Game mechanics for cannibalism

[ffutures]

In Tooth and Claw dragons grow almost instantaneously if they eat dragon flesh.

I'm not ready for it quite yet, but I need to start thinking about a good game mechanic for this.

Let's say that we have four BODY 12 dragons, and one of them gets stabbed in the back killed by the dreaded Yarge. There is no legitimate heir around, or prospect of getting the body to one before it goes off. The other three sob a tear or two then tuck in.

I need to determine how much BODY, if any, each of them gains. The easy but boring way is to divide 12 by 3 and give them 4 each. But this (a) assumes that they split the corpse fairly and (b) that all three are equally good at assimilating dragon flesh.

I don't think I particularly want to have a cannibalism skill, so it's probably going to have to be a BODY versus BODY roll of some sort, or possibly based on Brawling skill, to determine who gets the largest part, who the next, etc.

After that I need a second roll to determine how much BODY is actually gained from the meal. This is presumably going to be he maximum BODY to be gained versus total BODY or something of the sort - it ought to get harder as they get bigger.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Oh, forgot to add that Brawling etc. won't go up instantly with BODY; they've got to work at their skills etc. to improve them.

Comments

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Bigger scores for the dragon that gets the heart and/or brain?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Maybe - it isn't mentioned in the book, but it seems plausible.

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

One thought is that the winner gets as much Body as d6 roll + the amount he won the Brawling roll by.

If Dragon A wins the contest by 3 points, he gets a +3 on his roll. This can result in one dragon getting all of the dead dragon's Body, while the other two slink off watching him chomp on down on the entrails of their fallen comrade.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

This sounds a bit too arbitrary - unless they're actively fighting over the body I think all of them should get something.