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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 5194641" data-attributes="member: 58416">I've actually gone somewhat the other way. While I would never say I was a hardcore gamist, there was a time when I really didn't care about the realism of the rules. As long as there was some basic idea of reality, I was happy. This is the attitude which carried me through Rifts, D&D 3E, a system I tried to invent myself, and into my first few sessions of D&D 4E. Now I'd say I've shifted a lot more toward the simulationist camp. I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore simulationist, but it's pretty obvious that I enjoy some sort of baseline reality which is more in line with what I see in the world around me. While I do enjoy the super powered romp & stomp and hack & slash style with totally over the top PCs and monsters quaking in their boots from time to time, I've come to feel that I prefer my heroes to be leading armies rather than battling them. I also like knowing that my character's story matters and has actual value in the game world rather than simply being a plot vehicle to explain why I'm slaying monsters. I don't see anything wrong with my hero wanting to relax every now and enjoy investing some of his hard won loot into other endevours. What's wrong with want to take a break from the hard work of slaying dragons to enjoy a pint of ale and raise some llamas? I'm not against breaking reality; I still highly enjoy games which feature super heroes, magic, and things that defy reality. However, I at least like those features to give a passing nod to reality. If my wizard casts a fireball, yes, it is magic; however, once it's in play, I expect it to behave like fire. Likewise, if I'm in town and start blatantly breaking the law, I expect that -mechanically speaking- the guards will have an actual chance of enforcing the law without the DM needing to resort to DM fiat. For some people, realism takes away options and fun. For me, having some amount of realism gives me more options because I can expect the system to handle both the goody-two-shoes Paladin *and* the burn-down-the-orphanage-for-kicks evil character. In a very gamist & very PC centric system, the latter can be tough to handle due to the PCs being so much stronger by default than NPCs and monsters. Granted, I can railroad somebody into a 'run from the law' skill challenge or simply just fudge things to bring the PC under control, but I don't like DMing that way. I'd rather have the game world react in a way which seems reasonable and be able to focus more of my energy on writing the story and running the game. I think part of my change may also be due to the fact that I've become something of an avid world builder. I love to build worlds. As such, I appreciate a certain level realism in the way that I can expect the game world to react to the actions of characters (both PC and NPC.) Overall, I suppose -if this makes any sense- I've become something of a Narrativist by way of Simulation. I like to have depth to my stories, and having rules with more depth helps me to do this in a consistant manner. I play rpgs for very different reasons than why I play other games; when I want more of a Gamist experience, I tend to play something like Yahtzee, Munchkin Quest, Cthulu Dice, or Chez Geek.</blockquote>

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