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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4675972" data-attributes="member: 54707">12. Train Like You Fight, and Fight as You Have Trained – Train to fight the enemy, and fight the enemy in the way in which the enemy should be fought. This is an obvious observation but one that is often overlooked by most players.You are not fighting yourself, you are not fighting someone similar to yourself, you are fighting the enemy. So you must know your enemy, his habits, tactics, inclinations, and techniques. A dragon will not fight like a soldier; a soldier will not fight like an orc. Each enemy possesses a peculiar set of capabilities and abilities. Exploit what you know about the enemy, because if the enemy is smart he will certainly exploit what he knows about you.In game terms this can be described as follows: Most of your enemies are the direct product of the mind and imagination of your DM, no matter the original source of the adversary. That is to say that despite being a dragon, and a dragon being different from an NPC, it is still your DM who is in control of the enemy and how that enemy acts, thinks, behaves, and operates. Therefore to be good in game combat study your DM. From your DM arises the enemy because to be honest and pragmatic about the situation, in game terms, and as far as combat goes, the DM is the enemy. If your DM tries to play the enemy in a disinterested and objective fashion then that leads to certain types of tactical maneuvers and actions on the part of your DM or GM. If your DM or GM tries to play the enemy as he imagines the enemy, or as if he himself were the enemy, then that leads to a certain set of actions and a type of tactical disposition which is also recognizable and understandable. In any case you will see the enemy arise and operate from the mind of the DM and how he conceives of the enemy, not how the enemy might be if it were “abstractly real.” There is no such thing as an abstractly real enemy. Enemies, foes, adversaries, and even friends and allies are all the result of peculiar and particular creatures, beings, and psychological frames of reference. Dispense with the idea that you fight an orc, because put simply and truthfully you do not fight an orc. You fight your DM playing the part of the orc. You do not fight a dragon, they are not real. You fight your DM playing the part of the dragon. Do not confuse the appearance for the reality. The orc is not real. The dragon is not real. The DM is real. The orc and the dragon merely impose upon the DM a certain and specific set of capabilities and limitations peculiar to the assumption of that particular “enemy-role.” But do not be confused or misled, at all times know who you really fight. He is sitting or standing right in front of you. Maybe eating chips, or with a beer or set of dice in his hands, or maybe he is glancing at you sideways and carefully noting to himself what you are, or just as importantly, are not doing in this combat. He is reading you because he is not fooled by the façade. He knows he is not fighting the Paladin or the Ranger or the Cleric or the Wizard. He understands the persona is not the person. He knows he is fighting you! He is testing and probing you in imaginary combat. Not testing and probing an abstract and a fictional construct. Now, in your turn, look at him. There sits your dragon. There paces the orc. Understand that and know your true enemy. Always, in life or in-game, look for the true enemy, and do not be deceived by the apparent enemy. For the real advantage of the enemy is that he often knows he can dissuade you from seeing the man behind the curtain with a simple parlor trick of booming voice and flashing teeth. Behold the man, and not the mask.Now your DM may very well have a well developed set of “dragon tactics” which vary from his “orc tactics” which vary from his “mercenary tactics.” And that is all well and good and shows an evolved sense of tactical competence on the part of your DM. (If on the other hand your DM sloppily fights all enemies as if they are simply different facades of the same foe, then your job is now that much easier, isn’t it? After a short learning curve under such a DM you shouldn’t be losing any fights to that guy. There are three or four or more of you, and only one of him, and if he keeps playing all enemies as basically plastic-faced versions of the same enemy, then in that circumstance, if you can’t beat him consistently, then maybe it’s you who are fighting all enemies as the same enemy. And you who are easily fooled by the illusion.) But regardless of the sophistication of his tactical repertoire he will still invariably fall back upon a related set of tactics because after all, he is only one person. And as a single individual, unless he is extremely well trained and/or intentionally sharply practiced, he will fall into recognizable and habitual tactical techniques. Read those techniques, and learn to recognize the signs of such an operational method. Such habits lead to patterns, patterns which can be discerned, even in seemingly subtle variation, then recognized, countered, and even often exploited to your own advantage.So think of every enemy you encounter in combat as some type of variation of the mind and tactical ability of your DM. Want to know your real enemy? Look across the table. The foe you encounter in game is not some abstract and unreal set of mathematical and statistical calculations that you will overcome by die roll. Your enemy, and the way he fights, operates, behaves, acts, and thinks is the result of a very real creature, and he or she is sitting right across the table from you. Look into his eyes, study his tactics, take note of his personal habits, and observe his real methods. Every fight in the game is also really training to fight the mind and thought processes of your real enemy, who is the DM. The “monster” or “foe” is really just a mask for the fighting capabilities and tactics of the DM. Therefore train to fight your real enemy. Train like you fight, because every fight is actually just training for the real enemy.Because when you know your real enemy, and you train to fight your real enemy, then the real enemy becomes a great deal easier to defeat no matter what mask he assume in the play of things.</blockquote>

Verification