My colleague at Mythic Mountain Musings recently shared their experience using a wargame to generate world history for a campaign. This reminded me of one of my goals of using a board game as a collaborative worldbuilding exercise prior to a campaign. The rules below use components from two board games you likely already have lying around (Risk and Monopoly) to generate a history of struggle between fantasy peoples, elves, orcs, dwarves, and the standard fare. By the end of the game, you will know where these peoples originated, where they fought their major battles, where their cities once stood if they are no longer standing, and which hated foe razed it to the ground.

Halflings are here too but are essentially playing a whole different game while war wages all around. If you’re familiar with the vagabond faction from Root, you already have an inkling of how they work in the big picture.

What you need to play:

The Risk board game (any version)
The Monopoly board game (any version)
Some paper and pencil for every player

Set-up:

Distribute a random Risk card to each player. That is their starting territory. They put their Monopoly Token on that space. This is their “Capital”.
Each player picks the primary group of their civilization. The available civilizations depend on the number of players:

Available Civilizations:

2 Players: [Elves, Dwarves, or Humans] and One of [Goblins, Lizardfolk, or Orcs]
3 Players: [Elves, Dwarves, or Humans], One of [Goblins, Lizardfolk, or Orcs] and Halflings
4 Players: [2 Each of: Elves, Dwarves, or Humans] and [2 Each of: Goblins, Lizardfolk, or Orcs]
5 Players: [2 Each of: Elves, Dwarves, or Humans] and [2 Each of: Goblins, Lizardfolk, or Orcs] and Halflings
6 Players: Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Goblins, Lizardfolk, and Orcs
7 Players: Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Goblins, Lizardfolk, Orcs, and Halflings

Civilization Types:

Dwarves

Start with 8 troops
If your defense roll is a natural two of a kind and two attacking troops are defeated, the attacker must stop attacking and cannot attack that territory again until their next turn
Building a House in a territory with no Building costs $50 less
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Humans and Elves

Elves

Start with 6 troops
When a troop is defeated, you can spend $40 and hold onto that troop to be redeployed in your Capital (or a Building you control if you lost your Capital) at the start of your next turn
You can build a House in a territory controlled by another player for $50 (limit: 1 per turn)
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Humans and Dwarves

Goblins

Start with 10 troops
When a troop is defeated, you can spend $40 and hold onto that troop to be redeployed in any unoccupied territory (other than by Halflings) at the start of your next turn
During the building phase of your turn, you can remove 3 troops from a single territory to build a House there
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Orcs and Lizardfolk

Halflings

You do not start with any troops. You are a nomadic people and your Capital represents where the bulk of your civilization is at any given time. Your Capital can never be conquered by another player and you cannot be attacked.
If your Capital is in a territory for which the Risk Card has never been obtained, you can spend $50 to obtain it. You have no limit to how many Risk Cards you can purchase per turn.
You spend money to move your Capital between territories. The cost to move into a new territory equals $25 per troop in that territory or $20 if the territory is empty.
For Halflings, each railroad you own grants 1 free movement per turn
Each turn, you get $150 + $100 for each Victory Point for the civilization who controls the territory you start in that turn

Humans

Start with 10 troops
At the start of your turn, place 1 extra troop in each territory you control that has a Building (including the Halfling Capital)
You only need 3 Houses to upgrade them to a Hotel, instead of 4
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Dwarves and Elves

Lizardfolk

Start with 6 troops
At the start of your turn, place 1 extra troop in each territory you control that does not have a Building (excluding the Halfling Capital)
Add 1 to your lowest attacking die when attacking a territory with a House or Hotel
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Orcs and Goblins

Orcs

Start with 8 troops
If your attack roll is a natural three of a kind and at least one defending troop is defeated, you conquer the territory. Remove all defending troops and all Buildings in that territory (gain money as if you razed those Buildings).
Gain $100 extra per Building razed in battle
Each turn, you get $100 + $50 for each Victory Point for Lizardfolk and Goblins

Objectives:

The first civilization that has 4 Victory Points wins.
Each Capital you control counts as 1 Victory Point

Note:Halfling Capital is only ever considered controlled by Halflings, regardless of the territory it is in

At the start of your turn, before Purchasing, you may turn in 4 Risk Cards from the same Continent for 1 Victory Point

Note: The Risk Cards owned by other players are public knowledge at all times

Gameplay:

Gameplay generally follows rules of Risk, except where they conflict with any rules herein
On each turn, you may do the following in order:

Collect money based on civilization type
Deploy any troops based on Buildings and any civilization-based ability.

