While not strictly speaking about anagathics, has anyone out there realised that, according to the rules as they exist, a character from a TL/0 world has exactly the same chance of living exactly as long as a character from a TL/15 (or above) world?
That is, the aging roll process (and consequent chance of death) is, in no way, affected by technology.
Which is, of course, ridiculous.
As you all know ( :wink: ) average life expectancy in pre-modern times was quite low ... usually no more than mid tenties to mid thirties (though it varied by region, by period, by sex (women died earlier than men, in the reverse of what is currently the case ... do I need to explain why? :wink: ) and, to a smaller degree than most of us might expect, by social class) ... but even allowing for the fact that average life expectancy is just that, an average, the real life expectancy for people who managed to survive the first five years of their life (statistically the biggest die back age group, dragging down the average life expectancy the most) was probably only in the 40s-50s' range, and the Biblical "three score years and ten" was probably close to being literally true ...
Why has life expectancy increased dramatically?
I am sure most of you have some inkling (which may or may not be correct) ... but, simply put, the biggest reason for the increase in the last 2 centuries (which is when the biggest increase has occurred) has basically been from public health measures rather than advanced medical drugs and procedures ... that is, from things like provision of clean water, garbage collection services, etc. and the second biggest reason has been the increase in agricultural productivity to the level where no-one in the developed world need go hungry (in early times, even in good years, the poor ... most of the population by far ... ate far less that what most nutritionists would consider "normal" today ... though adequate to prevent starvation ... and there is considerable evidence to suggest that an inadequate diet and barely or inadequate food intake levels during childhood have an important impact on the development of the immune system ... one of the reasons, it is thought, that the Black Death was so devastating was because Europe was, at the time, at the very limits of its food production capacity, given the tech then available, and chronic malnutrition meant that people back then were more susceptible to the disease than moderns would be ... not that it wouldn't still be dangerous today with no antibiotics, but that it was relatively more lethal because of the general suppressed immune systems).
Anyway, there should be a significant difference between pre modern (say TL/0-3) and modern (TL/4-9) life expectancy ...
As for increases in life expectancy, advanced drugs have actually had relatively little to do with it ... and, where they do, they often extend life without extending quality of life ... as I am sure we all realise.
But "relatively little" is not the same as "no effect whatsoever" -- and there is some evidence to suggest that moderns have an extended period before (in Traveller terms) their "aging crisis" begins to bite them in the bum. This, also, should be factored in, somewhere.
And, of course, we can reasonably presume that future advances in drugs and medical technology will considerably extend life and considerably delay the aging crisis ... whether this will, in the real world, become something we can reasonably call immortality ... well, I have my doubts, but for an SF game, I think its reasonable (expected, in fact) to allow it, and probably at far lower tech levels than Traveller would.
<IMO only, of course ... YMMV>
So, what do I suggest?
Well, assuming that TL/4-6 are the "base level" and use the existong rules, I'd probably apply a DM-1 to all aging crisis rolls for TL/3, DM-2 for TL/2 and DM-3 for TLs/0-1 ... at the very least ...
For TL/7-9 I'd allow a DM +1 for avoiding the Aging Crisis and allow characters to have a "pseudo Stat" bonus (overall, not per Stat) of +1 for TL/7-8 and +2 for TL/9 to "buy off" any stat decreases (and, therefore, stave off actual death).
That is, a character with, say, a Stat of 7 would not suffer an actual decrease in Stat at TL/9 unless they first lost two points of Pseudo Stat bonus ... though that would be under an assumption that they had access to modern medical treatment (prescription drugs and other minor technology requiring regular checkups, say every quarter) once they hit the bottom of the Stat (so, forex, if they have a +2 Pseudo Stat, once any actual Stat is reduced to 2, they would require this ongoing treatment, since they'd be dead otherwise if not for the Pseudo Stat).
At higher Tech Levels? Well, its reasonable to assume that bennies would increase ... considerably ... but probably not every TL, more likely in 2-3 TL bands, so at, say, TL/10-12, 13-14, and 15.
Which brings up the other implication of extended life spans ... Careers and Retirement bennies.
For Careers, extended life expectancy should mean a character can serve more terms before mandatory retirement, especially as the tech increases enough to stave off aging crises ...
Then, of course, Pensions ... as a teacher, I belong to the NSW Public Service, and, having started teaching in 1977, I belong to what we call the "Old Scheme" ... which is basically a "defined benefits" scheme, based, for those who don't know, on the old Prussian State super/pension scheme dating back to the 19th century (perhaps earlier) ... which means that, if I reach age 55 I can retire on 40% of my final salary and get it for as long as I live (if I live to age 60 and retire at that age, the benefit is 60% ... and it rises incrementally in the intervening years, higher the longer you go before retiring, for reasons that should, I hope, be mathematically obvious :wink: ).
Now, when the PSSS was first introduced, this was a good bet ... assuming (as it would have been back then) a retirement age of either 60 or 65, the scheme would, on average, have had to pay out for an average of no more than 10 years (assuming average life expectancy of 70) ... yeah, its more complex than that (widows, orphans and all), but you get the idea ...
Today? Well, the NSW government closed off all the "defined benefits" schemes in the mid-late 80's ... all the schemes since then have been increasingly ungenerous "accumulation" schemes to which the teacher provides an increasingly larger share of the contributions. When they retire, however much money is in kitty is all there is ... when it runs out, its gone. You go on the OAP and that's that.
In Traveller, well, there's no provision for any of this ... and there should be, at least in simple terms and in passing, if nothing else.
Forex, there should be a TL based bonus (or penalty) on the maximum number of terms you could serve and on the minimum number of terms you are expected to serve before getting a pension of any sort.
Pheww. A long post ... I could write lots more (be thankful I'm not! :shock: ) ... but I guess there's a bit of food for thought, eh? :wink:
Phil
) that in the OTU -- a 1000 year old state that has been close to static in its borders for a hell of a lot of that time -- that it is meaningless to talk of any TL but, at worst, Average Imperial ... that Planetary TLs are essentially meaningless ...
:twisted: :lol: (No you don't; I'm in no need of a biology lesson!)
