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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 4293754" data-attributes="member: 2525">4e conveys the appearance of truth better than some role playing games, and worse than others, and about the same as many.  To be more specific, I think it conveys the appearance of truth about as well as 3e.I think a lot of folks are confusing behind the scenes mechanics with the scene that is playing out.  Mechanics are irrelevant to how well something conveys an appearance of truth.  If the hands of a clock move because of a series of gears behind the faceplate, or because some invisible tiny gnomes are waving daffodils enough to generate a magic breeze to move the hands behind the faceplate, both convey the appearance of truth (moved hands on a clock) equally well.So if it's the mechanics of hit points, or anything else, that is bugging you, then it's an issue that is different from the appearance of truth.  As long as the scene plays out in a manner that is described sufficiently to convey an appearance of truth (Second Wind: "you noticed how skilled your foe was with that last axe swing that you barely dodged, briefly demoralizing you, but you manage to put your own inexperience out of your mind for now") then the system is doing enough in my opinion to hold my attention and make it believable enough.And if you are having trouble coming up with how a scene plays out in a manner that conveys enough of an appearance of truth for you, then you should consider the possibility that it is a failure of your own imagination.  For example, if you cannot initially imagine how a scene would play out where a character swaps places with a gelatinous cube in combat, then you would probably get more mileage out of redoubling your efforts to imagine how such a scene might play out, rather than spending your efforts complaining about how the game doesn't give you that explanation.  Part of the fun (for me at least) is thinking through how scenes can play out in a believable, imaginative manner.  And I find almost any scene can be formulated in a believable-enough manner to reflect the mechanical results, if you are imaginative.  Usually, the more difficult it is to imagine the scene, the more interesting and memorable that scene will be after you actually apply the effort to work it out.</blockquote>

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