D&D General Combat as War vs. Sport and a Missing Third Mode

[GobHag]

This is an expansion of the definition then.

Because at no point was mechanical escalation and deflation during and between combats emphasized by anyone but me and another person.

IMO that isn't an important part, like how CaW is about the deadliness of combat and diegetically using the things in the world to reach one's goals while CaS is about 'pornography' and deliberate mechanical balancing

 

[Minigiant]

IMO that isn't an important part, like how CaW is about the deadliness of combat and diegetically using the things in the world to reach one's goals while CaS is about 'pornography' and deliberate mechanical balancing

To me it is.

Part of PW is how 2 forces, regardless of their power or balance, build up their fight beforehand and future fights within match to ensure excitement for the spots.

The fiery magic the kobolds and elemental cultists have in first few encounters build up to the fire breath of the red dragon at the dungeons bottom. It could be slugfest or a quick smash. But the fight is advertised and televised.

 

[Steady Vane]

I think the terminology is helpful because although systems might slant to one version out of the three, you can generally lean into the various modes to vary up combat between sessions.

Like, a grueling dungeon crawl, versus a one-fight-a-day spectacle about unwinding, versus a mechanical heavy battle with a foreshadowed gimmick against a boss or whatever.

One OSR pitfall is often assuming every combat must be the same, and 4e-type systems can fall into that trap as well.

Imo all are useful if you can accommodate them.

 

[Lanefan]

This.

And I am not saying this to just play devil's advocate, but I find "combat as theater" to be the same as "combat as war" and "combat as sport." Identical. To me there is no differentiation.

If CaT is the same as both CaW and CaS, as you state in the quote, that implies you see CaW and CaS as being the same.

They're not.

That said, in my mind CaT can certainly overlap both CaW and CaS (I noted this way upthread as well) and I also think CaT can be its own thing: a combat that exists in the fiction mostly so both the PCs and villains can say dramatic words, strike dramatic poses, and develop their characterizations through so doing. Hell, the actual combat in CaT doesn't even have to come to a final resolution...

Villain (winning the fight but nobody's anywhere near dead or dying yet): "I have blooded you. I have bested you. I have shown you for the pathetic creatures you are! I leave you now to wallow in the misery of your defeat! Oh, and rest assured that should we meet again the same result will follow, and worse!" (villain exits the scene by whatever available means he has)