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<blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 5332553" data-attributes="member: 18253">FRP games like fantasy books and movies require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief but audiences still expect a certain amount of internal consistency. In general, for the latter cases, the smaller the amount of disbelief the better it works. Audiences will interprete the game, movie or novel within the mechanics of real-world + &quot;established suspension of disbelief&quot;.&nbsp;Games are somewhat different in pracitce in that they have a huge body of rules (generally) that defines the &quot;disbelief&quot; necessary to execute them but it is still the same principle. So if the rules call for high fire resistance and it is well integrated into the rest of the system, most folks won't complain.&nbsp;But in all genres if the author/ref/screenwriter keeps changing the required suspension of disbelief, the audience gets annoyed. The reference point keeps changing and they lose the context for enjoying the situation. What's the fun of battling Sauron if Gandalf at the end of the books pulls out a nuclear fireball?&nbsp;Now, some people might quibble with the amount of suspension of disbelief required for a certain work but that's a personal preference issue. You might like James Bond movies, others might think they are preposterous and stupid. Others might dislike anything to do with magic and prefer their RPs to be gritty historical games. There's nothing right or wrong about that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Haltherrion, post: 5332553, member: 18253"] FRP games like fantasy books and movies require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief but audiences still expect a certain amount of internal consistency. In general, for the latter cases, the smaller the amount of disbelief the better it works. Audiences will interprete the game, movie or novel within the mechanics of real-world + "established suspension of disbelief". Games are somewhat different in pracitce in that they have a huge body of rules (generally) that defines the "disbelief" necessary to execute them but it is still the same principle. So if the rules call for high fire resistance and it is well integrated into the rest of the system, most folks won't complain. But in all genres if the author/ref/screenwriter keeps changing the required suspension of disbelief, the audience gets annoyed. The reference point keeps changing and they lose the context for enjoying the situation. What's the fun of battling Sauron if Gandalf at the end of the books pulls out a nuclear fireball? Now, some people might quibble with the amount of suspension of disbelief required for a certain work but that's a personal preference issue. You might like James Bond movies, others might think they are preposterous and stupid. Others might dislike anything to do with magic and prefer their RPs to be gritty historical games. There's nothing right or wrong about that. [/QUOTE]

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