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<blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 5245579" data-attributes="member: 2205">That strikes me as an arbitrary and unclear and undiscernable distinction.&nbsp; Is animal husbandry, then, a science fiction field rather than a fantasy one?&nbsp; If I breed griffins in my fantasy setting to be larger and faster fliers, am I not using principles of biological pseudo-science?That statement doesn't mean what you think it means.Thematically dubious?&nbsp; How about thematically definitive?&nbsp; I came to D&amp;D after reading stuff like Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and stuff like that, so I initially wanted a very &quot;pure fantasy&quot; take on the game.&nbsp; The fact of the matter is, D&amp;D is a poor choice for that, because it was never a design goal of D&amp;D to emulate that kind of setting, and it doesn't really do it well.&nbsp; You either wrestle constantly with the square peg and round hole nature of your situation, or you pick a different game other than D&amp;D, or you embrace the inherent thematic diversity that ranges from fantasy to science fiction, to horror, to weird tale, to mythology, to sword &amp; planet, to Arthurian romance, to Tarzan to... well, all the crap that's in D&amp;D and always has been.I think you're wanting D&amp;D to be something that it's not really and never has been.&nbsp; I'm with you; I've certainly been there, and after coming around the bend and approaching it from a different angle, I'm there again for completely different reasons... but at some point, you call a spade a spade.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Desdichado, post: 5245579, member: 2205"] That strikes me as an arbitrary and unclear and undiscernable distinction. Is animal husbandry, then, a science fiction field rather than a fantasy one? If I breed griffins in my fantasy setting to be larger and faster fliers, am I not using principles of biological pseudo-science? That statement doesn't mean what you think it means. Thematically dubious? How about thematically definitive? I came to D&D after reading stuff like Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and stuff like that, so I initially wanted a very "pure fantasy" take on the game. The fact of the matter is, D&D is a poor choice for that, because it was never a design goal of D&D to emulate that kind of setting, and it doesn't really do it well. You either wrestle constantly with the square peg and round hole nature of your situation, or you pick a different game other than D&D, or you embrace the inherent thematic diversity that ranges from fantasy to science fiction, to horror, to weird tale, to mythology, to sword & planet, to Arthurian romance, to Tarzan to... well, all the crap that's in D&D and always has been. I think you're wanting D&D to be something that it's not really and never has been. I'm with you; I've certainly been there, and after coming around the bend and approaching it from a different angle, I'm there again for completely different reasons... but at some point, you call a spade a spade. [/QUOTE]

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