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I think the main problem is that people don't have much in the way of real familiarity with what simulation actually is. They associate the idea with rules heavy complex approaches that try to make everything as realistic as possible. So when someone talks about verisimilitude, it ends up...

I think as long as it is modular options. I don't think anyone should spend their hobby time doing something they don't enjoy so that we can claim we have "unity."

You should take Microlite20/OSS/74 and compare it to 0e/Swords & Wizardry and see just how stripped down and old school 3.5 OGL can get. Check this Microlite20 character sheet (one side of one index card): http://www.sinisterforces.com/2011/07/25/my-microlite-20-index-card-character-sheet/

A good starting point would be to take a look at Microlite20, MicroliteOSS & Microlite74: The Microlite20 RPG Collection | RetroRoleplaying

A friend of mine got the basic set and we've been playing that. At least every session someone brings up adding more material to our game. We end up with an even mix of people who don't want to go from the basic game with its small books to suddenly having to deal with the entirety of a 500...

I'd make them brutally dangerous. Where if you go for a straight up fight and don't take the time to either bypass them or out think them, the party is very, very likely to be short at least one member by the time the monster is dead.

I'm actually rereading my copy of this game now. One thing that excites me about a possible rules light core to D&D Next is how easy it is to house rule or borrow subsystems from other games. In a game with more rules or a lot of interconnected stats, you end up with problems when you start...

I think that there's some conflicting play preference priorities going on here that are at the root of the disagreement. Some prioritize story and characterization and find save or die character death anathema to their goals. Some prioritize plausibility during exploration and find save or die...

When it comes to Hit Points representing more than actual injuries and also representing, luck, exhaustion, will power, etc., all the various editions of D&D took time to talk about how it wasn't just injuries. But then mechanically just made it about injuries and damage. And then healing...

Sure thing, Plain Sailing. One thing I agree with Herschel on is that there are elements that cause people to get tripped up when it comes to verisimilitude and plausibility. I also agree that making a game be a perfect reflection of reality is impossible. However, that is not the goal of a...

That is an excellent point. It seems that whenever I want to give you XP, I already have done so too many times and must spread it around. I think there's probably a way we could make this work for both of us. A Quick Reference Chart or DM screen might help. Perhaps there's a way to design...

Because they are doing different things. Carrying out different procedures. In a lot of cases, it will be to the degree that they are effectively house ruling the game. For example, if I take 4E and make it mandatory at my table that after you use a combat power and get the results, you must...

How could an element that is part of the play of a game not be a factual part of the game system?

Have you ever considered that it might be a matter of thresholds and a continuum rather than absolutes? I stopped playing D&D during 3.x. 4E got me back into playing D&D (I was playing other RPGs at the time). I ran 4E atleast once a week (sometimes more) since the quick start rules in Keep...

And yet, you can have the same DM use two different editions/rules sets and get different results in terms of verisimilitude and immersion.

You're missing one very key thing that was stated by WotC when they announced the 5e project. Modular rules and universal appeal. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the core part of the game to operate more like the type of play common to both older editions and the majority of RPGs...

As long as you still have dead as a state a character can be in. If you can only ever get mortally wounded no matter what, so that cure mortal wounds always makes sense, then you're back to square one, but with the added problem of sharp blades, monstrous claws, fireballs and disintegration...

I am totally 100% okay with being wrong about thinking Monte might be talking about a monster role. I really like the descriptions and room information in the original S4 THE LOST CAVERNS OF TSOJCANTH. Just compare that room entry to a 4E module. Compare the stat blocks. The amount of space...

My thoughts on Rule Zero have generally been that if you need to toss out the rules and just have one person decide things on the fly, then the rules need more work. If they fail so badly that you need to admit from the start that you may have to chuck them out and ignore them, then make rules...

What Herschel is missing (and many others do as well) is that when you have the fantastic as the defining element of your fictional work, it actually helps to be more realistic rather than less. And by realistic I mean in keeping with people's expectations about the fiction as well as the...