D&D General A friend asked me a maths question that relates to A RPG Idea he's working on but I'm not good enough at maths to work it out. Please help

[JMISBEST]

A friend asked me a maths question that relates to A RPG Idea he's working on and even though I'm good at maths this questions beyond me. Please help

Basically all but 1 member of A Royal Family was murdered and the survivor was A 10 month old who caught a uncurable disease

As its A Fantasy Setting they put him in a magical version of cryogenic sleep in the hope they could 1 day find a cure but as he was only 10 months old every 10 years to the day he must be defrosted for 1 hour and this has been done every 10 years for 1,380 years

To recap A 10 month old the kid was put in a magical version of cryogenic sleep and has only aged at the rate of 1 hour every 10 years for 1,380 years what my mate wants to know is it may have been 1,380 years but what is the kids biological age?

 

[TwoSix]

That would be 138 hours, or slightly less than 6 days (assuming a standard 24 hour day). So 10 months plus 6 days.

 

[aco175]

Wouldn't the kid still be 1,380 in age since he was still on the planet? I think you want the answer of almost a week older than the 10 months. 10 years goes into 1,380 years 138 times or hours. That equals 5.75 days.

You could also answer that he ages at the rate of plot you need to play the game.

 

[Dausuul]

That would be 138 hours, or slightly less than 6 days (assuming a standard 24 hour day). So 10 months plus 6 days.

This - the kid has basically not aged at all.

If your friend wants the kid to have aged noticeably, it would need to be more like "defrost for 24 hours once per year." That would be 1,380 days, which translates to about 3 years and 9 months, so his total age would be about four and a half.

If your friend wants the kid to be much older (an adult or an old man), he could keep increasing the frequency and/or length of the "defrosting" intervals, but at some point that gets silly. Instead I would consider having the magical stasis itself be slightly flawed, so the kid ages at whatever rate is required to put him at the desired point.

 

[Dioltach]

I'm imagining a ceremonial role at court. "Wiper of the Royal Bottom". It's an unpleasant job, but it's only one hour every 10 years. And if the kid accidentally swallows your lucky coin, good luck getting it back!

 

[aco175]

There are larger questions at stake, like how come the rest of the country cares about the baby with an incurable disease since everyone else in the line was wiped out. By whom? Why are they not interested in killing the baby? How long does it take to forget about the baby? Do the royal guards push it around in the cryo-chamber so the commoners can see it for over 1,300 years? How is the country governed during this time? Why are there not other countries taking over?

When they find a cure to the disease, what happens? Wait another 20 years before the baby can grow enough to take over. Who is going to block that? Was there another baby put in cryo that was pledged to be married to the heir? What about all the other noble lines and if the one pledged had their line wiped out while they were in cryo? Would that line still be viable to marry?

 

[Dioltach]

Yeah, it seems like a lot more trouble and effort than people are likely to go to. Historically, people have been very flexible about switching allegiance to an alternative, more suitable/capable/hands-on/generous/powerful/not-a-cryogenically-frozen-infant rulers.

Unless there's some very compelling reason, with some very compelling muscle to back it up, King Infant the Endlessly Sick is going to quietly deposed and forgotten.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Unless there's some very compelling reason, with some very compelling muscle to back it up, King Infant the Endlessly Sick is going to quietly deposed and forgotten.

Except they don't have to overthrow him. He's just an infant and not an actual challenge for power. They just claim to be regent for the kid to lend their rule additional legitimacy.

There's plenty of historical precident for this, such as the Shoguns who kept the Japanese Imperial Family around (not even frozen) but de facto ruled the country.

 

[Dioltach]

He's also a rallying point for anyone opposing the regime - whether it's legitimate or a usurper. Better to just quietly get rid of the cryo unit, stamp out any immediate opposition and try to create as much stability as possible in the long run.

 

[Clint_L]

These guys have some really fun ideas going on in their games. I like the little glimpses I get through these threads.