Subject: Re: (TFT) House Rules?
Answers.com says that there are around 500,000 elephants around in Africa and about 40,000 in Asia. If elephants were dragons that means 135,000 years of youth potions all told.They're not, though. Elephants run in herds, and dragons are normally solitary (and territorial!). Has anyone heard of/encountered a group of dragons? What do you call a group of dragons anyway? A pride? A flame? A hoard? Hmm... Still, dragon population densities are probably lower than those of elephants, if only because of their carnivorous habits. A given amount of land can grow a lot more grass than rabbits/deer/cattle/whatever dragons like to eat. The quoted elephant population is probably less than a "natural" population would be because people hunt elephants for their tusks etc., but people would hunt dragons for their hearts, dung, scales, etc., too, so even if dragons are harder to kill than elephants, there's probably a nearly equal pressure on them. Of course, dragons, being intelligent, would resent this...Dragon wars anyone?
Hee hee hee... I've got an old copy of Dragon Pass...I like a hoard of dragons very much, but I'll have to go with an illusion of dragons.
I agree that an oliphant probably isn't the best model for a population of dragons... maybe something aquatic like killer whales?
I've got this little factoid that says that under modern agraculture each person needs about a football field of airable land to support them with food or about one and a quarter acres per person.
The "green revoloution" REALLY amped up agg production.It's really not that hard to "stock" a region with a basic eco-system of interrelated critters and flora. State agencies that issue hunting licenses and etc. are a wealth of information as well as publications dealing with hunting and fishing. Normaly this kind of thing is a "set it and forget it" data point but once a player becomes intrested in stuff like producing youth potions regulary it can become useful to a GM as a limit on player Action.
A birth rate of 2.0 kids per couple is more or less steady-state population growth with all else being equal. If a long-lived species also has long gestation terms and whatnot, i.e. long life = fewer babies over longer periods, then 4 a year per humanoid person is gonna take a toll IMO. A player is gonna find it harder and harder each year to get their quota so to speak.
1 additional point of IQ for 1 hour requires 1 human brain...I have a feeling that this potion is illegal in a civalized region of a game-world. According to the Dark Lord's doctrine though, a village of around 500 souls equals over twenty days of +1 IQ for just himself.
Now I feel that as a designer my role is to do all of that well before play starts. If I have designed well, I have given my GM self enough tools via NPC's and so fourth to deal with player Actions in-play with the same Actions under the rules that the players have access to.
Designing a rule "on the fly" as a GM is 'poor art' IMO.My Figures as a GM use exactally the same rules as my players Figures while in-play.
If a player runs off and does something I don't expect and have little refrence for then I'm forced into an off the cuff decission, but as quick as the session is over I look to address it with design.
...hmmm, good thing Peter has his Jay filter on... =====
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