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<blockquote data-quote="System Ufera" data-source="post: 6580457" data-attributes="member: 6671268">(I posted this same thing on <a href="http://www.sciforums.com/threads/designing-a-pnprpg-question-regarding-possible-evolution-of-a-sapient-quadruped-specie.145579/" target="_blank">Sciforums</a>, but I think I should also ask for input here)Hello, everyone! As some of you may or may not be aware, I'm designing,&nbsp; from the ground up, a Pen and Paper Roleplaying Game.&nbsp; One of the unique&nbsp; things about my game is the way it blurs the line between Fantasy and&nbsp; Sci-Fi genres: even though the vast majority of the game's setting is&nbsp; fantastical in theme, it all functions on principles which are defined&nbsp; by the natural laws of the setting; for example, wizards in my game are&nbsp; actually scientists, who just happen to apply their knowledge using&nbsp; energy produced and controlled by the mind (as opposed to more&nbsp; conventional technology). Given this design goal, I want to ensure that&nbsp; every aspect of my game and its setting accurately represents the&nbsp; physics and such of the universe it takes place in, and so I want at&nbsp; least an adequate amount of explanation for everything.Now, one idea that's been floating around in my head for a while is the&nbsp; possibility that I might actually include in my game a playable (and&nbsp; thus of sapient intelligence) race of quadrupeds. The problem with this&nbsp; is that I would need an explanation for how the race came to be. There&nbsp; are two possible explanations for this: evolution and engineering. The&nbsp; problem with engineering is that I've already decided that at least&nbsp; three of the races in my game are engineered, and I don't want to become&nbsp; too reliant on this explanation. This leaves evolution.The problem with evolution, as I have learned from reading a while back&nbsp; about why dolphins aren't smarter than us, is that a quadruped specie,&nbsp; having no opposable digits with which to apply sapient intelligence,&nbsp; would gain less of an advantage from being intelligent than a specie&nbsp; with opposable digits, and thus it would have less of an incentive to&nbsp; evolve intelligence. This leaves me with the following question: What&nbsp; other factors could apply, which would incentivize a specie to evolve&nbsp; intelligence, and which would do so enough to at least make up for the&nbsp; lack of opposable digits?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="System Ufera, post: 6580457, member: 6671268"] (I posted this same thing on [URL="http://www.sciforums.com/threads/designing-a-pnprpg-question-regarding-possible-evolution-of-a-sapient-quadruped-specie.145579/"]Sciforums[/URL], but I think I should also ask for input here) Hello, everyone! As some of you may or may not be aware, I'm designing, from the ground up, a Pen and Paper Roleplaying Game. One of the unique things about my game is the way it blurs the line between Fantasy and Sci-Fi genres: even though the vast majority of the game's setting is fantastical in theme, it all functions on principles which are defined by the natural laws of the setting; for example, wizards in my game are actually scientists, who just happen to apply their knowledge using energy produced and controlled by the mind (as opposed to more conventional technology). Given this design goal, I want to ensure that every aspect of my game and its setting accurately represents the physics and such of the universe it takes place in, and so I want at least an adequate amount of explanation for everything. Now, one idea that's been floating around in my head for a while is the possibility that I might actually include in my game a playable (and thus of sapient intelligence) race of quadrupeds. The problem with this is that I would need an explanation for how the race came to be. There are two possible explanations for this: evolution and engineering. The problem with engineering is that I've already decided that at least three of the races in my game are engineered, and I don't want to become too reliant on this explanation. This leaves evolution. The problem with evolution, as I have learned from reading a while back about why dolphins aren't smarter than us, is that a quadruped specie, having no opposable digits with which to apply sapient intelligence, would gain less of an advantage from being intelligent than a specie with opposable digits, and thus it would have less of an incentive to evolve intelligence. This leaves me with the following question: What other factors could apply, which would incentivize a specie to evolve intelligence, and which would do so enough to at least make up for the lack of opposable digits? [/QUOTE]

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