When does Verisimilitude break down?

S

silentspace

First Post
As characters gain greater powers, the concept of 'realism' tends to lose meaning. What effects do different spells/monsters/technologies have on the world? Its fun to imagine, but you'll never really figure out all the implications. Take the development of the automobile. It seems obvious now, but who could have forseen all the implications? The suburbs. Patterns of urban development. The garage. The global trade in petroleum. Supertankers. Cross-continental pipelines. Gas stations clustered at corners. The interstate highway system. Beltways. On-ramps. Smog. Formula 1 racing. Gigantic parking lots. Runoff, drainage and flooding issues due to high percentage of paved areas. Storm sewers. Improvements in petroleum technology. Plastics. Ceramics. Insurance. Licenses. Traffic control systems. On and on.

At what point/level does verisimilitude break down in your campaign?
 

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Like all great RPG questions, the answer is, "it depends".

It can fall apart at level one, when an aged wizard who can blow holes through mountians sends you on an epic quest because he senses you are an agent of destiny.

It can fall apart at level ten, when you've kicked the bad guy's butt a little sooner than the DM planned and suddenly you find your world invaded by mind flayers for no reason.

It can fall apart at level twenty, when the DM doesn't move you to another plane but doens't like the idea of you being godlike compared to everyone else, so suddenly the barmaid is a level 15 ranger.

It all depends on the DM and the game. Personally, my suspension of disbelief took a turn for the worse in the middle of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil where the clerics of St Cuthbert wanted 100gp for a cure light wounds even though they beleived we were the only people around fighting the forces of evil. Sure, I understand the necessity of such a thing in a game. You can't have them giving out heals and buffs for free. But the cost was so great, I had a hard time rationalizing such a thing.
 

silentspace said:
As characters gain greater powers, the concept of 'realism' tends to lose meaning. What effects do different spells/monsters/technologies have on the world? Its fun to imagine, but you'll never really figure out all the implications. Take the development of the automobile. It seems obvious now, but who could have forseen all the implications? The suburbs. Patterns of urban development. The garage. The global trade in petroleum. Supertankers. Cross-continental pipelines. Gas stations clustered at corners. The interstate highway system. Beltways. On-ramps. Smog. Formula 1 racing. Gigantic parking lots. Runoff, drainage and flooding issues due to high percentage of paved areas. Storm sewers. Improvements in petroleum technology. Plastics. Ceramics. Insurance. Licenses. Traffic control systems. On and on.

At what point/level does verisimilitude break down in your campaign?
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Trying to infer large-scale effects on the world from the PHB/DMG/MM is similar to an alien trying to construct human society with just a human biology textbook. Basically garbage in, garbage out.
 

silentspace said:
At what point/level does verisimilitude break down in your campaign?
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It breaks down when you start thinking about things too much!

It doesn't make sense that in less than a year or two first-level nobodies can rise to Epic levels, for instance.

Anything that is described in game mechanics poorly (at best) imitates anything in real life.

So the solution is not to think about it for too long. :)
 

True, but thats what we do, no? Unless your campaign is one giant dungeon crawl with no exits to the outside world. Dungeons definitely make things a whole lot easier.
 


silentspace said:
True, but thats what we do, no? Unless your campaign is one giant dungeon crawl with no exits to the outside world. Dungeons definitely make things a whole lot easier.
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You design a world and then tinker the rules to fit it.

You don't design a world around the D&D rules.
 

Numion said:
You design a world and then tinker the rules to fit it.

You don't design a world around the D&D rules.
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Odd. Very few people around here (I thought I was a somewhat unusual exception) actually do tinker the rules to fit the world.

However, very few people actually tinker their settings to match the rules as well. Most people just accept the paradox and don't let it affect them. SHARK being a notable exception to the contrary.
 

SHARK does have some house rules he uses, but generally speaking his campaign is the only one I ever played in where the game would be just as fun at 1st level as it would be at 60th level.

Most likely because he built his world around the D&D rules and with epic characters in mind.
 

Dragonblade said:
SHARK does have some house rules he uses, but generally speaking his campaign is the only one I ever played in where the game would be just as fun at 1st level as it would be at 60th level.

Most likely because he built his world around the D&D rules and with epic characters in mind.
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Exactly my point, and I remember a conversation I had with SHARK once upon a time, where I told him that we both see the same problem (a disparity between what the rules say the world should look like and what the world actually looks like) but that we had completely opposite approaches to the problem. I tend to tinker with rules, he tends to tinker with setting assumptions.
 

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