Raven Crowking
First Post
Kinda like electric scorpians could be awesome, in context, if the "director" hadn't assumed everyone would think they were so awesome that they became the baseline?
Mundane vs. Fantastical
- Thread starter Remathilis
- Start date
Kinda like electric scorpians could be awesome, in context, if the "director" hadn't assumed everyone would think they were so awesome that they became the baseline?
My name is Mallus and I disapprove of this message!
Seriously though, I've always found that my players relate more to the characters and their motivations than their trappings. A peasant can be less believable than a laser-equipped shark, depending on the quality of the characterization.
Maybe what I'm trying to say is that it's better to strive for psychological believability. Consider Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you examine the show'ss trappings; SoCal vampires, suburban demons, 98 lbs kung-fu schoolgirls, eventually, robots, it looks like an utter mess. Completely unbelievable. Then look at the way this freakshow is written, characterized. Suddenly, the show becomes one of the more realistic and effecting coming-of-age stories on TV.
I'll concede "Buffy," but most of us are not Joss Whedon. Carrying an extended storyline on the strength of characterization alone is quite a challenge. And "Buffy" took a rather tongue-in-cheek approach to the whole business; the writers were well aware of how ludicrous their premise was, and frequently made sly jokes about it for the benefit of the audience.
For us mortal DMs, I think it's better to strive for both believable trappings and believable characters.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
Perfectly plausible at low levels in any edition. Mundane animals provide a challenge for about 1-3 levels, depending on the edition, and that's it.
The level-based nature of D&D means that threats must escalate along with your PC and that's not going to change. There's only so much you can wring out of a mundane Earthly animal until you're forced to make it shoot lightning or something just so it's more than a speedbump to even a moderate level character.
And almost all of that criticism is stuff and nonsense. 1E and 2E had just as many fantastical creatures as 3E does. Moreso, I'd say, because 3E is missing all the really weird stuff that came out for the various 2E boxed settings, plus most of the 'gotcha' monsters, which tended to be bizarre in the extreme. Just as many magic items, just as many spells, or whatevers.
Can the same not be said about Gygaxian D&D?
If I wanted believable trappings I'd... do something other than play D&D
3E had dire animals going up to CR 16. Those aren't "mundane earthly animals," but they also don't shoot lightning.
Well, yes. And if you prefer that style, more power to you. Gygaxian D&D doesn't tremendously appeal to me.
If I wanted believable trappings I'd... do something other than play D&D
I admit the bar is set rather low, but I would still like a firm foundation of quasi-realistic stuff (note the "quasi," which means dire bears are cool but dire lightning-shooting flying bears are not) upon which to build my edifices of fantasy.
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Completely opposite, actually.
Film is a dynamic medium. The audience engages with the film at the pace the film sets. Most film simply accepts this. Some experimental film rejects it -- to its detriment -- or plays with the notion of pacing and expectation.
Print is a static medium. (I'm excluding audiobooks here because seriously, how would you understand the ding-dang tables?) The audience engages with it at a pace they set themselves.
The electric scorpion is an entry on a page of a book. The worst it can do to you is inspire you to hold your nose and turn the page.
cool. once you get the list you could compare to the mm, add up the exp, ad get conan's level.
MichaelSomething
Legend
Fantasticalness is sort of like spicyness. Some people choke if you if you put a drop of hot sauce in their food while others arn't happy until they're sweating. It's a dail that you turn up or down until you find the level your happy with.
High Fantasy can be both good and bad.
For another example of high Fantasy done well, consider Avatar: The Last Airbender. People toss around fire and boulders all the time, and it only make the world cooler, not all wahoo.
High Fantasy can be both good and bad.
For another example of high Fantasy done well, consider Avatar: The Last Airbender. People toss around fire and boulders all the time, and it only make the world cooler, not all wahoo.
