You can’t predict the future, but...
We can help you rehearse it
Through immersive simulations, we help decision-makers explore future risks, test strategies, and prepare for critical choices before they count.
What we do
Wargaming is a tool for thinking about the future and our actions in relation to it; Narrative Gaming is i3 Gen’s unique wargaming methodology designed to improve foresight and help decision-makers rehearse and refine plans in the face of strategic uncertainty. We further support this process with our Strategic Planning and Strategic Communications consulting services.
Strategic Challenge
i3 Gen’s Narrative Wargaming is designed to address high-level strategic challenges in uncertain and complex environments; it does so by designing immersive narratives that help leaders explore future challenges and anticipate how their organisations may need to adapt.
Expert Led
Our participants are senior practitioners, stakeholders, and leaders. While their expertise informs design, ensuring that the game asks the right questions, their experience sees play incorporate the necessary operational-level constraints. At the same time, our network of subject matter experts determine the near-futures risk environment, and keep the game’s narrative grounded in real-world pressures.
Immersive Insights
Unlike reports or presentations, which deliver information to be passively absorbed, and unhindered by dice rolls or artificial rules, a narrative game asks its players to apply their own knowledge in a live, evolving situation. Choices are made, reasoning is explored, and the consequences play out in real time; it is out of these moments — the clash of perspectives, the negotiation, and the unexpected outcomes — that new insights emerge.
Where we work
Government
When policy meets pressure, preparation matters. i3 Gen helps civil servants and policymakers rehearse decisions, test assumptions, and build cross-sector readiness for fast-moving, complex challenges.
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Defence
Too often, defence planners and leaders are ‘fighting the last war’ when the focus should be on the next. i3 Gen’s narrative simulations immerse defence leaders in expert-informed, future-facing scenarios; testing plans, revealing unseen risks, and sharpening judgement across domains and environments.
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Commercial
When uncertainty is inevitable, preparation becomes a strategic asset. i3 Gen’s innovative approach helps business leaders stress-test decisions, align teams, and anticipate disruption.
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How we can help
Our narrative games deliver high-impact insights across areas like AI and corporate strategy to defence, national security, crisis response, and critical infrastructure. Whether supporting government agencies, energy and financial services, or the defence community, we help leaders stress-test decisions, uncover blind spots, and build resilience in the face of accelerating complexity.
From Interest to Insight
Insight to Impact
01
Interest
Without interest, there’s no real engagement, and without engagement, decisions and thinking lose value. That’s why our games are designed to capture attention, spark curiosity, and draw participants fully into the challenge.
02
Insight
Insight is what makes that engagement worthwhile. As participants navigate complex scenarios, they uncover risks, test assumptions, and gain new understanding. Insight builds interest, and interest deepens insight.
03
Impact
This is the outcome that matters. The insights generated in our games don’t stay in the room; they carry forward into real-world plans, strategies, and actions. That’s the impact our games are designed to deliver.
From the team
i3 Gen is built upon the diverse expertise of our core team, trusted associates, and subject matter experts. Explore their analysis, commentary, and reflections on strategic communications, readiness and resilience, decision-making under pressure, and the evolving role of narrative wargaming in planning for uncertainty.
The future favours those who prepare.
Get in touch to rehearse your future, today.
FAQs
About i3 Gen
What does i3 Gen do?
We help organisations navigate complex futures by combining Enhanced Narrative Wargaming, Strategic Communications, and Strategic Planning. Our methodology blends storytelling, planning, and competitive simulation to turn Interest into Insight and Insight into Impact.
Who do you work with?
Our clients include government departments, defence organisations, international institutions, corporates, and NGOs. We regularly work with senior decision-makers, subject matter experts, and cross-functional teams.
Wargaming & Methodology
What is Narrative Wargaming?
Narrative wargaming simulates evolving scenarios where participants compete to achieve strategic goals. It is primarily an immersive, role-based and story-led experience, with competitive, progressive, independently adjudicated turns. The result is SME-led insights felt and remembered by the participants – far more effective at delivering real impact than a Top-Tier consulting firm’s board report!
How are i3 Gen’s games different from traditional wargames?
Traditional wargames often focus on past military or technical aspects, and usually at the tactical / operational level. Our games bring in the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental dynamics as well, reflecting real-world complexity and ambiguity. Outcomes are assessed by experts (not dice), and success is never guaranteed. This is made possible by our Narrative or Cognitive game designs.
What can participants expect?
Expect to be immersed in dynamic, competitive scenarios; to make decisions under uncertainty; and to experience the real-world consequences of those decisions. Many participants say it feels like “rehearsing the future”.
What outcomes do your games deliver?
Outcomes include strategic insights, stress-testing of plans, risk identification, innovation, higher confidence and enhanced decision-making. We capture insights in structured reports that directly support future planning.
Strategic Communications
What is Competitive Storytelling?
Every leader and organisation, and indeed state, competes through narratives and stories. Competitive storytelling ensures your story is more persuasive, authentic, and effective than your rivals’. We help clients craft messages and campaigns that not only inform but also move people to action.
How does wargaming support communications?
Wargames provide a safe environment to test communication strategies and anticipate audience reactions. This strengthens alignment between words and actions, ensuring your messaging is both credible and resilient.
Practicalities
How many people can take part in a game?
We design for anywhere between 8 and 60+ participants, supported by facilitators, adjudicators, and subject matter experts. Games can be run in person, online, or in hybrid formats.
How long does a wargame last?
Our strategic narrative games run with multiple turns and come in a simpler Half Day variant to multi-day strategy retreat versions, with the most common option running over a whole day (from 08:30-18:30). However, we also design shorter exercises, workshops and ongoing programmes depending on requirements.
What preparation is required from participants?
Very little. We provide role briefs and scenario packs in advance. Our facilitators guide gameplay, so participants can focus on decision-making and collaboration.
Wider Questions
Are your wargames confidential?
Yes. We take security seriously. Our team includes members with clearances, and we apply appropriate classification and confidentiality protocols for each engagement.
Can i3 Gen tailor games to my organisation’s needs?
Absolutely. Every game is bespoke and built around your strategic challenges, objectives, and culture. We work closely with you to design scenarios that are both credible and relevant.
Why should we invest in wargaming when we already have strategy workshops and planning tools?
Wargaming goes beyond workshops. It immerses people in competitive futures, stress-tests decisions under pressure, and generates insights that static analysis alone cannot provide. Simply put, hindsight is too late, but you can rehearse the future.