D&D General Toril must be a Super Earth.

[Oofta]

If it were a super-Earth, there would be way to much gravity, but wait!

Actually, it might be interesting to think of how the Underdark factors into Toril's overall mass as a planet.

I did think of that, but the crust only accounts for 1% of the earth's mass. Of course that doesn't have to be the same on Toril.

 

[generic]

I did think of that, but the crust only accounts for 1% of the earth's mass. Of course that doesn't have to be the same on Toril.

Exactly, I have always though it was weird how the Underdark functions. I suspect that, on Toril, the ratio would be the same, because there are still many volcanoes and regular areas of geothermal activity.

It might make a small difference, but probably not significant enough to change gravitational factor.

 

[Salthorae]

In Spelljammer’s Realmspace supplements it was classified as a size E planet. Size E had diameters from 6400 - 16k km. Earth is something like 12.7k km in diameter.

Part of the difference is the water surface of Toril which is only 60% of the planet vs. Earths 75% coverage. That’s a lot more land above water to play with even if they’re similarly sized.

 

[TwoSix]

Nah, not buying it. According to the WotC website, Faerun is 9.5M sq. mi. Going by that picture, that looks to be about a 1/3 of the area of the supercontinent, which would make it about 28-30M sq. mi. Eurasia + Africa is in the same ballpark at 33M sq. mi.

I'm not buying that Maztica + southern continent + islands so grossly exceeds the 24.8M sq. mi. of the Americas + Australia + Antarctica, enough to justify saying Toril has double the surface area of Earth..

 

[generic]

Nah, not buying it. According to the WotC website, Faerun is 9.5M sq. mi. Going by that picture, that looks to be about a 1/3 of the area of the supercontinent, which would make it about 28-30M sq. mi. Eurasia + Africa is in the same ballpark at 33M sq. mi.

I'm not buying that Maztica + southern continent + islands so grossly exceeds the 24.8M sq. mi. of the Americas + Australia + Antarctica, enough to justify saying Toril has double the surface area of Earth..

Hmm... cool, thanks for the information. I had no idea such things could be found so easily.

 

[TwoSix]

Hmm... cool, thanks for the information. I had no idea such things could be found so easily.

You can find out pretty much anything if you're nerdy enough.

 

[Oofta]

I wonder too if some of the issue is the projection style they use for the maps? Have they ever published a more accurate globe style map?

 

[Charlaquin]

Edit: And let's be honest, it has a rotation and revolution period identical to Earth,

Those things don’t really indicate size, though. Revolution period is a function of the mass of the parent object, mass of the orbiting object, and the distance between the two objects. Rotation period is a function of circumference and rotational speed. Mars has a rotation period only 37 minutes longer that Earth’s, and it’s about half the size, where Venus’ rotational period is over a hindered times the length of Earths, and it’s 2/3 the size.

 

[TwoSix]

Those things don’t really indicate size, though. Revolution period is a function of the mass of the parent object, mass of the orbiting object, and the distance between the two objects. Rotation period is a function of circumference and rotational speed. Mars has a rotation period only 37 minutes longer that Earth’s, and it’s about half the size, where Venus’ rotational period is over a hindered times the length of Earths, and it’s 2/3 the size.

I know, but when the creator picks a rotation and revolution exactly the same as Earth's, its not really likely he also intended the planet to be twice Earth's size. The setting is fairly obviously intended to be a parallel Earth, which is fairly common for fantasy settings.

 

[Salthorae]

I wonder too if some of the issue is the projection style they use for the maps? Have they ever published a more accurate globe style map?

Not official ones that I've seen, but these are from the Wiki:

EDIT: couple more

Also someone took the FR Cartography wiki page and created a Google Earth Map

Bringing Toril to Google Earth