THE DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE TO ROLEPLAYING
RESPONSIBLE REALISM
Realism is a terrible excuse for making a game less enjoyable
Words by Richard Jansen-Parkes Art from Soulbound Courtesy of Cubicle 7
Perhaps this is an obvious statement to make. After all, most of us play games that only flirt with the concept of reality at the best of times. In real life, there are no dragons or aliens. Actual hackers don’t work by mind-jacking the defence grid, but by randomly trawling a database of customer passwords they stole from a soap website.
Despite this, it’s tempting for GMs and players alike to hoist the banner of realism as though it trumps all other arguments. We try to bring real-life arguments into games that are about as unreal as it’s possible to get.
When you’re trying to do something cool, there are few things more infuriating to hear than: “Sorry, you can’t do that. It’s not very realistic.” Especially because it’s hard to argue against. Because it’s usually true.
Blackpowder weapons didn’t work in the way they’re usually portrayed in films and fantasy books. Studded leather armour, a staple piece of gear in Dungeons & Dragons and the games it inspired, never really existed. Serious armies didn’t use longswords as their primary weapons. Everything probably smelled real bad.