Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Gygax on Strategic & Tactical Mastery

CHAPTER 7: TACTICAL MASTERY (120-126)
Part I

I'm no expert on strategy versus tactics, and it seems to me that they probably operate on a continuum from what/why to how, from the general to the specific.  In this chapter, Gygax himself notes the virtual impossibility of talking about RPG tactics in the abstract, apart from specific game systems, players, characters, and scenarios.  Gygax sometimes recognizes that he is coming up to the strategic level, but overall he prefers to speak of tactics, so I have helped out a bit in the terminology department in today's title.  While Gary's tips are quite broad, they identify important skills.  Players who improve these skills will see increased successes for their characters and their parties in their role-playing games.

Gary's Tips
  • Know the mission.
  • Know the goal.
  • Define the objectives.
  • Make and follow a plan.
  • Maintain the tempo.
  • Operate as a unit.
  • Use your common sense.
  • Use your character's senses.
  • Keep track of your resources.
  • Scout the enemy.
  • Be consistent.
  • Evade and avoid.
  • Don't be afraid to improvise a new set of short-term plans.
  This is my first treatment of the material in RPM's chapter 7.  There will be at least one more part, as I decide what I want to do with the rest of the material in the chapter, which at this point at least, suggests to me a different kind of treatment.