Voadam
Legend
I mostly don't sweat things like populations and specific map distances and farms supplying food to population centers, but sometimes the numbers or lack of numbers will catch my eye and I will think about comparisons and scale and scope.
I remember being surprised when I read in the third party statless Pirate's Guide to Freeport that the international trade hub island city state "has a population that tops ten thousand in the busiest months, featuring people of all major humanoid races and cultures, as well as quite a few of the others." My college had a larger student population.
I know that population dynamics and scope were much different in the medieval and ancient world with constraints like farming networks necessary to support population centers, transportation and living area limits, starting from smaller numbers, etc. Also D&D setting materials are fantasy fiction with magic and story focus elements. Sometimes the numbers and size can jump out at you though, or raise considerations if you focus on the numbers that are there and think through the implications.
What are some of the given populations of kingdoms and specific cities in various D&D worlds? What sources provide these kinds of numbers?
How do they stack up against modern, medieval, and ancient places?
How do they stack up against other D&D worlds and places? How big is Greyhawk versus Waterdeep versus Sharn versus Lankhmar?
How divergent are reports about the same places? In the 1e World of Greyhawk boxed set Greyhawk city has a population of 58,000 for the city and 75,000 if you include the surrounding area. In the 3.0 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer it is listed as 69,000 for the city and 160,000 for the territory it controls.
I remember being surprised when I read in the third party statless Pirate's Guide to Freeport that the international trade hub island city state "has a population that tops ten thousand in the busiest months, featuring people of all major humanoid races and cultures, as well as quite a few of the others." My college had a larger student population.
I know that population dynamics and scope were much different in the medieval and ancient world with constraints like farming networks necessary to support population centers, transportation and living area limits, starting from smaller numbers, etc. Also D&D setting materials are fantasy fiction with magic and story focus elements. Sometimes the numbers and size can jump out at you though, or raise considerations if you focus on the numbers that are there and think through the implications.
What are some of the given populations of kingdoms and specific cities in various D&D worlds? What sources provide these kinds of numbers?
How do they stack up against modern, medieval, and ancient places?
How do they stack up against other D&D worlds and places? How big is Greyhawk versus Waterdeep versus Sharn versus Lankhmar?
How divergent are reports about the same places? In the 1e World of Greyhawk boxed set Greyhawk city has a population of 58,000 for the city and 75,000 if you include the surrounding area. In the 3.0 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer it is listed as 69,000 for the city and 160,000 for the territory it controls.