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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6160020" data-attributes="member: 3400">There's a good reason why people do this - it's because no RPG out there ever constructs its own physics or other science engine. They rely, in fact have to rely, on our own understandings of the world around us to fill in the gaps. If you let go of a sword, it doesn't hang in space. It falls. If you slam a door in a charging goblin's face, it won't simply pass through the door but will hit it, possibly injuring itself and damaging the door. If you toss a sheaf of parchments in a fire, they will burn rather than freeze. Science constantly informs our understanding of cause and effect even in games, of in game actions and consequences. Without them, what sort of expectations can a player have when he has his character do something?When it comes to RPG elements, we bend the science rules to allow for the ones we find genre appropriate. Giants don't collapse under their massive weights, dragons breath fire (or other energies), magic actually does things, the Hulk can pick up ridiculously heavy stuff without any real leverage, Cyclops's eyes can fire beams that impart kinetic energy without shoving him around, and so on. But those are all fundamental exceptions to the rules of reality that we import to games like swords fall, goblins can't intangibly walk through doors, and fire burns flammable things.</blockquote>