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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dykstrav" data-source="post: 5103916" data-attributes="member: 40522">Keep in mind that concentrated populations don't necessarily result in faster social or technological development. In the modern day, we've grown accustomed to rapid change in technology and society, but it's very recent as far as history as concerned. This may skew our perceptions about social and technological development.Over the grand scale of history, most change has been very slow and gradual--measured over the course of decades and centuries. A person from Ancient Rome or Greece transported to the eighteenth century would find the world very different, but recognizable. All food is still made and prepared by hand, military commanders still ride into battle on horseback, most people are still illiterate, and aristocrats still govern the world. Sure, a few things might amaze and delight the displaced ancient, such as the printing press or the firearm, but they would be able to understand the device when you explained it to them, and possibly be able to recreate it in their own times with the proper directions.Now take a person from the 18th century and bring them into the late 20th or early 21st century. Even assuming they could speak the same languages as we do, they would find the world drastically different. Most people today have no idea how to butcher the day's hunt and cook it over an open fire. While wealthy people may still own horses, it'd be for recreation and not transportation. Even the youngest children can read and write. A few governments maintain aristocracies in ceremonial positions.Also keep in mind that the implicit D&D setting lacks our modern technology. The vast majority of settlements will be relatively small, because they need a lot of land to grow food for all those people. Most people who think of themselves as living "in" a certain settlement would probably live within a day's travel of the settlement itself. Since agriculture is so labor-intensive with limited technology, it's a vastly more important and dominant industry for those people.Sanitation could also be an issue. Without running water or plumbing, chamber pots are the norm and bathing and even hand-washing are probably uncommon. Disease takes a heavy toll on urban populations in such conditions, even in developing areas of the world in the modern day.These major factors, among others, limit the "realistic" size of a population under these conditions.The answer that ultimately matters for you, I think, is if your conclusions are right for your campaign. If they result in the fun of your players and yourself, run with it. That being said, you can get a justifiably "realistic" or "reasonable" extrapolation to support whatever mode of play or social order you'd like for the setting. If you want to gloss over sanitation, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most D&D players and games already do--I've never seen an illustration of Waterdeep, the Free City of Greyhawk, or Sharn with filth-grimed streets or people emptying chamber pots from second-story windows. The blessings of an agricultural deity or the rituals of druids and other spellcasters could result in bountiful harvests, intensifying the yield of agriculture.It can be just as compelling or interesting as a "realistic" setting, and also helps cement the place of magic and religion. It becomes understandable why so many humans pray to Pelor or laud the adventurers who stop goblins from raiding outlying farms.</blockquote>

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