Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worldbuilding: How far should things be?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tonguez" data-source="post: 8118039" data-attributes="member: 1125"><p>Thats not entirely correct, at least not in terms of the order in which things happen.</p><p></p><p>Locations is very very important, but even then the standard principle of village placement is 1. How much food can be produced (location) and 2. How far are peasants willing to walk to get Stuff (trade).</p><p></p><p>In medieval times due to generally low land productivity it takes about 30 acres to feed a family of 5 per year. Thats supplemented with foraging,fishing and hunting over a much larger area. Its also labour intensive and so single families are encouraged to expand into small settlements. In Englands Hyde system these small settlements (ie 3es thorp/hamlet) were rated at 120 acres as a taxable unit.</p><p>These settlements were all dependent on crops and so needed to be established near good waterways and it would be a ideal bonus to have other resources too.</p><p></p><p>Excess crops also needed to be traded for goods and so villagers started to gather in Markets. Under old English law a Town is any Village with a Market and they tend to follow the 8 mile rule (the people in the small hamlets, homesteads and villages will walk up to 8 miles to trade at a market). A Market Town might have a central Church or a nearby Keep however Castles and Churches tend to come after Towns are established.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ruins</strong>:</p><p>I also think people tend to get caught up in the Megadungeon approach that D&D has used in the past when in fact a lot of real world ruins are much smaller: abandoned castles, disused churches, old cottages in the woods, the old cave system behind the dump, the old stone circle that the elders warn the Children to avoid - theyre all ruins</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tonguez, post: 8118039, member: 1125"] Thats not entirely correct, at least not in terms of the order in which things happen. Locations is very very important, but even then the standard principle of village placement is 1. How much food can be produced (location) and 2. How far are peasants willing to walk to get Stuff (trade). In medieval times due to generally low land productivity it takes about 30 acres to feed a family of 5 per year. Thats supplemented with foraging,fishing and hunting over a much larger area. Its also labour intensive and so single families are encouraged to expand into small settlements. In Englands Hyde system these small settlements (ie 3es thorp/hamlet) were rated at 120 acres as a taxable unit. These settlements were all dependent on crops and so needed to be established near good waterways and it would be a ideal bonus to have other resources too. Excess crops also needed to be traded for goods and so villagers started to gather in Markets. Under old English law a Town is any Village with a Market and they tend to follow the 8 mile rule (the people in the small hamlets, homesteads and villages will walk up to 8 miles to trade at a market). A Market Town might have a central Church or a nearby Keep however Castles and Churches tend to come after Towns are established. [B]Ruins[/B]: I also think people tend to get caught up in the Megadungeon approach that D&D has used in the past when in fact a lot of real world ruins are much smaller: abandoned castles, disused churches, old cottages in the woods, the old cave system behind the dump, the old stone circle that the elders warn the Children to avoid - theyre all ruins [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worldbuilding: How far should things be?
Top