Pyramid: Gaudeamus Igitur: Age and Society in Roleplaying: Part I -- Childhood

Gaudeamus Igitur: Age and Society in Roleplaying

Part I -- Childhood

by Michele Armellini

"Let's rejoice, therefore,
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth,
After a troublesome old age,
The earth will have us."
--Gaudeamus Igitur, translation from the C.W. Kindeleben 1781 version
The way in which any society works is heavily influenced by assumptions concerning age. Most roleplaying games make little use of this key defining element. Yet, given that many of the social settings of common RPGs are fictional (fantasy, science-fiction, or alternate-history), it would certainly be possible to use age groups and conventions both to make the setting more interesting and peculiar, and as adventure hooks. Also, historical settings would benefit from a realistic representation of the attitudes and expectations that society actually displayed at the time of the campaign.

It is easy to take for granted concepts like youth or old age and hand-wave them from current society to any Fantasy medieval gameworld. It's easy and wrong; a given age is a constant in mathematics, but not in social sciences. GURPS does offer a few specific rules, but they could well be tailored to the gameworld's cultural conventions, and other game mechanics could be used, too.

The ideas herein should be useful to everybody, but reference is made to the GURPS rules dealing with age. Adventure seeds are provided, too.

Childhood

Today, children in affluent societies are treated in . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: June 27, 2003

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