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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SWBaxter" data-source="post: 3412413" data-attributes="member: 27926">I'm not, and I have. Various medieval records show that European feudal kingdoms operated with a population density of about 30 to 120 people per square mile; the former would be something like the Scottish highlands, the latter was found in the richest farmlands of France. Medieval Britain had an overall density of about 40 people per square mile (higher in the south, lower in the north). A 30 mile hex is 780 square miles, at 40 people per square mile that's just over 30000 people. At that ratio, there's many geographically large Greyhawk nations that only have enough people to settle one to four hexes of their territory. Either that or they have population densities of 10 people per square mile or less, which is below the threshold of those few hunter-gatherer cultures we have reasonably good data on. Of course, much of medieval Europe was higher than 40 people per square mile - France was around 100, what is now Germany about 90. They'd fit more than 70000 people per hex; at those sorts of densities, a large nation like Keoland with a listed population of a bit under 2 million has enough people for a little under 30 hexes; the listed borders cover something like 6 times that many.Now, you could run Greyhawk with those tiny nations, by ignoring most of the fluff about overland trade and travel, border disputes, etc. But the material doesn't really paint a picture of the vast unsettled (and no doubt monster-dominated) wilderness that must make up most of the setting, instead implying that only certain areas are completely unsettled. So the easiest way to get something more reasonable is to multiply most of the populations by 10 or so.Of course, I have no doubt that many people don't care about this sort of thing, which is fine. I'm just saying what bugs me personally about Greyhawk.</blockquote>

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