Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How much does reality matter in your games?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Trickstergod" data-source="post: 1913541" data-attributes="member: 10825"><p>I'm of a few opinions: </p><p></p><p>First off, if I'm buying a book, I want the author's to be quite familiar with the subject. If they're writing about sailing, they should have a good grasp of the terminology, the ships and the technology they had in one time period or another, a bit about wind, the stars, and so on. </p><p></p><p>However, I don't necessarily think that they should put all of that into a book. What's important is that they know the material thoroughly and then <em>deliberately</em> decide to take certain things out because they're not particularly necessary, fun, or just too complicated. </p><p></p><p>Because if I'm going to buy a book on something, it is, in part, because I don't want to have to do all the research and what not. If I didn't mind everything being made up, though, then guess what? I'd do it myself, probably. </p><p></p><p>So book-wise, I want the author to have known the material and then deliberately taken things out as opposed to just not knowing about them to begin with. </p><p></p><p>In my games? </p><p></p><p>Generally, anything that I know wouldn't work or would be ineffective with pretty much a glance and no practical knowledge is something I hate, hate, hate. Double-weapons leap immediately to mind. I knew they were ineffective even without knowing a thing about them. </p><p></p><p>Conversely, however, things like genetics, the existence of 30', human shaped giants and what not, well, while I know that they are apparently quite impossible. But it's not something I would know without some practical knowledge on the matter. It can also be attributed to magic (something that a dire mace can't be). </p><p></p><p>By that same token, the more complex an explanation needed for why something would happen in a certain way, but without being obvious, well, the less likely I am to use it. </p><p></p><p>Now, if the people I'm gaming with or myself have a good understanding of some topic, I would welcome their input or probably tweak things just a bit to go with what I understand that the game system neglects. But, for the most part, the only things I have a problem with are those things that I don't need to do more than glance at, not know anything about it, yet still be able to point out and say "No, that just won't work." And even then, that's only with something fairly mundane.</p><p></p><p>Again, though, that's just my games; anyone writing a book abouts swords and armor, or tactics, or ships, should be competently knowledgeable on the subject.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trickstergod, post: 1913541, member: 10825"] I'm of a few opinions: First off, if I'm buying a book, I want the author's to be quite familiar with the subject. If they're writing about sailing, they should have a good grasp of the terminology, the ships and the technology they had in one time period or another, a bit about wind, the stars, and so on. However, I don't necessarily think that they should put all of that into a book. What's important is that they know the material thoroughly and then [i]deliberately[/i] decide to take certain things out because they're not particularly necessary, fun, or just too complicated. Because if I'm going to buy a book on something, it is, in part, because I don't want to have to do all the research and what not. If I didn't mind everything being made up, though, then guess what? I'd do it myself, probably. So book-wise, I want the author to have known the material and then deliberately taken things out as opposed to just not knowing about them to begin with. In my games? Generally, anything that I know wouldn't work or would be ineffective with pretty much a glance and no practical knowledge is something I hate, hate, hate. Double-weapons leap immediately to mind. I knew they were ineffective even without knowing a thing about them. Conversely, however, things like genetics, the existence of 30', human shaped giants and what not, well, while I know that they are apparently quite impossible. But it's not something I would know without some practical knowledge on the matter. It can also be attributed to magic (something that a dire mace can't be). By that same token, the more complex an explanation needed for why something would happen in a certain way, but without being obvious, well, the less likely I am to use it. Now, if the people I'm gaming with or myself have a good understanding of some topic, I would welcome their input or probably tweak things just a bit to go with what I understand that the game system neglects. But, for the most part, the only things I have a problem with are those things that I don't need to do more than glance at, not know anything about it, yet still be able to point out and say "No, that just won't work." And even then, that's only with something fairly mundane. Again, though, that's just my games; anyone writing a book abouts swords and armor, or tactics, or ships, should be competently knowledgeable on the subject. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How much does reality matter in your games?
Top