Help me out. PoL. Why don't small towns get overrun?

[hong]

All that is necessary for tax collection is an authority structure that wants money (or wheat or rice--tax does not need to be in money) and that has a military to collect it.

Exactly. There are no authority structures in PoL; or at least, no reliable authority structures. The arrival of a tax collector could be an adventure seed, in fact (Chinese Ghost Story, anyone?).

 

[DandD]

Heck, the arrival of the tax collector could even be seen as something more dangerous than the local monsters by the town populace, and so they'll need heroes to get rid of him... Or for the good guys, they could accompany the tax collector himself and be his bodyguards, but that would rather be boring now, wouldn't it?

 

[tomBitonti]

I think one of the issues would be not so much the more common, lower level stuff, but the higher level stuff. If there is enough of that to challenge PC's, then there may be enough to create serious threads to the less well defended population centers.

Hmm, maybe each "point" in POL is a cluster of elites (read, "PCs") who defend their town or village or whatever.

I still worry about higher level foes that specifically target civilized populations. For example, illithids. A surge of illithids would decimate an area.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I doubt brigandage in the empire was ever sever enough to threaten the existence of a village, though.

Plenty of things could, though, slave revolts, natural disasters, patrician economic scheming, barbarian raids, or civil wars were all perennial threats depending on your region and period.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Plenty of things could, though, slave revolts, natural disasters, patrician economic scheming, barbarian raids, or civil wars were all perennial threats depending on your region and period.

True, but that disruption does not PoL make. For example in 19th Century Britain there were massive, widespread riots (from various sources such as the unemployed by automation to those unhappy with electoral boundaries) and rebellions (Scots, Irish,; Barbarian raids (from the French into Ireland) and the army was continually used against the populace. But I wouldn't argue that 19th Century Britain is a PoL setting

 

[3 Man]

I think one of the issues would be not so much the more common, lower level stuff, but the higher level stuff. If there is enough of that to challenge PC's, then there may be enough to create serious threads to the less well defended population centers.

Hmm, maybe each "point" in POL is a cluster of elites (read, "PCs") who defend their town or village or whatever.

I still worry about higher level foes that specifically target civilized populations. For example, illithids. A surge of illithids would decimate an area.

I don't have a great deal of detail on how WoTC defines Points of Light, but have used the general idea as a jumping off point for my first 4E campaign. In my campaign the good guys have lost. The world is a dark and corrupt place run by diabolical forces. Think of Terry Goodkind's Order, the former Soviet Union or even Star Wars. In my campaign the players mission is to create Points of Light in this dark and fallen world. Fighting for liberty and justice in world where apahty is as terrible an enemy as the Wizards Council that rules them...

 

[Surgoshan]

The world is a dark and corrupt place run by diabolical forces. Think of Terry Goodkind's Order, the former Soviet Union or even Star Wars.

Now, George Lucas may have become a crazy jackass and he may have ruined Star Wars, but he isn't quite in control of the world. America may be a worse place because he's in it, but he's not about to destroy a city (I hope).

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

True, but that disruption does not PoL make. For example in 19th Century Britain there were massive, widespread riots (from various sources such as the unemployed by automation to those unhappy with electoral boundaries) and rebellions (Scots, Irish,; Barbarian raids (from the French into Ireland) and the army was continually used against the populace. But I wouldn't argue that 19th Century Britain is a PoL setting

If there were monsters it would have been.

I don't know. I think the operative aspects of PoL are as follows:

There is a countryside with its own denizens and threats.

Travel beyond the bounds is dangerous.

Imperial Power is unreliable/there is no recourse to the Rule of Law.

Given those parameters there are times and circumstances in which 19th Century Britain or Imperial Rome can situationally become a PoL setting.

And even given that Rome is a special case. Recall that this was a civilization that was unaware that there were bears living in the mountains not 200 hundred miles away from their capital. I think they projected a lot more awareness and control over their hinterland than they actually had.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I should specify.

I'm not saying I want PoL to be a corner case circumstance in Imperial Britain or Rome, simply that the concept is more flexible than we sometimes seem to be treating it.

A strict PoL orthodoxy doesn't seem like the best thing we could bring out of this thread.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Heck, the arrival of the tax collector could even be seen as something more dangerous than the local monsters by the town populace...

That hadn't occurred to me when I popped the top on this can of worms, but I do like the way you think.