How real is your fantasy?

[s/LaSH]

I know what I want, and I think I'm good enough to provide reasons for things being that way. Those reasons will, of course, show up other logical things that should be or happen, so those go in there too.

So yes, I like realism. I'm fond of the march of technology, and I'll throw that into things in certain ways - my Dungeon Damage world is very much a world of advance, as (for example) steel weapons weren't around in the last big empire (Rome) or in any time before that, and magic is very strictly regimented by the understanding of the universe, so no teleporting via the Astral, no planar theory beyond Heaven/Middlearth/Hell, no explosions, and no flight without wings.

Or my scifi, where change is just as prevalent in the hypertech 51st century as it is today, and your phrel blaster is probably outdated tech the moment you lay hands on it.

Or my Twilight world, where things are Big and Old, the suns are sentient, and aerial continents change the climate in their shadow. It's logical beyond that, although tech levels in no way resemble those of our world; fallen cyberempires and demon invasions mean the current civilisation is an odd mix of tech cabals and dragonriders and telepaths from over the sea. Wristwatches and spiritbound totems are common; plasma swords and extraplanar cities aren't. I kinda like it.

I guess the concept of internal realism is what I like. As shilsen said - it works in context.

 

[Dogbrain]

The only campaign "realism" that matters is whether or not the world is what I call "self-supporting". By such, I mean that the setting requires that one need not ignore the implications of the world for that world to be maintained.

This means, of course, that vanilla D&D fails, utterly.

 

[fanboy2000]

I make no attempt at realism. This isn't to say that there is no realism in either of the campaigns I run, (I run 2, one Eberron and one homebrew) I just don't make a effort at it. Nor do me or my players care.

 

[Galethorn]

Does the population in your fantasy world reflect Real World populations of a comparable era?

Does the technology (magical or scientific) match Real World methods and discovery?

Do road systems, trade routes, shipping lanes, etc. match Real World logistics?

Do political systems and political borders match Real World equivalents?

Does the geographic features of your world match Real World geographic features?

Yes on all of them. The only difference between my world and the real world is that, 1.) there's sentient races other than humans, 2.) the geography (earth-like in formation and nature, but different from earth), 3.) the good guys always win in the end, 4.) the supernatural is 'real' (in that some people can cast spells, undead roam in some places, and dragons, though uncommon, do exist, and can fly), and 5.) there aren't any palm trees more than about 1000 miles from the equator; the gods don't allow them.

So far, the only discrepency to cause things to stumble was more based on DM stupidity than anything (me not coming up with a good reason for a king to send his troops out before spring), but nobody seemed to really notice.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There's a difference between realism and verismilitude, though anything with the former will include the latter.

Discworld has verisimilitude...it works according to it's own rules, it's just that the rules aren't very realistic.

Something like d20 Modern has more 'realism.' Or at least as realistic as over-the-top, action-packed adventures can ever get.

Something like Harnworld has SCADS of realism. Things work according to the way they work on earth, with a few exceptions.

My worlds tend away from realism, which is why the argument "well, that wouldn't exist in Medieval Europe!" never held weight for me, because that was never, ever a goal of my games. I could care less about Medieval Eurpoe. I want D&D!

 

[jgbrowning]

It's as real as it needs to be to please myself and my players. That varies.

joe b.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I'm sure that I've deviated from normal geographics, demographics, politics, etc. simply because I have such a rudimentary understanding of those things.

The continent on which my players play is large, sparsely populated, blah blah blah.

But the continent was formed by three enormous volcanoes now gone dormant. The continent's greatest city is situated at the base of one of these volcanoes. One reason for that is tradition, but also because there are a plethora of magical hot springs that have various magical effects.

The world's core is composed of sonic, fire, and positive energies.

I don't know if rivers come out of their mountain ranges properly, I don't know if the valleys I've created were formed correctly, I don't know if the people of a certain nation would logically live under a feudal monarchy for 500 years.

But I think it's pretty interesting; I enjoy it and my players seem to as well (though they haven't had a chance to explore the nuances yet, and in truth I'm building a lot of it as I go).

 

[Orius]

In the case of having say three moons, how do they affect the world? One could work in various socio-religious-political factors, not to mention enviornmental factors - in this case how does the tide work? Or does it ever get really dark at night?

From my campaign notes:

arropia has 3 moons, each named after the daughters of Armen, the sun. They are, Arista, Melora, and Rania.

Arista is the largest moon, a pale grey-green orb. Arista's lunar cycle take 30 days to complete. Each month is measured by the phases of Arista, and begins when Arista is new. The phases of Arista affect elemental magic.

Melora is a bright, silvery-white moon, and is the second largest moon in the night sky. Melora's lunar cycle is 20 days long. Melora is new during the equinoxes and full during the solstices. The phases of Melora affect good magic.

Rania is a small, dark, dull blood-red moon. Rania's lunar cycle is the shortest, taking 18 days to complete. Rania is always new at the beginning of a season. The phases of Rania affect evil magic and also lycanthropy.

In addition, the world has a year of 360 days, with 12 months of 30 days each. The equinoxes tend to be the darkest nights, since all three moons are new at the same time. Rania doesn't give off a lot of light, so nights tend to be dark when Arista and Melora are only a cresent or new. Also note that afflicted lycanthropes get hit with a full moon more often then normal. The moons each are represent by a goddess of the same name, Arista is neutral, and is concerned with nature and time, Melora is good and is concerned with good magic, and Rania is evil and concerned with evil magic. I haven't really considered much how the moons affect the tide on my world, and it hasn't come up as an issue, since the player's haven't gone sailing on the ocean yet, or live near the sea.