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2016-08-24, 11:21 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
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2016-08-24, 11:42 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
The point is, he's a thing that looks like a tree. He wasn't hiding or in the shadows, like Strider and Gollum and the rest. He was standing on a hill enjoying the sunlight. If they studied the strange stump carefully, they would have noticed he wasn't a tree but some kind of person, but at a glance it was not obvious. And Treebeard describes how ents gradually can go "treeish" when they stop moving, and more ents nowadays are going "treeish" than there are trees becoming "entish". If trees can become "entish" and vice versa, they can't be all that different in look or proportions.
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2016-08-24, 11:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
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2016-08-24, 11:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
No, he didn't say exactly the same. But they aren't proportioned much differently, because they can turn into trees and trees can turn into them. The movie did make them look more tree-like than I think the book describes them, with all kinds of knots and extra protrusions and skin exactly like bark. "Indistinguishable" is a matter of degrees. An ent standing completely still (as they often are) can be mistaken for a tree, that is what the text describes.
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2016-08-24, 12:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
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2016-08-24, 12:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2004
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- Lincoln, RI
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
FWIW I found this description from Wikipedia.
Originally Posted by WikipediaThose who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.- Benjamin Franklin
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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2016-08-24, 12:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
That's the (I'm pretty sure mis-quoted by womeone writing it into Wikipedia) description of Treebeard when the Hobbits first encounter him. Later, at the Moot, we also hear about Ents as different to him as one kind of tree is to another, except their eyes all have that same, peculiar quality.
So the description doesn't apply to every Ent.My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
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2016-08-24, 12:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2004
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.- Benjamin Franklin
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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2016-08-24, 01:03 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Why would, and why wouldn't you? I'm certainly not faulting you.
It doesn't spell 'Hobbits' with a capital H. I'm pretty sure the book gets that right.
Edit: Well, that shows me! The 'h' is correct. Both 'Man' and 'Troll' are spelled with a capital letter, but not Hobbit. *shrug* Well, what do I know?Last edited by hymer; 2016-08-24 at 01:06 PM.
My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
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2016-08-24, 01:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2004
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.- Benjamin Franklin
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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2016-08-24, 08:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
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- Dallas, TX
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2016-08-24, 08:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
I also though Merry was a girl. I don't remember if I was mistaken about Pippin, too, or not. Probably not.
I remember when I took karate, sometime when I was in elementary school. I asked the teacher if we were going to learn ninja magic. So apparently I thought ninjas and karate masters could do stuff like teleport or do stuff like Ryu from Street Fighter.
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2016-08-25, 12:07 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2004
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- Lincoln, RI
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2016-08-25, 12:18 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2014
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2016-08-25, 08:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2008
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums.
I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that. -- ChubbyRain
Current Design Project: Legacy, a game of masters and apprentices for two players and a GM.
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2016-08-25, 09:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- Dromund Kaas
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
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2016-08-25, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
I don't remember the words he said, but I recall he took it pretty well but nicely said no. I think he might've gone on to say we'd learn to break wooden boards with our hands or some other cool stuff.
I do recall he didn't make me feel embarrassed about asking. I think some of the other kids laughed -- I was probably between 6 and 9 -- but I appreciated how it handled it.
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2016-08-27, 01:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2009
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
In reference to the invisible-can-see-invisible ringwraiths-can-see-Frodo-when-he-wears-the-One-Ring thing, I believe the books said that ringwraiths actually SEE darkness instead of light, like a pitch black moonless night would be like broad daylight to them, but a well-lit room with multiple light sources, so nothing really cast a noticeable shadow would leave them blind. I took this to mean something like the One Ring sort of half-shifts you to something like the Ethereal Plane or Plane of Shadow, and the Ringwraiths, who were also on that plane could see you.
As far as my own misconceptions, when I was really small, I thought "Poverty" and "Puberty" were the same word, and that no one was allowed to have any money between like 12 and 16 years old...
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2016-08-27, 01:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2016
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- Behind you
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Last edited by Minescratcher; 2016-08-27 at 01:25 PM. Reason: Fixed text
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Ti Linnad in Empire! 4
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2016-08-27, 11:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2016
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
+1 syringe vampires. I find the widespread belief rather fascinating.
Embarrassingly, I used to believe tv and movies were made by following people around with little flying cameras and would sometimes talk to my camera in an imitation of characters addressing the audience
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2016-08-27, 11:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
That would require it to -absorb- EM waves in the visibile spectrum. If it's transparent in the visible spectrum it can still be opaque to other parts of the spectrum.
Take glass for instance: while not perfectly so, it's mostly transparent to visible light but completely opaque in infrared.I am not seaweed. That's a B.
Praise I've received A quick outline on building a homebrew campaign
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2016-08-28, 09:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
This would be true in a world with no magic. By definition, magic doesn't follow scientific principles.
I don't even assume that light has a spectrum in a D&D world. An invisible creature is simply one that you cannot see, and nobody in the world understands the mechanics of how we see anyway.
