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D&D isn't a simulation game, so what is???
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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson Longinus" data-source="post: 8622302" data-attributes="member: 7025508"><p>My preferred level of simulationism is some sort of relatively rules light and low-granularity system but still with simulationish sensibilities, meaning that the rules and numbers on the character sheet represent actual in-universe capabilities of the character and the rules of the game mostly represent in-universe causal processes. Some massaging of the odds for better genre emulation or playability is fine, as long as it is not too blatant. White Wolf's Storyteller system games are probably closest to my preference. D&D is somewhat less simulationistic than my comfort zone, but I still find its direction far more tolerable than the other extreme end of the games which try to be hyper detailed in their simulation and end up being unwieldy and tedious. (Yes, I mean you Rolemaster!)</p><p></p><p>Also I feel a lot of people confuse the level of detail with the accuracy of the simulation, and I don't think this is true. For example in Rolemaster the weirdly specific charts and results in them try to create an illusion of being scientifically accurate, but in practice they're often just jarring as even that mind-numbing amount of charts cannot actually account every eventuality and the results might often feel out of place or just bizarre given the fictional context in the game. I definitely prefer games which give more vague and approximate outputs that can be described and interpreted to suit the given context as needed.</p><p></p><p>When running D&D I try to interpret things somewhat simulationisticly, and I think the system works wellish enough for that if you're not trying to be intentionally obtuse and insisting interpreting a character dying from <em>a hit of a bite attack causing piercing damage</em> as them dying of embarrassment! Granted, I use gritty rests and healing kit dependency optional rules, so that makes keeping the HP somewhat associated easier.</p><p></p><p>I also intentionally try to make the setting metaphysics to conform to the rules when it wouldn't be too obviously silly, so for example, in my world the Nine Circles of Magic* are a known metaphysical concept, so the spellcasting rules indeed are pretty simulationistic for the setting! So in that sense I don't think these things necessarily need to be in conflict, and good design is one that can satisfy many criteria simultaneously, and I feel Gygax's choice of using Vancian magic in the game is a good example of doing just that.</p><p></p><p>(* Well, the Eight Circles of Magic are, the ninth level spells are so rare, that the Ninth Circle is just a theoretical concept or something rumoured in legends.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crimson Longinus, post: 8622302, member: 7025508"] My preferred level of simulationism is some sort of relatively rules light and low-granularity system but still with simulationish sensibilities, meaning that the rules and numbers on the character sheet represent actual in-universe capabilities of the character and the rules of the game mostly represent in-universe causal processes. Some massaging of the odds for better genre emulation or playability is fine, as long as it is not too blatant. White Wolf's Storyteller system games are probably closest to my preference. D&D is somewhat less simulationistic than my comfort zone, but I still find its direction far more tolerable than the other extreme end of the games which try to be hyper detailed in their simulation and end up being unwieldy and tedious. (Yes, I mean you Rolemaster!) Also I feel a lot of people confuse the level of detail with the accuracy of the simulation, and I don't think this is true. For example in Rolemaster the weirdly specific charts and results in them try to create an illusion of being scientifically accurate, but in practice they're often just jarring as even that mind-numbing amount of charts cannot actually account every eventuality and the results might often feel out of place or just bizarre given the fictional context in the game. I definitely prefer games which give more vague and approximate outputs that can be described and interpreted to suit the given context as needed. When running D&D I try to interpret things somewhat simulationisticly, and I think the system works wellish enough for that if you're not trying to be intentionally obtuse and insisting interpreting a character dying from [I]a hit of a bite attack causing piercing damage[/I] as them dying of embarrassment! Granted, I use gritty rests and healing kit dependency optional rules, so that makes keeping the HP somewhat associated easier. I also intentionally try to make the setting metaphysics to conform to the rules when it wouldn't be too obviously silly, so for example, in my world the Nine Circles of Magic* are a known metaphysical concept, so the spellcasting rules indeed are pretty simulationistic for the setting! So in that sense I don't think these things necessarily need to be in conflict, and good design is one that can satisfy many criteria simultaneously, and I feel Gygax's choice of using Vancian magic in the game is a good example of doing just that. (* Well, the Eight Circles of Magic are, the ninth level spells are so rare, that the Ninth Circle is just a theoretical concept or something rumoured in legends.) [/QUOTE]
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