prabe's latest activity

I'm with you. I used to play Magic the Gathering at a semi-competitive level (two GP day twos and one PT), and I still play at local...

I've never found discussions of "fun" particularly useful or relevant. It's clearly something people can get from games, but isn't...

I think the last sentence is the important thing, though there is a large middle space between your two options, and there's nothing...

If optimizing wasn't encouraged behavior by default the game shouldn't make optimizing good. Case in point: Swords & Wizardry Complete...

That is fair, but thats a general problem. Also if you just have "normal" players and bad ones at the table, or "normal" and optimizers...

That is absolutely not true. You can just design harder fights. But designing more difficult fights is not more demanding for the DM, at...

As usual, this is the opposite of my experience; optimizers are at their best in hard games, and in fact, are often bred by same. The...

I generally think that role-playing is specifically the domain of goal-setting, and that it's symbiotic with the "game" stuff to make...

I run open-ended games, myself, though I don't self-describe them as "sandboxes," and the players explicitly set goals, and at least...

Of course, narrative and game aren't mutually exclusive. The PCs' goals may well be narrative in origin and/or nature, they might in...

I think that for some players, each mission objective is "the game," and all of the story and background and world-building and...

https://theonion.com/idiom-shortage-leaves-nation-all-sewed-up-in-horse-pies-1819569663/

My experience is that I end up adapting to the parties I'm running for; having an optimizer or three in the party isn't any different...

Eh. As long as you've got somewhat consistent optimization its not that hard once you get used to what it needs. You may not like the...

Monopoly is a lot like thermonuclear war in that the only way to win is not to play at all.