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Message: <blockquote data-quote="karlindel" data-source="post: 5473191" data-attributes="member: 27103">It is a false dichotomy to the extent that more realism can lead to more fun.  How much realism is going to vary widely from person to person, and this is one reason why different people like different games.  Also, different people will differ on what they consider to be realism, especially in relation to things which have limited basis in reality (i.e. elven or dwarven culture).     It reminds me of an old book I read about science fiction writing.  It advised that the audience of a science fiction story will believe one big lie about science, but you should be careful to keep everything else well grounded in things that the audience will accept, or it will break their suspension of disbelief.  If the lie was interesting enough and got reused, it would become a trope (such as hyperspace), and thus part of the accepted, and you would no longer need to use it as your big lie.  In the same way, "realism" in an rpg can draw on the tropes of the appropriate genre, and people will accept things that would normally be unrealistic as long as they fall within the genre.I agree with Victim that fantasy games are not harder to get into than contemporary or historical games.  After all, many people will understand the conventions of the fantasy genre who have little or no  knowledge of the history necessary for a truly realistic historical game.  A contemporary game set in a foreign country will face similar problems.  I do think, however, that it raises the interesting point that a game is easier to get into the closer it is to things that the player (and GM) are familiar with.</blockquote>

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