(TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #1159

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

Jay wrote:

> Molecules make up NON-living matter as well as LIVING matter.
>
> Uh-oh...
>
> How many "rule-books" and should they work together?

This got me thinking about the physics of metaphysics. Clearly the 
"rule-books" Jay writes about exist, in the form of Biochemistry, 
Chemistry and Quantum mechanics textbooks, and they "work together" 
at least to first approximation (ignoring the fundamental differences 
between general relativity and quantum mechanics, but there are 
people working on that...).

I foresee some difficulty when magic gets involved.

The only mechanism I can see for "magic" working is that it allows 
quantum mechanical "random" events to start happening in a very 
highly non-"random" manner when addressed as statistical ensembles. 
So (e.g.) although it's statistically way beyond impossible for water 
to spontaneously freeze into ice, beaming all the extra energy out as 
a collimated beam of IR or microwave radiation, it's not 
theoretically impossible. You just have to believe that for some 
reason *all* of the molecules of that puddle decide to somehow make 
their way to the bottom end of the Maxwellian energy distribution *at 
once*.

Likewise (but way more complicated) for the "Heal" spell, I think 
there's plenty of energy available for ruptured cells to 
re-integrate, splintered bones to re-knit, and similar 
entropy-reversal looking reactions to take place. It's just not going 
to happen under our existing statistical knowledge of how things 
happen.

And after all, I think the concept of "entropy" is a statistically 
*descriptive* and not basic-mechanics rule - it relies on the 
"statistics of large numbers" applying, and that's what I think magic 
would violate.

So there's one more "rulebook"/textbook/grimoire that will need to be 
written eventually, if you take all of this to the ultimate level of 
detail.

As to whether the result will end up playable, I don't think that's 
realistic. The trick, in writing game rules, is to come up with the 
best balance between realism and playability.
--
						- Mark     210-379-4635
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Asteroids headed toward planets
inhabited by beings that don't have
technology adequate to stop them:

				Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"