The Man Keeping the Martial Down

[Satinavian]

A game that is competitive is not inherently toxic. Period.

So you compete in the hours before the game in building strong characters. And when the actual game takes place, the players with the best rule knowledge, who can make most out of their characters, play the most powerful characters as the result of rhe prior build escersice. Session for session.

Sorry, but that is not a good design for a competitive game. In competitive games, you start over from scratch once one has won. Maybe you give out handicaps to make it less certain and obvious who will win. You don't get to transfer your score from earlier games into current matches to lord about players who were bad at the game a year ago.

So yes, to play that way is toxic.



Look, i do like character build minigames. Taking rules and thinking "how can i make this option actually work". Or "how can i approach this particular inspiration with the rules i am given even if the system is not the best match for such a character concept" or "How can i put a new, interesting spin on this old and boring archetype".

I do like barbie gaming and can waste many hours on a single character. But building for more power is not something i do. I build to have as much power as i intend for my character with consideration of the planned campaign and the rest of the group, certainly not more. Building for power as competition breaks the game.