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What is "grim and gritty" and "low magic" anyway?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 1422181" data-attributes="member: 317"><p>I think you've hit pretty close to home for most of us here, although I hadn't really considered it this way before. Personally, I don't tend to enjoy high-magic games as much since I cannot identify at all with my character, the world, and it just seems ridiculous after a certain point that hundreds or thousands of different sentient species share the same world. Plus, playing a half celestial high elf wizard/rogue/arcane trickster just stretched believabilty past the breaking point for me. It would take a truly exceptional DM to run a high fantasy world that really sucked me in. Unfortunatly, most DMs run high magic games where all non-human creatures have very human-like mindsets and motives, and the thing just falls apart. I can't really even think of a published high-magic world where this principle isn't strained to the point of breaking.</p><p></p><p>I find low magic/GnG much more compelling since I can identify with the character, his concerns, fears, and aspirations. True, its more like real life, but thats the frame of reference we come from, and can relate to easily. Besides, real life ain't that bad at all. And I can personally attest that a success in a low magic game gives me a much greater sense of accomplishment- I feel like I figured things out and came through, rather than shooting my most powerful magic whatzit to solve the problem. And you haven't really gamed until you've been in a situation that scared you/made you uneasy based on the events in game- and fear is a VERY hard emotion to capture in fantasy, let alone in a high magic game. Also, I have found as a DM that it is easier to motivate players to really become invested in the game if they can identify strongly with their character, and in the case of 90% of the players I have known, this is MUCH easier to do in a low magic/GnG game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gothmog, post: 1422181, member: 317"] I think you've hit pretty close to home for most of us here, although I hadn't really considered it this way before. Personally, I don't tend to enjoy high-magic games as much since I cannot identify at all with my character, the world, and it just seems ridiculous after a certain point that hundreds or thousands of different sentient species share the same world. Plus, playing a half celestial high elf wizard/rogue/arcane trickster just stretched believabilty past the breaking point for me. It would take a truly exceptional DM to run a high fantasy world that really sucked me in. Unfortunatly, most DMs run high magic games where all non-human creatures have very human-like mindsets and motives, and the thing just falls apart. I can't really even think of a published high-magic world where this principle isn't strained to the point of breaking. I find low magic/GnG much more compelling since I can identify with the character, his concerns, fears, and aspirations. True, its more like real life, but thats the frame of reference we come from, and can relate to easily. Besides, real life ain't that bad at all. And I can personally attest that a success in a low magic game gives me a much greater sense of accomplishment- I feel like I figured things out and came through, rather than shooting my most powerful magic whatzit to solve the problem. And you haven't really gamed until you've been in a situation that scared you/made you uneasy based on the events in game- and fear is a VERY hard emotion to capture in fantasy, let alone in a high magic game. Also, I have found as a DM that it is easier to motivate players to really become invested in the game if they can identify strongly with their character, and in the case of 90% of the players I have known, this is MUCH easier to do in a low magic/GnG game. [/QUOTE]
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