Challenges for a Druid Farmer

[Tonguez]

So I have a druid PC who has decided to become a farmer and develop an estate of 50000 acres of forest, farm and swampland.

I've already hit him with a cyclone and poachers and an infestation of sentient turnips. So what other challenges can you think of that will make farming in a fantasy world fun?

 

[Gargoyle]

- A rival farmer dams off his source of irrigation and makes other problems. Rancher wars.

- Any sort of burrowing monster

- Radical druids who believe agriculture is too unnatural attack the farm or otherwise cause problems. (maybe they're on the paleo diet or something )

- Long winter causes a famine, and his crops are in great demand. Must find a way to grow more to feed the hungry.

- Learns of a new type of magical fertilizer or seed, and must adventure to retrieve it.

- He gets shrunk by a mischievous fey and must journey across his now huge garden to get to a potion/magic item/other fey that might cure him. On the way he contends with the pests he has been trying to exterminate, and while small finds out that he can communicate with both the helpful animals he meets and maybe discovers that there are small abominations infesting his garden that he never knew about.

- Hired hands/druid acolytes getting carried off by something, must go help them.

- Incredible success and the problems that go with it. Like maybe his green thumb is creating extremely large vegetables creating problems like "how do I transport this to market/to the soldiers/to the orphanage". Or he makes a fortune causes a glut on the market, putting other farmers out of business, and causing rampant unemployment leading to organized crime. Or the local baron increases taxes and starts claiming a personal tax on his goods. Or the farm gets so big that he can't manage it all by himself and need to hire a staff or acquire vassals, and must deal with politics and protecting these people; as a landowner maybe he acquires a title, whether he wants one or not!

 

[Ahnehnois]

So what other challenges can you think of that will make farming in a fantasy world fun?

Not sure of the tone of the game you're running, but you might not want to have his land constantly befallen by misfortune.

That aside, the thing that jumps out to me is the idea of a blighter; a rival specifically bent on destroying the land.

There's also always the possibility some civilized nation decides to settle over the area.

If you're looking for something less exteme, maybe a drought (can the druid control weather yet?). Swamps? Throw in some hags. Maybe do a Baldur's Gate homage and have an ankheg infestation. Is anyone else working for the druid? Labor disputes and personal conflicts are always fun.

 

[Aeolius]

You might find the What Happens to Crops That Aren't Harvested? thread to be of interest.

 

[Tonguez]

Thanks for the ideas (and please keep them coming)

Gargoyle - I will definately be using the Shrunk by a mischievious fey scenario somewhere along the way

Ahnehnois - yeah its not all misfortune and I tend to award the way he deals with the challenges with 'resource upgrades' (eg after the cyclone (he can control weather now)) his farm was flooded but he used growth and a few other tricks to channel the water so he now has a new water supply

I will be using hags somewhere along the way (requiring some diplomacy perhaps)

and he will probably end up being the 'baron' and his success will definately require that he pay more in taxes. I'm also going to have him receive a distress call from a starving city and see what a trade route causes

Aeolius- thank you for the reminder I used the turnip infestation as a build-up to having a killer Scarecrow (the killer corn feild) show up at Halloween

I'm also thinking about bad druids too. I'm tossing up between lycanthorpe poachers killing his stock or a blighter poisoning his crops

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

How about a friendly, but rival, druid who doesn't believe the land should be used for farming at all, but should be left in its natural state? It starts as a disagreement, but could escalate into a guerrilla war (or even gorilla war).

Or poverty-stricken squatters move onto his land to use it as there own. More heart-wrenching: a local farming hamlet, left homeless by a rampaging dragon, asks if they can move onto and farm the land as indentured servants until they can afford to rebuild. As a bonus, the druid can hunt down the dragon for them.

A wood nymph takes up residence on his land, and develops an unhealthy attraction.

A passing army decide to "live off the land" in his vicinity.

The king declares his land a royal preserve, and insists on royal hunting rights.

 

[Gargoyle]

Thanks for the ideas (and please keep them coming)

Gargoyle - I will definately be using the Shrunk by a mischievious fey scenario somewhere along the way

Cool, sounds like a neat campaign.

I really like it when PC's take the initiative and help create the story and influence the world, rather than just sit in a tavern and wait for a hooded stranger to walk in and give them a quest.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Plants Vs Zombies, anyone?


Or what if some alien plant life invaded his farm, such as the classic antagonists from Day of the Triffids or The Thing from Another World?

 

[Aeolius]

Plants Vs Zombies, anyone? Or what if some alien plant life invaded his farm, such as the classic antagonists from Day of the Triffids or The Thing from Another World?

Every time I drive by a traffic cone, my kids scream "ZOMBIE"!

How about "The Ruins"? It was a horrid movie, but had some great ideas for an adventure. Living vines with an evil intent could translate to a pyramid filled with slimes, molds, fungi, jellies, and malicious plant life (vegepygmies, yellow musk creepers, etc).

 

[Stormonu]

An evil spirit takes over an old tree, corrupting everything near it an creating a place of darkness and doom (ala the Dark Side tree on Dagobah from Empire Strikes Back).

A lost artifact is found while clearing lands. It awakens and begins an apocalyptic countdown, consuming the land to fuel itself.

Nearby fey creatures hear about the druid and come to ask him to help their dying land. Unfortunately, it means leaving his own lands untended while he's gone.

A local lord decides to build a keep or other fortress smack in the middle of the druid's land.

Paying taxes on 50,000 "developed" acres.

A wizard absconds with part of the land, using it to create an extradimensional pocket.

A sinkhole develops, unearthing an ancient evil.

In a secluded area of land, creatures are found "frozen in time" or turned to stone. The source seems to be a mysterious grotto reached by an ivy-covered cave...

A prime piece of farmland turns out to be an ancient burial site.

A bare spot of land resists anything growing on it. Digging the area up reveals two warring dragons that were enchanted and buried on the site.