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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 6373030" data-attributes="member: 1879">That is exactly what a lot of game worlds are. It's what the worlds in a lot of fictional worlds are too, places to show off the characters.Better game worlds however are works in their own right. Art if you will, or a character whose statistics are writ in coastlines and demographics. In a great book the setting is as much a star of the novel as the characters. The 9 walkers spend so much time of foot because the central character is actually middle earth and JRR wanted to show her off. Likewise a competant GM will create a balanced encounter appropriate to the partys level and accomplishing the goal of delivering a tactical challange and level appropriate loot.A better GM will design an encounter that makes sense in terms of the world already portrayed. The partys foe will not be guarding his keep with random Hobgoblins but with the Blacktusk Orcs the party has encountered before. The foes will respond appropriately (which may mean cleverly, or may not) and any given encounter may be easy or hard depending not on level guidelines but on the previous actions of the PCs and NPCs. If the PCs previously spared the daughter of the chief of the Blacktusk Orcs then perhaps they can talk them into letting them by. If they've been exterminating them wherever they are found then they will be recognized and attacked with prejudice. Verisimilitude is a word that gets tossed around on these boards. Some people don't even see how it applies to a world with Dragons and Gnomes. Some of us think it's the difference between a decent game and a great one.Yes, there is always some level of metagaming, but it may be no more intrusive than starting the party off shipwrecked on the island of warring lizardmen and gnolls rather than the island of warring giants and dragons.</blockquote>

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