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

[doctorbadwolf]

This is simply incorrect. grains and pulses keep a loooong time.

Apples can keep for over a year if stored properly, without any refrigeration.

Food could be stored quite well before the modern era.

 

[Fenris-77]

Its not really that broad once you read past the introduction.

The whole piece is quite general in being about the ancient Mediterranean (mostly) rather than a specific region or narrow time span. That was my reading anyway, although my impression was that following articles would probably be more specific.

 

[Steampunkette]

Wanna see the Genetic Distribution of Barley from 9,000BCE to 2,000BCE?

WHAPOW! Look at that. Strains from Mesopotamia went all the way to Japan and throughout Europe, too. Almost 1,300 years -after- the Mesopotamian strains of Barley reached Japan, Rome was founded. 1,000 years later, Rome collapsed.

Hordeum Vulgare (Domesticated Barley) was being harvested in Eastern Finland... FINLAND... in 4,200BCE.

To be fair, though... Greece and Italy didn't start getting Domesticated Barley 'till 300BCE which is just... mindblowing. They were harvesting other forms of Barley and Wheat before that point.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I wonder how farming would be changed with how many dumb, slow megafauna have to exist to feed all the super-predators but who don't get statted due to not being an interesting fight.

Like somewhere in D&D world, there have to be gargantuan versions of pandas and cows and deer.

 

[Faolyn]

1 Acres for a family of 4 sounds rather on the low side assuming a European diet. If anything goes wrong they will instantly starve and even in the normal years won't have that much of a buffer.

One thing to remember though that long lasting sieges only worked because cities were supplied from the outside which also happened at Candia/Heraklion. They didn't have protected farms within the walls which could supply their population. No city has.
Also because without refrigeration you can't keep long lasting supply anyway.

Donut cities do not really work as the demand for fields vastly outstrips the ability of cities to encircle them. Protecting every field with walls is possible but very expensive. And without defenders a wall is useless.

Vertical farming might be a thing in a fantasy city. Wouldn't help with grains, but would help with vegetables.

Fantasy refrigeration might be a thing. Dig a cold cellar, add some water, occasionally have a caster cast the shape water on it. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would help things keep colder for longer. (I'd allow either of the frost-based cantrips to be used as well).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I wonder how farming would be changed with how many dumb, slow megafauna have to exist to feed all the super-predators but who don't get statted due to not being an interesting fight.

Like somewhere in D&D world, there have to be gargantuan versions of pandas and cows and deer.

Just real world megafauna should work. Giant ground sloths were huge.

 

[MarkB]

I wonder how farming would be changed with how many dumb, slow megafauna have to exist to feed all the super-predators but who don't get statted due to not being an interesting fight.

Like somewhere in D&D world, there have to be gargantuan versions of pandas and cows and deer.

They're statted. We have aurochs, giant boars, giant elk, giant goats, and several species of herbivorous dinosaurs.

 

[Ixal]

Vertical farming might be a thing in a fantasy city. Wouldn't help with grains, but would help with vegetables.

Fantasy refrigeration might be a thing. Dig a cold cellar, add some water, occasionally have a caster cast the shape water on it. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would help things keep colder for longer. (I'd allow either of the frost-based cantrips to be used as well).

Keeping grains wet doesn't sound like it will help lasting it longer, but I am not expert what would count as refrigeration.

They're statted. We have aurochs, giant boars, giant elk, giant goats, and several species of herbivorous dinosaurs.

Thing is, giant herbivores also have a giant appetite for plants, including your crops.

 

[Steampunkette]

I wonder how farming would be changed with how many dumb, slow megafauna have to exist to feed all the super-predators but who don't get statted due to not being an interesting fight.

Like somewhere in D&D world, there have to be gargantuan versions of pandas and cows and deer.

For that, you can look at how humans deal with megafauna in the modern day!

For example, in North America the Moose eats 50lbs of vegetation a day. If you wanna keep him out of your garden you need a 6-8 foot tall sturdy wooden fence or stone wall. If it's shorter than 4 feet he'll just jump over it. Other things that keep moose away are Dogs and Chili Pepper. Just sprinkle the chili pepper on the higher leaves of a plant (Right around grazing-height for the moose, so low-leaves on a Birch tree, for example) and after the first few bites he'll move along. And dogs scare them off because wolves are pack-hunters.

In Africa, Beehives are hung from lines strung between trees to keep elephants from getting near to crops. You can also sprinkle Elephant Pee from a different elephant in the area, and then elephants will stay out of "His" territory, unless they're looking to bow up for a mating fight.

In India, a tea plantation put up a Giraffe Statue to scare away the Indian Elephants who have no clue what a giraffe is and freak the heck out when they see it!

(Not a lot of people worry about Rhinos eating their crops because endangered. )

With Hippopotami you just get out of their way. You can try to kill them with weapons but they'll batter through a fence or wall in order to get to what they want. They ignore pretty much everything except -maybe- fire. IF you can fake a wildfire they'll vacate the area before roasting, but that's about it.

 

[Faolyn]

Keeping grains wet doesn't sound like it will help lasting it longer, but I am not expert what would count as refrigeration.

Not putting them in water. It'd be like having an old-fashioned icebox.