Prince of Happiness
First Post
Ringan said:
+5 to Awesome!!!
What real world elements show up in D&D the least?
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
+5 to Awesome!!!
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." -Benjamin Franklin
But not so in the D&D world, at least for the player characters.
Celebrim was right on with taxes.
Death is certain, but mostly takes the form of the corpses left in the characters' wake. As Dark mentions genuine fear of dying on the part of the characters is severely lacking and I think this lack has something to do with the abundance of healing and spells that can bring the dead back to life (as well as the implicit assumption that every encounter is "winnable"). (You'll have to forgive me, it is just that the idea of Raise Dead and Resurrection as commodity leaves a sour taste in my mouth.) As a subset of the larger issue of death broken bones, disfigurements, maiming, illness, fatigue, and so forth don't show up nearly enough within the game.
But this brings me to my own contribution to the discussion:
Dying words. There are no dying words in D&D. One is either already dead, unconscious, or simply a swig or a spell away from full health and vitality. So, I guess the closest thing we have to dying words in D&D are "Hang on, I've got 12 potions of extra-healing in my backpack."
But not so in the D&D world, at least for the player characters.
Celebrim was right on with taxes.
Death is certain, but mostly takes the form of the corpses left in the characters' wake. As Dark mentions genuine fear of dying on the part of the characters is severely lacking and I think this lack has something to do with the abundance of healing and spells that can bring the dead back to life (as well as the implicit assumption that every encounter is "winnable"). (You'll have to forgive me, it is just that the idea of Raise Dead and Resurrection as commodity leaves a sour taste in my mouth.) As a subset of the larger issue of death broken bones, disfigurements, maiming, illness, fatigue, and so forth don't show up nearly enough within the game.
But this brings me to my own contribution to the discussion:
Dying words. There are no dying words in D&D. One is either already dead, unconscious, or simply a swig or a spell away from full health and vitality. So, I guess the closest thing we have to dying words in D&D are "Hang on, I've got 12 potions of extra-healing in my backpack."
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Prince of Happiness said:
Actually I had a player once (not in DnD however) who was an engineer and decided to play an engineer ic. He thus became the city engineer who had a couple of adventures refortifying the city walls and then, since he had the best knowledge of there layout, was sent with a hired party to investigate strange going ons in the city sewers (it turned out to be deranged cultists)
I also make a point of having children playing and the occasional pregnant woman be seen in the background as PCs enter a village. The villagers themselves are usually busy tending crops or out on fishing boats.
It rains whenever I remember to mention it (although usually I don't)
but I think the main thing missing from the experience is smell...
