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

[MarkB]

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

"We'd be so much better at adventuring if we only had a brain. So we'll take yours."

 

[Umbran]

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.

"Nice flock you got there. Shame if something should... happen to it...."

 

[Umbran]

I have to admit, and this is just a personal preference, that when magic becomes too common the setting starts to resemble the Flintstones with magic taking the place of dinosaurs or modern technology.

Yeah, well, I'm playing an artificer is a small rebuilding town that has two cults trying to bust up the joint. The adventuring party is far tougher than the nominal town guards. My character would love to make and distribute a few sending stones for people to use as panic buttons when we are needed.

I am, however, playing an artificer in a game where we have found no item recipes at all...

Which makes the point - if you don't want this, don't let out the recipe for Sending Stones. Because once you do, it makes a whole lot of economic sense.

 

[Dausuul]

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

Sure, but it's not the players who have to agree to it. It's NPC farmers, who agree to it because the alternative is being eaten. Then the PCs get to come in, liberate the farmers from the monsters' yoke, and be the big damn heroes.

Also, whether it's extortion depends on the nature of the deal. "Give me a sheep every week and I won't eat you" is extortion. "Give me a sheep every week, and I won't eat you, and I'll also protect you from other monsters," is not so clear-cut.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Dire deer? Were-gophers? Fiendish crows?

Not until someone writes that supplement, no....

(To be clear: I'm not disagreeing. Just joking.)

 

[MGibster]

Also, whether it's extortion depends on the nature of the deal. "Give me a sheep every week and I won't eat you" is extortion. "Give me a sheep every week, and I won't eat you, and I'll also protect you from other monsters," is not so clear-cut.

They're both examples of extortion. It's just that in your first example they have the decency not to frame it like they're doing me a favor.

 

[BookTenTiger]

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"...

This is great inspiration right here!

The adventurers find a valley where the farms are suffering. Previous adventurers had cleared the valley of goblins. It turns out the goblins were regularly performing agricultural practices or magical rituals or sacrifices to get food go grow. Without this, the farms will fail.

The characters must track down where the remaining goblins fled to and figure out how to get information that can save the valley... Or reintroduce goblins... Or negotiate a sharing of the land... Or turn against the valley and join the goblins in taking back their land!

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've been having a suspension of belief recently over a commodity that is buyable just about anywhere - bread.

Here's what got me stuck:

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.

Assuming 1-3 to be true, how do you fix this problem while keeping bread generally cheap and plentiful?

Long distance trade from a fabled land of wheat where there are no monsters? Dwarven underdark wheat, grown in deep basements, if there is such a thing?
I'm just drawing a blank, since every town should be surrounded by acres and acres of wheat fields, and so many places in many different settings, that just isn't possible. 1 cup of flour would need maybe three square feet of wheat plants. That's an awful lot of land to protect.

ideas pls?

To me, these are all wonderful adventure prompts!

Kingdom A has a steady supply of bread, despite all the nearby monsters. What terrible things are they doing to appease the monsters, and how will the PCs stop it?

Kingdom B doesn't have bread because of rampaging monsters, and so is raiding Kingdom C. Do the adventurers try to stop the raiders or monsters first?

Kingdom C has bread because they are protected by ancient magic no one understands anymore, but the magic is failing! The adventurers must learn more and reestablish the magic barrier!

 

[Ixal]

You just discovered why 4Es "points of light" was a very stupid idea unless you make those points really, really big.

For society as portrait in D&D books to work you need large areas where the chance to be attacked by monsters is low. They don't need to be eradicated, but they at least need to stick to their own area and usually do not trouble villages.
But sadly, everything not connected to murderhoboing is criminally underdeveloped in D&D.

 

[Vaalingrade]

You just discovered why 4Es "points of light" was a very stupid idea unless you make those points really, really big.

Except PoL has common and functional magic that is explicitly used used to hold the Points of Light.