Re: Historical Power Games PBM

From: "Joey Browning" <jbrowning@stc.net>

Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Powergames are, to me, definitely different from wargames. Powergames
usually include:

- Lots of diplomacy
- Lots of intrigue
- Rules that seem to encourage playing with math to get the most out of your
position
- A complete disdain of roleplaying..if you roleplay in most powergames, you
lose.

To clarify that last statement (it seems a bit harsh)...let's say you have a
position in game X, and you decide that you are going to roleplay it. So,
you abstain from using "black" magic, for instance. This puts you at a
disadvantage, (unless the rules specifically prevent you from using black
magic) to those folks that will use any tool at hand, black, white, or
grey...

Thus the terms used by all my gaming friends of "powergaming the situation"
vs. "roleplaying the situation". The two almost seem mutually exclusive. I
suppose that roleplaying is about playing the game, powergaming is about
*winning* the game...

Joey Browning
(jbrowning@stc.net)
Carol Mulholland wrote in message ...
>Greg Lindahl wrote:
>
>>> I suspect that most people in the US use "wargame" to mean what you
>mean by "powergame".
>
>Far be it from me to quarrel with US popular opinion, but I think that
>powergames are a distinctive type that overlap both wargames and
>roleplaying games, taking elements from each.
>
>I keep "wargame" for games involving the use of armed forces, myself.
>Rather than extending "wargame" to include all types of competitive
>game, why not just call them all "competitive games" instead?
>
>Powergames are especially suited to PBM/PBMeM as a medium, in that they
>involve a lot of diplomatic negotiation that the GM isn't necessarily
>aware of. Plots within plots, false accusations, red herrings, general
>skullduggery with the more skulls being dug the better... Heck, they
>deserve a category of their own!
>
>Carol
>
>
>

References

Re: Historical Power Games PBM
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Mon, 17 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Historical Power Games PBM
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Mon, 17 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Historical Power Games PBM
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 18 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Historical Power Games PBM
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Mon, 17 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Historical Power Games PBM
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Mon, 17 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Historical Power Games PBM
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 18 May 1999 00:00:00 +0000