Life is too short to run games for asshats, so I don't.

To clarify:

I don't even attempt to munchkin-proof my games. That entails cutting back on player freedom and creativity too much. Like the poor, munchkins will always be with us. What I actually try to do is make the system self balancing, so that munching a character organically creates so many flaws and vulnerabilities that no-one wants to play it. Whenever a new player - one who has played before - comes into my group, where I alpha playtest all my games, they invariably try to munchkin a character out to the max, seeing as there are no apparent brakes on this. I let them. Then, after a few weeks of play, they come back wanting to drastically tone down their characters, because they are so optomized - usually for combat - that they can't do anything else.

My son Klaxon is a veteran munchkin, and loves to push the systems. If I can get him building just well-designed characters, as opposed to fire-eating monsters, it usually means the char-gen is working well. Other break-points are discovered by characters in play, whereupon I make them balance themselves. When I see that most of the characters are doing the same thing, no matter what the characters ostensibly are, I immediately suspect a break-point. That's what playtests are for - to discover flaws in the system before it goes out to the public. The more unprincipled and gleeful they are about pushing the system, the better.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;272704That's what playtests are for - to discover flaws in the system before it goes out to the public. The more unprincipled and gleeful they are about pushing the system, the better.

Yup!  

Giving permission to the playtesters to bend everything to the breaking point and beyond is a must.   The only method to balance is to find the imbalances and adjust accordingly.

But it is important that the "balance" fits the game theme.  In the game I am currently writing, the katana is a far better weapon than everything else in the game...but one potential in-game theme is about becoming a samurai and the number of hoops the player must jump through to attain katana-using status are notable if they choose that path.   So the katana's imbalance against other weapons becomes a reward for other in-game sacrifices.

However, if I am not playtesting something, I do not tolerate the "we like to break games" attitude.  It happens at conventions occassionally, but I halt most of the nonsense with pre-gen characters.  Also, I can cast Power Word No! as an at-will power.

Quote from: Spinachcat;272777However, if I am not playtesting something, I do not tolerate the "we like to break games" attitude.  It happens at conventions occassionally, but I halt most of the nonsense with pre-gen characters.  Also, I can cast Power Word No! as an at-will power.

Agreed! I don't tolerate willful game-breaking behavior outside of playtests.

-clash