Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mandemon 01-25-04, 08:43 PM	Hi all, I'm a generally strategy-and-tactics oriented player, with some storytelling and powerplay elements in my style. I see a lot of PCs and NPCs do things which are obvious tactical or strategic errors given their interests, and it is hard not to get frustrated. Also, the game can end up being boring if I don't get a chance to challenge my strategic/tactical thinking. I can also get frustrated when I have my PC act in character and other players think I'm just being stupid. (Example, if my 1st-level wizard sees his fellows hanging onto a cliff without realizing they are actually standing on a horizontal Wall of Force , he tries to help them by lowering a rope to them as quickly as possible.) :behold: Does anyone have any thoughts on playing with strategy/tactics oriented characters? Good experiences? Bad experiences? It is my belief that ADnD and the d20 rules offers a more complete and realistic system appropriate to a player like me, yet I sometimes turn people off. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks
howlingwolf 01-26-04, 05:41 AM	My advice would be, use tactics that are -appropriate- for the time. Don't watch/read a dozen SAS/Special-Forces/Etc. scenarios and use that in general. But for things like the WOF and rope situation, get irate! React how you would if you'd made a fool of yourself. IC of course. 'How was I to know you were standing on some.. Stupid invisble floor? DO I wear a pointed hat? DO I gesture mystically? NO. I stick things with my sharp pointed bit of metal. *Brandish*' :angel: But seeing as your own character is a wizard, forget them! If the best magic trick you can do is conjure up some light, imagine how interested you'd be in invisble floor. Ignore the others when they ask you questions, ( 'What was that? Oh.. Sorry. I was trying to comprehend how such a enchantment could defy physics like that.. It's quite marvellous you know.. Ogre? What ogre?' ) Once again. IC only. :) For the players.. Well. Next time their characters fall down a pit, don't bother with the rope and assure them you bet there is a wall of force down a few feet to land on. :smirk:
Mandemon 01-28-04, 02:15 PM	The source of most of my strategic and tactical thinking is actually my training as a former infantryman and traditional martial artist. I get very few ideas from watching movies or TV shows of any kind. In fact, it is hard not to pick them apart when I do watch them. For example, traditional martial artists do not like the idea of devising dozens of new techniques, as they are not battle-tested and it is nearly impossible to make them truly second nature. I was actually referring to a mode of thinking--how does one act in one's own best interests when the rest of your party wants to do something you think is a little nuts. A better example occurred during a session a couple of years ago. The 1st-level party was to attack a fortified guard post in a forested area. Several hundred feet from our assault positions, I said I was tying my horse off. Another member then told me we had already left our horses at a location five miles behind us. I believe that was a tactical error, as we would not have been able to defend them from wandering monsters and would not have been able to use them to escape if necessary. While it is important to ensure silence, a few hundred feet of distance is more than sufficient.
Sisyfos 01-28-04, 03:42 PM	I do not understand what is the problem. So you want to play in a more tactical than the rest of the players. Just roleplay it. It is a roleplaying game and such disagreements can be "in character" without blaming going on between the players - let the characters do all that talking. It should be fun. And maybe you might want to play a different type of character at times. Someone who is not very tactically savvy, a stupid brute, or a bookworm. Might be fun. Sisyfos
Princeoflowlight 01-29-04, 12:47 AM	Seeing as you're a wizard, you've probably got some ranks in Knowldege (History). You could play your character as an a real military history buff, a total armchair general. That gives you a good in character way to make suggestions... "No, don't just stand there and fire your crossbow! Charge with the fighter and sneak attack the bastard. Encirclement! After the first few blows he'll be running scared and killed as he runs with us barely hurt, just like Gistumante's campaign in the Infernal Wars!" It helps if you chomp down on a cigar while you're saying this.
Obi-Wan Quixote 01-29-04, 11:56 AM	Originally posted by Princeoflowlight Seeing as you're a wizard, you've probably got some ranks in Knowldege (History). You could play your character as an a real military history buff, a total armchair general. That gives you a good in character way to make suggestions... "No, don't just stand there and fire your crossbow! Charge with the fighter and sneak attack the bastard. Encirclement! After the first few blows he'll be running scared and killed as he runs with us barely hurt, just like Gistumante's campaign in the Infernal Wars!" It helps if you chomp down on a cigar while you're saying this. You know, this portrayal truly stands out if the wizard has a high Intelligence and a low Wisdom. Imagine if the party comes to a room that has, say, six goblins in it and the party has the option to come in from multiple directions. The character could devise a hopelessly intricate battle plan based on the battle of Gazinta the Gazarian in the Plenary Wars. Even more effective would be a wizard with an above-average Wisdom. As he gains levels, he learns that simpler plans sometimes work better ... but he's still going to try the intricate stuff at lower levels.