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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1185950" data-attributes="member: 5171">So we're not talking about the content. You're limiting the discussion to the process of reading/writing and the process of gaming/DMing.  Gotcha.This seems a bit quibble-ish.  By your definition, it's uncertain whether or not I'm going to work because you don't know whether I'll take twenty steps, walking around the hedge on the left, or nineteen steps, walking around the hedge on the right, to get inside.I'll accept that there are no absolutes, but then the conversation is effectively over -- "Hey, there are no absolutes, I guess that's that."  If you want to talk generalities, though, I believe that most authors and gamers would agree that the author has better control over his plot elements than the DM does of his story elements, by the very fact that the author does not have to rely on anyone else to "guess" what the correct or most efficient means of furthering the plot is.I'm confused.  You said "I produce an object", but then you say "the actual process of writing produces nothing".  If you mean that the finished product has no inherent value, then the same can be said for a sculpture -- or, for that matter, a car or a building.  None have any value except that given them by people.People find cars useful for transportation, buildings useful for accomodation, and sculptures and novels useful for aesthetic pleasure and enlightenment.  There have been many of all objects that have failed to provide that value and fell by the wayside -- the car I currently drive was discontinued because it was inefficient (it has an enormous blind spot and turns poorly).Basically, I feel as though you are trying to fast-talk an objective distinction where no such distinction exists with this one.  I don't believe that a novel is valueless, and I don't even believe that a game is valueless.Missed whatever you wrote after "accept" here.As for your other part, saying that we obey the rules of language is pretty baseline.  Yes, we also obey the rules of language in an RPG.  I don't know that you're gonna get a Master's Thesis out of the fact that few novels and few RPGs are written or performed entirely in a languge none of the participants understand. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />You could, however, counter my argument with the idea that the "big breaking of the established rules" is actually part of the rules now.  It's almost expected that, in any fantasy novel, the magic is going to change profoundly and do something that, according to our understanding of the rules, was impossible.  If it's expected, then it's become part of the ruleset.  Possibly.Again, I agree with that wording of it, but again, that's pretty baseline.  I guess you have to start somewhere.</blockquote>

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