[DF] Turning bodies to loot

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Tinman

My understanding of Halal slaughter is:
1) Beast's throat must be cut (no laws on how) &
2) Allahu Akbar must be said as it's done.
That's about all it takes.

Not true. There's a lot of laws on how it must be cut. The blade must be very sharp and of a specific length - this is to ensure that you can cut the throat deeply (the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe) and in one stroke, to cause the least pain and to allow the animal to bleed quickly. There's rules on sharpening the knife before each slaughter to ensure this.
The animal must be alive and healthy at the time of slaughter. It must not suffer. It must not see the blade. It must not see or smell the blood from a previous slaughter. It must not be wounded except if you're mercy-killing it after being savaged by another animal.

Rabbits are forbidden amongst some groups.

I'm admittedly more familiar with Islam as practiced in Bangladesh and India, where the conflicting dietary demands of multiple strict religions has resulted in large numbers of people that tend to just say "to heck with it, I'm going to eat vegetarian", regardless of if they're allowed to eat some meat. My co-worker from Bangladesh was essentially vegetarian (she ate fish on rare special occasions).

[sir_pudding]

All of this is only relevant if your character has Disciplines of Faith, and is patterned directly off of Judaism or Islam. In DF style henotheism, I think you'd be more likely to see sacred animal type taboos.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

In DF style henotheism, I think you'd be more likely to see sacred animal type taboos.

DF isn't even that. It's more like amorphous theism.

[(E)]

Heading back towards the original topic, in most situations basic preserving equipment and supplies would be required. Preserving a high quality hide would take a lot of salt for example. 20 lbs of salt (?) for a large critter.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

All of this is only relevant if your character has Disciplines of Faith, and is patterned directly off of Judaism or Islam. In DF style henotheism, I think you'd be more likely to see sacred animal type taboos.

There's a reason why expert knowledge of such rules is an entire profession. My mom talked about how the kosher inspector was highly paid and very meticulous at the company she worked.

I admit that low tech people probably care more about more "obvious" facets like species and macroscopic features like organs and method of slaughter.

[Anthony]

A lot of this seems to assume that monster bodies have a strong resemblance to actual corpses, and really, most of them will not. Looking at DF2:

• Acid Spiders: the text indicates it has valuable organs.
• as-Sharak: they appear to be some form of elemental. It's likely that the corpse decays into its raw elemental form, though it may leave parts behind that are useful to an alchemist.
• Crushroom: well, it's a mushroom. It might be edible, but given its statistics, it's probably more like chewing on rubber. I wouldn't expect any loot value.
• Dire Wolf: guidelines about animals are reasonable here. As carnivores, eating them is probably a good way to get sick.
• Doomchild: as they explode on death, normally no loot. Someone creative might be able to figure out how to prevent them from exploding on death, and then harvest them for bombs. Or not.
• Erupting Slime: you can probably bottle live slime, though it seems unsafe to do so. If actually dead, probably valueless.
• Flaming Skull: probably doesn't leave a corpse. If it does, fragments of bone aren't very valuable.
• Flesh-Eating Ape: eating things that eat people is probably a bad plan. Can be skinned, but likely not terribly valuable.
• Foul Bat: probably about as valuable as skunk corpses.
• Frost Snake: the text indicates it has valuable organs.
• Giant Rat: probably valueless due to filth and disease.
• Horde Zombies: same value as any other rotting corpse.
• Mindwarper: you probably don't want to deal with anyone who thinks studying elder thing parts is a good plan.
• Peshkali: demons typically don't leave corpses.
• Siege Beast: nothing seems exceptionally valuable there.
• Stone Golem: value depends on the stone it's made of. Typically negligible.
• Toxifer: probably doesn't leave a corpse.
• Triger: the text indicates it has a valuable skin.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Doomchild: as they explode on death, normally no loot. Someone creative might be able to figure out how to prevent them from exploding on death, and then harvest them for bombs. Or not.

I have a character that wants to hire warrior wrestlers to subdue, disarm, and bind Doomchildren to be brought to either a Sage's Guild for study, or (if the Sage's want nothing to do with them) an Arena to sold and used in the fighting pits as entertainment.


And another character that can subdue and disarm Doomchildren... but has no real aspirations to do anything other than throw them for distance and laugh as they explode. So she at least get's a little value out of them...

[jason taylor]

In Norse legend there pops up once in a while some power given from a hero eating the monster he slew. Fafnir's blood giving the speech of birds for instance. It makes me wonder if there was ever ritual cannibalism in Scandinavia. Be that as it may, getting powers from eating dead monsters is in the spirit of folkloric tradition and can reasonably be arranged for players.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by (E)

Heading back towards the original topic, in most situations basic preserving equipment and supplies would be required. Preserving a high quality hide would take a lot of salt for example. 20 lbs of salt (?) for a large critter.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Part of my desire here isn't cannibalism (though characters in my game have dined on both giant frog and caterwaul) but to mimic the Adventurer Conquerer King System rules of having a swath of treasure being trade goods instead. An lot of those goods happen to be furs and horns. To give some entries off page 209 of the ACKS core rules:

• 1d100 animal horns worth 2gp each (1 stone per 5 horns)
• 2d6 bundles of fur pelts (such as bear, beaver, or fox), worth 15gp each (3 stone per bundle)
• 1d3 crates of monster parts, worth 300gp each (5 stone each)
• 1d3 bundles of rare fur pelts (such as ermine, mink, or sable), worth 500gp each (5 stone each)
• 1d10x50 monster feathers, worth 1d6gp per feather (1 stone per 25 feathers)
• 1d100 monster horns worth, 1d10 HD x 1d4+1gp/HD (1 stone per 20 HD)
• 1d6 monster carcasses, worth 1d10 HD x 1d10x10gp/HD (1 stone per HD)

(Aside: it seems someone at Autarch needs to learn the difference between the lowercase letter X and the multiplication symbol.)

But regardless, the rules in DF8 only talk about keeping gutted parts a few days to sell them in town, while having them being lasting trade goods would need some salt (another trade good) and another skill roll.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

But regardless, the rules in DF8 only talk about keeping gutted parts a few days to sell them in town, while having them being lasting trade goods would need some salt (another trade good) and another skill roll.

Or as I mentioned, the right spells.

One could even hire an Acolyte/Apprentice with pretty much only those spells (and a few other useful ones) to accompany the party. It'd be cheaper (and lighter) than carrying around packs of salt.