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It doesn't. The system has to be the one doing the lifting in order to be a simulation.

Nope. You could fall because fairies popped out of the ground and pulled you off the hill. The rules in no way contract this. Now, granted, the group probably wouldn't be very happy. But, the system? Not a problem at all.

Again, there's a huge excluded middle here between fill in all the details for everything and provide ANY details at all. I'm not deciding which details are important because D&D provides absolutely NO details to compare. All the details are generated by the DM. Which is perfectly fair. You...

But, again, it's not even "fixed world". Not as soon as you use random encounters. Or you add details like "crumbling rocks" causing falls. The second you add a detail in response to a failed check in order to narrate why that check failed, you no longer have a "fixed world". How about...

Then you don't want a simulation game. Which is fine. I get that. Lots of people don't like sim games. But, since you're claiming to actually WANT a sim system, that's pretty much at odds with the idea of not wanting the rules to inform the fiction. That's what I keep pushing back...

That's not what the narrative said though. The character fell because the rock crumbled. It's not "flair", it's the direct cause. It's no different than the cook being there because of the failed check or the random encounter poofing into the area of the PC's because of a random check. These...

Then give me a definition of simulation that explains how a simulation is a simulation while at the same not not providing any information in regards to whatever it is it is supposed to be simulating.

That's not quite right. There's no problem in the DM adding in the narration. That's perfectly fine and totally understandable in the case of D&D. I'm arguing against the idea that the D&D rules are any sort of simulation. Since the mechanics don't inform the narrative in any meaningful way...

But, again, that's my point. The DM narrating that has nothing to do with the system. That's the DM ADDING verisimilitude. The DM could narrate anything and the system does not contradict anything he says. Unless the system is providing some information about the narrative, it's not...

That level of detail? How about ANY level of detail? A simulation, in order to actually be a simulation, MUST inform the user something about what happens when the simulation is run. And D&D doesn't. It doesn't tell you anything. The mechanics do not inform the narrative at all. How can...

Heh. Just to inject a little levity into the conversation:

Because that's the BASIC DEFINITION of simulation. If the game rules do not tell you why something happens, then they are not simulating ANYTHING. So, no, D&D absolutely does not simulate a heroic fictional world. It really doesn't. You have added all of the simulation yourself. At no...

And that is perfectly fine. Hell, I totally agree.

Take something like Warhammer Fantasy. It's a pretty deeply trad game. At least earlier editions of it are. I'm unfamiliar with later editions to be honest. But, in Warhammer Fantasy, the narrative is actually driven by the mechanics. If I attack something, the system tells me not only...

Yup. The lockpicking example. In the random encounter, it doesn't matter what the PC's do, where they are or any actions they are taking. It's 6 PM and the DM has decided (through the die roll) that an encounter will occur. Nothing the PC's could do could change that. But, no, I don't see...

You're not quite getting my point. It's not that it has to simulate reality. It's that a simulation has to simulate something. Anything. For something to be "Verisimiltudinous", the system has to actually inform the narrative. And in D&D, it never does. The system in no way tells you what...

You're missing the point of simulation. At it's base, a simulation, in order to actually BE a simulation, must tell the person simulating something, information about whatever is being simulated. Urg, that's a horrible sentence. :D My point is, if you have a simulation about how a yo-yo...

Y'know, you are right. The random encounter isn't there because he screwed up some roll. That's absolutely true. However, the random encounter is generated because of a failed roll. Exactly the same completely arbitrary way that a random encounter is generated because the DM picked a...

I imagine that this is far, far more likely. Portraying the Chinese as aggressively fielding warships is not going to fly, like, at all, in China. And then "losing" to the Americans? Yeah, no. And, the Japanese "losing" (and I'm using scare quotes here because nobody really loses in the...