Population explosion in World of Greyhawk?

[Melkor Lord Of ALL!]

All populations in Realms should be multiplied by 5, they are more advanced than Middle Ages Europe and have healing magic etc.

 

[LostSoul]

Yeah, I know the population wouldn't explode like it did in the source books, but there is a reason behind it.

A very dark and disturbing reason that I gather from past civilizations from our own Earth.

A drastic population explosion means some kind of disaster is imminent. Like that which happened on Easter Island.

That's a really cool idea... I like it.

 

[den4quest]

Why so many people?

The War ended. Soldiers came home.

Enough Said.

 

[den4quest]

Why so many people?

The War ended. Soldiers came home.

Enough Said.

You're saying that 80% of the population are soldiers? That doesn't make sense.

 

[Dioltach]

Just imagine the population explosion in the past 19 years!

 

[the Jester]

But in the RW middle ages, humans were the only creatures. People/humans lived everywhere -- mountains, swamps, forests, etc. People/humans were the good guys, bad guys, and the reclusive guys. Where would all the orcs, goblins, ogres, dragons, elves, dwarves, etc. be? With so many people/humans in these lands, there is no room for the orc tribes, lost temples, dwarf mines, giant lairs, dragon dens, etc. without plopping them down in the middle of settled territory.

But I didn't want to argue the comparison of RW demographics with WoG demographics -- I was asking how and when the WoG populations got changed. Was the reason for the increase in populations to match RW pops?

Quasqueton

Yeah- I have always figured that the original (Gygax) population figures were pretty good because they were human only in a world with great numbers of kobolds, orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins, plus everything else. I'd guesstimate that the total humanoid population of a given realm was probably somewhere around 2 - 5 times the human only population. But I don't have the old GH stuff anymore, so I can't even begin to put together the numbers that Gygax made available to see how well my instinct matches up with them.

The change was, I believe, an attempt to get the population figures more in line with real world Middle Ages demographics, but I think they overlooked the 'everyone else takes up space, too' factor.

 

[the Jester]

S´Mon what is the proportion you use for Pop - Fighting men ?

I think Gygax said something like 1% or 2% of the population could be fielded as soldiers in either the GH folio or the boxed set. But I'm not positive and could be misremembering.

 

[the Jester]

Just imagine the population explosion in the past 19 years!

Think also about what that implies about the demographics- the vast majority of living humans are kids, with a smaller (and aging) population caring for a ton of them.

 

[Marc_C]

Just imagine the population explosion in the past 19 years!

LOL! it is a mighty necro thread! 2002. The author of the thread has not been seen here since 2015.