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<blockquote data-quote="Thomas Shey" data-source="post: 8617650" data-attributes="member: 7026617">It absolutely can, as long as the fictional universe is--consistent?&nbsp; Coherent?&nbsp; Capable of its occupants at least potentially understanding how it works?I believe I argued that Earthdawn actually has a strong simulationist streak, because things that are genre conventions in some settings are overt actual in-world things that have history and that people can understand.As I've noted, most genre conventions can't be &quot;simulated&quot; because they avowedly aren't things that &quot;exist&quot; in world, and in fact, you usually can't have the occupants of the world actually acknowledge them and have them serve their intended purposes.&nbsp; They're dramatic conceits.But most fictional universes are more than a set of genre conventions, and some of them have weak genre conventions even when they are there.As at least a couple of us have brought up, Runequest has a relatively strong simulationist streak.&nbsp; Part of that's easy, because when it comes to things like how combat works, physical actions of characters and so forth, its got a relatively one-to-one correspondence to the real world.&nbsp; But even when you get to the fantastic elements of the game its relatively simulationist, because what's going on in the mechanics corresponds closely to what actually goes on in (and what the knowledgeable understand about) their world.&nbsp; There's not a huge amount of interpretation needed or dissonance between what's going on with the mechanics and what the fiction is expected to tell you.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Thomas Shey, post: 8617650, member: 7026617"] It absolutely can, as long as the fictional universe is--consistent? Coherent? Capable of its occupants at least potentially understanding how it works? I believe I argued that Earthdawn actually has a strong simulationist streak, because things that are genre conventions in some settings are overt actual in-world things that have history and that people can understand. As I've noted, most genre conventions can't be "simulated" because they avowedly aren't things that "exist" in world, and in fact, you usually can't have the occupants of the world actually acknowledge them and have them serve their intended purposes. They're dramatic conceits. But most fictional universes are more than a set of genre conventions, and some of them have weak genre conventions even when they are there. As at least a couple of us have brought up, Runequest has a relatively strong simulationist streak. Part of that's easy, because when it comes to things like how combat works, physical actions of characters and so forth, its got a relatively one-to-one correspondence to the real world. But even when you get to the fantastic elements of the game its relatively simulationist, because what's going on in the mechanics corresponds closely to what actually goes on in (and what the knowledgeable understand about) their world. There's not a huge amount of interpretation needed or dissonance between what's going on with the mechanics and what the fiction is expected to tell you. [/QUOTE]

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