How long is a 'generation'

[Delemental]

If I'm wanting to describe a certain amount of time passing in terms of generations of a family, roughly how many years does a generation cover? For example, rather than say "his family was cursed for 1000 years", I want to say "his family was cursed for x generations", but want x to work out somewhat close to 1000 years.

This is assuming a human family, but for the sake of argument how would longer-lived races change the equation?

 

[was]

I'd think for a human it would be would be about 50-60 years so 1000 would be around 19-20 generations.
Elves: two or three generations (300-400 years)
Dwarves: maybe four or five (150-200 years)
Of course, I'm just guessing here......

 

[ShadowStar]

Actually you're figuring generations wrong, it's between being born and giving birth not being born and dying. Typically in a midevil society it's about 15-25 years/generation so 1000 years would be roughly 40-60 generations.

 

[Tetsubo]

Among real world humans 20 years is a good rule of thumb. Long enough for a person to be born, grow to sexual maturity and have their own offspring. That is pretty much the definition of a "generation".

 

[Delemental]

Among real world humans 20 years is a good rule of thumb. Long enough for a person to be born, grow to sexual maturity and have their own offspring. That is pretty much the definition of a "generation".

Wow, usually don't get such quick responses on a weekend. (Not complaining, mind you, just observing).

I was thinking a generation was defined either as the time between a person's birth and the birth of their offspring, or until one's offspring reached adulthood. Seems two out of three believe its the former.

 

[tarchon]

Typically 25-30 years (3 or 4 per century), but it does vary. You have to account for birth order, and the "average" person historically has tended to be born when their parents were in their late 20s.

 

[Darren]

The dictionary definition of a generation is the average amount of time between the birth of parents and their offspring, if you want to use that.

For simplicity, you could probably just use the Middle Age for whatever race you want (Table 6-5 Aging Effects in Player's Handbook). For humans that would be 35 years, although it might be a bit more realistic to take some average between adulthood and middle age, especially if you are fond of the grittier, low-magic worlds where presumably life expectancy is somewhat shortened. Going halfway between adulthood and middle age would put a human generation at 25 years.

Edit: wow, so many beat me to it...

 

[Tonguez]

Standard is 25 years (4 generations to a century) - of course it varies in reality but rule of averages and all that...

your question raised an interesting point for me - would Elfs (and Dragons etc) actually measure time in years or could the 'Human Generation' be used as an elf Standard measure

"Three generations hence we shall meet at the sign of the three kings and there settle all our debts - agreed?"

oh and whats the implications of contracts signed between humans and elfs

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Standard is 25 years (4 generations to a century) - of course it varies in reality but rule of averages and all that...

your question raised an interesting point for me - would Elfs (and Dragons etc) actually measure time in years or could the 'Human Generation' be used as an elf Standard measure

"Three generations hence we shall meet at the sign of the three kings and there settle all our debts - agreed?"

oh and whats the implications of contracts signed between humans and elfs

The inplication is: 'Your children will forget about it, and your grandchildren will suffer for their forgetfulness.' Then again, elfs in my worlds aren't nice people...

 

[S'mon]

A generation is the average age at which people have children, the next generation. It's usually set at 25 years.