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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9041957" data-attributes="member: 82106">Well, there is little doubt that you have flown on aircraft who's critical systems were simulated using software I wrote in the '80s. In fact it was so successful that for one project we extended our techniques to ALL of the control systems on the aircraft, and slaved the whole simulation to the actual prime contractor's flight simulation system so we could virtually fly the actual aircraft systems through any flight scenario, basically an 'iron airplane'. What I learned from that is that every little detail is critically important. Time and time again our high fidelity models emulated hardware, and coupling to the actual control systems revealed unexpected things. I recall telling the engineers from a certain well-known aerospace company that their airplane would fall out of the sky under certain conditions, which they scoffed at, until it happened (luckily the aircraft wasn't lost in that case). Details matter, in fact the world is NOTHING BUT THE DETAILS! This is why I am utterly dismissive of the idea that anything meaningfully simulative happens in RPGs except for rather trivial cases like 'gravity works like so' possibly.Sure, but what does this have to do with simulation?Realistic, as in plausible and recognizable as being drawn from mundane experience, yes. So you describe a rain shower in a fantasy world as if it was real, drops falling from the sky to the ground, etc. I agree this is realistic at that level and all RPGs, indeed virtually all fiction of all sorts, does this. I think we agree on the core reasons too.In what sense is the D&D version unrealistic and the GURPS version more realistic? Does one more accurately produce a mix of outcomes similar to reality (IE degree of mortality based on distance fallen)? What criteria are you using here? Is it even possible to say meaningfully when D&D PCs simply have a pool of hit points which gets debited when they 'fall', but has no other effect? Thus, can you actually state a logical basis upon which, for instance, the narrative approach you outline is actually less realistic?I'm not debating 'valid creative choices', I'm considering what sorts of qualities different techniques bring to play. Relating this to the original topic of the thread, what sorts of rules are needed in order to bring different desirable qualities into a game?</blockquote>

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