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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9029026" data-attributes="member: 42582">Slightly tangential: I think the default theological orientation of FRPGing, inherited I think from REH via D&amp;D, is more-or-less nihilistic.What I mean by that is that, while many gods/deities/powers are imagined to exist in the gameworlds, the play of the game generally denies their importance in the world - eg d20 rolls are generally treated as modelling luck, not providence. In my view this is connected to assumptions about which participants &quot;own&quot; the gods: because the GM is seen as &quot;owning&quot; these beings, but the player rolls the d20, the d20 can't be an expression of providence. While a player might play their PC as believing that (say) a lucky success was an intercession by the gods, the system tells us, the participants, that that character is deluded, and that is was mere impersonal chance that produce the outcome in question.A system that really departs from this nihilistic orientation is HeroWars. I also think that 4e D&amp;D does, but that may be a slightly more idiosyncratic approach to the game.To connect this back to the current topic of this thread: I think there is some sort of connection between the purist-for-system simulationist ethos, and the nihilistic orientation I've described.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9029026, member: 42582"] Slightly tangential: I think the default theological orientation of FRPGing, inherited I think from REH via D&D, is more-or-less nihilistic. What I mean by that is that, while many gods/deities/powers are imagined to exist in the gameworlds, the play of the game generally denies their importance in the world - eg d20 rolls are generally treated as modelling luck, not providence. In my view this is connected to assumptions about which participants "own" the gods: because the GM is seen as "owning" these beings, but the [I]player[/I] rolls the d20, the d20 can't be an expression of providence. While a player might play their PC as believing that (say) a lucky success was an intercession by the gods, the [I]system[/I] tells us, the participants, that that character is deluded, and that is was mere impersonal chance that produce the outcome in question. A system that really departs from this nihilistic orientation is HeroWars. I also think that 4e D&D does, but that may be a slightly more idiosyncratic approach to the game. To connect this back to the current topic of this thread: I think there is some sort of connection between the purist-for-system simulationist ethos, and the nihilistic orientation I've described. [/QUOTE]

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