hawk@oliven.UUCP (Rick Hawkins) (06/20/84)
[does Zeuss eat this?] Love these discussions on realism. In the real world, just how often is a man running from a dragon successful in getting away? This game is based on FANTASY, not REALITY. Two different concepts. Completely. If a dragon has just bathed me in fire, I really don't want someone pointing out that there is no possible way that I could realistically have survived. Next, why don't we get into an argument over which magic system is more realistic (I have seen such arguments before.). yours in sorcery, hawk Subject: realism Newsgroups: net.game.frp [does Zeuss eat this?] Love these discussions on realism. In the real world, just how often is a man running from a dragon successful in getting away? This game is based on FANTASY, not REALITY. Two different concepts. Completely. If a dragon has just bathed me in fire, I really don't want someone pointing out that there is no possible way that I could realistically have survived. Next, why don't we get into an argument over which magic system is more realistic (I have seen such arguments before.). yours in sorcery, hawk Newsgroups: net.game.frp
hawk@oliven.UUCP (Rick Hawkins) (06/20/84)
[does Zeuss eat this?] Love these discussions on realism. In the real world, just how often is a man running from a dragon successful in getting away? This game is based on FANTASY, not REALITY. Two different concepts. Completely. If a dragon has just bathed me in fire, I really don't want someone pointing out that there is no possible way that I could realistically have survived. Next, why don't we get into an argument over which magic system is more realistic (I have seen such arguments before.). yours in sorcery, hawk
lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (06/25/84)
#R:oliven:-17100:uokvax:2400048:000:1365 uokvax!lmaher Jun 25 00:23:00 1984 Keep in mind that when we talk about realism in FRP, what we usually mean is naturalism. If the rules and the campaign don't make cohesive sense, we don't know how to react and our suspension of disbelief is ruined. When we're told we can only move half a mile a day, or take two steps in a minute, it ruins our belief that we're in a viable world. If we're told that a wizard has fried the dragon in its own juices; we have no trouble believing, because our experience doesn't contradict that - it simply doesn't cover that. Now, you can have some reason why people take 30 seconds a step (they all look like E.T. :-), but otherwise players will want to know why their characters can't walk. This is such a blatant flaw, and it is trivially fixed - just make the movement rates larger. So why didn't TSR see how long it took to walk 60 feet? Hardly 10 minutes. This attitude is throughout *D&D - your nose is constantly rubbed in the fact that you're playing a game, not experiencing an adventure. Now, a good Gamemaster can overcome this; no rule system is so bad it can be salvaged by a really good GM. And no rule system is so good it can't be spoiled. But some are easier to spoil than others, and some are harder to salvage than others. Then again, I run my Fantasy Campaign using Champions, so what do I know :-) Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher