Actually resolving a dryad scenario.

[Alberic Strein]

Hello playgrounders! I was brainstorming ideas for a session (so as to avoid coming up with no plan like I once did) so as always when I'm looking for inspiration, I turned to my books and stumbled upon the Witcher, particularly the bit about the dryads. So let's think about it.

Let's say the Dryad forest exists in the border region of a human kingdom. Humans being humans, they constantly chip away at the forest for profit, which the dryads dislike (duh) and tensions between the two are on the rise.

A deadlock forms : Dryads have the terrain advantage and are specifically good at defending forests. Humans are many and growing.

Now, adventurers come in. You can't expect anything out of players as a rule of thumb, but between the eco-friendly female population defending their homeland and greedy humans looking for profit, odds are the players will join the dryads' side.

The issue : Offensive action against humans will spark a number of violent riots which will result, in short or long term, in the torching of the forest and the culling of the dryads, and with all the evils the humans can be associated with.

Let's presume (no matter how foolish it is) that the players get the hint and try to go at it the Ghandi way. They will find that humans, like always, are not united. However the key human leader is the lord of the actual place by human law. No human, trader or the like, will dare go against him. Said human leader is actually open to negotiations, even polite and all. His willingness to chip away at the dryads' territory, and doing so indirectly killing them all, stems from pragmatic interests for his community.

Easy mode > The community does not need the revenue that can come from exploiting the dryads' territory per se, but it does ease things up for the human population, and as a leader, is he not to ensure the best for his subjects?

Normal mode > The forest blocks an important trade route, resulting in very steep loss of income. If allowed to go through the forest and open a trade route the humans will slowly but surely chip away at the forest even with no malign intention, since his big -and growing- population will need the land and its resources and logically expand.

Hard mode > On top of the above, the forest complicates traveling an army enormously, putting the community at risk of an invasion by their agressively expanding neighbor. Not only does the lord need the revenue from exploiting the land, as well as more space for his population and the trade route, the dryads' forest is a glaring hole in his defences, made worse by the terrain. Not only is he going to need that land long-term wise, he needs it on extremely short notice because of his neighbor, at a personal risk for himself, his family, and his subjects. He actually NEEDS that forest gone and he needs it NOW for political and survival reasons.

Considering all that, as well as continental climate, a feudal system, a strong monotheistic religion which does not look that favorably on "demi-humans", and a dark age level tech (sewers being a long lost technology barely being rediscovered),

how could adventurers give a long-term solution which would not end in dryads being slaughtered, their forest razed, and/or the community under the lord invaded by their neighbors?

[Hyena]

Now, adventurers come in. You can't expect anything out of players as a rule of thumb, but between the eco-friendly female population defending their homeland and greedy humans looking for profit, odds are the players will join the dryads' side.

You will be surprised how many players will gleefuly slaughter the dryads and then build lumber mills for humans themselves, pro bono, just because... Screw you, elves!

[Alberic Strein]

You will be surprised how many players will gleefuly slaughter the dryads and then build lumber mills for humans themselves, pro bono, just because... Screw you, elves!

Less "surprised" and more "cry myself to sleep asking why I can't have nice things", actually.

Also, by personal experience, players react waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better to female elves. All females elves being off the charts.

[erikun]

Why is allying with the dryads not a possibility? Especially when the forest is a problem due to warring neighbors and ESPECIALLY if the other humans are chipping away at the forest as well, the dryads are in a position of "Ally with these guys and let humans in or ally with no one and have everyone attack the forests." It seems to be the most reasonable - in fact, the only reasonable - solution to the problem. The forest blocks the neighboring kingdom as well, and if these people can even freely move through the forest as needed, then they'll have a much greater advantage than if it was cut down and reduced to plains.

[hymer]

Some thoughts:

Replanting forest ought to come in somewhere along the line. The coming generations will need lumber and firewood too, so it's in the best interest of the humans to fell trees in a sustainable way, and to put a little work into nursing the forest. This line of thought may be alien to the humans, but needn't be to the dryads.
Anyway, solution on easy mode can be something like that. Maybe add in coal as a source of fuel, which saved many a forest in Europe.

On normal mode, the humans will need to be given reasons not to open that trade route - or at least not do it through there. If they can be convinced that building the road will take a long time and be opposed at every step by fey creatures, and any caravans will be in danger of disappearing, well, there's your stick. Or opening up that trade route might actually be detrimental to the region when thought about. Maybe the other end produces the same things the humans here do, but much cheaper. They'd be unable to compete and lose a lot of business.
Carrot could be to open up a different trade route, preferably by water, which is a much more efficient way of moving goods around.
Or if the ones on the other side are more worried about upsetting the dryads, nature or the like, bringing word about their attitudes could change things.

Hard mode might actually make things a little easier. The humans may not realize it, but they need an alliance with the dryads, who can scout out the area far better than humans can. The forest without dryads is a place for an enemy to advance unseen, but a forest with allied dryads means perfect chances for setting up ambushes, and makes it a lot harder for the enemy to gain surprise. An open, tree-less area is pretty neutral, but certainly lets the enemy march straight on through. And since they have the advantage in numbers, this is bad for the humans.
The ecclesiasts will frown on this alliance, so they're probably the ones who need to be persuaded to face facts. Hopefully they are more worried about the enemy than about dryads. Regardless, the way to a powerful man's heart and mind is through his balls, so grab hold and make it work.

[JusticeZero]

At best your chances are 50/50. Most likely, whoever makes their case to the PCs first will get their help, because the next encounter will be "But we are peacef>STAB<".