The impacts of Fantasy on (fantasy) society

[fuzzlewump]

I'd love to see an entire book, or at least chapter devoted to taking the rules of the world into account. Think the Dungeonomicon with more detail for how to run games as the DM: Whoops! Browser Settings Incompatible

Basically, I want there to be rules of society that would be in place assuming the core rules are used. How do powerful organizations, like Kingdoms, deal with Wizards? How do common burglars deal with the alarm spell? How does the economy work? (even if its totally broken, at least address it, or make it internally consistent.)

I guess I want to have some sort of guidelines on having the world make sense. I happen to know that a burial tomb being filled with 1000's of GP worth of traps that guards 100 gp doesn't make any sense. But, not every new DM does. And, just what defenses should it have, if any? What spells do wizards in the world typically cast to defend such a place? How does anyone defend against Scry and Die, etc.

Now, there might be great answers to each of these questions, but like I said, I want expert game designers to sort of address them and bring each mechanic to its logical conclusion in the game world. For example, we know gravity exists in our world, so archers point their bows upward to account for it, and we generally avoid falling from things, because it can kill us, and so on. Basically, I want that sort of explanation, but for spells, monsters, gods, and everything that makes fantasy- fantasy. This of course, to a point. Society perhaps simply cannot deal with spells above level 3, or monsters above level 6, or has no preparations. But if that's the case, I want it to be designed and stated.

What do you think?

 

[Tom Servo]

I doubt we would ever see an official release of anything like this, at best we might get a third party book trying to put together the pieces after the fact.

I must say though, I really like the idea. Just a nod to verisimilitude. They don't have to get bogged down in the minutiae, but even a basic indication that they've given these things some thought would be nice. It would go a long way in fleshing out and giving depth to their settings as well. It would also save the DM some time and effort.

To go off on a tangent for a sec. I don't know why but nothing spoils an adventure idea for me faster than the rewards being transparently based on what a party of a certain level "ought" to get rather than what makes sense (I'm looking at you Svetlana and your 250 gp reward for moon radishes).

 

[Dausuul]

In general, I agree with you. But:

I guess I want to have some sort of guidelines on having the world make sense. I happen to know that a burial tomb being filled with 1000's of GP worth of traps that guards 100 gp doesn't make any sense.

From a profit-maximizing perspective, it makes no sense to lock 100 gp away in a tomb to begin with. A tomb is not a business proposition and burial goods are not investments in any normal sense. If your religion views 100 gp worth of grave-goods as vital to avoid an afterlife of misery, you might well spend thousands on traps to protect them. The dead can't go out and buy another 100 gp worth of grave-goods when the first set is stolen! Likewise, there is value in keeping intruders from profaning the dead, especially if it's likely to result in angry undead emerging from the tomb.

(On the other hand, the idea that the traps still work after centuries of neglect is pretty dubious.)

This just points up the extent to which verisimilitude depends on your assumptions. I'm reminded of the people who went ape over 4E's change to magic item sales to give 20% instead of 50%, screaming that it was totally unrealistic. Now, when you consider the real-world equivalents of the "sell your loot" transaction (pawnshops, fences, etc.), you see that 20% is a lot more likely than 50%. But that's totally counter-intuitive for people accustomed to the low-friction world of eBay and CraigsList, so they find it unrealistic.

They don't have to get bogged down in the minutiae, but even a basic indication that they've given these things some thought would be nice. It would go a long way in fleshing out and giving depth to their settings as well. It would also save the DM some time and effort.

Yeah, this is what I would like to see. I may not agree with the thinking underlying all of WotC's world-building decisions, and that's okay. But I would like to see that there is thinking beyond "what will get the PCs back to the dungeon ASAP?"

 

[Minigiant]

One of my biggest issues with D&D is its blindness to high level NPCs and strong monsters. The archmages, heroic swordsmen, old dragons, and giant... giants sit around and get face stomped by PCs using tactics they don't and don't go extinct when warring with each other over wealth, info, and resources. It puts a lot of strain on DMs when the monsters' lairs and defenses are so easily pierced. This is why I hope a lot of the supermagic and magic items are toned down. Then whatever is left in is explained. If you leave it in; make it rare, hard to find, or counterable.

 

[Andor]

This is why, IMHO, Planescape and Darksun in 2e and Eberron in 3e were so popular. They portrayed worlds that actually made internal sense within the rules system.

And I agree. In resurrection is common and easy then the NPCs should know it and maybe murder is only a misdemeanor, or three consecutive life sentances is not a joke.

 

[Buugipopuu]

Murder would still be a felony even with easy access to Resurrection. If you destroyed thousands of gold pieces (when most people don't earn more than a few gold a month) worth of someone's property, you wouldn't get off with a mere fine, and Resurrection is expensive to cast (and may cause level/constitution loss on top).

 

[Sunseeker]

Certainly some things should be defined, but I like the fuzziness to a lot of these issues. It really allows for individual games to adjust a lot of these things on the fly and avoids all those annoying situations when a player thinks your world isn't working "right".

 

[Derren]

The problem is that the more magical and more high level it gets, the more the logical conclusion would deviate from what the majority expects as fantasy (LotR inspired).

 

[Living Legend]

I don't know why but nothing spoils an adventure idea for me faster than the rewards being transparently based on what a party of a certain level "ought" to get rather than what makes sense (I'm looking at you Svetlana and your 250 gp reward for moon radishes).

Did you ever notice the track marks behind Svetlana's knees, she's a moon loon dude, a radish junky if I ever saw one. It's hard to get the rad radish that far out from civilization. I don't know what the street value of a pound of moon radishes is, but you probly could've talked her into twice what she gave you, sucker.

 

[Sunseeker]

The problem is that the more magical and more high level it gets, the more the logical conclusion would deviate from what the majority expects as fantasy (LotR inspired).

LOTR isn't particularly very magical, so I think that's okay.