[DF] Turning bodies to loot

[Rasputin]

If the characters kill and skin a monster, how much is that pelt worth? If it had a horn or horns, for how much do those horns sell? If the characters kill and eat a (hopefully pre-sapient) monster, how many meals can come from that monster? (Yes, this stuff comes up in my campaign.)

[chandley]

Dead Monster Bits, DF 2, p. 13 gives the rules for how much various bits of monster are worth. This abstracts what the valuable grue is, I would subsume horns into that.

If it is edible at all, about half it's weight can be turned into "edible" stuff (that is a rule of thumb from hunting, adjust as you like). Less the weight of whatever valuable bits. Cooking rolls should be mandatory to keep from getting something icky.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by chandley

Dead Monster Bits, DF 2, p. 13 gives the rules for how much various bits of monster are worth.

No, this does not. It gives rules for removing said bits and for the character to assess how much they would be worth, but does not say how much they are worth.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by chandley

If it is edible at all, about half it's weight can be turned into "edible" stuff (that is a rule of thumb from hunting, adjust as you like). Less the weight of whatever valuable bits. Cooking rolls should be mandatory to keep from getting something icky.

Interesting, though that isn't practical for DF monsters, as few of them have listed weights. (Oddly, the bestiary format for SJGames does have a spot for the weight, but almost no products use that spot.) It also seems high. For example, if my family were to kill me (about 150 lbs., let's say 152), half of me (76 lbs.) is edible. Since a meal's rations is 2 lbs., that means I'm worth 38 meals. Somehow, I think that's high, especially seeing as how I'm delicious. The few times my players have done this, I've used the monster's ST score to read meals, but I kept thinking it was high.

[(E)]

40-50% of an animal’s weight is standard for a carcass. Source
The head is about 10% depending on species, skeleton about 15%, Skin 10-20%

Edit approximate weight of the finished leather is 20% of the weight of the skin, very approximate.

The horns of many species arn't particularly useful either they deteriorate too quickly to be useful.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by (E)

40-50% of an animal’s weight is standard for a carcass.

Read the thread. DF creatures do not have listed weights, so this is meaningless.

Originally Posted by (E)

The horns of many species arn't particularly useful either they deteriorate too quickly to be useful.

You're missing the issue. I don't care about fiddly nonsense like 1,001 uses for antlers. This is DF. What I want to know is if my players kill a monster and decide they want to skin it and gut its body parts, approximately how much money can they get from selling those skins and parts? Obviously, there will be special things like unicorn horns and that gem on a carbuncle; those are exceptions. But if my players kill a slorn, a creature with no weight listed and no special prices listed, and gut it for body parts, how much do those parts weigh and how much do they fetch at the market?

[Anders]

Have you looked at DF8: Treasure Tables? Common furs are worth $200 per 75 lbs., while exotic furs are worth $500, 75 lbs., etc. (p. 12). The fur of a bear weighs 50 lbs. It has DR 2, which would probably be relevant for the weight - say that the fur weighs 1/5 to 1/20 of body weight (this is off the top of my head, I have no experience with hunting). I couldn't find any information on horns and antlers, etc. though. They can be used as decoration, I suppose. Still, DF8 would be where I would look.

If there is no listed weight I would say... 1dx$100? Lots of cutting damage would reduce that, obviously but that might be going into too much detail for a DF game. It depends on how much loot you want them to get.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Read the thread. DF creatures do not have listed weights, so this is meaningless.

Then pick a real world creature that is a similar size, use wikipedia, and figure it out.

What would you do if they decided to carry that slorn out of the dungeon?

[chandley]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

No, this does not. It gives rules for removing said bits and for the character to assess how much they would be worth, but does not say how much they are worth.

The value of a particular monster is left to the GM. Just as the number of coins in a monsters purse is left to the GM. I'm not sure why you think anyone here would be able to give a useful suggestion to your campaign, but perhaps you can look at the material costs for potions as a guide.

Interesting, though that isn't practical for DF monsters, as few of them have listed weights. (Oddly, the bestiary format for SJGames does have a spot for the weight, but almost no products use that spot.) It also seems high. For example, if my family were to kill me (about 150 lbs., let's say 152), half of me (76 lbs.) is edible. Since a meal's rations is 2 lbs., that means I'm worth 38 meals. Somehow, I think that's high, especially seeing as how I'm delicious. The few times my players have done this, I've used the monster's ST score to read meals, but I kept thinking it was high.

Sure it is, GURPS has several guidelines for weight, depending on the kind of math you want to do. The weight of creature is (HP/2)^3 in pounds, then adjust for build, where natural. Alternately, SM+0 ranges around 150 lbs. Adjust for variant SMs as the cube of the height difference (1/2 height is 1/8 weight, 2x height is 8x weight, etc). And yes, a single 150 lb dear does in fact give about 75lbs worth of meat and edible organs. For short term meals (where complete nutrition isn't a concern) that really is 37 or so meals worth of meat. Growing up, two decent sized deer was venison for the year (seeing as we didnt eat exclusively 2lbs of meat every meal).

The would-be monster eaters will have more trouble _preserving_ all that meat, and carrying it. GURPS After The End 2, p.30 and 31 gives somewhat more detailed rules on hunting (it repeats the 50% weight estimate), cooking, and/or curing meat vs DF 2 or DF 16's roll and shout method.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by chandley

The would-be monster eaters will have more trouble _preserving_ all that meat, and carrying it. GURPS After The End 2, p.30 and 31 gives somewhat more detailed rules on hunting (it repeats the 50% weight estimate), cooking, and/or curing meat vs DF 2 or DF 16's roll and shout method.

LTC3 also has detailed rules this.

Edit: corrected typo mentioned by chandler