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
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What is the worst piece of DM advice people give that you see commonly spread?
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="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9007914" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Which is why I don't even use "verisimilitude" anymore. Because the issue is, people don't actually care that much if things <em>resemble what is true or real</em> (the meaning of "verisimilitude.") What they care about is that the <em>perception</em> of naturalistic reasoning is present--that you <em>feel</em> like you could, if you asked the right questions at the right times, use nothing more than your intuition and logic and some empirical observation to figure out how things work or what the true state of affairs is. A huge range of utterly impossible things can be rationalized under this standard, so long as they've been properly explained so that that intuitive, naturalistic reasoning <em>feels</em> like it can be applied--even if in practice that doesn't work well, as long as it <em>feels</em> like it works, it's good.</p><p></p><p>It's not <em>verisimilitude</em> that folks care about. It's <em>groundedness</em>. A work that feels grounded will give such folks exactly what they want, even though it may be wildly unrealistic and actively defy how things really work IRL. A work that feels un-grounded will be alien and "wrong" to such folks, even if it is otherwise highly realistic and attempts to stick very close to real-world physics principles.</p><p></p><p>And what one person considers grounded may not have <em>any</em> relationship to what another person considers grounded. Which is one of the key problems of any fantastical thing built around being grounded--you must take pains to ensure that the maximum number of people agree that it is grounded. This is <em>much</em> easier said than done, despite what some might argue about this kind of experience. (Using this phrase because it applies outside of TTRPGs--board games, video games, even written or cinematic works all touch on this.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9007914, member: 6790260"] Which is why I don't even use "verisimilitude" anymore. Because the issue is, people don't actually care that much if things [I]resemble what is true or real[/I] (the meaning of "verisimilitude.") What they care about is that the [I]perception[/I] of naturalistic reasoning is present--that you [I]feel[/I] like you could, if you asked the right questions at the right times, use nothing more than your intuition and logic and some empirical observation to figure out how things work or what the true state of affairs is. A huge range of utterly impossible things can be rationalized under this standard, so long as they've been properly explained so that that intuitive, naturalistic reasoning [I]feels[/I] like it can be applied--even if in practice that doesn't work well, as long as it [I]feels[/I] like it works, it's good. It's not [I]verisimilitude[/I] that folks care about. It's [I]groundedness[/I]. A work that feels grounded will give such folks exactly what they want, even though it may be wildly unrealistic and actively defy how things really work IRL. A work that feels un-grounded will be alien and "wrong" to such folks, even if it is otherwise highly realistic and attempts to stick very close to real-world physics principles. And what one person considers grounded may not have [I]any[/I] relationship to what another person considers grounded. Which is one of the key problems of any fantastical thing built around being grounded--you must take pains to ensure that the maximum number of people agree that it is grounded. This is [I]much[/I] easier said than done, despite what some might argue about this kind of experience. (Using this phrase because it applies outside of TTRPGs--board games, video games, even written or cinematic works all touch on this.) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What is the worst piece of DM advice people give that you see commonly spread?
Top