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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NoWayJose" data-source="post: 5263993" data-attributes="member: 84810">There will always be comic book fans, Trekkies, etc. who analyze this sort of thing. These are people who point out that the tie was blue in scene 1 but then the tie is red in the next scene, that writer 1 made the Hulk stronger than writer 2, an issue that's external to the believability of the fiction. This is someone obsessed with adjucating the rules of the game. As above, this has nothing to do with in-game or in-fiction believability. If you want, you can divide everyone into 2 camps (Anti-D&D-the-way-it-is-now and Pro-D&D-the-way-it-is-now) and lump ALL types of complaints into some sort of caricature of a nerd engineer who complains about every detail and laugh at him for being an angsty obsessive nerd so that you don't have to take the time and effort to actually read what he's writing, but it's not honest. I just imagined roleplaying in an absurdist fiction setting, and it came out funny at first and then a complete mess. Haven't actually read those books so nothing further to add. The furious emphasis that believability requires numerous factual fantasy details mystifies me. Yes, every nice compelling detail helps to flesh out the believability of the world (ie., Dune, Hyperion, etc.) Yes, details have their time and place and it's up to the writer or developer to decide how much to include. No, readers and players in general do not consciously demand a certain level of details simply to ensure believability. P.S. I would point out the Draconomicon DOES go into biological details of dragon anatomy, and that Forgotten Realms is dense with geography and history. Not that I need it personally, but it's there. There's also a strong subjective personal element. I can imagine a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who enjoys a dumb action movie as much as anyone else. Then he sees the Hurt Locker and complains that the uniforms are wrong or that 'they would have never done it like that'. I wouldn't share his concerns, but I don't call him an obsessive nerd either as I could empathize how that might the throw off the immersion for him. For everyone else, RPGs don't need to be plausible down to every little detail. The ideal RPG, however, sets the bar a little higher. Is this a revolutionary incomprehensible concept to you? If people were happy with the status quo, we'd be watching fun but dumb movies like True Lies all the time and never have gotten The Matrix. So what's the problem with expecting a little more?</blockquote>

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