04-11-2021, 03:03 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
I'm actually mucking around with a D&D setting, so there's multiple nonhuman races kicking around. After discussion, some early thoughts:
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04-11-2021, 03:06 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
Looking at the biological systems involved is a good first step.
These in almost all cases start with Sunlight then plants. Now to take that in an unusual direction. (Say two farm systems to cover a couple of aspects of the diet(ignoring all the non-food parts of farming for now)) System 1 Protien and vitamins A domesticated tree fungus is introduced into individual trees, this produces a fruiting body on the outside of the tree and converts the cellulose in the wood into an edible form. - villages use a forestry rotation to supply themselves or maybe the agriculture method pushes the race towards a spread or perish as they move to gain access to fresh forests. System 2 Calories There is a creature whose name escapes me at the moment who sheds its skin to feed its young (a type of snake or lizard?). If a fantastic version of this creature existed it could be used in a similar manner to dairy cows. But in this case would be kept in slimy pits/piles of plant material.
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Waiting for inspiration to strike...... And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn |
04-11-2021, 07:13 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
Amphibians will eat their own shed skin, and caecillians in particular are known to allow their young to eat it as it sheds.
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04-11-2021, 07:15 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
For subterranean species, low tech or magical versions of hydroponics or aquaponics, especially if you go for vertical farming, might be just different enough from conventional farming to give a sense of alienness.
Herding using wolves makes a lot of sense for goblins. Even better, make them like 18th/early 19th century Plains Indians in that they're nomadic, follow herds of meat animals, and manage a seemingly natural ecosystem for food, fiber, and meat. That fits nicely into the trope of Goblins as barbarians who trash civilization for no good reason. Like the Mongols, they have little use for cities and extensive modification of the land for agriculture messes with the Goblins' attempts to manage it for pastoralist hunting and herding. Not exactly "farming" but another way to make the species different is to make Goblins and their kin into omnivorous scavengers with a preference for carrion. That plays into the the dirty, smelly, monster trope. If they can eat exactly the same diet as their wolf companions, and have a strong preference for meat that's had a few days to "ripen" and condiments like fish sauce (but made from godknowswhat mixture of carrion, fungus, stinky herbs, and unspeakable things that came from inside an animal), it might hit the players on a visceral level. Last edited by Pursuivant; 04-11-2021 at 07:26 PM. |
04-11-2021, 07:26 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
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The whole fungus vs. wood conflict could also explain the stereotypical enmity between Elves and Orcs (ignoring the whole Tolkien Silmarillion thing). Elves operate like Eastern Woodland Indians - managing mature and second growth forests as "food forests" and game parks. Orcs are fungus farmers; they need all the dead wood they can get for their underground farms and regularly invade Elven forests to get it. Last edited by Pursuivant; 04-11-2021 at 10:17 PM. |
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04-11-2021, 08:40 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
Yes, thank you, it was caecilians I was thinking about.
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Waiting for inspiration to strike...... And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn |
04-11-2021, 10:49 PM | #17 | |||
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
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For the more carnivorous species like Goblins, Kobolds, Lizardmen, and Orcs, agriculture is going to be focused on "growing food for food." Not just managing grazing lands, but also growing fodder crops. Insectivores will raise plants for bugs to live on, perhaps like sericulture or ants tending aphids. They might even raise African style termites, tending the mounds like humans tend beehives. For extra creepy, consider species which herds or raises arachnids or annelids instead of animals or insects. Kobolds might consider scorpion soup to be a delicacy. Finally, consider that, historically, humans have made choices as to which crops to domesticate, often considering edible but undomesticated plants to be "weeds." Different species might have different staple grain and vegetable protein crops. For example, Orcs might have domesticated crabgrass and thistles as grain crops, whereas human and Halfling farmers consider them to be noxious weeds. Last edited by Pursuivant; 04-11-2021 at 10:53 PM. |
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04-12-2021, 01:54 AM | #18 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
You iconoclast!
http://http://www.visual-arts-cork.c...-paintings.htm Jokes aside, yes, Dwarves and Orcs who live underground with little natural light should definitely resort to mushroom farming one way or another. |
04-12-2021, 02:49 AM | #19 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Kingdom of Insignificance
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
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Love it.
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It's all very well to be told to act my age, but I've never been this old before... |
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04-12-2021, 02:26 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chagrin Falls
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Re: Alternatives to Farming
Now I want to see a Dungeon Ecology supplement.
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Benundefined Life has a funny way of making sure you decide to leave the party just a few minutes too late to avoid trouble. |
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farming, goblins |
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