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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 350293" data-attributes="member: 1645">I think it's a common mistake to confuse D&amp;D's simplicity and abstraction with its lack of realism or its epic non-grittiness.&nbsp; We can make the game both more realistic and less heroic -- two related, but different, things -- by flattening the Hit Point progression -- all without adding any complexity or detail.(I'm not saying here that we should do that, just that an abstract game can be quite a bit more realistic than D&amp;D.)We can also do many things that improve the &quot;realism&quot; (have to put that in quotes around here) without decreasing the heroism, like fixing the healing rules so a wounded Commoner doesn't heal right up faster than a supposedly barely-scratched Barbarian, etc.Very true.&nbsp; I find it amusing that many people on this board full of fairly mature D&amp;D players won't admit that the game is basically an adolescent power fantasy.&nbsp; It is a game of make-believe where you get to be powerful, you don't have to take any &quot;guff&quot; from anyone, you get to blow up monsters, you get the girl (in her chainmail bikini), etc.&nbsp; That's the core ethos of the game.Now, just like an action sci-fi movie, this can be done well, or it can be done poorly.&nbsp; Your game can be D&amp;D equivalent of Alien, Aliens, or Terminator, or it can be Plan 9 from Outer Space.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 350293, member: 1645"] I think it's a common mistake to confuse D&D's simplicity and abstraction with its lack of realism or its epic non-grittiness. We can make the game both more realistic and less heroic -- two related, but different, things -- by flattening the Hit Point progression -- all without adding any complexity or detail. (I'm not saying here that we [i]should[/i] do that, just that an abstract game can be quite a bit more realistic than D&D.) We can also do many things that improve the "realism" (have to put that in quotes around here) without decreasing the heroism, like fixing the healing rules so a wounded Commoner doesn't heal right up faster than a supposedly barely-scratched Barbarian, etc. Very true. I find it amusing that many people on this board full of fairly mature D&D players won't admit that the game is basically an adolescent power fantasy. It is a game of make-believe where you get to be powerful, you don't have to take any "guff" from anyone, you get to blow up monsters, you get the girl (in her chainmail bikini), etc. That's the core ethos of the game. Now, just like an action sci-fi movie, this can be done well, or it can be done poorly. Your game can be D&D equivalent of [i]Alien[/i], [i]Aliens[/i], or [i]Terminator[/i], or it can be [i]Plan 9 from Outer Space[/i]. [/QUOTE]

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