The Challenge: A role playing game is an interactive story. As such, it must have a setting. The setting is the world or realm that the story occurs in, and its nature can vary as widely as there are character types to play. However, any successful setting requires some general laws that determine how the world functions. These laws form the basis for the sixth challenge of creating a customizable and balanced role playing game: the challenge of promoting realism.

Realism in this context does not by any means indicate how closely the game world mirrors the laws of the real world. In a fantasy game, for example, there is nothing unrealistic about wizards throwing lightning, dragons breathing fire, and lone warriors taking on armies. Realism simply indicates that the world does follow certain well-known and established laws of physics, technology, and, where appropriate, magic.

However, the level of realism each group wishes to use does vary. Some players want express rules for realism in their role playing games. They want there to be statistical penalties in adverse situations and bonuses when the laws of physics indicate an advantage. They want the powers available limited by a concise set of rules that has to do with their game