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The Implications of Biology in D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="UngainlyTitan" data-source="post: 5039910" data-attributes="member: 28487"><p>Personally I think the opposite. If there is evolution how do elves come about. In fact how do they survive and why did not the orcs win?</p><p></p><p>Now I can come up with answers to all of this also but D&D in its default settings or any published setting (that i have come across) does not survive this analysis. Neither do most fantasy novels that i have read either. If the evolution and ecology works there are issues with the economics or something else.</p><p></p><p>If you think hard enough about it you can pick holes in pretty much anything.</p><p></p><p>That aside, taking some of your points</p><p>If there is no evolution there are no inherited characteristics; not necessarily so. There can be inherited characteristics but man never becomes not-man or elf not-elf. I do not see why it follows that no evolution == no inherited characteristics.</p><p></p><p>The desire to have children is a separate from evolution. It is necessary for it to happen and it gets reinforced over time as organisms that are reluctant to have offspring tend to die out (which gets me back to elves - or at least some varieties) and we would not be having this discussion if our species was not inclined to reproduce.</p><p></p><p>However begetting offspring does not imply evolution. It could be that the world is a place where the gods now fight a proxy war after pulling back from total annihilation of everything in the Dawn War and have created these species to continue the struggle in a more contained fashion. If they all died out because they would not breed that would be damned inconvenient.</p><p></p><p>By the way in the old days children was you pension fund. If you had none then you outlook in the twilight of your years was pretty grim indeed.</p><p></p><p>The other thing I wonder is do your players actually examine your settings at this level for consistency? Is this a widespread phenomenon?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> My own opinion is that the setting is the backdrop for the story that unfolds and just needs to be consistent enough for that. It is just I am really curious about the assertions made by some in this thread about requiring properly functioning ecologies and evolution in fantasy settings.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="UngainlyTitan, post: 5039910, member: 28487"] Personally I think the opposite. If there is evolution how do elves come about. In fact how do they survive and why did not the orcs win? Now I can come up with answers to all of this also but D&D in its default settings or any published setting (that i have come across) does not survive this analysis. Neither do most fantasy novels that i have read either. If the evolution and ecology works there are issues with the economics or something else. If you think hard enough about it you can pick holes in pretty much anything. That aside, taking some of your points If there is no evolution there are no inherited characteristics; not necessarily so. There can be inherited characteristics but man never becomes not-man or elf not-elf. I do not see why it follows that no evolution == no inherited characteristics. The desire to have children is a separate from evolution. It is necessary for it to happen and it gets reinforced over time as organisms that are reluctant to have offspring tend to die out (which gets me back to elves - or at least some varieties) and we would not be having this discussion if our species was not inclined to reproduce. However begetting offspring does not imply evolution. It could be that the world is a place where the gods now fight a proxy war after pulling back from total annihilation of everything in the Dawn War and have created these species to continue the struggle in a more contained fashion. If they all died out because they would not breed that would be damned inconvenient. By the way in the old days children was you pension fund. If you had none then you outlook in the twilight of your years was pretty grim indeed. The other thing I wonder is do your players actually examine your settings at this level for consistency? Is this a widespread phenomenon? My own opinion is that the setting is the backdrop for the story that unfolds and just needs to be consistent enough for that. It is just I am really curious about the assertions made by some in this thread about requiring properly functioning ecologies and evolution in fantasy settings. [/QUOTE]
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