> That's hand-waving. This has nothing to do with the "system" (other
Yes
> than that the system doesn't handle it at all), this is a "yes, but"
> narrative device to "explain away" what happens to the wealth in
> question. If I _want_ to actually answer the question, as opposed
Exaclty. Its a narrative rather than simulationist system.
> to waffling my way around how it's "the wrong question to ask",
> then with HW as it stands, I'm stuffed.
Why? The correct method, expenditure of HP's, has been explained more than once.
> It's absurd to say that you can only narrate (sorry, NARRATE) wealth
> by trivialising and negating game-world factors that might lead to
The system does not trivialises them - it merely declines the futile attempt to mechanically model them, and allows you the discretion of imposing what the physical interpretation of a change in systematic wealth ratings is.
> increases in wealth by supposing the automatic existence of equal
> and opposite game-world anti-factors, such that "it only counts if
> and in so far as you spend the HPs on it". Maybe I actually wanted
Thats the entire point of the system, the single central concept on whiuch all of character definition rests. To borrow a term, HP are character currency, they allow the character to alter the state of their character - fitter, faster, richer. All of these are controlled by the expenditure of HP's.
> those original events to matter, and to have the game rules support
> incorporating them into the mechanical description, eh? You can
Fine - but recognise that this is a simulationist approach. You are trying to do physics - cause and effect in mechanically predictable manner. But the entire system qwuite clearly and obviously works on a different, dramatic, set of premises. All I am saying is that to try to insert a Simulationist calculation into a Dramatist mechanic is a) pointless b) going to give funny results.
> jump up and down all day and say "bad, bad, simulationist, bad",
> but it's not addressing the core point.
Hey, I LIKE simulationism. Bu this is not a simulationist mechanic. It does not measure how many pushups you do and thus how much your strength increases; it asks the player "how much are you changing your strength by". And it treats wealth in exactly the same way.
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