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<blockquote data-quote="Tuft" data-source="post: 5061764" data-attributes="member: 60045">To me personally the sense of magic, mystery and wonder is neither about scarcity nor about blustering descriptions.It's about connotations and associations - connections to common dreams (and fears!), personal ones as well as those embedded in the culture through stories, fairy-tales and sagas. Who has not dreamed about lifting off the ground and flying away, or about being an invisible fly on the wall at some interesting time and place?I've played RPGs for more than 20 years, in campaigns where fly-spells were a dime a dozen.&nbsp; I've played years in the City of Heroes MMO, filled with flying superheroes. I've read yard-high piles of comics with flying superheroes. My 3.5E character has flown almost constantly from level 3 to now level 20 in a campaign that has lasted three years so far, and all characters now fly in that one. And still, after all that, whenever I point at a high point on the the map and say &quot;My character flies up... to... there!&quot; there is a happy little wide-eyed kid somewhere inside me that shouts &quot;Wheeeeee!&quot; and jumps up and down in joy. Flight is just such a classic wish-fulfillment with so strong connotations - even without scarcity.In contrast, a +5 sword might be the rarest thing in the game-world universe, with a back-story a mile long - and still feel just like a game statistics.As for trying to make that plus-something sword appear more cool by showy descriptions, I'd like to say &quot;Show me, don't tell me!&quot; Don't tell me that something is supposed to be an &quot;awesome&quot; thing; let me see it have interesting effects in and on the game world - so interesting that I can form the opinion &quot;hey, this is cool!&quot; all by myself. I've been developing software for twenty years - I've seen far too many &quot;miraculous&quot; software development tools, and the difference between how they were advertised and how they performed, to get impressed by mere descriptions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tuft, post: 5061764, member: 60045"] To me personally the sense of magic, mystery and wonder is neither about scarcity nor about blustering descriptions. It's about connotations and associations - connections to common dreams (and fears!), personal ones as well as those embedded in the culture through stories, fairy-tales and sagas. Who has not dreamed about lifting off the ground and flying away, or about being an invisible fly on the wall at some interesting time and place? I've played RPGs for more than 20 years, in campaigns where fly-spells were a dime a dozen. I've played years in the City of Heroes MMO, filled with flying superheroes. I've read yard-high piles of comics with flying superheroes. My 3.5E character has flown almost constantly from level 3 to now level 20 in a campaign that has lasted three years so far, and all characters now fly in that one. And still, after all that, whenever I point at a high point on the the map and say "My character flies up... to... there!" there is a happy little wide-eyed kid somewhere inside me that shouts "Wheeeeee!" and jumps up and down in joy. Flight is just such a classic wish-fulfillment with so strong connotations - even without scarcity. In contrast, a +5 sword might be the rarest thing in the game-world universe, with a back-story a mile long - and still feel just like a game statistics. As for trying to make that plus-something sword appear more cool by showy descriptions, I'd like to say "Show me, don't tell me!" Don't tell me that something is supposed to be an "awesome" thing; let me see it have interesting effects in and on the game world - so interesting that I can form the opinion "hey, this is cool!" all by myself. I've been developing software for twenty years - I've seen far too many "miraculous" software development tools, and the difference between how they were advertised and how they performed, to get impressed by mere descriptions. [/QUOTE]

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