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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7391229" data-attributes="member: 82106">Now, see, I argue that 'Simulationism' isn't an agenda. All games are overwhelmingly gamist; they ARE games, and MUST practically bow to practical considerations. So any questions of what might be 'realistic' are largely moot. What is being served are 2 things, verisimilitude (which is a pure aesthetic agenda) and the ability of the players to reason about the narrative constraints which the current fictional positioning imposes on them (which is fundamentally a playability consideration, though it may be cast in aesthetic terms as well at times, in which case it is often confused with the previously mentioned verisimilitude).In any case, I could even, ironically, make an argument for the 'realism' of the Cortex+ technique. On the whole players aren't that good at tracking their inventory of equipment. They are also quite likely to be biased in favor of having things when needed even at the expense of an accurate inventory. There is also a lot of gray area. Realistically what percentage of arrows would you be able to recover after a fight? How long would it take? How many times would they be usable before wearing out? I'm unaware of any RPG which has done the actual research which would be required to establish this (and I don't even think such research is feasible). Thus any values for inventory are effectively arbitrary gamist constructs to begin with. A lantern requires 1 pint of oil every 4 hours because Gary Gygax decided that was the right number to vex his players with a logistical challenge in 1974. I seriously question if this number is based in any sort of reality at all. I mean, it sounds plausible, but 1 hour and 12 hours also sound plausible! Given the dubiousness of all these numbers, who says that the procedure of using plot points (probably along with some general consideration of how often the resource has been used) isn't AT LEAST as accurate in actual terms as the fairly arbitrary tracking you're espousing? I mean, I can't even come close to proving it is or it isn't, but neither can you! Thus I would claim that this ENTIRELY an aesthetic 'verisimilitude' type of question. This is also why I discount the very existence of 'simulationism' as a thing in RPGs.</blockquote>

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