Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DwarfLordSeven Oct 22, 2014 9:41:09	To what extent do you worry about how the creatures in your world survive?   For instance:   Dwarves live underground in mountain citadels.  What do they eat? Do they hunt?  Do they hunt surface animals or subterranean animals? Do they farm?  Do they farm plants on the surface or mushrooms underground? If they don't hunt or farm, do they trade for all their food?  Who do they trade with?   In a rocky Airworld where there is no water table, are there plants?   If there are plants, how have they adapted?  Do they store water in pouches?  Do they dry out until it rains? How have creatures adapted?  Does everything fly, or are there ground based animals?
#2 rampant Oct 22, 2014 10:32:40	Depends on the game world.   If I intend it for a longer game or for mulltiple games set  in the world I think about that sort of thing and try to come up with at least general ideas, though I rarely go into the details of the western alurasian green-spotted lesser displacer beast unless someone asks in which case I shamelessly mash up years of discovery channel with various bestairies I've read and spout some plausible sounding explaination that generally works since I'm a bit of a biologist, and also the DM, you know the guy with falling rocks and blue lightning.   As for specifics, dwarves cultivate a selection of fungi and mold to act as staples of their diets while trading for most of their other food with their ore and finished goods, many clans with surface holdings grow hops in order to produce beer, and some of the deeper clans have managed to raise their own heards of Rothe, and use them primarily for milk and cheese since killing one just for food is a waste, and by the time the dwarves are through wringing all the milk and labor out of them the idea of eating the meat makes even them think twice, besides which dwarven herders often feel very protective and bonded to their Rothe given their value and effort of care required. Many a duergar, and drow has come to regret harrassing a Dwarve's Rothe herd as an enraged herds dwarf beats them to death with a sack of Rothe feed. Dwarves are opportunistic traders by nature with only goblinoid and orc strongholds not being considered for trade when near a dwarven holding. They have to be flexible because their own preference for isolated locations and natural defenses often means that choices for trade partners are limited.   On the rocky world plants have a variety of options, some like mosses simply maintain diminuitive dimensions so they can get enough watr just by being somehwere where the air is moving and get moisture that way. Some suppliment by catching creatures andsucking them dry, some store water in pouches or tissues, some enter suspended states, and some simply life hard and fast when it's wet and  have their seeds lay dormant until they recieve moisture again.   The prsence or absence of land based creatures depends on how many big rocks you have floating. Mor ebig rocks the bigger and more abundant groundpounders can get.