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Gygax on Realism in Game Design
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<blockquote data-quote="Unwise" data-source="post: 6010133" data-attributes="member: 98008"><p>I think that anti-realism rants tend to miss the most important parts of why realism can be important to people. D&D is a decision making game, you need to know what framework you are working in, in order to make the appropriate decisions.</p><p> </p><p>Every game needs a baseline that says "this is how you can expect things to work". Take for instance a Hong Kong action movie setting, those experienced with the genre would know what to expect their characters can and cannot do and what the consequences would be. The problem here is, that not everybody knows those expectations, or holds them to be exactly the same.</p><p> </p><p>This is where realism is useful, everybody knows the basics of how the real world works. It is a useful baseline to say "if I do this, then I can expect that to be the result".</p><p> </p><p>Realsim is not the enemy of immersion and roleplaying, jarring uncertainty is.</p><p> </p><p>Lets take a few examples:</p><p> </p><p>1) The bad guy has a crossbow pointed at my chest, he has the drop on me and plans to take me prisoner. I need to make a choice as to what I should do. In a realistic genre game, I better do what he says or I am a dead man. In Gygax's games, I just go "bah, he will only hit for 1d8+3, that is barely a scratch, who needs a plan!".</p><p> </p><p>For all of Gary's ranting about the evils of realism, it clearly leads to a more engaging, story driving moment here.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>2) I wish to make a hastey retreat, or chase a villian. There is a 50' cliff I must get down in order to do so. In a realistic genre, I try to scale the cliff as quickly and safely as possible, fearing grim death if I fail.</p><p> </p><p>In a Gygax game, I just look at my HP, compare them to the damage I will take from a fall and decide to jump.</p><p> </p><p>In this instance, it is not reality that is the enemy of fun here.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>3) My fellow player is crashing to the ground as his fly spell is disrupted. Do I grab a rope and dive off the cliff hoping to catch him and save the day? I'm playing a realistic game, it is obvious the physics of that won't work, so I just stand by and watch him plummet to his death.</p><p> </p><p>In a Gygax game I grab a rope in one hand and swing down Erol Flynn style and scoop him up.</p><p> </p><p>In this instance, reality is indeed the enemy of fun. Even more so though, uncertainly is. As I stand at the top of that cliff, I need to know what I can expect from the world. I need to understand cause and effect. I need to know what the DM expects of me. If the realistic option has been taken in the previous 2 examples, a DM should not be too shocked to find the PC just letting thier companion fall in this example.</p><p> </p><p>So as you can see, I'm not pushing a pro-reality agenda here. Realism is just a useful tool to set the groundwork for decision making. The solution really seems to be communication built up over time between the DM and group.</p><p> </p><p>In my games, I would like to think that the PCs can tell the effects of their actions by considering "what will this do to the story being told?" generally they will take the realistic options, but they seem to sense the difference between gameist-stupidity and the time for heroic action.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Unwise, post: 6010133, member: 98008"] I think that anti-realism rants tend to miss the most important parts of why realism can be important to people. D&D is a decision making game, you need to know what framework you are working in, in order to make the appropriate decisions. Every game needs a baseline that says "this is how you can expect things to work". Take for instance a Hong Kong action movie setting, those experienced with the genre would know what to expect their characters can and cannot do and what the consequences would be. The problem here is, that not everybody knows those expectations, or holds them to be exactly the same. This is where realism is useful, everybody knows the basics of how the real world works. It is a useful baseline to say "if I do this, then I can expect that to be the result". Realsim is not the enemy of immersion and roleplaying, jarring uncertainty is. Lets take a few examples: 1) The bad guy has a crossbow pointed at my chest, he has the drop on me and plans to take me prisoner. I need to make a choice as to what I should do. In a realistic genre game, I better do what he says or I am a dead man. In Gygax's games, I just go "bah, he will only hit for 1d8+3, that is barely a scratch, who needs a plan!". For all of Gary's ranting about the evils of realism, it clearly leads to a more engaging, story driving moment here. 2) I wish to make a hastey retreat, or chase a villian. There is a 50' cliff I must get down in order to do so. In a realistic genre, I try to scale the cliff as quickly and safely as possible, fearing grim death if I fail. In a Gygax game, I just look at my HP, compare them to the damage I will take from a fall and decide to jump. In this instance, it is not reality that is the enemy of fun here. 3) My fellow player is crashing to the ground as his fly spell is disrupted. Do I grab a rope and dive off the cliff hoping to catch him and save the day? I'm playing a realistic game, it is obvious the physics of that won't work, so I just stand by and watch him plummet to his death. In a Gygax game I grab a rope in one hand and swing down Erol Flynn style and scoop him up. In this instance, reality is indeed the enemy of fun. Even more so though, uncertainly is. As I stand at the top of that cliff, I need to know what I can expect from the world. I need to understand cause and effect. I need to know what the DM expects of me. If the realistic option has been taken in the previous 2 examples, a DM should not be too shocked to find the PC just letting thier companion fall in this example. So as you can see, I'm not pushing a pro-reality agenda here. Realism is just a useful tool to set the groundwork for decision making. The solution really seems to be communication built up over time between the DM and group. In my games, I would like to think that the PCs can tell the effects of their actions by considering "what will this do to the story being told?" generally they will take the realistic options, but they seem to sense the difference between gameist-stupidity and the time for heroic action. [/QUOTE]
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