Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8289988" data-attributes="member: 42582">I agree with FrogReaver here. Which means that I don't feel that talking about character optimisation and combat tactics in modern versions of D&D and similar RPGs is part of this particular discussion.To elaborate: one of the members of my group is strong in optimisation mathematics - I met him when he was doing a Masters in the field, but he quit that and went on to be a financial analyst instead, and now lives in a very nice house in a very nice suburb of Melbourne! When our main game was Rolemaster, he played a fighter-type. He had spreadsheets that had calculated local optimums for various sorts of strategies vs various sorts of opponents (like trying to take down certain categories of opponents in a single swift strike; defending against multiple foes; etc).That's certainly a type of skill, and it worked - his character was ferocious in combat, and deploying the optimisation strategies was a part of that.It's just that this has very little to do with what Gygax called "skilled play".In the same campaign two players advanced their positions by making choices about relationships with significant NPCs. That's a type of player skill too, but different from both spreadsheet optimisation and from Gygaxianism.</blockquote>