Each Capital grants 2 troops
Each House grants 1 troop
Each Hotel grants 10 troops

You may spend money as follows (prices are halved if you control the continent for that territory):

$100 for a troop in a territory you control
$200 to buy the Risk Card for a territory you control (limit: 1 per turn)
$200 to build a House on a territory you control

You build up to 4 Houses on a single territory

$600 to upgrade 4 Houses on a single territory into a Hotel

Remove all Houses and replace with a Hotel

Railroads: $100 for your first railroad, $200 for your second railroad, $300 for your third railroad, and $400 for your fourth railroad

For non-Halflings, Railroads allow you to maneuver any number of troops from one territory to another territory that are connected through territories you control, at the end of your turn
For Halflings, each railroad you own grants 1 free movement per turn.

You may expand into adjacent territories or attack adjacent territories controlled by other players

You can move troops into adjacent unoccupied territories but cannot abandon any territory
When attacking a territory with Buildings, where you would remove a troop, you can instead choose to remove a Building (except for Capitals) from that territory. Every Building removed gives you $200 (whether it is a House or a Hotel). A removed Hotel becomes 4 Houses instead.

There is no need to remove Buildings to conquer a territory. If you defeat all the troops in the territory and move into it, those Buildings are now controlled by you.

If any civilization is eliminated (all troops removed from board), record that. If there is any unoccupied (other than by Halflings) territory on the board, you may put your starting amount of troops on that territory. A renaissance for your civilization!

At the end of your turn, you can maneuver troops if you have Railroads. If you conquered at least one territory from another player this turn, collect $50.

At any point during your turn, you can trade money, Risk Cards and promises with other players. Promises are only as binding as you make them.

Worldbuilding:

(Optional) Designate one player as the Historian. Each turn represents 100 years of world history. Jot down the major actions that happened during a given turn and you will have a detailed record of everything that has happened in the world since the dawn of civilization.
During the game, all players should take notes, including:

Their civilization and where they founded their Capital
Which territories they built Buildings in
Major battles - where, when, with whom, and the outcome. Especially note any battles where Buildings were razed.
Maneuvers, from where to where, and how many troops were moved?

At the end of the game, take a picture of the game board and note which color troops and which Monopoly token indicate which civilization.
The Buildings in a territory indicate what type of settlement is in that territory (if there is also a Capitol:

1 House = Hamlet
2 Houses = Village
3 Houses OR Halfling Capitol = Town
4 Houses OR Non-Halfling Capitol w/o Buildings = City
Hotel OR Capital w/ Houses = Metropolis
Capital w/ Hotel = Megatropolis

For each maneuver that was recorded, roll 1d6. If the result is below the number of troops that were moved in that maneuver, there is a road between those two territories.
For every territory where a Building was razed, there is now a dungeon in that territory
Pick an area that has 4 contiguous territories where at least 2 civilizations controlled the territories at the end of the game and where there is at least one settlement and one dungeon. That is your game’s starting region. You already know the broad strokes of the history of the world.

(Optional) How to make your own Risk map

You can get a big sheet of paper or poster board from your local office supply store and draw a map right there on the dang thing
Aim for 5-8 (1d4+4) continents (large landmasses that are separated by water or unpassable mountains)
Each continent should have 1-6 (1d6) connections to other continents
Each continent should have 3-12 (3d4) territories. Aim for diversity, with no more than one super continent of 11 or 12 territories and no more than 2 tiny continents of 3 or 4 territories,
Name every territory. Get some index cards and write the name of each territory on one card each.

A Game to Generate the World History for Your Campaign