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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 1704068" data-attributes="member: 2067">Thanks for all the great replies....actually, I'm a bit surprised this hasn't been done before, heh. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  This is is refuted by my first point, quoted directly from the DMG:  Which means that FIFTEEN TIMES as many people live in small settlements that can't afford half plate as live in all the places that can afford halfplate and more, combined. 1.5 million people who've never seen a spell over second level; compared to, say, 100,000 people who have. That's about 6% of the population, if my math is right. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> You tell me which one you're more likely to encounter as a Typical D&D Commoner. 6% of the population who've seen second level spells, or 94% who haven't. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />-------------- As for my own NPC campaign, it's officially a go (after a summer of high-ish-level play, they're interested in the low-level challenges). I'm starting them in a hamlet (half the world's in villages or less; half of that half is in hamlets), letting 'em choose the PC classes that the place has (not all of 'em...not a cleric or druid among 'em...but I added psi and OA and Complete and Eberron classes, too, using the same d4/5%d8 mechanic that the core uses for monks). OR, they can have two levels in an NPC class. OR they can have three levels in Commonner. As they meet more folks, they can get training in more classes...and I'll give 'em PC wealth, not NPC wealth, so they'll have nice 'trust funds' to start with. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />-----------  I tend to agree, there should be more DM-oriented 'rules of the game.' <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />----------- PC's are OBSCENELY wealthy compared to NPC's, even those who make a living adventuring...and I see dungeons as D&D 'boom towns.' Once the dangerous monsters are cleared out, the NPC's move in, pick up what the wealthy PC's drop (which is a lot of gold, if the NPC's can offer them the right stuff), and channel the raw materials into the NEXT big dungeon...it's why after a few generations, ruins could have sprung up on top of each other, being inhabited by monsters, cleared out, become a boom town, and faded again, becoming once again home to dangerous monsters, in the course of 50-100 years.--------------- Racial Demographics: These are...vague in D&D. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Basically, an "isolated" community (which is probably still in that 50% of civilizations) is 96% human, with the rest being halflings, elves, or 'other races.' In a 700 person village, this means there's 672 humans, 14 halflings (a family or three), 7 elves, and 7 half-elves, half-orcs, dwarves, and gnomes (maybe 2 half-elves, 2 dwarves, 2 gnomes, and 1 poor thug of a half-orc). Everyone is represented, but a lot of 'em are probably imports -- the half-orc could be an elite fighter brought from the kingdom to help protect the village, maybe the gnomes are the two bards the town has. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />--------------------- On Peasant Fear: My guess is that in a world with magic, that magic is REQUIRED to survive against the monsters that are fundamentally unnatural. They may only have one wizard, but that wizard better show up when the goblins come callin', or he's liable to be the one that the peasants DON'T protect the next time around. That create water? It's a nessecity, when half of your fields are basically raided for other creatures. You've gotta make sure that the town has enough. The same is true with things like the higher occurence of Lawful power centers -- it's a requirement, because if you don't work together, the gnolls come gitcha. It's also why Adventuring is not a rare profession....while the PC's may be one-in-a-million heroes, Adventurers (mostly NPC's) happen nearly everyplace.</blockquote>

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