How big are the biggest cities in your campaign world?

[Umbran]

You're posting this in the General forum, not D&D specific....

The last two campaigns I ran weren't D&D. The most recent was space opera, so... entire world-cities with populations in the billions....

 

[TwoSix]

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

Hmm. Without looking at historical precedents, I guess the question becomes "What factors could be included in a Dark Ages style area that would allow for large cities if so desired?" The number one thing that jumps out to me is some sort of magical or fantastical feature that allows for agriculture or food supply to prosper but only in a tightly constrained geographic area. Make it so people have to group up in order to eat.

 

[turnip_farmer]

The first campaign I ran, I put a lot of careful thought into population distributions and city sizes and these kinds of things. And then I realised that this was a lot of work and ultimately had no meaningful impact on the game.

Now, the largest cities in my campaign have lots of people, whereas the villages have few people. That seems sufficient detail.

 

[embee]

• Planar metropolis: 100,000+ people.

Green Bay, WI is a planar metropolis, known far beyond the Prime Material Plane, for both its cheese and its football.

 

[Nytmare]

Green Bay, WI is a planar metropolis, known far beyond the Prime Material Plane, for both its cheese and its football.

What's a Cheesehead's preferred character class?

 

[embee]

What's a Cheesehead's preferred character class?

Working class

 

[Lanefan]

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

True, but not all of those places* had major population centres either - that we know of.

* - North America in particular.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Hmm. Without looking at historical precedents, I guess the question becomes "What factors could be included in a Dark Ages style area that would allow for large cities if so desired?" The number one thing that jumps out to me is some sort of magical or fantastical feature that allows for agriculture or food supply to prosper but only in a tightly constrained geographic area. Make it so people have to group up in order to eat.

The question becomes, 'Why would I want to change my setting'.

I like it the way it is, and one aspect that is deliberately built-in is low-power, no silly mass magic effects.

 

[bedir than]

True, but not all of those places* had major population centres either - that we know of.

* - North America in particular.

Cahokia was larger than London in the early middle ages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia

And, of course, there's Mexico, which is part of North America, and had enormous cities

 

[TwoSix]

The question becomes, 'Why would I want to change my setting'.

I like it the way it is, and one aspect that is deliberately built-in is low-power, no silly mass magic effects.

I'm sure you don't; the question is for those who want a Dark Ages feel but would also like large cities.