Is it me or is the population of Khoras way too high? Example: When you add up the population of Kitar I get 95,000. Where is the rest of the 3.9 million people? So what I did for my game is I cut the population down 10%, so instead of Kitar being 4,025,000 it is now 402,500... I have done this with each nation and it seems more reasonable to me.
cities on the map just represent part of the population thats in the metro areas there people out in the country side too...
remember in medeviel times 3/4 of the population were OUTSIDE the cities and towns...
It seems to me that this point was already mentioned in an old post, but I didn't find it.
Dave put only few percents of the population in town, and the other part is in a lot of small villages. This percentage is the key factor of the population demography.
Of course it can be questioned. Sid6.7 has posted on another post a link to an excellent site : http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm.
On this site you will find a lot of usefull information about size of town, cities or villages.
Thanks for the information. It makes it easier to understand the way the demographics works. I will be using the "Medieval Demographics" site to populate my settings.
I think one of the most important information for being Game Master is the average distance between villages.
As they say, a lot of fantasy world put a tens of miles between villages instead of only 1 or 2. And I must admit that I thought the first way :-\. Now that I have (re)discovered this point, I have to adapt it in my games.
My villages/towns are all at least 1 1/2 days (walking) apart. I think that PC's need the chance for outdoor encounters (native fauna works well), and also to be out in the elements. I start alot of my adventures with PC's trying to find shelter.
Thanks for the information and suggestions. I certainly try to remain open to new info and ideas.
Quote from: Golanthius on November 08, 2007, 12:15:49 PM
My villages/towns are all at least 1 1/2 days (walking) apart.
:D
Like everybody I guess. I will try to put them closer now but I don't fear about too many of them on the PJ's road. As they say on the website, there is a high density of village only in arable land and for the old kingdom which has master their territory. You will always find place (mountains, forests), which are not so inhabited.
But, eventually I think that Khoras is more civilized than what we think usually. :)
I agree with what's been said. And that "Medieval Demographics" link that was posted is an important read. If you haven't read it, go there and check it out.
The truth is that in medieval times most people live in the country or very small villages. Most of the population (like maybe 90% or more) were very poor and lived in tiny hamlets and farmland and such. The cities represent only a small portion of the total kingdom population.
Regarding the distance between villages, I think it depends on the area. In safe areas, such as in the middle of a kingdom, villages will be fairly close together. Just a couple of miles and mostly farmland between them. On the edges of the kingdom or outside the kingdom you'll have more wilderness and longer journeys to the next village or town. That's where you can have more "adventurous" wandering encounters... when the players are near the border towns or outside the kingdom.
For Ithria, it would also matter what part of the continent you are on. The Eastern part of Ithria is a tad bit more "civilized" than the western part.
I agree. And anyways if you look at cities from the Middle Ages like London, they have swallowed up multitudes of little villages like Surrey and Greenwich.