Just now, AtoMaki said:

Let's be honest here, this is arguable at best.

Peasant one: "Let's grow this crop, it has a greater yield and we can feed more people."

Peasant two: "No, let's grow this one, it doesn't grow well and we feed less."

Yes...I can see how that would happen.

1 minute ago, AtoMaki said:

Rokugan isn't exactly an agricultural dreamland governed by peerless experts of the craft, if you know what I mean.

Actually, I'd kind of expect it to be honed to an art in Crane lands, given the fiction they released yesterday...

Also, I'd expect the Lion to have a pretty well-defined system in place, too.

1 minute ago, RandomJC said:

Peasant one: "Let's grow this crop, it has a greater yield and we can feed more people."

Peasant two: "No, let's grow this one, it doesn't grow well and we feed less."

Yes...I can see how that would happen.

The problem is that neither peasants know how much a crop yields and how much people it can feed because they can't into math. Then the real issue is that even if they do, a samurai will just pass by and yell "MUH RICE! GROW IT PHEASANTS!"

3 minutes ago, Isawa Tasatu said:

Are we really discussing grain growth in Rokugan.... man I love us L5R players.

This is the group of players who were majorly disappointed that the Merchant's Guide actually turned out to be a book about a conspiracy...

3 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

I think it would depend. If rice is in short supply (and most of it has to be sent to the Emperor, who still demands taxes), the rich will likely just take the millet and barley instead, as they're not likely to just sit back and starve if there's food available.

In that case, the raid could be a sort of poetic justice. You took our food, so we'll take yours.

Then again, if eating millet and barley are seen as imperfections, maybe the rich folk in the Crane Clan would rather starve. I think we need a series of fictions specifically devoted to each clan's views on agriculture.

Just now, Tonbo Karasu said:

This is the group of players who were majorly disappointed that the Merchant's Guide actually turned out to be a book about a conspiracy...

I raged so hard I almost burnt that book. True story.

But I work in the agriculture IRL, so I guess I get a pass .

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

Then again, if eating millet and barley are seen as imperfections, maybe the rich folk in the Crane Clan would rather starve.

This happened during the Great Famine in the old fiction.

1 minute ago, AtoMaki said:

The problem is that neither peasants know how much a crop yields and how much people it can feed because they can't into math. Then the real issue is that even if they do, a samurai will just pass by and yell "MUH RICE! GROW IT PHEASANTS!"

Pheasants?

Of course they know how much it yields and how much it feeds. Even before peasants knew math they knew that. can we grow enough to feed the village? yes/no. Do we have left over? yes/no. Do we have a lot left over? yes/no. The difference between the two yields of millet and rice in most regions of Rokugan bring back and obvious noticeable difference to people. Farmers know this, it is literally one of the core responsibilities as farmers.

Just now, RandomJC said:

Pheasants?

Calling them "peasants" would show too much courtesy.

6 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

The problem is that neither peasants know how much a crop yields and how much people it can feed because they can't into math. Then the real issue is that even if they do, a samurai will just pass by and yell "MUH RICE! GROW IT PHEASANTS!"

I'm pretty sure even someone who never had formal training could tell if one year a field yielded an entire barn (or Rokugani equivalent) full of a crop and the next year the same field filled only half the barn.

I really hope FFG doesn't go the route of "people who are illiterate in a pre-printing society must be stupid, too!" >_>

2 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Then again, if eating millet and barley are seen as imperfections, maybe the rich folk in the Crane Clan would rather starve. I think we need a series of fictions specifically devoted to each clan's views on agriculture.

I vaguely remember a fiction where i think a crane and a crab was travelling to the Wall.

along the way, inside the Crab lands, they we're greeted by farmers and the crane was shocked how casual the farmers were in respect to the Crab samurai. The Crane want to punish the farmer for the perceived disrespect but the Crab explained how they treat their farmers as they are their main provider of sustenance for the men at the Wall.

Just now, JJ48 said:

I'm pretty sure even someone who never had formal training could tell if one year a field yielded an entire barn (or Rokugani equivalent) full of a crop and the next year the same field filled only half the barn.

Believe me, the actual calculation is a lot more complicated than that.

