How to RPG: It's Macro, Not Micro

The other night I'm playing World of Warcraft, doing my thing, thinking of what to post down the road when I recalled two things: (a) that the post over at the Alt-Right GM's blog regarding his D&D game are a fantastic example of how you actually play proper D&D (and, by extension, proper tabletop RPGs), and (b) the reasons for why tabletop RPGs have issues with Mech Piloting has to do with a difference between Tactical and Strategic thinking.

You want to know why classic tabletop RPGs don't do that blow-by-blow, second-to-second pace of combat? It's because--even at the scope of a warband--you're still looking more strategic than tactical. For you younger folks, think "more macro than micro", and yes that allusion to real-time strategy games is no accident.

In traditional tabletop RPGs, you're expected to work as the head of a team mostly filled out by NPCs. In Dungeons & Dragons, that means Henchmen and Hirelings. For Traveller, it's employees and other subordinates. That maps well to small-scale warband wargaming, and if you ever played a hero-focused wargame you'll see the parallels quickly. It doesn't matter that your combat engagements are not fast-paced like Guilty Gear, MechAssault, or similar one-man hero played at arcade speeds; that's not the sort of play a tabletop RPG does.

As befits a derivation of tabletop wargaming, proper RPGs are strategic in their nature and best approached that way. Your man is not on his own for long, especially if you're not a pleb and actually get a decent Charisma score (which is the real power stat in old-school RPGs; you want to be a Leader of Men above all else). Even outside of D&D, you're a fool to not get yourself some NPCs as soon as you can. Yes, even if you're playing Robotech; bring your wingmen, because you're the Flight or Element lead (and you are working up to Squadron leader) so you have at least one subordinate with you.

It's a very different--and superior--experience to what the SJWs and the other fucktards pushing their crap want you to believe. To succeed you need persistence, charisma, and discernment. You don't make it being Wolverine; you make it being Cyclops. Send the Mech Pilots back to the arcades and the sim pods, where they belong.