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Why is realism "lame"?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6051285" data-attributes="member: 17106"><p>I think this is very illustrative of the difference between accuracy and precision.</p><p></p><p>To be accurate, these uninteresting parts don't require a lot of modeling in mechanics, the time, effort, and tactics involved simply need to be acknowledged, and dealt with quickly in real time so you can get to the good parts. (I think Stormwrack's narrative combat does a decent job of this, but I haven't used it a lot and my games have been landbound for a while now).</p><p></p><p>Game mechanics can be very abstract while still acknowledging basic tenets of reality...</p><p>...like health mechanics. The problem with hit points and healing rates isn't that they lack the precision to model every part of the human body, it's that they fail to acknowledge some of the basic parameters of health and injury that create verisimilitude and/or are dramatically interesting.</p><p></p><p>How many characters in fantasy novels are "mortally wounded", but make one last heroic act or goodbye speech before they die? That can't happen in D&D's health window. How many are scarred, or walk with a limp? How many battles are described by attrition, with the winner gradually injuring the loser until he can no longer fight? We can't have that in an rpg because it would be a "death spiral", as I understand, which is apparently bad.</p><p></p><p>As to healing, how much of the Lord of the Rings is spent on unhealed characters? Frodo's battle with vile damage from the ringwraith's blade or spider poison or Faramir sitting in bed while others fight for the future of the world? These things are more interesting than paint drying!</p><p></p><p>Does every injury have to happen as frequently as in real life or as irreversibly? No. You can simplify things, make them abstract. It doesn't have to be all that realistic. But expanding the rules to cover some of the basic possibilities for "stuff that can happen when someone whacks you with a piece of metal" opens up a new world of game tactics and storytelling possibilities.</p><p></p><p>I haven't seen much of this. I have seen a lot of the reverse: people claiming that because rpgs can't or shouldn't perfectly emulate reality, any move in that direction is foolhardy.</p><p></p><p>It isn't.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 6051285, member: 17106"] I think this is very illustrative of the difference between accuracy and precision. To be accurate, these uninteresting parts don't require a lot of modeling in mechanics, the time, effort, and tactics involved simply need to be acknowledged, and dealt with quickly in real time so you can get to the good parts. (I think Stormwrack's narrative combat does a decent job of this, but I haven't used it a lot and my games have been landbound for a while now). Game mechanics can be very abstract while still acknowledging basic tenets of reality... ...like health mechanics. The problem with hit points and healing rates isn't that they lack the precision to model every part of the human body, it's that they fail to acknowledge some of the basic parameters of health and injury that create verisimilitude and/or are dramatically interesting. How many characters in fantasy novels are "mortally wounded", but make one last heroic act or goodbye speech before they die? That can't happen in D&D's health window. How many are scarred, or walk with a limp? How many battles are described by attrition, with the winner gradually injuring the loser until he can no longer fight? We can't have that in an rpg because it would be a "death spiral", as I understand, which is apparently bad. As to healing, how much of the Lord of the Rings is spent on unhealed characters? Frodo's battle with vile damage from the ringwraith's blade or spider poison or Faramir sitting in bed while others fight for the future of the world? These things are more interesting than paint drying! Does every injury have to happen as frequently as in real life or as irreversibly? No. You can simplify things, make them abstract. It doesn't have to be all that realistic. But expanding the rules to cover some of the basic possibilities for "stuff that can happen when someone whacks you with a piece of metal" opens up a new world of game tactics and storytelling possibilities. I haven't seen much of this. I have seen a lot of the reverse: people claiming that because rpgs can't or shouldn't perfectly emulate reality, any move in that direction is foolhardy. It isn't. [/QUOTE]
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