My Life As A Gamer: Those That Know #WinAtRPGs

RPGs are extended wargames.

Strict timekeeping, coupled with enforced downtime, means that time is a resource to be managed and not a narrative handwave.

Resources means that logistics are a real concern, and time being a matter of logistical concern is now added to all other such concerns: food, water, raw materials, construction/maintenance, research/development, training/recovery, etc.

It is common to have some sort of procedure for tracking recovery from injury or illness. Fantasy games often have procedures for research of magic spells and the creation of magic items. The better games have some means of tracking travel times over distance.

This is fine if you're playing a glorified boardgame in isolation, but a proper campaign goes beyond this- especially once players take control of Patrons. You need to have an eye on the economy--the production and distribution of goods over distance, and the provision of services within an area--and that forces a campaign to answer some fundamental questions.

• What food is produced? What are the inputs? What variables influence outputs? Time to harvest?
• What materials are available for crafting and construction? What is involved in acquiring those resources and distributing them to manufacturers?
• What schemes are in place to satisfy labor demands?
• What manufacturing, if any, is available and how long does it take to manufacture a thing from start to finish?
• How are labor forces--including militaries--raised and maintained?

That is not at all exhaustive.

Answering questions of logistics means that you need information with relevant utility. The word for this is "intelligence".

Now we have a reason for players to get involved in the campaign, at all levels. Some are hired, or take bounties, to dig up this or that- literally or otherwise. Some seek out intelligence that he can exploit for advantage in other pursuits. Some engage in counter-intelligence to conceal research on something new until it's time for a big reveal.

Drive this dimension and you become a dominant player in the campaign- even if your character is weak. From:

• "We seek (widget). You may keep whatever else you find."
• "Wizard King Bob will begin research on the Colossal Cyclops Automoton".
• "I will form up my henchmen and gather some hirelings to raid the Orclands and steal their swine herds."
• "I will put all these guilds under my control so that I control all road and bridges from (here) to (there) and collect tolls."
• The cyborg got wrecked. He's going to be wrecked for weeks or longer, so if we can intercept his repair parts we can keep him out of action longer."

All of that, and more, is about intelligence and logistics, about economy, and leads to the big conflicts that result in how you #winatRPGs because this is #EliteLevel stuff that too many forgot about over the decades.

Just look at the existing #BROSR campaigns; they run like this, and it arose in an emergent and organic manner as a direct consequence of both player-controlled Patrons and JeffroGygaxian Timekeeping interacting.

This is superior gaming. Embrace it.