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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6091489" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Agreed. I've never been convinced by the whole 'CAW' concept. I mean, sure, there are different tones you can have to an encounter, I think at that level the idea has SOME validity, but in terms of some sort of 'operational' level of play where PCs plans interact with NPCs plans you're exactly right, there's no way it is humanly possible to entirely simulate that Clausewitzian friction. Generally we're not even aware of those kinds of considerations and the DM can effectively choose to use or ignore them with enough plausibility to allow for whatever to happen, usually for his vision of things to be brought to fruition. I noticed this a LOT when I just broke down and started to ad-lib my big military invasion campaign. All of a sudden the encounters dramatically portrayed what I wanted them to about the enemy instead of being sort of weirdly a mixture of drama and simulation that wasn't totally satisfying in either direction. The players seemed to sense the difference and really grabbed hold of the plot. It turned out to be a great campaign, just not the one that I'd written! Honestly the results were within the realm of what I'd imagined, mostly, so it still felt authentic in a sort of simulationy way, but the numbers didn't all add up exactly. Heck, some new knights got knighted somewhere in there, who's to say? lol.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 6091489, member: 82106"] Agreed. I've never been convinced by the whole 'CAW' concept. I mean, sure, there are different tones you can have to an encounter, I think at that level the idea has SOME validity, but in terms of some sort of 'operational' level of play where PCs plans interact with NPCs plans you're exactly right, there's no way it is humanly possible to entirely simulate that Clausewitzian friction. Generally we're not even aware of those kinds of considerations and the DM can effectively choose to use or ignore them with enough plausibility to allow for whatever to happen, usually for his vision of things to be brought to fruition. I noticed this a LOT when I just broke down and started to ad-lib my big military invasion campaign. All of a sudden the encounters dramatically portrayed what I wanted them to about the enemy instead of being sort of weirdly a mixture of drama and simulation that wasn't totally satisfying in either direction. The players seemed to sense the difference and really grabbed hold of the plot. It turned out to be a great campaign, just not the one that I'd written! Honestly the results were within the realm of what I'd imagined, mostly, so it still felt authentic in a sort of simulationy way, but the numbers didn't all add up exactly. Heck, some new knights got knighted somewhere in there, who's to say? lol. [/QUOTE]

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