After reading it through again, I would ask that a bit more clarity be put into the realism/sci-fi bit, as it’s a bit jarring/difficult to know what is actually meant by this bit:
[spoiler]…It should be just as possible to lead a slow and careful life in harmony with nature outside the cities as it is to make crazy laser-slinging assaults on superscience labs.
Reality-based: At its core, DDA is based in the real world. One that has been changed in extreme ways, but still very much the real world as we know it. The things in the game that exist in the real world should act like their real-world counterparts; things that are extrapolated from real-world things should hold true to the real-world principles involved, and things that do not exist in the real world are free to act in whatever internally consistent way they want.[/spoiler]
There’s two issues with this; firstly the ‘laser-slinging assualts on superscience labs’ is followed by the heading ‘reality-based’ - I know this is very much just an expressive way of ‘lots of shooting and violence’, but at the same time it’s kinda jarring.
Secondly, I think the Reality-based section could do with a bit more of a fleshing out with what is ok and what isn’t (as could the whole design document). I know we don’t want to box people in creativity wise, but when we have in game teleporters (which are craftable to an extent), it’s difficult to match that up with something being reality based (unless they’re getting taken out).
I’d suggest to just make it clearer that there may be some ‘superscience items’ but they’re extremely rare and not something the player can build/do much with other than the intended function.
TL;DR: I realise this is implied by the document as a whole, but I think it’s worth drawing the line more clearly over what is allowed and what isn’t, even if it’s just a list of no-go areas.
