Demographics

[Roman]

I have three questions for you people:

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?
2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?
3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

 

[S'mon]

1. 1% PC class, 50% 1st, half each higher level, up through about level 8, with fewer 9+.

2. Generally took at least 4 farmers to support 1 non-farmer, but that includes rural blacksmiths, artisans, knights etc. Rural-non rural ratio usually at least 9:1.

3. Varies a lot, but according to a recent thread, 1/2 an acre is a possible guideline minimum.

Edit: #1 works for 3e and for B/X and BECMI D&D. For 1e-2e AD&D and C&C you probably want fewer high levellers, unless your world is more Forgotten Realms than Greyhawk.

 

[Darklone]

I use for 1.:
people younger than 16 are 1st level, normal dudes are level 2-6. Mostly NPC classes, but those can be trained into PC classes without too many problems. Town leaders, veterans and important persons are usually around level 8.

 

[amethal]

I have three questions for you people:

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?
2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?
3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

If you are interested in Middle Ages demographics, I recommend "A Magical Society: Medieval Europe" from Expeditious Retreat. Its a great supplement.

As for the third point, I don't worry about it.

Most of my NPCs have NPC classes (and generally not many levels in them), but the ones designed to be antagonists of the PCs have PC classes to make their demise more interesting.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I have three questions for you people:

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?
2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?
3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

1 - I used to use the old standard of 1% PC classes, but now I use closer to 10%.
2 - not certain, but check out Medieval Demographics Made Easy for some excellent information on the subject.
3 - can't help on this one.

 

[asdel]

I have three questions for you people:

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?
2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?
3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

1) Classes (I like S'Mon's 50% first, hand tapper off by half, except I'd change the distribution to be around 3rd level.)
(I envision a somewhat lower-powered DnD game, since DnD seems to fall apart at 12th level. My experience in my games as GM and player, so YMMV. My next campaign will slow the advance of characters above 5th level to keep the game in the sweet spot (5th - 10th) as long as possible.)

1st level - apprentice -- Barely skilled/green warrior
2-4rd level - profession -- Gaurds, professional warriors
4-6th level - Master. -- Highly skilled warriors and wizards.
7-10th level - Grand master, best NPCs living
11th+ NPCs of legend.

Most NPCs are NPC classes, except you classic knights, which are typically 5th level fighters. Under my world view, most 'important' NPCs would be 5th - 8th level, and most 'uber' NPCs would be 10th level.

Part of this is mass combat, to make battles more like medieval battles even with the presence of magic. If a 'typical' wizard is 5th or 6th level, he'll only have a few fire balls to shake things up, and then he'll be shooting them at warriors at 3rd level, with maybe 12-20 hit points, it is not a death sentence save or not.

Of course, a group of professional soldiers (warior3) will still make minced meat of a a peasant rabble (peasant2).


2) I don't know, but I expect it depends heavily on the quality of land. (Better land, more food per day of farming labor, more people can turn to specialized crafts instead of subsistence farming.)

3) I've gathered a few links and pulled them together:

http://www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/general/1/msg00070.html

24 bushels of corn per year per person. 8 bushels per acre not using modern fertilizer or irrigation (compared to 140 - 180 bushels under modern farming.)

Also sites a 120 acre 'hide' with four families - 30 acres to feed a
family.


So 3 acres/person.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre
1/640th a square mile, approximately the amount of land tillable by one man and one oxe in one day.


one family needs 30 acres
640 arces/square mile

21 families/square mile

call it 100 people/square mile, assuming tillable land.

If we scale this up to modern times, that is 1500 people/square mile. Assume half of North Dakota is tillable land, that is enough corn to feed 53 million people. (If that seems too high, a lot of the corn goes into cattle feed, so perhaps it would be better to think of producing enough beef for 5 million people. (Still seems high, but burger meat is $3/pound. so we (usa) live in a land of plenty)

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?

My own good sense and judgement. Nothing else works consistently for D&D as I play it.

2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?

I don't know, largely because the answer is irrelevant to my needs. I run D&D, a fantasy RPG, not a middle-ages economic simulation. The two don't even have to be close. All I need is for it to SEEM sensible while players are otherwise occupied in the milieu.

3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

See #2. Note that this doesn't mean I IGNORE such questions, just that such hard data gets mangled incomprehensively as soon as you add on magical and fantasy influences, and the desire for utility and convenience.

 

[GuardianLurker]

A1) You might find this helpful. It's some fiddling I did with some spreadsheets while preeping for my new campaign.

I essentially use a 2/3 ratio (Level 2 has 2/3 the number of level 1) to flatten the curve a little, an introduce a sharp dip at level 9 (where characters no longer gain XP from EL 1 encounters).

A2) It's about 10%.

A3) 100/sq mi sounds about right.

For #2 and #3, your exact ratios will vary by the level of impact you expect magic to have. I wouldn't go much higher than a 1850's equivalent though. Which is roughly 6:4 for the producer consumer ratio. I don't know the populaiton density though.

 

[Ibram]

I've never found the exact population distribution to be an important piece of information, there are as many fighters, rogues, and barbarians as are needed for a specific adventure.

As a general rule level distribution is as follows:

1st-2nd: an apprentice or someone else just out of childhood.

3-4th: someone who has completed training and have had some real world experience. This is probably the average level for a humanoid creature.

5-6th: a trained professional

7-8th: A highly skilled individual, the "best in the city" type

9-10th: a master craftsman, the "best in the kingdom" type. This is the highest that a mortal can reach through conventional experiences.

11th+: legendary / unique characters

 

[RFisher]

1) What system do you use to determine how many people have PC classes and how many are of what level?

None. When I create an NPC, I decide whether that individual should have a class & what level they should be. I have some general ideas, I suppose, that informs those decisions, but nothing really systematic.

2) What was the maximum ratio of urban to rural population that was/could be achieved in the middle ages that was/would be self-sufficient (especially in food production --> thus excluding city states)?

Don't know. Don't really care.

3) How much (minimum) land was needed to support one person in the middle ages?

See the answer to question 2.