Sandy's Soapbox
This roused my 30-something ire. Or did it? "Never trust anyone over 30" -- Jack Weinberg, popularized by Jerry Rubin... who was 30 at the time. Maybe they were right, maybe this essay will convince you to hire only the young. Oh, the eternal debate of youth versus wisdom. Let's go to D&D for insight!
Imagine the scene at the Seasoned Adventurer's Tent. "The great dragon is awake! Without the Staff of Ro, all will be lost! You must go to the Misty Mountains!"
'No problem. I'll just have to find someone to watch over little Kaitlyn here. My wife is over at Rivenwall negotiating a new branch to our store, so I'm a little shorthanded. Also, one of my clerks is out until Tuesday, so can I hold off leaving until Wednesday? We will be back by Saturday, right, because the White Witch and her family are coming over for Kaitlyn's birthday party. they've been planning this trip all year. Oh, and I'll need to bring a stock of those vita potions I have to take each morning.'
"Never mind, I'll just recruit a new bunch at the local tavern instead."
Clearly there are advantages to hiring the young over the old. Twenty year olds do have lots of energy. Questing isn't like a career or starting up a business. It's a quest. It's short, possibly lethal, and requires quick reflexes and youthful exuberance. It needs the young, right? So let's recruit a bunch of fresh-outs!
"Okay, there's the mountain... where's our fighter? Still with the barmaid? Get our wizard... okay, our apprentice here. Only cantrips? We'll make do. At least our thief will-- WILL STOP PICK-POCKETING THE PARTY, OKAY? Geeze, let me finish explaining the damned quest before you... oh bloody hades, where is our young paladin charging off to now?
In the real world, instead of one-quest character arcs, we have career arcs. It takes a while to build up a network of people so you can push your big idea. Then, it takes a while to get your big idea up to fruition, and develop it to pay off. So we have a mix of young and old, starters and builders, energy and experience.
Conan did the thief/outlaw/mercenary/pirate bit for years until becoming King... in his forties. Napoleon I, rose through the ranks in his late 20s, emperor at 35, exiled at 45. Alexander the Great, king at age 20 and dead at 33. Kurt Cobain, 24 when Nirvana broke big. Tim Bernes-Lee creates WWW at 34. Google founded by two 25-year olds, but no IPO until they were 31. All these are considered outstanding young achievers, but even the simplest of world-conquering has a bit of a learning curve. 20s, do your best. Just realize you'll be in your 30s when you find out if there's a payout. Life takes time.
Basically, going by age is just about the stupidest metric you can use when hiring, in D&D or in life. I've got slacker 20-somethings and go-getter 70-year olds in my extended family, and I've got the opposite as well. Okay, maybe I don't know have slacker 70-year olds, that much slack would kill ya by 60, but the point is you gotta go by the person and their drive.
What most people want is a worker that has drive, energy, insight, and few real-world burdens that tie them down. People mistake age for weakness. But they also err and mistake age for wisdom. Yet again we turn to D&D.
Let's take MavrickWeirdo's ageing ideas from the ENWorld forums, reading in part: I believe in what I call "Learn something new every day" advancement. The idea is that a typical human commoner gets 1 experience point a day. That gives him 360xp per year (I lowered the number from 365 to make the math simpler, so apparently he had 5 "stupid" days a year).
Starting to gain experience at age 15, (due to the "minimum starting age" in the PHB) he would reach L2 at age 18, L3 age 23, L4 age 32. "Middle age" modifiers happen at 35 years. He reaches L5 at age 43, then "old age" modifiers apply at age 53.
That gives us a really nice median. If a fast-track adventurer can hit Level 4 quickly before age 20, a commoner will make it by their 30s, and a wastrel hits it never at all, we have a spread. So it's not the age we want, it's the level.
It would be extremely cool if people actually had measurable Levels in their professions, suitable for hiring. They don't, in real life. They have impressive resumes and certs and references and some of those might actually be true. But real life lacks external absolute Levels.
Can 30-somethings save the world? Yes, as long as they are of sufficient Level. Same goes for 16-somethings, 50-somethings, any bracket you want. In real life, you need to pick the person, not the trendy demographic group.
Still, be thankful we don't actually model real life in D&D.
"Well, my tavern recruits, you did it! You found the Staff of Ro! Now to see the King requires patronage. We need to get a license from the mayor to let us set up a dragon-fighting business so we can build a rep, then work our way up so the king decides to pick us for the lucrative stop-the-great-dragon gig at next year's bidding fair. What fun!"
Thank goodness for gaming, at any age.