Just now, AtoMaki said:

Believe me, the actual calculation is a lot more complicated than that.

But no one at the time would be using that calculation. They'd be going, does it fill the store house or not. One does so far easier than the other in most the region.

6 hours ago, Isawa Tasatu said:

So do you think that each of the stories will focus on each Clan Champion? ... if so will be interesting how they incorporate the elemental council for Phoenix.

The Phoenix have a champion; I see no problem with making the Phoenix fiction about him.

(I use a Sparrow handle, but I'm a big Shiba fan.)

3 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

But no one at the time would be using that calculation. They'd be going, does it fill the store house or not. One does so far easier than the other in most the region.

The point is that filling the barn actually does not mean that the crop is better. Or has a higher yield. Raw mass is very illusive, though I can see the average Rokugani falling for it.

Just now, AtoMaki said:

The point is that filling the barn actually does not mean that the crop is better. Or has a higher yield. Raw mass is very illusive, though I can see the average Rokugani falling for it.

I would guess that the rokugani had an idea of how much rice they were growing, especially given their economy ran on quantity of rice grown. With one of these variables in place, it's easier to judge if millet or barley grows as well as rice.

19 hours ago, Doji Makoto said:

I asked Dave Laderoute on Facebook and he confirmed that it is indeed Hotaru's husband.

Clearly, a clever ploy to distract us!

All those calculations are irrelevant when post-harvest season, taxes are defined by the relative generousity of the governor.

even if you could fill your storehouse with grains but the samurais wanted them all for taxes, there's nothing you could do.

1. Harvest time

2. Wait for the local tax collector and hope tax is low this season.

3. Give the samurai their rice

..if they left some for the village, praise the Governor for their generosity

..if they took everything, maybe its time to get that tonfa and black scarf and maybe wait along the road for some light exercise.

19 hours ago, Doji Makoto said:

I asked Dave Laderoute on Facebook and he confirmed that it is indeed Hotaru's husband.

Hang on, Shoju is Hotaru's husband?

Just now, AtoMaki said:

The point is that filling the barn actually does not mean that the crop is better. Or has a higher yield. Raw mass is very illusive, though I can see the average Rokugani falling for it.

No, but it does give you a rough estimate of the amount, and then it's simply a matter of knowing how many people can feed from a barn full of a given grain. Again, the fact that a farmer hasn't had formal education wouldn't prevent him from understanding practical knowledge like this.

No one's saying that the Rokugani farmers are precisely measuring all variables and calculating the exact calorie count of each crop, but to suggest that people who have been farming their entire lives, generation upon generation, can't even figure out if a field of one crop feeds as many people as a field of another crop is chronological snobbery (of a sort) taken to laughable extremes!

5 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Hang on, Shoju is Hotaru's husband?

Yep. Shoju found out about the affair and seduced both separately into having an affair with him as payback.

He is waiting for the right time and place for a double reveal so his desired effect could be fulfilled..

..both woman feel shame of what they did to Shoju and ask for his forgiveness???

9 minutes ago, Bayushi Bajie said:

Yep. Shoju found out about the affair and seduced both separately into having an affair with him as payback.

He is waiting for the right time and place for a double reveal so his desired effect could be fulfilled..

..both woman feel shame of what they did to Shoju and ask for his forgiveness???

Sounds like some of the fanfic that Shizue writes for herself.

2 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Sounds like some of the fanfic that Shizue writes for herself.

Can you just imagine something like that crossed with the 'edited' Diary of an Opium-Eater from City of Lies? Then there was that plot-hook where Taka had unedited versions for sale.

12 hours ago, Radon Antila said:

I guarantee that Shizue knows what's up, even if dear sister would never admit to it.

Shizue just got kicked out of her own room so that the Heroine of the Hour could be alone with the most beautiful woman in the Empire who just so happens to be from their ancestral political rival .

As a storyteller, Shizue would have read pillow books with more subtlety than the situation she's found herself in.

She would also be keenly aware that those stories almost always end in tragedy.

I dunno. Clan Champions and Imperial Advisors have important things to talk about.

22 minutes ago, kpsmith said:

I dunno. Clan Champions and Imperial Advisors have important things to talk about.

Cats, for example.