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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7776732" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p><strong>Dungeons & Dragons </strong>set up many of the tropes that have since influenced computer and video role-playing games, but one of the more interesting offsets of this is how D&D handles food. Which is to say, it doesn't have particularly sophisticated mechanics to manage hunger in a stark departure from the electronic games that followed.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]127946[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center">Picture <a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/video-game-1980-s-eating-hunger-1332694/" target="_blank">courtesy of Pixabay</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>The Original Rules</strong></span></p><p></p><p>The <strong>Original Dungeons & Dragons </strong>boxed set left much of the rules of survival, like eating, drinking, and sleeping, to another game entirely, <strong>Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival,</strong> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2017/05/oed-wilderness-rules-draft-food-and.html" target="_blank">as explained by Delta</a>:</p><p></p><p>The separation of "standard rations" and "iron rations" is significant. Iron rations technically <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_ration#%22Iron_Ration%22_(1907%E2%80%931922)" target="_blank">didn't exist as a concept until World War I</a>:</p><p></p><p>It seems co-creator of D&D, Gary Gygax, had something else in mind, <a href="http://blogofholding.com/?p=2525#comment-14015" target="_blank">according to Michael (Gronan) Mornard</a>:</p><p></p><p>Players who didn't use Outdoor Survival likely handwaved eating food, and iron rations were a convenient excuse to do so -- so long as you could afford and carry it, there was no reason to worry about eating. There was also precedent in literature. In <a href="http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa1.htm" target="_blank"><strong>The Three Books of Occult Philosophy</strong></a><strong>,</strong> a Scythian herb is mentioned that allows a person to endure "twelve dayes hunger and thirst." Later popular examples include "<a href="https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Cram" target="_blank">cram</a>" and "lembas" from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>The Heavy Burden of Food</strong></span></p><p></p><p>With <strong>Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,</strong> <a href="https://lostdelights.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/iron-rations-in-dd-pathfinder/" target="_blank">these rules became much more fleshed out</a>:</p><p></p><p>Food then, wasn't so much tracked as a record of food consumption as it was a necessary burden of cost and encumbrance. That all changed with the <strong>Wilderness Survival Guide, </strong>which provided comprehensive rules on hunger. By the time the 3.5 Edition of D&D came along, <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#starvationAndThirst" target="_blank">D&D rules were simplified considerably</a>:</p><p></p><p>Later rules combined hunger with exhaustion, <a href="https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Food_and_Water" target="_blank">as codified in 5th Edition</a>:</p><p></p><p>In essence, food and hunger have always been penalties in D&D, a necessity that cause penalties if the PCs went without. That all changed once video games applied a similar concept.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Why Does Food Heal You?</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Instead of subtracting from a character by its absence, food became a means of healing. The first electronic RPG to do this was a game set in the modern day, called <strong>Earthbound</strong>, <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HyperactiveMetabolism" target="_blank">part of the <strong>Mother RPG</strong> series</a>:</p><p></p><p>Whereas fantasy settings looked at food as a scarce but necessary resource, modern games treated food as a means of supplanting the traditional healing potion's role. Cracked explains <a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-:):):):):):):):)-video-game-healing-methods/" target="_blank">where all this breaks down</a>:</p><p></p><p>This trope, known as "Hyperactive Metabolism," has become so ingrained that it is now reflected in fantasy CRPGs too. What started as a necessary evil in fantasy became something in modern CRPGs that parents everywhere have told their kids for ages: "eat this, it's good for you!"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 7776732, member: 3285"] [B]Dungeons & Dragons [/B]set up many of the tropes that have since influenced computer and video role-playing games, but one of the more interesting offsets of this is how D&D handles food. Which is to say, it doesn't have particularly sophisticated mechanics to manage hunger in a stark departure from the electronic games that followed. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="video-game-1332694_1280.png"]127946[/ATTACH] Picture [URL='https://pixabay.com/illustrations/video-game-1980-s-eating-hunger-1332694/']courtesy of Pixabay[/URL]. [/CENTER] [SIZE=5][B]The Original Rules[/B][/SIZE] The [B]Original Dungeons & Dragons [/B]boxed set left much of the rules of survival, like eating, drinking, and sleeping, to another game entirely, [B]Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival,[/B] [URL='http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2017/05/oed-wilderness-rules-draft-food-and.html']as explained by Delta[/URL]: The separation of "standard rations" and "iron rations" is significant. Iron rations technically [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_ration#%22Iron_Ration%22_(1907%E2%80%931922)']didn't exist as a concept until World War I[/URL]: It seems co-creator of D&D, Gary Gygax, had something else in mind, [URL='http://blogofholding.com/?p=2525#comment-14015']according to Michael (Gronan) Mornard[/URL]: Players who didn't use Outdoor Survival likely handwaved eating food, and iron rations were a convenient excuse to do so -- so long as you could afford and carry it, there was no reason to worry about eating. There was also precedent in literature. In [URL='http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa1.htm'][B]The Three Books of Occult Philosophy[/B][/URL][B],[/B] a Scythian herb is mentioned that allows a person to endure "twelve dayes hunger and thirst." Later popular examples include "[URL='https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Cram']cram[/URL]" and "lembas" from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. [SIZE=5][B]The Heavy Burden of Food[/B][/SIZE] With [B]Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,[/B] [URL='https://lostdelights.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/iron-rations-in-dd-pathfinder/']these rules became much more fleshed out[/URL]: Food then, wasn't so much tracked as a record of food consumption as it was a necessary burden of cost and encumbrance. That all changed with the [B]Wilderness Survival Guide, [/B]which provided comprehensive rules on hunger. By the time the 3.5 Edition of D&D came along, [URL='http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#starvationAndThirst']D&D rules were simplified considerably[/URL]: Later rules combined hunger with exhaustion, [URL='https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Food_and_Water']as codified in 5th Edition[/URL]: In essence, food and hunger have always been penalties in D&D, a necessity that cause penalties if the PCs went without. That all changed once video games applied a similar concept. [SIZE=5][B]Why Does Food Heal You?[/B][/SIZE] Instead of subtracting from a character by its absence, food became a means of healing. The first electronic RPG to do this was a game set in the modern day, called [B]Earthbound[/B], [URL='https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HyperactiveMetabolism']part of the [B]Mother RPG[/B] series[/URL]: Whereas fantasy settings looked at food as a scarce but necessary resource, modern games treated food as a means of supplanting the traditional healing potion's role. Cracked explains [URL='http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-:):):):):):):):)-video-game-healing-methods/']where all this breaks down[/URL]: This trope, known as "Hyperactive Metabolism," has become so ingrained that it is now reflected in fantasy CRPGs too. What started as a necessary evil in fantasy became something in modern CRPGs that parents everywhere have told their kids for ages: "eat this, it's good for you!" [/QUOTE]
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