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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 5711105" data-attributes="member: 7006">I don't deal with 'serious injuries'... because the GAME CONVENTIONS that are put into place to make the game actually work as a game... result in the avatars taking TOO MANY 'serious injuries' to make ANY narrative sense.A D&D character on its journey from levels 1 to 30 will probably drop below 0 hit points dozens (if not multiple dozens) of times on its way.  And to think that anyone could sustain THAT MANY agonizing, painful, and potentially deadly injuries (even if they get magically healed away) without suffering at the very least severe psychological issues is completely ridiculous.  Game conventions ask us to just handwave away the pain and suffering a PC endures when they get mauled by a bear or engulfed in a dragon's fiery breath.And whereas most people's narratives would be "Hey, I just fell into a pit of acid and felt the undescribeable agony of almost my entire body melting away... now that this nice priest has healed my physical wounds, I still have extreme mental wounds of that experience and I think I'm just going to go home and get a job at the stables so I NEVER have to feel something like that again."... any GAME avatar's narrative is "Eh... so ten minutes ago I got to watch as my entrails fell out of my abdomen and landed in a pile on the floor due to that orc slicing me open with a greatsword.  So what?  I took a HEALING POTION!  I've completely FORGOT about all that, cause I FEEL GREAT!  So let's move onto the next room with the giant swinging scythe pendulums!  No big deal at all!"  And that happens OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER ad nauseum through all 30 levels.  What kind of NARRATIVE is that?!?THAT'S why I find trying to make "narrative sense" out of ANY PART of game combat is a futile effort.  I don't find it at all possible without handwaving parts of it away.  And at that point... if I'm suspending my disbelief on one part and handwaving it away... what right do I have to get mad AT THE GAME because I refuse to suspend my disbelief at another part?Obviously there are plenty of you out there who do.  But I just fail to sympathize with you because I find the whole argument kind of silly.  D&D's narrative (and indeed almost any game's narrative) for combat is extremely light.  And to try and make it any more than that is to close your eyes to it.</blockquote>

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