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<blockquote data-quote="Pedantic" data-source="post: 8840564" data-attributes="member: 6690965"><p>You've brought this up a few times, and I think you might be lumping a few different positions together that probably need to be considered individually. You seem to be describing games here that focus on a mechanics>fiction relationship with an explicit goal of simulation. They're trying to model a world that makes sense and/or portrays specific elements of the the setting/genre to a sufficient degree of abstraction. </p><p></p><p>You can imagine an internet forum of people on the same page about the rules intent discussing the specifics of the ranseur vs. the guisarme or laughing about the idea of studded leather armor.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>What you're pointing to here is a good example of the split. Mechanics as the ultimate source of fiction isn't necessarily a simulationist position; what you're describing here is primarily a gamist position, with simulation as a necessary step toward achieving that goal. A strict relationship between mechanics and fiction allows for player problem solving; by having a fixed set of rules that define the game world, a player can leverage those rules to paly efficiently. The design here calls for simulation, not so much because it's important to get the elements of the setting right (and genre simulation probably generally overrides concerns of "realism" when they arise), but because the player must rely on setting elements to be consistent, so they can effectively make optimal play decisions. Additionally, it's useful as a player to be able to draw mechanical conclusions from expected setting elements (i.e. rogues are good at sneaking, so using stealth is likely a strong play as one).</p><p></p><p>It doesn't matter if say, armies are ineffective vs. individuals at the higher levels, as long as that is a predictable, knowable and expected outcome of the rules, that just becomes setting information players use to play the game effectively.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pedantic, post: 8840564, member: 6690965"] You've brought this up a few times, and I think you might be lumping a few different positions together that probably need to be considered individually. You seem to be describing games here that focus on a mechanics>fiction relationship with an explicit goal of simulation. They're trying to model a world that makes sense and/or portrays specific elements of the the setting/genre to a sufficient degree of abstraction. You can imagine an internet forum of people on the same page about the rules intent discussing the specifics of the ranseur vs. the guisarme or laughing about the idea of studded leather armor. What you're pointing to here is a good example of the split. Mechanics as the ultimate source of fiction isn't necessarily a simulationist position; what you're describing here is primarily a gamist position, with simulation as a necessary step toward achieving that goal. A strict relationship between mechanics and fiction allows for player problem solving; by having a fixed set of rules that define the game world, a player can leverage those rules to paly efficiently. The design here calls for simulation, not so much because it's important to get the elements of the setting right (and genre simulation probably generally overrides concerns of "realism" when they arise), but because the player must rely on setting elements to be consistent, so they can effectively make optimal play decisions. Additionally, it's useful as a player to be able to draw mechanical conclusions from expected setting elements (i.e. rogues are good at sneaking, so using stealth is likely a strong play as one). It doesn't matter if say, armies are ineffective vs. individuals at the higher levels, as long as that is a predictable, knowable and expected outcome of the rules, that just becomes setting information players use to play the game effectively. [/QUOTE]
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