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2016-08-28, 11:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2004
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.- Benjamin Franklin
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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2016-08-28, 03:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2016
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Why wouldn't light have a spectrum in D&D? How do you explain things having colors to your players?
Wouldn't it be easier to say: Everything works exactly as in our world, but wizards can turn themselves transparent and change their refractive index to that of air because magic.
Also note that in other media than air, it is possible to become invisible even in our reality (Search for refractive index matching on YouTube)
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2016-08-28, 05:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2014
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Planck length = 1.524e+0 m, Planck time = 6.000e+0 s. Mass quantum ~ 9.072e-3 kg because "50 coins weigh a pound" is the smallest weight mentioned. And light has five quantum states.
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2016-08-28, 06:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Why wouldn't light have a spectrum in D&D?
Why would light have a spectrum in D&D?
Both questions are unanswerable. We know that mass and energy and momentum and angular momentum are not conserved. We know that the laws of thermodynamics are often broken.
The same set of physical laws that include a spectrum also prevent inter-species breeding, like dragons and humans, or owls and bears. They also prevent flying without wings or jet exhaust or being lighter than air.
Therefore there is no reason to assume that any other physical law works.
In over 40 years of role playing, I have never once explained things having colors to my players.
Not in historical games.
Not in modern games.
Not in superhero games.
Not in science fiction games.
And not in fantasy games.
Yes, it's easier. It's also meaningless.
When discussing universal laws, "Everything works exactly the same except when it doesn't" is semantically equal to "It doesn't work the same."
"There is a law of conservation of energy, except magic" is the same thing as "energy is not always conserved."
"There is a universal gravitational constant between two bodies unless magic changes it" means that there is no universal gravitational constant.
We don't consider something a physical law unless it's universal. Saying that mass & energy is conserved unless magic changes it is as meaningful as saying that an eggshell has never been cracked except once.
Or even in air. Oxygen is invisible to us. But it doesn't turn invisible, by changing its refractive index at whim.
One reason not to assume modern physical laws exist except when they don't is that the assumption serves no purpose. It doesn't help the game in any way, and it didn't even preserve the physical laws. Furthermore, if the players use any knowledge of physical laws, they are using meta-knowledge - player knowledge that the characters don't have, since Knowledge (modern physics) isn't included in the rules. I once ran a game in which the following was part of the introduction:
Spoiler: Spoilered for lengthA warning about meta-knowledge. In a game in which stone gargoyles can fly and people can cast magic spells, modern rules of physics and chemistry simply don’t apply. There aren’t 92 natural elements, lightning is not caused by an imbalance of electrical potential, and stars are not gigantic gaseous bodies undergoing nuclear fusion. Cute stunts involving clever use of the laws of thermodynamics simply won’t work. Note that cute stunts involving the gross effects thereof very likely will work. Roll a stone down a mountain, and you could cause an avalanche. But in a world with teleportation, levitation, and fireball spells, Newton’s three laws of motion do not apply, and energy and momentum are not conserved. Accordingly, modern scientific meta-knowledge will do you more harm than good. On the other hand, knowledge of Aristotle, Ptolemy, medieval alchemy, or medieval and classical legends might be useful occasionally.
Another reason is to allow cool story ideas. In the same game, I introduced seven artifacts, in the hands of adventurers, called the Staves of the Wanderers. They turned out to be staves that each carried powers from the seven planets of the Ptolemaic system ("planetes asteroi" - the wandering stars). So they were themed to the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Note that I used the medieval assumption that the sun and moon are planets, and the earth is not. An unthinking assumption of modern physics would have prevented that entire adventure.
Note also that I told them, above, that stars are not gigantic gaseous bodies undergoing nuclear fusion, and that Ptolemy might be helpful
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2016-08-28, 08:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
Omegaupdate Forum
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Temple+ Modding Project for Atari's Temple of Elemental Evil
Morrus' RPG Forum (EN World v2)
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2016-08-28, 09:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
Omegaupdate Forum
WoTC Forums Archive + Indexing Projext
PostImage, a free and sensible alternative to Photobucket
Temple+ Modding Project for Atari's Temple of Elemental Evil
Morrus' RPG Forum (EN World v2)
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2016-08-28, 11:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2014
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Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
Amusingly, and quite in line with your post, the only time I've ever had to explain things having colors to players was during a historical fantasy game explicitly (rather than implicitly) running on Aristotelean and Platonic ideas of how things work.
Player: "Wait, but what about this otherwise reasonable argument hinging on how light actually works in real life?"
Me: "Sorry buddy, this is Ars Magica, you see things because visual species are emitted by what you're looking at. For that matter, all of your senses work off the same 'specie emission' system, it's just that some senses' species fire longer and shorter distances from the source. You have to get really close for a touch specie to reach you, for example."
Player: "... What?"
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2016-08-29, 12:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
Re: Silly Childhood Misconceptions on Fantasy Elements?
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
Omegaupdate Forum
WoTC Forums Archive + Indexing Projext
PostImage, a free and sensible alternative to Photobucket
Temple+ Modding Project for Atari's Temple of Elemental Evil
Morrus' RPG Forum (EN World v2)