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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8619293" data-attributes="member: 6801845">When discussing things like HP people keep posting things like &quot;HP aren't real&quot; or some variation. Which is true.&nbsp; HP are a simulation and simplification of many factors that are going to vary by individual and the type of damage taken. But HP aren't a thing in and of themselves, they are just a measurement of a large grouping of other nebulous things that determine how much damage an individual can absorb or ablate before they are no longer able to fight.&nbsp; What factors?&nbsp; Well, if you have a fuel gauge, what is that gauge?&nbsp; It's not the fuel itself, it's a measurement of how much fuel you have left.&nbsp; How much fuel?&nbsp; What's the size of your tank?&nbsp; For that matter is it gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane, hydrogen, electrical capacity left in your battery, some combination?&nbsp; Can anyone not a specialized chemist give details on what gasoline really is?&nbsp; &nbsp; Does it matter?&nbsp; Knowingly or not we use simulations all the time for things we don't really understand.&nbsp; Heck, there is no scientific consensus on what gravity is, why would we expect consensus on what HP represent?&nbsp; Engineers and scientists use simplified simulations all the time, because most of the time the simplification works well enough.&nbsp; We know that if you put two fighters in an arena and they fight each other, one will eventually no longer be able to fight.&nbsp; Mike Tyson would last far longer in that fight than some regular Joe off the street even if they were fighting exactly the same opponent and not fighting back.&nbsp; You have to have some way of representing that.When it comes to how spells or scrolls work, since magic isn't real there is either no way to simulate it or we are simulating some established fiction.&nbsp; I don't think the former while valid is particularly useful, with the latter it doesn't matter how or where the fiction was established.&nbsp; Which, yes, in the case of D&amp;D can be quite self referential.&nbsp; That doesn't make it wrong, many simulations are based on things we don't really understand.I know some people have a definition of simulation based on granularity, charts and basis on some external source.&nbsp; But the word doesn't mean that. It just means that we are modeling something, that we are using a system of rules to represent behavior and results of a fantasy world.&nbsp; Something can be both gamist and simulationist, all TTRPGs are some combination.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8619293, member: 6801845"] When discussing things like HP people keep posting things like "HP aren't real" or some variation. Which is true. HP are a simulation and simplification of many factors that are going to vary by individual and the type of damage taken. But HP aren't a thing in and of themselves, they are just a measurement of a large grouping of other nebulous things that determine how much damage an individual can absorb or ablate before they are no longer able to fight. What factors? Well, if you have a fuel gauge, what is that gauge? It's not the fuel itself, it's a measurement of how much fuel you have left. How much fuel? What's the size of your tank? For that matter is it gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane, hydrogen, electrical capacity left in your battery, some combination? Can anyone not a specialized chemist give details on what gasoline really is? Does it matter? Knowingly or not we use simulations all the time for things we don't really understand. Heck, there is no scientific consensus on what [I]gravity[/I] is, why would we expect consensus on what HP represent? Engineers and scientists use simplified simulations all the time, because most of the time the simplification works well enough. We know that if you put two fighters in an arena and they fight each other, one will eventually no longer be able to fight. Mike Tyson would last far longer in that fight than some regular Joe off the street even if they were fighting exactly the same opponent and not fighting back. You have to have some way of representing that. When it comes to how spells or scrolls work, since magic isn't real there is either no way to simulate it or we are simulating some established fiction. I don't think the former while valid is particularly useful, with the latter it doesn't matter how or where the fiction was established. Which, yes, in the case of D&D can be quite self referential. That doesn't make it wrong, many simulations are based on things we don't really understand. I know some people have a definition of simulation based on granularity, charts and basis on some external source. But the word doesn't mean that. It just means that we are modeling something, that we are using a system of rules to represent behavior and results of a fantasy world. Something can be both gamist and simulationist, all TTRPGs are some combination. [/QUOTE]

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