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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The nature of "realism" in the game world
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4702087" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>I mostly agree with the OP.</p><p> </p><p>When using written rules or DM judgment, either way you're getting a human being's take on the rules.</p><p> </p><p>The human being who wrote the written rule had certain advantages. He had a lot of time to think about what he wrote, he had time to research if he chose, he had time to compare to other gaming systems, he had a good vision of the overall design and theme of the game, and he had time to consider balance and repeatability. He also has two big disadvantages: he had to anticipate the problems that the rule was intended to resolve, and he had limited space to write down rules, both of which require a degree of generalization.</p><p> </p><p>The DM making an off the cuff ruling has the inverse of all of those. He has no time to think, research, compare, consider balance, etc. He may not totally *get* the theme of the game yet. But he also knows exactly the nature of the problem faced by his players.</p><p> </p><p>That's why, in my opinion, rules for social matters, crafts, professions held by players, and so forth should be as general as possible and allow for as much DM intervention as possible. These are things where it is hard to predict in advance the needs that will arrive at every game table and where its hard to come up with enough rules to cover the matter thoroughly in a limited space, but where its also easy to make off the cuff judgments.</p><p> </p><p>In contrast, I prefer for combat rules to be written down in detail. For me, combat is a problem solving challenge. How do I, as a player, help my character use his abilities to the utmost to accomplish his goals? For that I need predictability and quality of detail and balance that are better obtained from someone writing rules in advance.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4702087, member: 40961"] I mostly agree with the OP. When using written rules or DM judgment, either way you're getting a human being's take on the rules. The human being who wrote the written rule had certain advantages. He had a lot of time to think about what he wrote, he had time to research if he chose, he had time to compare to other gaming systems, he had a good vision of the overall design and theme of the game, and he had time to consider balance and repeatability. He also has two big disadvantages: he had to anticipate the problems that the rule was intended to resolve, and he had limited space to write down rules, both of which require a degree of generalization. The DM making an off the cuff ruling has the inverse of all of those. He has no time to think, research, compare, consider balance, etc. He may not totally *get* the theme of the game yet. But he also knows exactly the nature of the problem faced by his players. That's why, in my opinion, rules for social matters, crafts, professions held by players, and so forth should be as general as possible and allow for as much DM intervention as possible. These are things where it is hard to predict in advance the needs that will arrive at every game table and where its hard to come up with enough rules to cover the matter thoroughly in a limited space, but where its also easy to make off the cuff judgments. In contrast, I prefer for combat rules to be written down in detail. For me, combat is a problem solving challenge. How do I, as a player, help my character use his abilities to the utmost to accomplish his goals? For that I need predictability and quality of detail and balance that are better obtained from someone writing rules in advance. [/QUOTE]
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