fusangite said:
But really, the main impacts on the game are the fact that things make sense. Fire elementals only make sense if fire is an element. In Newtonian-Einsteinian physics, fire isn't. Alchemy, as distinguished from chemistry, makes sense.
True, I suppose. I typically don't use elementals, but I've never linked (despite the common terminology) elementals and the elements with the periodic table. But that's a good example of what you're talking about, I think.
fusangite said:
Agreed. But an RPG run by H P Lovecraft wouldn't involve any predictable or consistent system of physics at all. The whole spirit of the Lovecraftian universe was one of chaos and arbitrariness which makes for good storytelling and bad gaming -- this is why Chaosium had to change the principles of his magic system in order to adapt Cthulu to gaming.
I'm not as familiar with the Chaosium ruleset for spellcasting, but in the d20 version, the spells don't even seem to suggest much of a metaphysical worldview; that's more gleaned from the "flavor text" later in the book about what the game's underlying themes are.
fusangite said:
If I were to hazard a guess as to the underlying system of physics Lovecraft's worlds were based on, it appears to have been a version of Renaissance demonic magic: a magic of true names and celestial powers. But true-name magic is very problematic in an RPG setting so I can see why it was dropped.
That does seem to be probably the closest fit, although as you point out, Lovecraft himself used the supernatural as a plot device, and really didn't give much (if any, in fact) thought to making a coherent system or philosophy out of it. But in a way, that's what makes it work. If the whole point is that man can't conceptualize it (without going insane, anyway) then it would be significantly weakened if we were to come across Lovecraft's notes for how it all works.
fusangite said:
Anyway, I'm not sure I can answer your questions to your satisfaction.
Probably not, without going into lengthy descriptions of your campaign setting, which is the kind of discussion I always find fascinating.
Unfortunately, it's quite beyond the scope of the thread, I believe. Although fundamentally rooted in your questions that started all of this.
