First I wondered if anyone had ever taken a Blood Bowl match off the field, out of the grounds and into the wider landscape as a game of Mordheim or Warhammer, as a riot of skirmishing fans.
I've never seen that done. But in the Warhammer world defeat might see release of great energies.
Then it got all propluristemic and I wondered if anyone in a tabletop roleplaying game ever had the characters appear on the tabletop itself, among the players as if the miniatures had come to life. Had them look up at the giants, wonder how their every action is foreseen, controlled, then desperately take cover behind a mug of tea, or scramble for the edge.
I got to the thought of the soldiers in a wargame suddenly realising they were pawns of powerful figures, that the ideals they were fighting for were empty words, dismissed by many as 'fluff'. That they weren't really fighting for a God Emperor, or their country - not even for treasure or notoriety. Just for the fun of destruction. Or to see who's better.
Or maybe only because those powerful figures - the players - were in thrall to greater forces in their turn and had spent years building up the armies. After all, there's no point having an army and not using it. What a shocking waste of money that would be.
And then I thought, blimey. What if those players looked around and saw their actions foreseen, and the things they believed in revealed to be false? And they carried their knowledge of strategy and world-building away from the table? Off the designated field, to challenge those very same forces? Could the future of gaming be not gaming?
Then I thought, man, who can possibly fit something like that in?
We're either working - or looking for work - or it's hobby time.
_