Wednesday, April 6, 2011

the Sucker Punch, abandoning realism


I liked Sucker Punch. It was a rock and roll, gonzo kick ass movie. While watching a combat sequence in which the heroine faces down a giant demon samurai , I had a thought. How very D&D this fight was. During the fight she gets hit and flies through the air and crashes against a wall. The impact leaves a crater. She shrugs it off and gets back into the battle. A perfect visual example of how hit points work. Its not realistic, it doesn't even try to be. But it works because the world is fantastic, larger than life, magical and wondrous. Even a little bit anime. Definitely a make believe world. If the players can get behind the idea of that, than the other iconic features of D&D can work as well. Levels, experience points and even armour class can make sense. So inspired by how cool it looked on the movie screen. And what a cool world it was. Sucker Punch has motivated me to abandon realism in gaming. In truth I have been moving away from it for some time.

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