this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
1133 points (94.3% liked)
RPGMemes
10301 readers
359 users here now
Humor, jokes, memes about TTRPGs
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm not sure the commenter disagrees with you. If a player wants their character to have a wheelchair, they are simply "saying" that some people have wheel chairs.
I had to go look up diegetic essential ism and basically the idea is that people get too hung up on the literalness of a character in a wheelchair.
What does it say about the universe that elephants can jump ten feet vertically? What does it say about the DM if they rule against this "fact" of DND?
Yeah, sorry, I should have linked diegetic essentialism.
The easy example I've seen used is Vampires and Werewolves.
How do you kill a vampire?
Vampires are not real.Within the fantasy world vampires can be understood in their relation to their 'in universe' opposite: werewolves. They are essentially the same creature: 'monster that bites you and you turn into one'. Vampires tend to be rich or aristocrats with massive amounts of control over other creatures, environment, etc. Werewolves are poor, often homeless, and lose control over themselves in a bestial form.
How do you kill a vampire, a monster representing wealth, greed, etc.
A simple wooden stake, the tool of peasant farmers.How do you kill a werewolf, a monster representing poverty, desperation, etc
A silver bullet, a weapon literally made of money.