D&D General Need wheat. Too dangerous. (worldbuilding)

[Dausuul]

1. Bread is a cheap, freely available staple food.
2. You need huge fields outside the walls to make lots of bread.
3. Huge fields outside the walls will inevitably be attacked and overrun.
4. No more bread.

I'm gonna push back on #3. What's going to attack fields of wheat? Dire deer? Were-gophers? Fiendish crows?

As @Umbran points out, your typical monster is not looking to gobble up a bunch of wheat stalks. It wants to gobble the farmers. So that's where the defense would be focused. If you're near the edge of a monster-haunted wilderness, farmers will live in fortified clusters of buildings, and agriculture will be oriented toward the least labor-intensive crops (to offset the cost of protecting the farmers while they work the fields). The fields themselves are pretty safe.

In civilized areas, there won't be a lot of monsters to begin with, and agriculture will follow a more typical medieval model.

 

[Ancalagon]

I'm gonna push back on #3. What's going to attack fields of wheat? Dire deer? Were-gophers? Fiendish crows?

As @Umbran points out, your typical monster is not looking to gobble up a bunch of wheat stalks. It wants to gobble the farmers. So that's where the defense would be focused. If you're near the edge of a monster-haunted wilderness, farmers will live in fortified clusters of buildings, and agriculture will be oriented toward the least labor-intensive crops (to offset the cost of protecting the farmers while they work the fields). The fields themselves are pretty safe.

In civilized areas, there won't be a lot of monsters to begin with, and agriculture will follow a more typical medieval model.

Don't forget the livestock though....

... but again, this is yet another situation that can lead to arrangements with monsters, if they are smart enough/can communicate. X sheep per month in exchange for protection, I can see communities making that choice.

 

[Ancalagon]

One aspect of this discussion that troubles me though is... well, colonialism. If heroes clear out an owlbear infestation in an area, allowing peasants to move in and safely farm, yay, I guess. But if the heroes are clearing out goblins or some other "not human sentient beings"...

 

[MGibster]

... but again, this is yet another situation that can lead to arrangements with monsters, if they are smart enough/can communicate. X sheep per month in exchange for protection, I can see communities making that choice.

I think most modern players think of this as extortion and aren't so keen on the idea.

One aspect of this discussion that troubles me though is... well, colonialism. If heroes clear out an owlbear infestation in an area, allowing peasants to move in and safely farm, yay, I guess. But if the heroes are clearing out goblins or some other "not human sentient beings"...

How about if they're goblins who recently moved into the area and are raiding villages?

 

[MarkB]

One aspect of this discussion that troubles me though is... well, colonialism. If heroes clear out an owlbear infestation in an area, allowing peasants to move in and safely farm, yay, I guess. But if the heroes are clearing out goblins or some other "not human sentient beings"...

Yeah, pretty much the definition of a "pest" in rural areas is the critters that already lived in the area before you decided to come in and cultivate it. Applying that to sentient species is definitely problematic.

I guess the question is, are you encroaching on their territory because they were pushovers, or are they encroaching on yours because of all the easy pickings? And probably in many cases, that question doesn't have just one answer.

 

[aco175]

One aspect of this discussion that troubles me though is... well, colonialism. If heroes clear out an owlbear infestation in an area, allowing peasants to move in and safely farm, yay, I guess. But if the heroes are clearing out goblins or some other "not human sentient beings"...

In most cases I think that Nationalism wins over Colonialism. I could even see border clashes between two human/elf/dwarf/PHB races fit this.

 

[Iry]

I then gave a suggstion, because adding a single word would have elliminated that confusion. I am sorry - I honestly did not expect you to find a minor writing suggestion rude. If I had known this would be the reaction, I would not have done so. And I guess in the future I'll try in the future to not do so with you.

You could do it through PMs? That way it doesn't look like you're trying to assert dominance.

 

[Undrave]

I love it! Every farm should have a group of stalwart Scaregobs guarding it's fields.

And then you can have a party of Animated Scaregobs as enemies!

 

[Bedrockgames]

How about if they're goblins who recently moved into the area and are raiding villages?

I think this is something overlooked in that particular angle of the discussion quite frequently. You look at something classic like the mines of Moria, that was a dwarven kingdom overtaken by orcs by the time the heroes got there (and even then their objective was to pass through, not simply loot the place: treasure is just a highly gameable thing but I've had plenty fo dungeon crawls that aren't about raiding the treasure).

 

[Bedrockgames]

This. Hell 10 archers can do plenty of damage and dnd bow range is ridiculous. Most monsters don’t want to be shot at, and would rather leave to find an easier meal elsewhere.

Definitely agree on this point. Ultimately the monsters do what the GM (and possibly something like a reaction table) says. They don't have to be mindless rampaging things. They ought to have a sense of self preservation. Even the most dangerous animals will avoid spending effort on something that gets them hurt like that. Also whenever there is an issue with animals in the real world, it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Coyotes are not always, constantly, going into villages and eating livestock and babies. It happens every so often, and if it is happening with alarming frequency there is usually something going on with the local coyote population causing that increase in aggressive behavior towards humans in populated areas (lack of food for example). If the monsters in the area aren't desperate for food they may remain content to attack individuals or small groups traveling between settlements.