Historical accuracy and Fantasy gaming

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

Even in Lord of the Rings, as heroic and epic as the characters are, the story still makes an attempt to explain things in a semi-realistic way. Aragorn and Gimli stand upon a bridge at Helm's Deep and fight off a horde of enemies by themselves, but it's still somewhat realistic because the horde is approaching them from a narrow bridge where their numbers aren't capable of swarming the two. Gandalf has incredible powers, and he can probably fell legions with the right spell, but he still has weaknesses; he's also a demigod of sorts if you read the books, so it makes sense that his powers are above those of other characters.

Originally Posted by Suriyel

Basically, reality tends to get weird when you have a small band of sociopathic "Sovereigns" each with the power of a small army concentrated into one body gallivanting about the country side. As a GM, you either have to roll with it and let them (ab)use their powers as they want (...)

"And there are names among us that are worth more than a thousand mail clad knights apiece."

Gandalf, The Return of the King, IX

A potentially disruptive resource kept on track being in the right hands. Player quality and matureness matters a lot in serious RPGs. Still, Aragorn or any other of those heroes could be seriously wounded or killed as result of some wrong decisions, and not be simply saved by the typical sheer amount of hit points -or any other measure of harm: so, suited rules always are helpful.