Revisiting Combat as Sport vs Combat as War

[awa]

I see two aspects to this division and I think neither is about difficulty.

1) how much planning went into a specific fight on the dms end. In combat as war (CAW) the pcs have a lot more control over how they engage a target this might mean the fight is harder or easier it certainly makes it harder for the dm to make plans ahead of time. Combat as sport (CAS) the dm has more control the pcs are going to arrive in a fight with a fairly predictable power.

The advantage here with CAW is the pcs have more freedom; the advantage here with CAS is the dm can design interesting encounters.

2) a second aspect while not directly part of the equation is the fight fun? In CAW the general answer is no a fight is what happens when you failed to plan properly. In CAS the answer is yes otherwise you wouldn’t be playing the game at all because fighting is fun.

Ask yourself this which is more appealing to you having an epic battle with the dark lord in a volcano lair as the lava slowly seeps closer to you forcing you to continue to climb to new heights to avoid burning or death. Or would you prefer to trick the dark lord into a mine shaft and then collapse it on him while he wails in impotent rage. That is the difference between CAS and CAW and which one appeals more is a matter of opinion.

I think people get so hung up on which one they like they can’t help but make it a pejorative. The fact that this particular forum tends to have an extremely hostile opinion of anything that even hints of the dm directing play, pushes some to bash CAS which requires it to a degree.
CAS can have hard fights; a fight the pcs are designed to lose so they can get captured is still CAS. It can have easy fights either to introduce the pcs to a mechanic that will be important in a latter harder fight, to give a neglected pc an opportunity to shine or just because.

I would also argue that most games are not wholly CAS or CAW but a little bit of both. Getting silver for the werewolf fight and picking off some sentries before the main battle but then fighting the werewolf in pre-scripted burning warehouse would be a bit of both.