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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mishihari Lord" data-source="post: 5870564" data-attributes="member: 128">This got me thinking.  I first read the Hobbit when I was 8.  I remember how that felt.  I read it again last year.   Surprise, surprise, the sense of wonder was still there!  Even though I could remember almost exactly what would happen.  On the other hand, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance never gave me that sense of wonder even when they were new.  After some consideration, I think these are the things that contribute to sense of wonder for me:* A sense of reality.  Cool stuff in a daydream just isn't as wondrous as cool stuff in real life.  The closer something in game seems to cool stuff in real life, the more wondrous it is.  So if something in game isn't specifically supposed to be fantastic or wondrous, it needs to conform to my intuitive expectations for real life.* Cool stuff.  Not just things you don't see in real life, stuff that's impossible in real life.* Depth.  Lots of supporting details make the world seem more real.  A good example is the Elvish language that Tolkein made up.* Mystery.  The knowledge that there are things off camera or back in history that affect the setting as it is now, that I don't know, but that if I make an effort I might be able to find out.* Exploration.  The ability to go see what's out there.  New locations, cultures, personalities, histories, and so on.* Narrative Interaction.  Interacting with the world intuitively rather than through mathematical rules.  If I have to interact with the rules, I've taken my eye off the world and I'm back in high school math class.* Culture.  I already mentioned this but it's really a key point.  I want to interact with people that really seem to be from other cultures.  This is one of the reasons I enjoy early SF so much.  Having been born in the 70's, the 50's are almost another worlds to me.Looking at my list, most of these are setting issue, but there are two things a rule set can really do to help.  The first is to disappear.  The more I can interact with the world narrative rather than through rules, the happier I am.The second is that the rules reflect a realistic world.  Except where specific design decisions create something wondrous or fantastic, I want the world to be as close to RL as possible.</blockquote>

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