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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6076577" data-attributes="member: 42582">Two comments.First, just because magic is like science within the gameworld (itself a contentstable notion), it doesn't follow that the player of the magic-using PC should have to be able to think like a scientist. I would want to be able to play Reed Richards or Prof X in a Marvel game without having to be able to think like a scientist (given that I'm not one!).In my view its a strength in an RPG's design if a given player can effectively play a range of different archetypes in that game.Second, that magic is a key part of the world doesn't mean that it has to be more powerful than non-magical abilities: there can be reasons for it to exist other than its power. And even if it is more powerful, it doesn't follow that PCs should have access to that magic, and it certainly doesn't follow that some PCs should get access to that magic simply as a class feature.The idea of playing the game as pure world exploration is all very well, though not my personal prefernce.But what sort of world is interesting to explore? I mean, if Hussar had started his campaign using classic Runequest rather than D&amp;D the issue he describes wouldn't have arisen - no teleport. Conversely, Rolemaster has a fly spell available to 1st level magic-using PCs, which means that the impact of flight magic on the gameworld, if you use the rules as written, is even greater than in D&amp;D.I think it's quite legitimate to criticise the game rules as giving rise to unfun worlds when used for world exploration play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6076577, member: 42582"] Two comments. First, just because magic is like science within the gameworld (itself a contentstable notion), it doesn't follow that the player of the magic-using PC should have to be able to think like a scientist. I would want to be able to play Reed Richards or Prof X in a Marvel game without having to be able to think like a scientist (given that I'm not one!). In my view its a strength in an RPG's design if a given player can effectively play a range of different archetypes in that game. Second, that magic is a key part of the world doesn't mean that it has to be more powerful than non-magical abilities: there can be reasons for it to exist other than its [I]power[/I]. And even if it is more powerful, it doesn't follow that PCs should have access to that magic, and it certainly doesn't follow that some PCs should get access to that magic simply as a class feature. The idea of playing the game as pure world exploration is all very well, though not my personal prefernce. But what sort of world is interesting to explore? I mean, if Hussar had started his campaign using classic Runequest rather than D&D the issue he describes wouldn't have arisen - no teleport. Conversely, Rolemaster has a fly spell available to 1st level magic-using PCs, which means that the impact of flight magic on the gameworld, if you use the rules as written, is even greater than in D&D. I think it's quite legitimate to criticise the game rules as giving rise to unfun worlds when used for world exploration play. [/QUOTE]

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