D&D 5E Setting up a hold

[Jd Smith1]

So the 5e Strongholds supplement isn't doing it.

The PCs are preparing to retake, and re-occupy a Dwarven stronghold. The place is already built. Suitable populations are available (refugees and the survivors of the original occupants). Basically they're setting up a colony of sorts.

The key I want to hit them with is food production, because defending crops and especially animals like pigs and sheep will create the best headaches for the PCs.

Anyway, I've looked at the Strongholds supp (useless), Harn Manor ( some good ideas). What I need is data on food production in this period (any medieval, even with crop rotation) regarding food produced, workers needed, etc. That way when the PCs come home for down time, there will be problems waiting for them that are beyond the ability of their guard force.

 

[Quartz]

A very rough rule of thumb was 1 acre of arable land per adult per year. Adjust up or down according to the quality of the land and the nutition of the crop.

 

[Jd Smith1]

A very rough rule of thumb was 1 acre of arable land per adult per year. Adjust up or down according to the quality of the land and the nutition of the crop.

Yeah, I've found that. I'm not going to get much into the specifics of crops, just the one acre feeds one person for a year, and one person can work 4 acres. But I was wondering if there is a good source on primitive farming that could give me some facts and figures I can use to harass the players.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

A Magical Medieval Society by Expeditious Retreat Press.

 

[Jd Smith1]

OK, I'm setr: I found Grain into Gold, and 'Farm, forge, and Steam'.

 

[Dausuul]

Just a note, be aware that magic in 5E can really throw a wrench into efforts to make food supplies matter. Druids are by far the biggest offenders here. With goodberry, one 1st-level spell slot can feed 10 people, and plant growth doubles a crop's productivity for a year. A mid-level druid can greatly supplement a farming community's output, even if they're only around for some of the time.

This may not matter if there are no druids in the party (clerical food-magic is far less efficient), but it's worth keeping in mind as you plan.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Just a note, be aware that magic in 5E can really throw a wrench into efforts to make food supplies matter. Druids are by far the biggest offenders here. With goodberry, one 1st-level spell slot can feed 10 people, and plant growth doubles a crop's productivity for a year. A mid-level druid can greatly supplement a farming community's output, even if they're only around for some of the time.

This may not matter if there are no druids in the party (clerical food-magic is far less efficient), but it's worth keeping in mind as you plan.

Good points. I'll factor that in.

 

[NotAYakk]

Resources:

Population (and worker percentage)
Cropland (each cleared acre produces 50 people-weeks a year if harvested; takes work to clear)
Pasture (acres. It takes 1.5 to 2 acres to feed a cow+calf for a year, or a dairy cow)
Housing (in people-housed at peasant levels; so if housing >> population, you get better digs)
Livestock (people-weeks of food; can be harvested or grown)
Dairy (people fed per day from livestock)
Fresh Food (people-weeks)
Preserved Food (people-weeks)
Troops (human-guard equivalents, in 5e 1/8th of a CR per troop)
Morale
Loyalty (to the PCs! Not the same as morale)

1 fullgrown cow is about 100 people-weeks of food if eaten. 1 calf grows to a cattle in a bit less than a year. 1 pig is about 50 people-weeks of food if eaten. 1 chicken is 1 people-week of food. 20 chickens produce enough eggs to feed 1 person (250 or so per year per chicken). 1 cow produces enough milk to feed 1-4 people (depending on breed; high yield breeds may not exist)

So 1 cow, impregnated, (100 people-weeks of livestock) consumes 2 acres of pasture and produces another 100 people-weeks of livestock per year. So each acre of pasture with sufficient livestock feeds 50 people.

1 cow, milked (calf slaughtered), consumes 2 acres of pasture and produces 50-200 people-weeks of food over the year.

Wheat is 4 million calories/acre. That is 40 people-weeks per acre per year. Potatoes and Corn are 150 people-weeks per acre per year.

The above might require magical yield increasing; it is modern numbers with modern crops.

High-yield is 3-4 people fed/acre. Low yield is 0.5-1 people fed/acre. Getting "over the hump" is before you have the huge amount of food is going to be hard.

Once you have the basic economy set up, it should be mostly self-sustaining. Start with the above and see what gaps they have. Have some initial quests and efforts to make it self-sustaining.

Once setup, it should become a source of quests and adventures.

Say, call the things that happen a "Challenge". Each Challenge should have a (a) what happens if you ignore it, (b) how urgent it is, (c) what you get from defeating it.

The ignore bit is important; it is a settlement, it can probably deal with a dire wolf problem itself. It will lose a bunch of troops and livestock and morale, probably. Maybe roll some dice, and instead the troops easily dispatch the dire wolves, generating a morale boost.

 

[Celebrim]

The above might require magical yield increasing; it is modern numbers with modern crops.

Yeah, and modern domesticated animals as well. You might want to divide the numbers by 10 to 30 to get more reasonable numbers for primitive subsistence farming.

 

[NotAYakk]

Myself, I sort of like the world-building idea that areas outside cities are so dangerous that everyone huddles into fortifications (even villages) at night. Lone homesteads only work if you have it regularly blessed to keep out the things that go bump in the night.

At the same time, blessings of the sun, nature and other gods boost yields significantly, up to modern-esque levels. But clearing the forest is way, way more dangerous, because the trees eat people, and the animals are worse.