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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8296316" data-attributes="member: 16814">You used the system no matter how you play, so using the system cannot be skilled play by itself.  There's a reason my short definition is leveraging the system to achieve player goals.  This directly gets to using the system in the best manner possible for a specific end.  For instance, in Monopoly, I may try to get a property of every color on the board, and that's using the system.  As a winning strategy, though, it will fail to obtaining the titular Monopolies and jacking up the rent.  Skilled play here is about making good choices on properties, making good deals with other players, and knowing when and how much to improve the properties you have.  Now, Monopoly is not a game that lends itself to a lot of skilled play because it's system is mostly based on the random and unmodifiable die rolls, so skilled play is more in effectively engaging the metagame.  I point this out because different RPGs offer different systems that are more or less susceptible to skilled play.   Take Fiasco, for instance.  Skilled play here is very ephemeral, and all at the meta level -- you need to play your scenes in a way that will earn the die color you want from your fellow players while be conscious of the fact that they also want to achieve their goals which require having dice.  There's no real mechanics you can engage during most of play, but you can still do some skilled play.  Contrasted with B/X, where there's lots of interlocking mechanics that you can manipulate through play to mitigate or enhance desired outcomes.  As I noted above, the thing that most detracts from skilled play in RPGs is how often and where the GM applies Force.  Force obviates skilled play when it is deployed.Also, skilled play is not a universal good, nor something everyone does or should desire.  It's an approach to play, and not, in any way, better or worse than others except in individual preference.</blockquote>

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