meaning "brown stone" in German). Unlike traditional wargames where players commanded entire armies, Wesely innovated by assigning each player a single, specific role within the town—some military, like opposing commanders, and others civilian, such as the mayor, banker, or university chancellor. The setup was multi-player and multi-objective, with around 20 participants showing up for the first game, far more than anticipated. Players were meant to relay their actions to Wesely, the referee, in a separate room, but they unexpectedly began interacting directly with each other in character, moving around the "town" and improvising their roles.

A notable moment came when two players challenged each other to a duel, forcing Wesely to make up rules on the spot. He initially saw the session as chaotic and a failure, but the players loved the freedom to role-play and requested more games. This led to subsequent Braunstein scenarios, including one set in a fictional Latin American republic called Banania, where players worked to stage or prevent a coup. These games retained the core idea of individual roles and open-ended action, with outcomes determined by the referee.

Braunstein’s influence lies in its introduction of key RPG concepts: a one-to-one player-to-character relationship and a flexible framework where players could attempt anything, with the referee adjudicating results. It drew inspiration from games like Diplomacy (for negotiation) and Strategos (for the referee concept), but its emphasis on individual agency set it apart. Dave Arneson, a player in the original Braunstein, later expanded on these ideas in his Blackmoor campaign, blending them with fantasy elements and eventually co-creating Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Gary Gygax. Meanwhile, Duane Jenkins built on Braunstein with his "Brownstone" Wild West games, introducing persistent characters across sessions—an early form of campaign play.

Though no formal Braunstein rulebook was ever published, its legacy is profound. It bridged wargaming and role-playing, showing that games could focus on individual stories and interactions rather than just tactical combat. Today, "Braunstein" also refers to a style of play—often competitive, multi-faction scenarios with a referee managing a "fog of war"—that some modern gamers revive to recapture its freewheeling spirit. Does that give you a clear picture of what Braunstein is? Let me know if you'd like more details!

Not bad. Still not quite up to speed, but this is Good Enough.

Now the real test: "Take the concept of Braunstein and apply it to the BattleTech setting, circa 3025. What are the playable factions, what rules and procedures are recommended to handle their interactions, and how do you recommend incorporation of the tabletop BattleTech game into an ongoing BattleTech-themed Braunstein campaign?

For this purpose "BattleTech game" includes the full ruleset, so including conventional armored warfare, infantry, aerospace fighters, jumpships and warships, etc. You should be able to replay key events in the lore such as the Star League Civil War from the top-level down to that of tactical battles."

And this is what I got:

Let’s dive into designing a Braunstein-style game set in the BattleTech universe, circa 3025, and then weave in the full BattleTech tabletop ruleset for an ongoing campaign. The year 3025 places us at the tail end of the Third Succession War, a time of technological stagnation, political intrigue, and relentless conflict among the Successor States, with the added shadow of ComStar and periphery powers. A Braunstein-inspired game thrives on individual roles, multi-faction competition, and a referee managing a dynamic, player-driven world—perfect for BattleTech’s rich lore and sprawling scope.

Playable Factions in a 3025 Braunstein

In a Braunstein-style game, each player takes on a unique role within a faction, rather than controlling an entire army or state. The setting of 3025 offers a mix of Great Houses, mercenary units, ComStar, and periphery factions, all vying for power in a fractured Inner Sphere. Here’s a breakdown of playable factions and example roles, centered on a hypothetical contested region—say, the border world of Verthandi in the Lyran Commonwealth, near the Draconis Combine, during a flare-up of the Third Succession War:

1. Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner)
   • Archon’s Envoy: A diplomat negotiating resource contracts or seeking mercenary aid.
   • LCAF Colonel: Commands a regiment defending Verthandi, balancing orders from Tharkad with local needs.
   • Industrial Magnate: Runs a Defiance Industries outpost, prioritizing profit over loyalty.
2. Draconis Combine (House Kurita)
   • Tai-sa (Colonel): Leads a raiding force from the Dieron Regulars, aiming to seize Verthandi.
   • ISF Agent: An infiltrator sowing chaos among Lyran defenders, reporting to the Coordinator.
   • Yakuza Boss: Smuggles supplies or intel, playing both sides for gain.

You can see the full response here.

Remember what I said last week about how the bots can make the Slop Merchants irrelevant? Here you go. You can do this with a free Twitter account, and then copy/paste the results into a document for human review before using them.

That bot-generated response put down an entire campaign structure for a BattleTech Braunstein campaign, complete with procedures for triggering tabletop battle play, and did so in seconds. That is faster, easier, immediately usable, and free. Slop Merchants can't compete with that, so they're going to die. No one will pay for slop product when they can get the same thing for free in seconds just by throwing a prompt at a bot.