In my D&D worlds, I don't worry about it. D&D doesn't lend itself very well to simulating real world effects, so I play to the system's strengths. I do sometimes run campaigns that pay a lot more attention simulating real world physics/economics/history/whatever, but I don't use D&D to run them, I turn to other rules sets in which the default assumptions are a little more firmly grounded in reality.
How Close To "Real" Is Your World?
- Thread starter Kid Charlemagne
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nopantsyet
First Post
Pretty real in many aspects, but very much fantasy at its heart. Market forces and varied politics are definitely in play. Religion has its place, but divine intervention is not the rule, and even though divine magic is very real, not all consider it proof of divinity. After all, arcane magic works pretty much the same way to the casual observer and who's to say what empowers any of it? People hold strong opinions but tend towards moral complacency when it comes to how they live their daily lives. I have incorporated various real-world ideas from many eras including certain classical and renaissance ideas in science and philosophy, as well as some more modern social concepts. They are not necessarily "true," but they are very real-world.
Overall, I try to maintain consistency by not driving into too much detail on any of them. The classical and renaissance alchemists and philosophers don't spend their time pontificating to the PCs. They have a place and they make vague mention of things the PCs don't quite understand. They are purely flavor elements, not game mechanics.
Overall, I try to maintain consistency by not driving into too much detail on any of them. The classical and renaissance alchemists and philosophers don't spend their time pontificating to the PCs. They have a place and they make vague mention of things the PCs don't quite understand. They are purely flavor elements, not game mechanics.
ThirdWizard
First Post
I voted Not Real At All, but I was born in '79.
I run Planescape. In PS, physics are called "belief."
I run Planescape. In PS, physics are called "belief."
lonesoldier
First Post
I demand the right to vote in a poll, even if it does not concern me!
Tee hee, you said "Aristotlean".
Umm, my game is weird, description attached.
Legacy is the setting name, don't ask. Yes I'm the DM, that would be my real name. Hush.
Tee hee, you said "Aristotlean".
Umm, my game is weird, description attached.
Legacy is the setting name, don't ask. Yes I'm the DM, that would be my real name. Hush.
Eosin the Red
First Post
orsal said:
I fall into nearly the same boat - the poll left me stuck with nothing fitting and me only able to come up with an inadequate approximation.
The wolrd is modeled, society is modeled, there are economics and such but as many non-business majors this is only my whacked out view of business. But some types of metal do hold powers, demons can be chained by true names, and people are born with a destiny (prophecy is time honored).
Gez
First Post
I really don't care, so I voted that, even if I'm not a fan or beer nor of pretzels.
Actual physics apply as normal. Yay! That means you could make gunpowder or particle accelerators if you had a valid reason to discover how to make one.
But while physics laws apply, it is not the only thing that apply.
To make a comparison, gravity apply, yet you can make things fly through other forces (like magnetism) or mechanical efforts (see any type of planes) or even by making gravity works for you (lighter-than-air crafts or orbital stations).
In a world with magic, it's the same for everything, at a larger scale. The five physical forces (electricity, magnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, gravity) exist. But they are far from the only ones. There are several magical and philosophical forces that apply as well, and can result in a lot of divergence compared to what our world looks like.
Take Earth, and imagine how it would look like if, say, there were no electromagnetism. For a start, life would be very different, if it would even exist without the protection of Earth's electromagnetic shield. Assuming somehow a civilization appears, it wouldn't use radio, computers, or everything else we use continuously in our daily life.
Instead of removing electromagnetics, remove, say, gravity -- blam!, no planets, no stellar systems, no galaxies even! Just a infinite limbo with an even, homogenous distribution of microparticles.
Now that you can see the drastic changes removing one force can have on the destiny of an universe, you can see that our own real world is drastically changed from an universe with additional forces. For convenience, these extra forces balance each others just enough to let us play in a D&D setting -- close enough from what we know to let us understand the world quickly.
But really, I could care less about all those complicated and convoluted theories about how should a setting be if it were Earth's "separated-at-birth" twin sister, with a blatant lack of magic, gods, flying dragons, fiends, inner and outer planes, and 287 competiting sentient races each with their own civilization, all intermingled.
Just like a magnet can stick on a fridge's door indefinitely despite everything that gravity-enthusiasts can tell you about how it should logically falls down and how it feels just wrong to have something stays against a vertical surface without falling, a D&D setting doesn't have to concern itself with the so-weak-to-be-negligible-compared-to-others forces of plate tectonics, climatology, and economical theories. (Especially given that modern-day economical theories are all about as exact as medical theories were in the 17th century -- "whatever ails him, a good bleeding and he shall feel fine!"...)
Actual physics apply as normal. Yay! That means you could make gunpowder or particle accelerators if you had a valid reason to discover how to make one.
But while physics laws apply, it is not the only thing that apply.
To make a comparison, gravity apply, yet you can make things fly through other forces (like magnetism) or mechanical efforts (see any type of planes) or even by making gravity works for you (lighter-than-air crafts or orbital stations).
In a world with magic, it's the same for everything, at a larger scale. The five physical forces (electricity, magnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, gravity) exist. But they are far from the only ones. There are several magical and philosophical forces that apply as well, and can result in a lot of divergence compared to what our world looks like.
Take Earth, and imagine how it would look like if, say, there were no electromagnetism. For a start, life would be very different, if it would even exist without the protection of Earth's electromagnetic shield. Assuming somehow a civilization appears, it wouldn't use radio, computers, or everything else we use continuously in our daily life.
Instead of removing electromagnetics, remove, say, gravity -- blam!, no planets, no stellar systems, no galaxies even! Just a infinite limbo with an even, homogenous distribution of microparticles.
Now that you can see the drastic changes removing one force can have on the destiny of an universe, you can see that our own real world is drastically changed from an universe with additional forces. For convenience, these extra forces balance each others just enough to let us play in a D&D setting -- close enough from what we know to let us understand the world quickly.
But really, I could care less about all those complicated and convoluted theories about how should a setting be if it were Earth's "separated-at-birth" twin sister, with a blatant lack of magic, gods, flying dragons, fiends, inner and outer planes, and 287 competiting sentient races each with their own civilization, all intermingled.
Just like a magnet can stick on a fridge's door indefinitely despite everything that gravity-enthusiasts can tell you about how it should logically falls down and how it feels just wrong to have something stays against a vertical surface without falling, a D&D setting doesn't have to concern itself with the so-weak-to-be-negligible-compared-to-others forces of plate tectonics, climatology, and economical theories. (Especially given that modern-day economical theories are all about as exact as medical theories were in the 17th century -- "whatever ails him, a good bleeding and he shall feel fine!"...)
They don't call it fantasy for nuthing! 
