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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7213066" data-attributes="member: 4937">First, you've not established the Mark Twain is correct, or that his intent in writing the passage was not primarily to entertain.  As a noted writer of satire, it could well be that the passage you quote is not intended to be taken as wholly reliable and might indeed even be farcical.  Indeed, several of the statements in the 'rules' have notable characteristics associated with being jests or japes, which might render the meaning of the whole quite different than what you intend.   And at best, all you've done here is make an Appeal to Authority, which is a logical fallacy.But even if we assume Mark Twain's authority is reliable and definitive and the statements he makes are statements of fact, surely it is obvious that Mark Twain is not claiming that no stories exist which violate these rules.  If the rules could not be violated, there would be no need to outline them.  Rather it is obvious that Mark Twain is presenting rules which he believes one should not violate if one is to make a good story.  So the obvious conclusion to draw from your point is that Mark Twain would not believe the stories you create are good ones, and we should not conclude that your games are not stories; we should just understand that they are not good stories.  I concur that most D&D games aren't good stories.  That they aren't good stories doesn't make them any less stories.  The only question I consider really interesting is whether D&D games should be good stories.</blockquote>

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