After playing for a few years, I realized that in most cases, our party won because we either rolled high enough to beat the threshold for the action or because the DM thought that we were being clever and threw us a bone.
Are there any tabletop RPG's that are skill based? Where victory is earned through the skill of the player in utilizing the mechanics given to them rather than given at the whimsy of the dice and the DM?
Because I don't want to quit the hobby but I also don't want to feel like my actions mean less than the roll of the dice and the mood of the DM at that particular moment.
Your problem is you are viewing the game as an exercise of personal ability, rather than a collaborative storytelling experiance.
Stop trying to 'win' RPGs.
Gavin Roberts
You're in the wrong hobby, but look into 4e I guess.
Noah Edwards
What good is a narrative with no consequence and no stakes? Wouldn't it be more gratifying to get a happy ending that you earned through resourcefulness and an understanding of the rules, rather than having every obstacle be not only solvable but practically handed to you by the DM by default, except for situations where the DM goes out of their way to fuck you over?
Asher Roberts
>You're in the wrong hobby Because I want my victory to have meaning? Maybe I am in the wrong hobby...
Parker Garcia
>or because the DM thought that we were being clever and threw us a bone. This is certainly skill based although the mechanics were probably quite loose.
Dominic Walker
Get a better GM. Ours is firm but fair and we have enough Lethality to make the game more than a viable threat, but not enough to feel dickish.
Also, because meme for meme's sake: Have you tried not playing D&D?
Also, Have you tried GURPS and 3d6?
Or, alternatively: Have you tried Campaign-based Wargames?
Jack Barnes
The major appeal of roleplaying games is that you're allowed to win by being clever and finding sensible ways to cheat a ruleset. The meaning of victory is a narrative progression, the fact that you saved a village and the characters that inhabit it rather than the fact that you won a battle and got some rewards.
Not to say that your preferences are bad, but you'd be hard pressed to find many RPGs that want to make combat more in-depth instead of streamlining it for the sake of story telling. This is a very poor hobby if you want to polish your mechanical mastery. But do try 4e.
Nathaniel Morris
>This is certainly skill based although the mechanics were probably quite loose. My only problem with this is that it feels like it comes down to impressing the DM more than it feels as though you're actually learning how to utilize the mechanics.
If you're charismatic enough, or happen to know the DM's sense of humor, practically anything will fly and you'll almost always succeed so long as you're lucky enough to get a good roll.
I don't necessarily want there to be one right answer but what's the point of answering when everything can be the right answer anyway?
