theme for a fantasy campaign

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Brett

I'm sorry, I was unclear. I meant to say that a mounted-hunter way of life might persist rather than developing into herding — not because horses are unsuitable to eat, but because bison and deer are unsuitable to herd.

That is:

• if humans have neither a ridable nor a herdable animal they remain cursorial hunters;
• if they have a herdable animal but not a ridable one, they become graziers, sedentary or migratory depending on whether their pastures are perennial or seasonal;
• if they have a ridable animal but not a herdable one they become mounted hunters, because horses are more awesome to ride than to eat;
• if they have both they become super-awesome mounted nomads, woo-hoo!

What if they have horses, but there are no large mobile animals that can usefully be hunted on horseback? Or is this massively unlikely?

I still don't see who makes the wine and olive oil. Probably the elves, since it looks as though establishing long-lived plantation crops is their schtick.

Certainly the elves are the most logical to cultivate olives; in a Mediterranean area it's a common tree. I'll have to review Risk and Survival in Ancient Greece to see what other crops are available. Vines are possible for elves, certainly, but I could also see them as something halflings might grow. The grape seemingly was first domesticated in the Near East, probably along rivers, as it requires 700 mm of water from rain or irrigation. And the Bible has "under your own vine and your own fig tree."

As to ghouls, another option for them might be "firestick farming." Set fire to trees on the edge of your desert and you have a lot of dead animals to eat, and a period of high primary productivity while herbs recolonize the emptied land.

Bill Stoddard