Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-01-2016, 07:57 PM   #1
Tallor
 
Join Date: May 2016
Default Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

I was thinking about hobbits today (probably because my coworker looks kind of like Elijah Wood) and it got me thinking--the hobbits of Lord of the Rings seemed always hungry while on the trail, and even burned through their "elven rations" that are supposed to last a day. I assume elven rations aren't necessarily filling but the point remains--are hobbits Gluttonous, or do they simply have bigger dietary needs?

Further details: Due to their fertile pastures and green thumbs, hobbits are practically buried in food, but are pretty average in build. We've seen more obese dwarves than hobbits, and those dwarves were nomads and exiles!

Maybe hobbits just have SM+0 appetites! What do you think?
Tallor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2016, 08:41 PM   #2
simply Nathan
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
 
simply Nathan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

I think a combination of Increased Consumption and Samwise personally having Gluttony as a Disadvantage (bought down with earned character points as the adventure progressed!) and not knowing that the lembas was supposed to last so long for how light it felt.
__________________
Ba-weep granah wheep minibon. Wubba lubba dub dub.
simply Nathan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2016, 09:10 PM   #3
Dammann
 
Dammann's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

In the movies, Merry and Pippin talk about second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea... I don't think it's just Sam. In the books, which I haven't read for some time, I recall fondness for food being a common trait to all hobbits. I think Gluttony is pretty reasonable. Increased Consumption seems possible, but Gluttony just means eat whenever you have an opportunity, unless you make a control roll.
Dammann is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2016, 11:35 PM   #4
jason taylor
 
jason taylor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallor View Post
I was thinking about hobbits today (probably because my coworker looks kind of like Elijah Wood) and it got me thinking--the hobbits of Lord of the Rings seemed always hungry while on the trail, and even burned through their "elven rations" that are supposed to last a day. I assume elven rations aren't necessarily filling but the point remains--are hobbits Gluttonous, or do they simply have bigger dietary needs?

Further details: Due to their fertile pastures and green thumbs, hobbits are practically buried in food, but are pretty average in build. We've seen more obese dwarves than hobbits, and those dwarves were nomads and exiles!

Maybe hobbits just have SM+0 appetites! What do you think?
Those dwarves were diasporan and sometimes wandering service providers not goatherders. There is more then one kind of nomad. There is no reason for Dwarves to be particularly skinny.

As far as Hobbits goes, maybe it's more a matter of not having to allow for security needs. Freedom from hardship has to go somewhere and they simply put it into food. Then too, maybe it's just that they are such efficient farmers, not to mention there is a shortage of markets since the fall of the North Kingdom. If they normally cultivate more efficiently then men, and the nearest technological sources are far away the best thing to do with their food is eat it.
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
jason taylor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2016, 11:52 PM   #5
Tomsdad
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

I'd go with quirk: hungry, rather than human sized appetite (or extra consumption etc).

They like eating*, aka "they live to eat, not eat to live"





*and drinking and smoking

Last edited by Tomsdad; 06-02-2016 at 12:34 AM.
Tomsdad is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2016, 12:30 AM   #6
Tallor
 
Join Date: May 2016
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomsdad View Post
I'd go with quirk: hungry not human sized appetite.

They like eating*, aka "they live to eat, not eat to live"





*and drinking and smoking
Quirk: Loves a smoke [-1]
Quirk: Drinker [-1]
Tallor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2016, 08:20 AM   #7
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

While most of the hobbits in the movies are skinny, in the books they tend to be portly - the way Bilbo looks at the beginning of The Hobbit series of movies is probably closer to the way he looks after he starves in Murkwood in the book (there are many references to the tightening of belts as rations dwindle). Now, some hobbits are particularly fat, like Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger, although IIRC Samwise wasn't much larger than the rest of the hobbits in the books.

Hobbits seem to have similar dietary needs to dwarves, and I'd expect the latter (with their broad profile and high muscle density) to have about the same needs as humans, so I'd say hobbits would indeed have a human-sized appetite along with something like Gluttony (12), but individual hobbits can modify the SC roll or even downgrade it to Hungry. You might be able to justify Reduced Consumption 1, however (assuming you're basing consumption off a human baseline, not the character's SM). As an interesting aside, with respect to them eating many meals per day, BioTech actually suggests a 1/2 scale (SM-2) modified human would tend to eat 6 meals a day, rather than 3, although they'd be smaller meals.
Varyon is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2016, 10:11 AM   #8
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

Hobbits aren't compelled to eat lots of food; they're just accustomed to it. At most it'd be a quirk: "Complains when food is scarce." Hobbits on an extended adventure would probably eventually buy off this quirk at the insistence of their traveling companions.

Lots of hobbits would indeed have Gluttony, but it wouldn't be a racial trait. They probably do have Overweight as a racial trait, with some overriding it with Fat.

Despite images and lines in various films, I am not aware of anything in the book that suggests Sam was any fatter than, say, Frodo, Pippin, or Merry.
Stormcrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2016, 03:57 PM   #9
The Colonel
 
The Colonel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

Isn't there a bit in Biotech about more frequent meals for smaller critters? Sort of like hummingbird syndrome - they eat smaller amounts, more often - but probably require more energy by mass due to the whole surface area:volume thing to maintain body temperature...
The Colonel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2016, 11:54 PM   #10
Tallor
 
Join Date: May 2016
Default Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
Isn't there a bit in Biotech about more frequent meals for smaller critters? Sort of like hummingbird syndrome - they eat smaller amounts, more often - but probably require more energy by mass due to the whole surface area:volume thing to maintain body temperature...
Are there smaller creatures that don't have higher metabolisms, though? o:
Tallor is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
hobbit, lord of the rings, lotr, size modifier

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:25 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.