Things in RPGs that make your brain hurt

[Fred Brackin]

In Chivalry & Sorcery 1e (and 2e also) there was an Alchemy section with alchemical processes that produced products and byproducts. It was actually the byproducts that were most interesting to general mages.

The byproducts of the operations involving precious gems were magical diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires each of 200 carats.

Way back in 1979 when I first saw it I thought "Isn't that rather large?" and I struggled wit some density calculations and converting carats to cubic centimeters.

I wouldn't have to do that today.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/21/world/...wless-diamond/

Behold a _100_ carat diamond. Back in the day my mathematical struggles had ended up somewhere between "golfball" and "doorknob". I appear to have been pretty close.

However, if you wish to take in the full silliness you have to look at the rules for magic rings that used all _four_ of the Alchemist's stones.
A buckler shield maybe but not a ring.

Anyone else have some similar ecounters etwee rules ad reality?

[ericthered]

This applies to lots of games, tabletop and electronic, but having high hit points and being able to soak lots of damage always really bugged me. Its just not how the world works! Getting injured isn't something you just shrug off like that. I know it makes the games so much more playable, but it still irks me...

[Disliker of the mary sue]

Originally Posted by ericthered

This applies to lots of games, tabletop and electronic, but having high hit points and being able to soak lots of damage always really bugged me. Its just not how the world works! Getting injured isn't something you just shrug off like that. I know it makes the games so much more playable, but it still irks me...

Meh it only weird when your character could be stark naked and yet be more sturdy then a tank.

[simply Nathan]

The idea that a Paladin can't multiclass with Bard or Ranger.

The fact that a Paladin and a Cleric are two different laterally-related archetypes.

The idea that alignments other than Lawful Good should have some sort of champion paladin-equivalent shoehorned in.

...

In GURPS, that a scythe costs $15 when a small knife costs $30. That a baton costs $20, a boomerang costs an identical $20 but does things a baton can't without a downside, and an appropriately-made stick weapon for other melee skills would be $5.

[Vargant]

I always found the idea of alignments to be very odd.
What does Lawful Good stand for? Which laws does this person obey? If a kingdom has cruel rules, does he follow them? How does this even work with different law-systems for different places?

Alignments are just so black-and-white that I can´t get my head around them.
People behave in a way, that seems logical and/or useful to them. What is logical and useful is completely subjective.


Also Hitpoints sometimes bother me, but that depends on how the system interprets them. Things like fighting to your death with no penalty at all, are just strange...

[Landwalker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

This applies to lots of games, tabletop and electronic, but having high hit points and being able to soak lots of damage always really bugged me. Its just not how the world works! Getting injured isn't something you just shrug off like that. I know it makes the games so much more playable, but it still irks me...

I was thinking exactly this. Manually-adjudicated games (i.e. not computer or video games) that use "Hit Points" to represent defensive competency make my head hurt with all of the logical implications. Then I realize I'm trying to apply logic to something that completely defies logic, and my brain hurts more. Then I give up and leave.

Which should make the Pathfinder game I recently joined very interesting, as I'm trying to get over that brain-block and just take an approach of "roll with whatever's working right now."

[Anders]

In Swedish RPGs, bronze is typically depicted as cheaper than iron.

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

The idea that a Paladin can't multiclass with Bard or Ranger.

Yeah. IIRC (D&D 3.x) it was thematic w.r.t. the Paladin, rather than a mechanical balance issue. No, I didn't like it either.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Vargant

Alignments are just so black-and-white that I can´t get my head around them.

They originated in Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories, where Law and Chaos are fundamental forces. The Good-Evil axis was added at AD&D.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Anders

In Swedish RPGs, bronze is typically depicted as cheaper than iron.

That sort of thing happens a lot ... better and more expensive are usually directly correlated unless something very unusual has happened.

Originally Posted by Vargant

I always found the idea of alignments to be very odd.
What does Lawful Good stand for? Which laws does this person obey? If a kingdom has cruel rules, does he follow them? How does this even work with different law-systems for different places?

Alignments are just so black-and-white that I can´t get my head around them.
People behave in a way, that seems logical and/or useful to them. What is logical and useful is completely subjective.

Alignments have always seemed odd to me as well - probably okay as a thumbnail sketch of personality (lawful good being sort of "collectivist/altruist" against chaotic evil's "individualist/selfish"), but as things that can be detected and effected by magic - let alone having their own languages like early versions of D&D - are insane.

Originally Posted by Vargant

Also Hitpoints sometimes bother me, but that depends on how the system interprets them. Things like fighting to your death with no penalty at all, are just strange...

Also +1 on this ... the sort of "critical existence failure" at 0 HP just seems incongruent to me as well.

Some of these are design artefacts from D&D's wargaming roots which have been tracked into other systems. Although most other systems make some attempt to simulate wound penalties.