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Worlds of Design: “Old School” in RPGs and other Games – Part 1 Failure and Story
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7769064" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>But, flipping a coin isn't a simulation at all. A simulation actually has to tell you something about what happened. It has to answer basic questions and flipping a coin answers nothing. Just because you get a result does not make something a simulation. Otherwise everything is a simulation and the term is meaningless. </p><p></p><p>IOW, a simulation has to create a model by which an independent viewer could actually understand how you got from A to B to C. Now, if we use a coin flip and you declare monster X is dead, an independent viewer has absolutely no idea how you got that result. What does a "heads" actually mean in the fiction? Well, because a coin flip is about as gamist as it comes, it means anything you want it to mean, so long as Monster X is dead. So, any and all narratives are equally valid and indisputable. </p><p></p><p>Imagine applying that logic to GURPS or RuneQuest. Or Star Fleet Battles. "What do you mean my warp drive exploded? Well, I flipped a heads. *table flips*" <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>But, be that as it may, from a world point of view, D&D has shown very little interest mechanically in simulating anything. Completely borked economic systems, complete disregard to anything approaching a functioning ecosystem, absolutely no attention paid to how the existence of magic would impact social and political structures in an iron age setting. So on and so forth. </p><p></p><p>D&D does one thing really, really well - makes interesting adventures for players to play through. Anything beyond that is generally just pulled out of the DM's imagination.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, you mention Traveller. Now THERE is a world simulating system. Can't fault that one. But, again, compare Traveler to D&D. AFAIK, D&D has never produced anything like the Traveller world generation system for creating fantasy worlds.</p><p></p><p>Although, to be fair, THAT'S a supplement I would LOVE to see.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7769064, member: 22779"] But, flipping a coin isn't a simulation at all. A simulation actually has to tell you something about what happened. It has to answer basic questions and flipping a coin answers nothing. Just because you get a result does not make something a simulation. Otherwise everything is a simulation and the term is meaningless. IOW, a simulation has to create a model by which an independent viewer could actually understand how you got from A to B to C. Now, if we use a coin flip and you declare monster X is dead, an independent viewer has absolutely no idea how you got that result. What does a "heads" actually mean in the fiction? Well, because a coin flip is about as gamist as it comes, it means anything you want it to mean, so long as Monster X is dead. So, any and all narratives are equally valid and indisputable. Imagine applying that logic to GURPS or RuneQuest. Or Star Fleet Battles. "What do you mean my warp drive exploded? Well, I flipped a heads. *table flips*" :D But, be that as it may, from a world point of view, D&D has shown very little interest mechanically in simulating anything. Completely borked economic systems, complete disregard to anything approaching a functioning ecosystem, absolutely no attention paid to how the existence of magic would impact social and political structures in an iron age setting. So on and so forth. D&D does one thing really, really well - makes interesting adventures for players to play through. Anything beyond that is generally just pulled out of the DM's imagination. Well, you mention Traveller. Now THERE is a world simulating system. Can't fault that one. But, again, compare Traveler to D&D. AFAIK, D&D has never produced anything like the Traveller world generation system for creating fantasy worlds. Although, to be fair, THAT'S a supplement I would LOVE to see. [/QUOTE]
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