Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Importance of Verisimilitude (or "Why you don't need realism to keep it real")
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9179053" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>If it's that easy the desingers could come up with any one of those explanations and include those ten words or so in the monster write-up (or, to cover more ground at once, in the write-up on armour types).</p><p></p><p>Yes. As a player, I'll ask for these explanations and expect them to make coherent fictional sense; and when they don't, I'll argue. Which means if I'm the DM and I can't provide those same sort of explanations, that's simply unacceptable.</p><p></p><p>Yes. If the armour gives x-bonus when worn by one being it should give the same bonus when worn by another unless there's a damn good reason for the difference. Otherwise, you don't have simulation at all.</p><p></p><p>Hell, if at 3rd level they can afford to pay a master armourer/artificer to turn that Wyrmling's hide into a suit of +3 scale with fire resist, I have no problem with their doing just that (though they might have a problem with how in-game long it could take). So yes, in cases like this where there's a clear choice, it is better to preserve that immersion rather than break it for purely gamist reasons.</p><p></p><p>I let 'em keep it. Odds are high that sooner or later they'll find a way to break it anyway; and if they don't, so what?</p><p></p><p>Because pure gamism isn't the answer to everything (and might not be the answer to anything). If you're trying as a DM to produce an immersive setting then things within that setting have to be consistent with themselves to the point where it all makes in-fiction sense and the players - both in and out of character - more or less know what to expect.</p><p></p><p>I've been DMing for nigh-on 40 years and I still don't think game balance - in the way you seem to mean it - is all that important. They get some majestically powerful item at 2nd level? So what. Consistency within the lore is IMO far more important, and while "A wizard did it" is indeed a greatly-overused crutch, there's a few occasions when it is the most reasonable explanation; while in al the other cases it's on me (or, better, the designers) to come up with a better one.</p><p></p><p>Put another way, it's my view that the lore is what's there first, and - as the mechanics are merely our abstract means of relating to and interacting with said lore - something's clearly gone wrong if the lore has to bend to suit the mechanics.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 9179053, member: 29398"] If it's that easy the desingers could come up with any one of those explanations and include those ten words or so in the monster write-up (or, to cover more ground at once, in the write-up on armour types). Yes. As a player, I'll ask for these explanations and expect them to make coherent fictional sense; and when they don't, I'll argue. Which means if I'm the DM and I can't provide those same sort of explanations, that's simply unacceptable. Yes. If the armour gives x-bonus when worn by one being it should give the same bonus when worn by another unless there's a damn good reason for the difference. Otherwise, you don't have simulation at all. Hell, if at 3rd level they can afford to pay a master armourer/artificer to turn that Wyrmling's hide into a suit of +3 scale with fire resist, I have no problem with their doing just that (though they might have a problem with how in-game long it could take). So yes, in cases like this where there's a clear choice, it is better to preserve that immersion rather than break it for purely gamist reasons. I let 'em keep it. Odds are high that sooner or later they'll find a way to break it anyway; and if they don't, so what? Because pure gamism isn't the answer to everything (and might not be the answer to anything). If you're trying as a DM to produce an immersive setting then things within that setting have to be consistent with themselves to the point where it all makes in-fiction sense and the players - both in and out of character - more or less know what to expect. I've been DMing for nigh-on 40 years and I still don't think game balance - in the way you seem to mean it - is all that important. They get some majestically powerful item at 2nd level? So what. Consistency within the lore is IMO far more important, and while "A wizard did it" is indeed a greatly-overused crutch, there's a few occasions when it is the most reasonable explanation; while in al the other cases it's on me (or, better, the designers) to come up with a better one. Put another way, it's my view that the lore is what's there first, and - as the mechanics are merely our abstract means of relating to and interacting with said lore - something's clearly gone wrong if the lore has to bend to suit the mechanics. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Importance of Verisimilitude (or "Why you don't need realism to keep it real")
Top