Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Difference Between Realism vs. Believability
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5261878" data-attributes="member: 3820"><p>Personally, I don't agree with the premise that "it is impossible to overthink fantasy." At some point the valuable stuff you are recovering is perhaps not worth all the valuable stuff you have discarded to get there.That said, the point at which it becomes "thinking <em>too</em> hard" is really, really difficult to pin down, and varies by person. </p><p></p><p>One of the things about fantasy is that it's built on a foundation of myth, and myth's power doesn't have to do with plausibility or laws of physics. I think there are actually two metrics of "believability": there's the pseudoscientific version in which you try to explain how a medusa's gaze works with Newtonian physics, and there's the mythic version where the gut check is "Does this sound like a logical extrapolation of a mythical or literary precedent?" These two things clash all the time. Hell, in some cases trying to build a giant that works scientifically can lose your audience because they don't think a giant that works with the square/cube law is appropriate to the Jack stories and Norse myths they've got in mind. If your audience is bored with your giants, have you overthought them? Opinions vary, but I would probably side with "yes". Find a different audience and maybe the answer will be "no."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Barastrondo, post: 5261878, member: 3820"] Personally, I don't agree with the premise that "it is impossible to overthink fantasy." At some point the valuable stuff you are recovering is perhaps not worth all the valuable stuff you have discarded to get there.That said, the point at which it becomes "thinking [I]too[/I] hard" is really, really difficult to pin down, and varies by person. One of the things about fantasy is that it's built on a foundation of myth, and myth's power doesn't have to do with plausibility or laws of physics. I think there are actually two metrics of "believability": there's the pseudoscientific version in which you try to explain how a medusa's gaze works with Newtonian physics, and there's the mythic version where the gut check is "Does this sound like a logical extrapolation of a mythical or literary precedent?" These two things clash all the time. Hell, in some cases trying to build a giant that works scientifically can lose your audience because they don't think a giant that works with the square/cube law is appropriate to the Jack stories and Norse myths they've got in mind. If your audience is bored with your giants, have you overthought them? Opinions vary, but I would probably side with "yes". Find a different audience and maybe the answer will be "no." [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Difference Between Realism vs. Believability
Top