Sharn is a virtual ghost town!

[Dragonblade]

Dangit! I'm 0 for 2 today. The Waterdeep region is listed as having 1.3 million people, the city is listed as having only 132K according to the FRCS. I stand corrected.

However, I find that number strange, considering that there are virtually no towns of any size outside the greater metropolitan Waterdeep area (Waterdeep, Skullport, Undermountain, etc.).

So there are 1.1 million farmers and commoners living within about 30 miles of Waterdeep, but Waterdeep itself only has a fraction of that? I'd only find that believeable if there were numerous towns and suburbs described as surrounding the city itself. But there isn't.

 

[Staffan]

So there are 1.1 million farmers and commoners living within about 30 miles of Waterdeep, but Waterdeep itself only has a fraction of that? I'd only find that believeable if there were numerous towns and suburbs described as surrounding the city itself. But there isn't.

Doesn't sound too unreasonable. The figure I hear banded about regarding medieval urbanization is that it takes approximately 10 farmers to support one city-dweller.

 

[fanboy2000]

I was hoping someone would do the calculations. The population figures in Sharn sounded a little low to me. Like you though, it's not going to keep me from having fun with Eberron.

if you are interested in running a depopulated urban center I highly recommend looking up Do Androids Deam of Electric Sheep.

Seconded. I love that book. I also highly recomend The Game Players of Titan.

 

[Psion]

I was thinking abuot inserting Sharn into my game as a planar Metropolis. Perhaps the city was once at much greater heights of power, and now many of the towers are abandoned, or inhabited by who-knows-what. Perhaps there are a dozen dungeons right in the middle of the city.

 

[Staffan]

Another thing to remember is that a large portion of Sharn's towers is taken up by "the depths", which is more or less uninhabited.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

I was thinking abuot inserting Sharn into my game as a planar Metropolis. Perhaps the city was once at much greater heights of power, and now many of the towers are abandoned, or inhabited by who-knows-what. Perhaps there are a dozen dungeons right in the middle of the city.

Drop some chunks of Moil, the lost city from the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, in there.

It, too, was a city of towers, and I think it would fit in very well with the feel of Sharn.

 

[Emirikol]

The population of Sharn is listed at 211,850. So every man, woman and child within the city has a minimum of 98,430 square feet of ENCLOSED space to live in. That is over two acres each! A family of four would, on average, have just over 9 acres of enclosed living space.

Ah, but the real question is, "How many chickens live in Sharn utilizing the DMG estimates for common items?"

?

jh

 

[ssampier]

Dangit! I'm 0 for 2 today. The Waterdeep region is listed as having 1.3 million people, the city is listed as having only 132K according to the FRCS. I stand corrected.

However, I find that number strange, considering that there are virtually no towns of any size outside the greater metropolitan Waterdeep area (Waterdeep, Skullport, Undermountain, etc.).

So there are 1.1 million farmers and commoners living within about 30 miles of Waterdeep, but Waterdeep itself only has a fraction of that? I'd only find that believeable if there were numerous towns and suburbs described as surrounding the city itself. But there isn't.

That does sound reasonable. You're correct that they should have more "sub-urban" dwellers in smaller cities and townes (say 10 to 15 medium sized cities and 50 to 60 towns).

Excuse my pestering, what is the rough population density of this 30 mile square area of Waterdeep?

 

[Hand of Evil]

In a way this is funny, standard unit of measurement in D&D being 10x10x10.