Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6145352" data-attributes="member: 6696971">This is a key point here.  I was trying to make a distinction between powergaming generally and "disruptive, gross powergaming."  My players are all powergamers.  They all build to thematic archetype but definitively build for effectiveness within that archetype.  Gross powergaming is when folks build utter monstrosities with no consideration for the fiction; toys to destroy challenges played solely from pawn stance.  That doesn't even work well for a strictly Gamist creative agenda as it utterly circumvents the point of play; to step on up, face and defeat challenges.  If you create a powergamed monstrosity that (just an example) moves at 20 times the normal movement rate of the fastest creature and creates a zone of fire behind them that burns their enemies...well, there is no challenge to face and defeat.Building for effectiveness (eg powergaming) within a thematic archetype is perfectly healthy for play (unless others grossly build in the opposite direction...and then considerable mental overhead is spent on balancing the math of challenges for such disparate power levels within a group).Jim is not a powergamer.  The examples given above in MO's post (and the one I outlined) are examples of "disruptive, gross powergaming"; bringing silly, observably overpowered characters into play with a mind to "break the game."To your point though, there is without a doubt a decent number of powergamers who were born from the era of railroaded games, GM suspension of action resolution mechanics in favor of maintaining sanctity of metaplot, "rocks fall, you die" and the like.  If they have no authority in the overarching narrative composition (eg decisions with only the illusion of meaning as metaplot will happen one way or another), then, after repeated exposure to the "All Roads Lead to Rome" technique, the evolved response to this may be to build "game-breaking" characters to forcibly impose their will upon the invincible metaplot in order to back GMs into a corner and expose the railroading machinery at work.</blockquote>

Verification