Power-Level Your Way to Victory
I let slip that I play D&D at work the other day. Everyone looked at me in wonder, thinking, "this is one of those freaks from that Community episode/documentary. In REAL life!" Questions ensued. An intern innocently asked, "how do you win dungeons and dragons?"
I paused. I considered the question. A myriad of possible yet incorrect answers occurred to me. In short, my mind exploded. I believe I muttered something about power-leveling and successfully rolling some dice a few times. My real response requires some paragraphs.
The easy argument is to say that you can't win D&D. There may be an overarching goal, but it's usually an option, and it's usually a good way to get your party killed. Plus, reaching the end of the story tends to happen in surprise, since it takes veritable months to accomplish - usually beyond the attention span, free-time limit, and social abilities of most groups. A group of mine decided to go after the Bad Guy and Storm the Goddamn Palace once. It went a bit screwy, despite our DM's good intentions. Usually, though, my groups tend to get so involved in minute details and side-quests that we only remember the main "goal" by sheer force of note-taking.
I think you can win at this game, though. It's not about taking out the Ultimate Boss in the battle to save the world - that's just plot that helps frame your purpose and your world. Sometimes, it's just a legit reason for your group to be traveling together. (I've definitely had some characters who would have flipped off the party and went on their merry way, were there not some shared threat to our shared homeland or whatever.) I don't have an easy answer, of course - but I have a general framework from talking this thing out. As with pretty much everything in this damn game, How you win and the meaning of victory depend on your personality.
Take me, for example. My goal is to make the coolest character I can possibly dream up. This takes time - time, patience, and power-leveling. "Cool" to me generally means:
But what if you are not me? What if your character is just your avatar for moving through the world? Maybe you want to become a successful party leader so that you can create an effective team of badasses that is, in whole, far better than any individual member. Maybe you've put the extra mile into your backstory to the point where you truly want - nay, need - to find your long-lost father and rescue him from the highly challenging dungeon the DM has placed him in. Maybe you want to rob everyone and leave. As a very wise website once said: the only limit is yourself.
How about you, fellow gamers? What does winning a tabletop roleplaying game mean to you?
I paused. I considered the question. A myriad of possible yet incorrect answers occurred to me. In short, my mind exploded. I believe I muttered something about power-leveling and successfully rolling some dice a few times. My real response requires some paragraphs.
The easy argument is to say that you can't win D&D. There may be an overarching goal, but it's usually an option, and it's usually a good way to get your party killed. Plus, reaching the end of the story tends to happen in surprise, since it takes veritable months to accomplish - usually beyond the attention span, free-time limit, and social abilities of most groups. A group of mine decided to go after the Bad Guy and Storm the Goddamn Palace once. It went a bit screwy, despite our DM's good intentions. Usually, though, my groups tend to get so involved in minute details and side-quests that we only remember the main "goal" by sheer force of note-taking.
I think you can win at this game, though. It's not about taking out the Ultimate Boss in the battle to save the world - that's just plot that helps frame your purpose and your world. Sometimes, it's just a legit reason for your group to be traveling together. (I've definitely had some characters who would have flipped off the party and went on their merry way, were there not some shared threat to our shared homeland or whatever.) I don't have an easy answer, of course - but I have a general framework from talking this thing out. As with pretty much everything in this damn game, How you win and the meaning of victory depend on your personality.
Take me, for example. My goal is to make the coolest character I can possibly dream up. This takes time - time, patience, and power-leveling. "Cool" to me generally means:
- able to kill anything. Anything.
- in possession of a weapon so awesome that it has its own name
- maxed out in whatever stat is most useful to that character (e.g. so strong I could break a horse over my knee)
- able to fulfill a key element of backstory through pure cleverness/badassery
But what if you are not me? What if your character is just your avatar for moving through the world? Maybe you want to become a successful party leader so that you can create an effective team of badasses that is, in whole, far better than any individual member. Maybe you've put the extra mile into your backstory to the point where you truly want - nay, need - to find your long-lost father and rescue him from the highly challenging dungeon the DM has placed him in. Maybe you want to rob everyone and leave. As a very wise website once said: the only limit is yourself.
How about you, fellow gamers? What does winning a tabletop roleplaying game mean to you?