MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
Web DM posted an interesting video on Combat as War or Sport? & Adversarial DMs. I thought it would be a good topic to discuss with my esteemed D/GMs here on ENWorld.
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
In short, they posit that that their is a continuum of how combat is approached in D&D and similar games from the extreme of Combat as War on one side and Combat as Sport on the other. Combat as War is closer to old-style play—no suprising given the games roots in the wargamming community and the fact that many early players and developers (including Gary Gygax) had military experience. The idea here is to win by any means. NPCs are not going to play fair and if you can avoid a combat or end it quickly with clever tactics that was what you should do. Combat as Sport, on the other hand treat the action as a fun activity that should be properly leveled for the party so that each character gets a moment to shine. You are never pitted against a foe too powerful for you to beat in direct combat. The threat of actual player death is low and/or it is easy to be brought back to life.
Most games play combat somewhere in the middle.
Note that when they talk about adversarial DMs in the combat-as-war tradition, they are focusing more on the DMs playing the NPCs to their fullest. DM tries to play them to beat the party. Now, that could be unfair, because a DM can ALWAY beat the party as they have unlimited power over their worlds. But I think fair adversarial DMs would create challenging situations that test they tactical and creative ability of the players. This style puts an emphasis on PLAYER skill. The more modern style of combat-as-sport seems to focus on CHARACTER skill more. This style allows a witless player to still have fun because their character is a bad-ass genius.
Where your game lies on this continuum depends on the makeup of your players and probably swerves from one direction to the other from session to session.
Why is your group's preferred style and why? What does a good GM need to know about how to run engaging games in either style — or more challenging, how to deal with groups with a mix of war/sport players?
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
In short, they posit that that their is a continuum of how combat is approached in D&D and similar games from the extreme of Combat as War on one side and Combat as Sport on the other. Combat as War is closer to old-style play—no suprising given the games roots in the wargamming community and the fact that many early players and developers (including Gary Gygax) had military experience. The idea here is to win by any means. NPCs are not going to play fair and if you can avoid a combat or end it quickly with clever tactics that was what you should do. Combat as Sport, on the other hand treat the action as a fun activity that should be properly leveled for the party so that each character gets a moment to shine. You are never pitted against a foe too powerful for you to beat in direct combat. The threat of actual player death is low and/or it is easy to be brought back to life.
Most games play combat somewhere in the middle.
Note that when they talk about adversarial DMs in the combat-as-war tradition, they are focusing more on the DMs playing the NPCs to their fullest. DM tries to play them to beat the party. Now, that could be unfair, because a DM can ALWAY beat the party as they have unlimited power over their worlds. But I think fair adversarial DMs would create challenging situations that test they tactical and creative ability of the players. This style puts an emphasis on PLAYER skill. The more modern style of combat-as-sport seems to focus on CHARACTER skill more. This style allows a witless player to still have fun because their character is a bad-ass genius.
Where your game lies on this continuum depends on the makeup of your players and probably swerves from one direction to the other from session to session.
Why is your group's preferred style and why? What does a good GM need to know about how to run engaging games in either style — or more challenging, how to deal with groups with a mix of war/sport players?
