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RPG Evolution: Older Than You Look
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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 8793854" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p>In my campaign I have two elves, two tieflings, a human, and a gnome. Their age difference comes up more than you think.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]263382[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lillegul/" target="_blank">Chart by Lillegul</a></p><h3>It Starts with Tolkien</h3><p>Of the various species ages, humans, dragonborn, half-orcs, and tieflings are roughly within the same lifespans. The above chart shows their comparative lifespans, with green being childhood, pink young adult, light blue adulthood, and purple old age.</p><p></p><p>It's clear dwarves, elves, halflings and gnomes live much longer than everybody else, with elves not reaching maturity until decades later. But what was the inspiration for these long lifespans in <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong>?</p><p></p><p>Tolkien of course. We've always known elves and dwarves lived longer, but just how long is startling when compared to other species. <a href="https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Elven_life_cycle" target="_blank">Does that mean elves are proportionately children for longer?</a> Sort of.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Dwarves" target="_blank">Dwarves have a similar experience</a>:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hobbits" target="_blank">And so do hobbits</a>:</p><p></p><p>Add all this up and for most of the other species, adventuring likely doesn't happen until between 30 or 50 years old, much later than the younger humans who often begin adventures in their teens.</p><h3>Outlook of Longer-Lived Species</h3><p>A popular meme positions the elven relationship with humans as a parallel for a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/comments/5wz4gy/we_are_like_elves_to_dogs/" target="_blank">human's relationship with dogs</a>. Or to put it another way, the two can have a very close bond, but the elf likely sees humans as a familial line to be friends with and protect, while humans live entire lifetimes only knowing the same elf. With a lifespan of up to 750 years, elves could conceivably befriend over twenty generations of the same human lineage, with dwarves and halflings befriending proportionally less.</p><p></p><p>Living longer probably changes their outlook considerably. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number" target="_blank">Dunbar's Number posits that the human brain can only manage 150 connections</a>; assuming elves are similar, they may begin forgetting all the people they met after that, or alternately their Dunbar Number is much higher.</p><p></p><p>The speed at which birth happens matters too. Children that take longer to raise to adulthood take considerable investment on the part of the parents, such that risks shorter-lived species might take could be intolerable for elves and dwarves. Or perhaps they're simply better prepared, taking more time to ensure they don't die since they consider their lives that much more precious.</p><h3>Respecting Your Elders</h3><p>Shorter-lived species may consider their elders to be mystical beings with accumulated wisdom -- or timeless enemies who never forget a slight. Humans who become immortal may decide that long-lived species are a much larger threat; human vampires who can live forever are competing on an entirely different level.</p><p></p><p>Going back to the pet analogy, it might not be unreasonable for humans to consider an elven patron as something of a protective ancestor who watches over them. In the Orville episode "<a href="https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/Wedding_of_Claire_Finn_and_Isaac" target="_blank">Future Unknown</a>," the ship's doctor Claire Finn accepts the marriage proposal of Isaac, an ageless artificial life form, after he makes it clear he will protect her entire lineage:</p><p></p><h3>Role-Playing Age Differences</h3><p>Players bring their own experiences to their characters, so it's not easy to play an ancient being with centuries of life experience under their belt. One way we manage it is that the elves have not been out among humanity before, so their inexperience is due to unfamiliarity, not due to their age.</p><p></p><p>Conversely, our gnome character is the only child of a family that dotes on him. Due to their long lifespans, the gnome's "helicopter parent" (his mother passed away) is a constant presence working secretly and overtly to help his offspring get ahead.</p><p></p><p>Trances are an opportunity to give elves flashbacks to knowledge their players might not have from their long-lived experience. Even dwarves and gnomes likely have memories that come rushing back to them during a quiet moment (or my favorite, when a PC is knocked unconscious).</p><p></p><p>Of course, DMs can simply ignore the age differences. Most probably do. But it's yet another role-playing opportunity to distinguish characters from each other when on the surface an elven ranger and human ranger may have similar stats.