Famine in the world

[Greenfield]

In our game world, one of the premises is that there is a dark cloud of smoke and ash that blocks the sun.

As a result, the world is getting colder, and crops are failing.

So, how would you have this develop, as a long term plot issue?

Be creative.

 

[kitcik]

Dragons become cool again.

The hot new name: Ashley.

The hot new phrase: "Let's chill."

Scrolls of "Create Food & Water" trade for more than vorpal swords.

There is a patch of sun over every major temple (Control Weather) and even the LG clerics protect their crops with hordes of zombies.

Druids start eating meat. Then they realize they can grow stuff too.

All melee dudes multiclass into casters.

Some wise ass casts "Wish" and everything is back to normal, proving once again that wizards are borked.

 

[Greenfield]

Control Weather has not been able to clear the cloud cover. Wish might help, for a very short time. It's also possible that it won't help. The curse has blocked some divine powers, and disassembling it is the main challenge for the campaign.

In many areas, the Druids have been using Plant Growth to help compensate, but spell casting services cost money and not everyone can afford it. Some have taken to using it on undeveloped areas, to ensure that the local wildlife can make it, while others have actually refused, feeling that it's interfering with the natural order of things. (Remember, there are Neutral Evil Druids out there as well.)

But even if the spell was available for free, it only staves off the inevitable. Increasing yield by a third sounds good, until you realize that adding a third to nothing is still nothing.

We aren't at the "nothing" stage, and maybe we won't get there, but farmers can't afford to let any fields lie fallow any more, so the soil is being depleted by poor land management.

Cities are currently dipping into their reserves, the provisions set aside for bad years and long term sieges, but they won't last forever.

We have a modified version of the Magnificient Mansion spell, and that produces a lot of food. Even so, when you compare a spell that can feed hundreds to the needs of a city with tens of thousands, you're still spitting on a forest fire.

(Our version is a level lower, and rather than creating an unassailable extradimensional hidy-hole with an invisible entrance, it creates the structure in the real world.)

Create Food and Drink is even smaller scale.

One of the other premises of our game world is that the ranks of the high level casters have been decimated by the wars that have torn the old Roman Empire apart. The ones that are left are in hiding, knowing that the leaders will draft them into military service.

Now since the start of the campaign there have been people leveling up, of course, the PC's among them.

So let's consider what happens when the leader of one area or another that we visit realizes that we have a Druid with us who can cast Plant Growth several times a day. When they realize that the Bard can turn water into wine, or honey, or cheese (melted), or any other liquid foodstuff. When they realize that the casters in our group can summon foodstuffs enough to feed hundreds at a casting.

Yeah, it won't prevent the masses from starving, but it will ensure that the upper class will not only survive, but survive in comfort.

Will the PCs become victims of their own success? Hmm. Now there's a plot development. <evil grin>

(Note that my own PC is on the list now targeted for kidnapping and/or enslavement.)

 

[Samloyal23]

So what happens when the people run out of cows to slaughter? Pretty soon they have to kill their horses and dogs. Fewer horses means it is harder to work the fields and take crops to the market for sale, making life even harder for the average farmer. With less trade comes more isolation, more bickering, less chance to escape hardship. People will start fighting over trivial issues, leading to murders and riots and blood feuds over stolen food. Less trade also means less diversity for crops, making them more vulnerable to diseases. Remember the Potato Famine? Once the dominoes start to fall they are hard to stop. If it gets bad enough cannibalism can pop up, which leads to the creation of Wendigos...

 

[kitcik]

I like the whole concept. political reference removed by moderator. In the end, only the wealthy will survive...

Unless the altruistic heroes of the era are able to lift the black clouds.

<heroes enter, mill around, avert eyes, take bite of sandwich when no one is looking>



Evil, high level casters (who can create magical food for themselves and their thralls) should start forest fires to further enhance the problem (thereby increasing their sphere of influence) and force the PCs to deal with them at the same time as looking for the source of the problem.

Aaah, the Wounded Land. Sounds like a job for the White Gold Wielder.

Maybe look there for inspiration - maybe a group of land-healing creatures like the Ranyhn could be found to help the PCs - dryads?

 

[Samloyal23]

Just occurred to me this is like a reverse of Athas. On that world the problem is heat. With no trees to recycle co2 the air there traps solar radiation to keep temperatures high, turning the whole place into a desert. Maybe on this world magic creates the smoke that blocks out sunlight, keeping the world cold and killing off plants from lack of sunlight...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I see the inevitable progression to a strict martial law to combat the growing anarchy. A task force assembled to try to solve the problem, and the opportunity for some heroes to try and save the world!

Are you familiar with the sort lived TV series Jericho? How about the kinda cheesy movie The Day After Tomorrow?

 

[Greenfield]

Part of the premise is that, as crops yields fall, cities need to control more arable land in order to support themselves.

This creates logistical issues, as the normal limit is lands within a single day's travel, so a farmer can bring his goods to market within a day of harvest. Spoilage is an issue in a world without refrigeration.

It also creates internal pressures within an Empire, as several cities may be trying to expand into the same area, or in more densely populated areas they're already right up against each other with no room for expansion other than by conquest.

It's theorized that pressures like this were among the factors that brought down the real Roman Empire.

In the real world of the era, meat was a luxury. It takes 10 pounds of vegetable matter for every pound of meat you produce, and that proportion grows worse as you move to larger livestock.

So livestock tended to be grazing animals (no "100% USDA corn fed beef" anywhere), and pretty much had to be multi-function.

Sheep were raised for wool, with meat almost as a byproduct. Cattle were primarily for dairy. Where I live there are a number of historical ranches preserved, and I've visited a few. In early American days cattle were raised and slaughtered more for the hide and tallow (fat) than for food. Again, meat was almost a byproduct. Leather and oil/fat were the big money items.

But in a time and place where acreage wasn't just sitting there it would be quite different. Huge herds of anything simply weren't possible. You didn't have the grazing area for them.

So I'd expect that a lot of the meat on the table was from poultry and rabbits. (Chicken is a far more efficient way to turn grain into protein than cows are, because of eggs during their lifetime and meat at the end.)

So while there won't be huge herds to send to the slaughterhouse, the lack of good grazing will reduce herd size on its own.

My next time as DM will be upping the ante on this game consideration. I was just looking for other creative input along the way.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I like how you have a clear view of what civilization would look like in this environment. Considering logistical details dictates how the culture operates. Sounds good to me.

I sure would want that crack team of adventurers to fix the world though.

 

[thompsja]

In our game world, one of the premises is that there is a dark cloud of smoke and ash that blocks the sun.

As a result, the world is getting colder, and crops are failing.

So, how would you have this develop, as a long term plot issue?

Be creative.

Invade the Underdark!

The Underdark supports a thriving ecology, and it has no sun at all. Whatever is used underground will be traded/stolen by surface dwellers. Likewise, denizens of the deep will find the surface more congenial.