How big are the biggest cities in your campaign world?

[R_J_K75]

For example, Waterdeep has a base population living inside the gates, but do you add the population living in the surrounding area of the Undercliff.

I would. Dont forget Goldenfields too.

 

[Jd Smith1]

In the Late Middle Ages, London was decent. There were dozens upon dozens of cities larger. When Rome dominated Europe, there were still many cities over 50k, though none matched Rome at its peak in the Bronze Age

Historical urban community sizes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yeah, I know, but I prefer to run a more Dark Ages setting, with less central control, fluid borders, and so forth, which seems to suggest (to me) more limited population centers.

 

[R_J_K75]

Recently I was rereading the 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide and took note of the listings for various settlements by population (p. 137):

• Thorp: 20-80 people.
• Hamlet: 81-400 people.
• Village: 401-900 people.
• Small town: 901-2,000 people.
• Large town: 2,001-5,000 people.
• Small city: 5,001-12,000 people.
• Large city: 12,001-25,000 people.
• Metropolis: 25,001+ people.

What bothered me about this was that I knew that I'd seen a listing for a larger population center somewhere. After some checking around online, I was finally able to zero in on where. The Epic Level Handbook revised the population tables (from the 3.0 DMG; the revisions weren't kept in the 3.5 book, which is part of the reason I had such a hard time finding it initially), and in so doing added the following:

• Planar metropolis: 100,000+ people.

Now, it's fairly intuitive that these population distributions are meant to reflect a pseudo-medieval world, where urban centers aren't nearly the size that they are today. Even so, I found it quite amusing to consider that a town with a hundred thousand people or more is so large that it constitutes being known across the multiverse for its size.

"Across the planes of existence, there are places where untold masses live, converging in groups so large as to boggle the imagination. Places with names such as Sigil, Dis, the City of Brass, and...Akron, Ohio."

So that got me wondering: how large are the largest population centers in your campaign world? Are they places with a few tens of thousands of people, like in the DMG? Or do you have them approaching more contemporary standards? How big are your world's "big cities"?

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

I didnt look it up but I wonder if the 3.5 Cityscape supplement has modified/additional information.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Yeah, I know, but I prefer to run a more Dark Ages setting, with less central control, fluid borders, and so forth, which seems to suggest (to me) more limited population centers.

Sure, in the undeveloped parts of Europe cities were small as urbanisation had not yet taken place. In the east, and north Africa, there were still large cities that continued on as before.

 

[Imaculata]

I didnt look it up but I wonder if the 3.5 Cityscape supplement has modified/additional information.

If I were at home right now I would look it up for you. I have Cityscape in my bookcase.

 

[R_J_K75]

If I were at home right now I would look it up for you. I have Cityscape in my bookcase.

I just looked, it doesn't give any information on city/settlement population. Odd.

 

[jasper]

My homebrew Star City has 100K. Next biggest cities are whatever the Judges Guild city state books say they are.

 

[bedir than]

Yeah, I know, but I prefer to run a more Dark Ages setting, with less central control, fluid borders, and so forth, which seems to suggest (to me) more limited population centers.

I'm going to repeat above because I think it's important. The Dark Ages weren't dark in modern China, India, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Egypt, North America, Central America, Africa

 

[Jd Smith1]

Sure, in the undeveloped parts of Europe cities were small as urbanisation had not yet taken place. In the east, and north Africa, there were still large cities that continued on as before.

Possibly, but my fantasy campaigns aren't set in Europe.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm going to repeat above because I think it's important. The Dark Ages weren't dark in modern China, India, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Egypt, North America, Central America, Africa

OK. Not setting a fantasy campaign in any of those, though.