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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 2380538" data-attributes="member: 8447">Realism is a pretty big blanket in this gaming world of ours...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />It is interesting what people feel they need "realistic" in any given game.  I knew a Cyberpunk campaign that derailed as two guys argued incredibly boring minutiae regarding pistol calibres, barrel groove stylings, and grains-per-bullet measurements.  I was the techie guy in the game and stopped them by dropping an electronics catalog on the game table saying, "I see ya and raise ya.  Every one of your guns are made of parts.  I only get an Electronics or a Mechanical Kit.  You guys are arguing about pointless small details.  Do you want me to slow the game down to discuss what gauge and grade of wire I have before every assignment?"Other folks get hung up on physics, thus demanding to know the air-speed velocity of ... well, you know, but still allowing for wizard's throwing fireballs.I ran my first Ars Magica campaign with a bunch of Medieval & Renaissance History graduate students.  To make sure there were no arguments on the topic, I switched the campaign world to Harn, thus derailing any potential arguments about who was the Sherriff of Sussex in 1228.  A certain amount of realism is great.  Without it the whole game simply becomes chaotic.  And if everyone is interested in the same topic, the matter becomes much easier.  After a while, though, you have to draw the line or else you open yourself (and your game) to all sorts of silly abuse over the minutiae of the world.  So tell 'em to take a deep breath and pass along.  If a point becomes a major issue to the group as a whole, that is one thing; if it is only important to one or two people and it is slowing down the game for others, that is another matter.</blockquote>

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