Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxwell Luther
The new rules encourage tactical manuever and use of powers far above verisimilitude or immersion in the world. And those two things are what define an RPG for a great many folks...
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Maybe but then... There is one level where D&D is a very simulationist game, and I say this without the slighest int of irony. D&D does not emulate the common man, granted. But it simulates something that exists in the real world: The top star specialist.
From sport professionals to pop starts; from movie stars to corporate world starts; all these people are expect to have no psychological depth other that wanting to achieve, achieve, achieve and achieve some more of the task they assumed for their lives, their roles in life. They have concrete skills they need to keep developping, they have a clear ladder that takes them from promising amateur into the top of the tops, they have concrete metrings to measure their success. All of this is simulated by D&D in a fantasy context. And all of this exists in the real world.
Jumping more than 10m is "far above verisimilitude or immersion in the world", yet there is an handful of people that dedicate their lives to do just this. Flying to the moon is "far above verisimilitude or immersion in the world", yet there is an handful of people that live for this. Moving around the globe in private jets to finish out-of-this-world business deals is "far above verisimilitude or immersion in the world", but there are people that do it. All these people have similar mindsets. All of them got rid of deep psychological issues, individuality, personality, you name it, unless it served the roles they and society assigned them. D&D simulates this mindset very well.
Of course, real life is not a game and some people can't cope with such a life. Well, they just turn into "failures" or self-destroy themselves. In their cases their existance as a 'character' gets into battle with their existance as a 'role'. This is the only moment where D&D fails to be a precise simulation, in its inhability (or lack of will) to put role and character at clash. But if we discount this, I think D&D strives for as much "verisimilitude or immersion in the world" as we can configure for a certain type of character. In that context it makes all sense to focus the game on "tactical manuever and use of powers".