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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1978996" data-attributes="member: 7240">For me, a world is a whole package. For most of history, human beings have thought this way and, I believe, still do to a larger extent than we acknowledge. It used to be that the physics of the universe were simply the logical entailment of one's philosophy. In order words, physics and metaphysics have only recently diverged. Or at least we pretend they have diverged. The original philosophy of the Epicureans held that the universe was unintentional, eternal, essentially random and composed of atoms -- they needed to believe the universe was this way in order to justify their semi-hedonistic philosophy of how people should live. Similarly, the Platonists believed the the cosmos was a pale reflection of a perfect immaterial universe made of ideas (forms). It is only since the scientific revolution that we have reversed this order and tried to figure out the physics of the universe independent of our philosophy. But I don't think this really works. The fact is that as science has determined our universe to be unintentional, random and composed of atoms, people who accept these scientific conclusions have tended to adopt a startlingly large proportion of Epicurean philosophy. Similarly, we find that more and more of the committed Christians of the world are increasingly diverging with science when it comes to questions of science when these scientific truths seem to imply a non-Christian ethical system.In other words, I believe that it is in the nature of people believe that they reside in a consistent and intrinsically moral universe. When I run a game, I want my campaign universe to exhibit the same internal consistency that pre-modern people would have demanded of it, first, because it helps to give my campaign worlds a pre-modern feel and second, because when I build a world, a build a consistent whole. Also, on a more practical level, my players are sufficiently creative that they throw me genuine curve balls where I have to figure out what happens when a magic spell or item interacts with something the rules haven't planned for it to interact with. I don't trust myself to wing it every time that happens because if I do, I'll likely end up with a very inconsistent world. Finally, and most importantly, in a game where there is magic, I want the magic to actually fit in with the rest of the world's properties. I'm no enamoured of the idea that magic should function as some kind of trump card that temporarily suspends or invalidates the system of physics by which everything else runs. I prefer worlds where magic is a consistent part of a single overarching system of physics rather than a series of isolated yet incredibly frequent moments where the laws of the universe go into retreat. Every culture in which magic has been practiced (or believed to be practiced) has understood magic as part of its system of physics not a separate principle that periodically shuts physics down.</blockquote>

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