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<blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 3570004" data-attributes="member: 7240">Have you read the Silmarillion? It explains a lot about why the geography of Middle Earth is the way it is. And the reasons it offers are radically different than anything I have read about our world. For one thing, Middle Earth is located on a flat disc; at least one of the stars is actually a guy in a flying boat; the natural features of the world have been made by the Valar with their own hands. Tolkien explains why mountain ranges, bays, gulfs, etc. are where they are and his explanations bear no resemblance to the explanatory structures that exist in contemporary geology.What does this mean? Tolkien's natural features have a basis in reality but not in the reality of this world; they have a basis in the reality of the world he created.The absence of, for instance, plate tectonics in a D&amp;D world is not an aberration. It arises from a consistent interpretation of the rules of the game. This is like calling Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity aberrations in our world.For certain reasons; I believe strongly that everything in D&amp;D worlds should happen for reasons. But to make the reasons things happen in D&amp;D worlds identical to the reasons they happen in our world seems, frankly, unsupportable.edit: political reference removed - U. People in this thread seem to feel that the best way to argue in favour of their definition of &quot;plausible&quot; and &quot;realistic&quot; is to repeat as though it has already been established to be true through reasoned argument when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="fusangite, post: 3570004, member: 7240"] Have you read the Silmarillion? It explains a lot about why the geography of Middle Earth is the way it is. And the reasons it offers are radically different than anything I have read about our world. For one thing, Middle Earth is located on a flat disc; at least one of the stars is actually a guy in a flying boat; the natural features of the world have been made by the Valar with their own hands. Tolkien explains why mountain ranges, bays, gulfs, etc. are where they are and his explanations bear no resemblance to the explanatory structures that exist in contemporary geology.What does this mean? Tolkien's natural features have a basis in reality but not in the reality of this world; they have a basis in the reality of the world he created.The absence of, for instance, plate tectonics in a D&D world is not an aberration. It arises from a consistent interpretation of the rules of the game. This is like calling Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity aberrations in our world.For [i]certain reasons[/i]; I believe strongly that everything in D&D worlds should happen for reasons. But to make the reasons things happen in D&D worlds identical to the reasons they happen in our world seems, frankly, unsupportable.[color=darkorange][i]edit: political reference removed - U[/i][/color]. People in this thread seem to feel that the best way to argue in favour of their definition of "plausible" and "realistic" is to repeat as though it has already been established to be true through reasoned argument when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. [/QUOTE]

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