Remathilis
Legend
Irda Ranger said:
But, thats TRUE. These things DON'T matter until the PCs step into the scene because the game follows THEM and their dramatic narrative, not Bob the Blacksmith's. Fourth Edition seems to REALLY be going into a mindset that "The world is more-or-less static until the PCs are involved" because, well, it's true. Even the act of hearing about far-off wars, political scandal, or other events that don't happen in the PCs view still involves the PCs (in the role of audience to such tales). So for as far as the game is concerned, the orc has been standing there guarding his pie diligently until the PCs come to attack, the blacksmith made that sword the moment the PC wanted to buy it, and the gold spent on it disappears as magically as it appeared in the orc's treasure chest. We only create the illusion of a living world by making things appear to move without PC involvement, but unless you randomly roll the weather for far off countries or prescript the kings agenda for the next 25 days, those events don't matter to the narrative of the PCs.
Dave's comment is that they haven't put much thought into the effect of dumping 1,000s of gold coins into a local economy, what a cleric selling healing would do to local apothecaries and surgeons, and what the REAL cost of an Elixir of Love would be (I guarantee much more than 150 gp) because that stuff doesn't matter to players who want to experience adventures, fight monsters, encounter rogues and scoundrels, solve mysteries, explore ruins, and kill things and take their stuff. The "real world" is nothing more than theater scenery for that.
As long as that scenery looks real enough to suspend disbelief for a world of magic, elves, and dragons, I'm fine with it. Anything more than that is just distracting me from the story my Players and I are telling...