</p><p></p><p><strong>Your Turn: Does the age of your characters matter in your game?</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 8793854, member: 3285"] In my campaign I have two elves, two tieflings, a human, and a gnome. Their age difference comes up more than you think. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="lifespans.png"]263382[/ATTACH] [URL='https://www.reddit.com/user/lillegul/']Chart by Lillegul[/URL][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]It Starts with Tolkien[/HEADING] Of the various species ages, humans, dragonborn, half-orcs, and tieflings are roughly within the same lifespans. The above chart shows their comparative lifespans, with green being childhood, pink young adult, light blue adulthood, and purple old age. It's clear dwarves, elves, halflings and gnomes live much longer than everybody else, with elves not reaching maturity until decades later. But what was the inspiration for these long lifespans in [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B]? Tolkien of course. We've always known elves and dwarves lived longer, but just how long is startling when compared to other species. [URL='https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Elven_life_cycle']Does that mean elves are proportionately children for longer?[/URL] Sort of. [URL='https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Dwarves']Dwarves have a similar experience[/URL]: [URL='https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hobbits']And so do hobbits[/URL]: Add all this up and for most of the other species, adventuring likely doesn't happen until between 30 or 50 years old, much later than the younger humans who often begin adventures in their teens. [HEADING=2]Outlook of Longer-Lived Species[/HEADING] A popular meme positions the elven relationship with humans as a parallel for a [URL='https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/comments/5wz4gy/we_are_like_elves_to_dogs/']human's relationship with dogs[/URL]. Or to put it another way, the two can have a very close bond, but the elf likely sees humans as a familial line to be friends with and protect, while humans live entire lifetimes only knowing the same elf. With a lifespan of up to 750 years, elves could conceivably befriend over twenty generations of the same human lineage, with dwarves and halflings befriending proportionally less. Living longer probably changes their outlook considerably. [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number']Dunbar's Number posits that the human brain can only manage 150 connections[/URL]; assuming elves are similar, they may begin forgetting all the people they met after that, or alternately their Dunbar Number is much higher. The speed at which birth happens matters too. Children that take longer to raise to adulthood take considerable investment on the part of the parents, such that risks shorter-lived species might take could be intolerable for elves and dwarves. Or perhaps they're simply better prepared, taking more time to ensure they don't die since they consider their lives that much more precious. [HEADING=2]Respecting Your Elders[/HEADING] Shorter-lived species may consider their elders to be mystical beings with accumulated wisdom -- or timeless enemies who never forget a slight. Humans who become immortal may decide that long-lived species are a much larger threat; human vampires who can live forever are competing on an entirely different level. Going back to the pet analogy, it might not be unreasonable for humans to consider an elven patron as something of a protective ancestor who watches over them. In the Orville episode "[URL='https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/Wedding_of_Claire_Finn_and_Isaac']Future Unknown[/URL]," the ship's doctor Claire Finn accepts the marriage proposal of Isaac, an ageless artificial life form, after he makes it clear he will protect her entire lineage: [HEADING=2]Role-Playing Age Differences[/HEADING] Players bring their own experiences to their characters, so it's not easy to play an ancient being with centuries of life experience under their belt. One way we manage it is that the elves have not been out among humanity before, so their inexperience is due to unfamiliarity, not due to their age. Conversely, our gnome character is the only child of a family that dotes on him. Due to their long lifespans, the gnome's "helicopter parent" (his mother passed away) is a constant presence working secretly and overtly to help his offspring get ahead. Trances are an opportunity to give elves flashbacks to knowledge their players might not have from their long-lived experience. Even dwarves and gnomes likely have memories that come rushing back to them during a quiet moment (or my favorite, when a PC is knocked unconscious). Of course, DMs can simply ignore the age differences. Most probably do. But it's yet another role-playing opportunity to distinguish characters from each other when on the surface an elven ranger and human ranger may have similar stats. [B]Your Turn: Does the age of your characters matter in your game?[/B] [/QUOTE]
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