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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8634362" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>You don't have to put every settlement on the map. Look at a typical map of medieval Europe, or the Roman Empire. Even with regional ones, they tend to only include isgnificant towns. I have a book called Dividing the Realm in Order to Govern and it has some maps dedicated to settlements in focused areas. That is useful, but it is hard to fit other things on the map when you have that kind of settlement granularity. I think there are two approaches here: assume more exists in the spaces in between and add it when it becomes relevant; or gloss over the amount of settlements there would have been for the purposes of gameability. You can also chart out every town if you want. There are also going to be more sparsely populated areas so you could just focus on that for your campaigns. </p><p></p><p>I am no demographics expert. I read a lot of history, but unless you are doing a deep dive into something like the Wheels of Commerce, most history books tend to focus on other things. You can find that stuff in certain kinds of history books though. I have a book on mercantilism in Song China and there is a map in there with tons of settlements charted. When world building, it is about what you want to focus on. I like to focus more on institutions and culture than demographics. But if demographics and spread of settlements is important to you, you can go down a pretty deep rabbit hole if you want. </p><p></p><p>Also when you are pulling from history, one piece of advice I can give: start with what sources you have and world build from there (there is nothing more frustrating than starting from the other angle and realizing the sources aren't there for you to work with)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 8634362, member: 85555"] You don't have to put every settlement on the map. Look at a typical map of medieval Europe, or the Roman Empire. Even with regional ones, they tend to only include isgnificant towns. I have a book called Dividing the Realm in Order to Govern and it has some maps dedicated to settlements in focused areas. That is useful, but it is hard to fit other things on the map when you have that kind of settlement granularity. I think there are two approaches here: assume more exists in the spaces in between and add it when it becomes relevant; or gloss over the amount of settlements there would have been for the purposes of gameability. You can also chart out every town if you want. There are also going to be more sparsely populated areas so you could just focus on that for your campaigns. I am no demographics expert. I read a lot of history, but unless you are doing a deep dive into something like the Wheels of Commerce, most history books tend to focus on other things. You can find that stuff in certain kinds of history books though. I have a book on mercantilism in Song China and there is a map in there with tons of settlements charted. When world building, it is about what you want to focus on. I like to focus more on institutions and culture than demographics. But if demographics and spread of settlements is important to you, you can go down a pretty deep rabbit hole if you want. Also when you are pulling from history, one piece of advice I can give: start with what sources you have and world build from there (there is nothing more frustrating than starting from the other angle and realizing the sources aren't there for you to work with) [/QUOTE]
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