Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="vulcan_idic" data-source="post: 2311944" data-attributes="member: 19615">Maybe so, maybe not.&nbsp; It seems evident that your campaign settings such thought patterns would be prevalent, in mine less so.&nbsp; In my perspective magic in a fantasy world is not unnatural - it permeates the world and is natural, a fact of life.&nbsp; Those who study magic are studying the laws of their world as it exists and thus learning how it works.&nbsp; Math is magical, even more so in a world where magic is real and actual.&nbsp; Whether or not the populace at large would have a conception of the intracacies of how math and/or magic operate, I have little doubt that a mage who studies things in general and magic in particular, and has all their life would certainly understand how that magic operates at least at a fairly competent level - they must in order to produce the magical effects they do on a daily basis.&nbsp; Even so it would be easily arguable, as it has been in this case, that such a person of scholarly pursuits might be able to take such an approach.&nbsp; The general populace may believe or not in magic or math - it does not matter.&nbsp; What matters is that the scholar in question believes in them and is intelligent enough to reason out the way math or magic works - to solve for where to dimension door to...&nbsp; or to cast the dimension door itself.And as a game the primary objective is to have fun rather than authenically, painstakingly (and painfully) replicate every small niggling detail on any subject someone in the gaming group wishes to pontificate about and wish is were more &quot;realistic&quot;.&nbsp; For it is certainly so important to have a faithful representation of the &quot;realistic&quot; mathematical, scientific, and other aspects of our fantasy population that we can afford to have dragons, spells, minotaurs, and so forth.&nbsp; Will allowing the player to do this enhance enjoyent of the game overall?&nbsp; Will disallowing this action increase overall group pleasure?&nbsp; Does it matter whether or not it's realistic?&nbsp; The DM's decision in this case moves the story forward in a pleasurable and memorable way for all those involved.&nbsp; To me this makes it an extremely successful decision regardless of it's plausibility or lack thereof from a mundane perspective.That said this certainly seems to be a case of toe-MAY-toe/toe-MAH-toe.&nbsp; I wish all good games.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="vulcan_idic, post: 2311944, member: 19615"] Maybe so, maybe not. It seems evident that your campaign settings such thought patterns would be prevalent, in mine less so. In my perspective magic in a fantasy world is not unnatural - it permeates the world and is natural, a fact of life. Those who study magic are studying the laws of their world as it exists and thus learning how it works. Math is magical, even more so in a world where magic is real and actual. Whether or not the populace at large would have a conception of the intracacies of how math and/or magic operate, I have little doubt that a mage who studies things in general and magic in particular, and has all their life would certainly understand how that magic operates at least at a fairly competent level - they must in order to produce the magical effects they do on a daily basis. Even so it would be easily arguable, as it has been in this case, that such a person of scholarly pursuits might be able to take such an approach. The general populace may believe or not in magic or math - it does not matter. What matters is that the scholar in question believes in them and is intelligent enough to reason out the way math or magic works - to solve for where to dimension door to... or to cast the dimension door itself. And as a game the primary objective is to have fun rather than authenically, painstakingly (and painfully) replicate every small niggling detail on any subject someone in the gaming group wishes to pontificate about and wish is were more "realistic". For it is certainly so important to have a faithful representation of the "realistic" mathematical, scientific, and other aspects of our fantasy population that we can afford to have dragons, spells, minotaurs, and so forth. Will allowing the player to do this enhance enjoyent of the game overall? Will disallowing this action increase overall group pleasure? Does it matter whether or not it's realistic? The DM's decision in this case moves the story forward in a pleasurable and memorable way for all those involved. To me this makes it an extremely successful decision regardless of it's plausibility or lack thereof from a mundane perspective. That said this certainly seems to be a case of toe-MAY-toe/toe-MAH-toe. I wish all good games. [/QUOTE]

Verification