Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9041386" data-attributes="member: 42582">From time to time, streams in Middle Earth dry up or at least run low - there is drought, Ents dam them, whatever else happens. Sometimes, and conversely, streams run deeper than normal.With that in mind:The players decide to travel to Helm's Deep. Is the Deeping Stream running shallow, with the result (eg) that the fortress is short on water? Is the Deeping Stream in flood, making it hard for travellers (or enemies, or reinforcements) to approach?&quot;Assumptions about the world itself&quot; will not answer these questions. (As [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] has, in particular, emphasised over many threads.)Someone can just make it up.Maybe someone rolls on the &quot;streams in drought or flood table&quot;. (I don't think I've ever seen such a table in a RPG rulebook, but I'd be surprised if there has never been one ever in the history of RPG publishing.)The GM can call for a &quot;ride to the Deep&quot; roll, or a &quot;call reinforcements&quot; roll, and use the outcome of that roll as a trigger for introducing some adversity that otherwise would be absent - a shallow or flooded stream, a shortage of water, etc. This is how Burning Wheel does it, for instance.None of these produces &quot;world facts&quot; that are more or less external, that are more or less &quot;real&quot;. They will produce different play experiences. For instance, a system of rolling on random-possibility-of-obstacles tables, like the &quot;streams in drought or flood table&quot;, will tend to push play towards an operational focus: preparation, logistics, and the like become highly salient elements of play. (Depending on what sorts of random-possibility-of-obstacles tables are in use, the operational focus will vary: tables about streams and terrain produce a hex-crawl vibe; tables about peasant uprising and political crises will produce a different sort of play.)I think it sheds no light at all to describe this sort of play as more &quot;realistic&quot; than the Burning Wheel-esque approach.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9041386, member: 42582"] From time to time, streams in Middle Earth dry up or at least run low - there is drought, Ents dam them, whatever else happens. Sometimes, and conversely, streams run deeper than normal. With that in mind: The players decide to travel to Helm's Deep. Is the Deeping Stream running shallow, with the result (eg) that the fortress is short on water? Is the Deeping Stream in flood, making it hard for travellers (or enemies, or reinforcements) to approach? "Assumptions about the world itself" will not answer these questions. (As [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] has, in particular, emphasised over many threads.) Someone can just make it up. Maybe someone rolls on the "streams in drought or flood table". (I don't think I've ever seen such a table in a RPG rulebook, but I'd be surprised if there has never been one ever in the history of RPG publishing.) The GM can call for a "ride to the Deep" roll, or a "call reinforcements" roll, and use the outcome of that roll as a trigger for introducing some adversity that otherwise would be absent - a shallow or flooded stream, a shortage of water, etc. This is how Burning Wheel does it, for instance. None of these produces "world facts" that are more or less external, that are more or less "real". They will produce different play experiences. For instance, a system of rolling on random-possibility-of-obstacles tables, like the "streams in drought or flood table", will tend to push play towards an [I]operational[/I] focus: preparation, logistics, and the like become highly salient elements of play. (Depending on what sorts of random-possibility-of-obstacles tables are in use, the operational focus will vary: tables about streams and terrain produce a hex-crawl vibe; tables about peasant uprising and political crises will produce a different sort of play.) I think it sheds no light at all to describe this sort of play as more "realistic" than the Burning Wheel-esque approach. [/QUOTE]

Verification