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Worlds of Design: A Time for Change
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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7785134" data-attributes="member: 6873517"><p>They didn't live thousands of years in AD&D, but more like a few centuries, and it didn't consistently say they had only one or two children. That's lifted from Tolkien, where elves really really are going extinct! AD&D elves were decidedly less alien. Regardless, D&D has really never pretended to be a paragon of consistent world building. Most D&D worlds are way overloaded with apex predators, to say nothing of fantastic carnivores (or whatever-ivors) that make no sense in a standard ecology but make perfect sense narratively in terms of providing threat for the PCs. </p><p></p><p>Furthermore, lots of things that are generally appropriately powered compared to other abilities would drastically change the world if the logical conclusions were drawn. Light spell (now a cantrip!) is a good example. It's not that great a spell vis a vis other spells. Thinking in a purely gamist fashion, it's totally appropriate the way it is, but it would utterly shift the world were they to be available so easily and Continual Light is even worse. This is to say nothing of spells like Plant Growth or the effectively infinite sources of fire provided by Create Bonfire or food from Create Food and Water. These spells would totally shift the world were the logical conclusions taken. </p><p></p><p>However, most players don't care---they're interested not in simulating some slightly shifted version of reality but in heroic fantasy. Of course, everybody's got their point of what they're willing buy into, but this is going to be some mixture of genre concerns, story, "realism", and just personal taste.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7785134, member: 6873517"] They didn't live thousands of years in AD&D, but more like a few centuries, and it didn't consistently say they had only one or two children. That's lifted from Tolkien, where elves really really are going extinct! AD&D elves were decidedly less alien. Regardless, D&D has really never pretended to be a paragon of consistent world building. Most D&D worlds are way overloaded with apex predators, to say nothing of fantastic carnivores (or whatever-ivors) that make no sense in a standard ecology but make perfect sense narratively in terms of providing threat for the PCs. Furthermore, lots of things that are generally appropriately powered compared to other abilities would drastically change the world if the logical conclusions were drawn. Light spell (now a cantrip!) is a good example. It's not that great a spell vis a vis other spells. Thinking in a purely gamist fashion, it's totally appropriate the way it is, but it would utterly shift the world were they to be available so easily and Continual Light is even worse. This is to say nothing of spells like Plant Growth or the effectively infinite sources of fire provided by Create Bonfire or food from Create Food and Water. These spells would totally shift the world were the logical conclusions taken. However, most players don't care---they're interested not in simulating some slightly shifted version of reality but in heroic fantasy. Of course, everybody's got their point of what they're willing buy into, but this is going to be some mixture of genre concerns, story, "realism", and just personal taste. [/QUOTE]
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