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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 7926548" data-attributes="member: 75787">It is both more realistic AND more gamist to send some lackeys to slit their throats in the night. That's an easy question because there's no conflict between realism and fun.A trickier scenario would be this:If you are trying to clear out a trap-filled tomb, and then right before you enter the final room room you unroll your sleeping bag on his back porch and take a nap, which is more realistic: that you can do so because you've disabled all the traps around you and made the rooms safe, or a wandering monster attacks you having previously been lurking off-stage undetected by anyone?You can argue that the trap-filled tomb contains a secret room full of skeletons that you didn't;t notice, and that you locking and blocking the door was not sufficient because these skeletons have once-per-day passing or whatever other rationalization you want, but everyone will know that you're just justifying a gamist need with a simulationist veneer.I'm not arguing that simulation-first is wrong -- just that it needs moderation. Sometimes game-fun decisions take priority. In happy situations where they align, great! But if they don't, then for this particular case (along with a few others like hit points, pass/fail skill results and lack of wounds) I'd argue that you should go with rules that make the game fun, and consider simulation secondary.I'm a narrative-first GM; I'll modify a scenario in-flight to improve the narrative. But just because I like narrative first, doesn't mean I ignore the other aspects. I rarely change the combat rules or outcomes, since people like to have those as solid rules they can depend on. And if the players have a strong feel for how something behaves (like gravity!), I'm not going to override a logical simulation of that for narrative concerns.Sumamrizing; I think this is a situation where even if you are simulation-first, strongly consider not doing so for this case; this subject is one that has perennially plagued games, and it's one that exceptional designers like Rob Heinsoo and Jonathon Tweet have concluded cannot be resolved using a simulationist framework, I'd tend to say that it's one where going with the gamist approach is the better default strategy.</blockquote>

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