click to embiggen
Above is a recent iteration of my Dark Country map. The green hexes represent the area cultivated by the nearby settlements. Each hex is 6 miles across (to match the B/X movement rates). I decided on the amount of farmland in a completely arbitrary manner, but it largely came from the fact that my earlier attempts (using 10 mile hexes) were a bit too big. Here the farming production has doubled but the size of a hex is smaller. I also spitballed a bit based on Rob Conley's figures.
Still, I'm very unsure about the level of settlement in the Dark Country. It's supposed to be a Pagan Wilderness, and it relies primarily on trade and forest products rather than agriculture (the large amount of precipitation makes it poor farming land), but compared to Blackmoor or the Wilderlands settlements are sparse. Granted one can assume that hamlets and thorps dot the little green hexes, but for the most part theres only a small concentration of "cities" (they'd be towns in any other D&D setting) and walled villages. Right now -- unless I miscounted -- there are only 17 villages and towns on this whole map. Is that too low?
Not meaning to self-promote, but can I suggest this as a guideline?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.welshpiper.com/medieval-demographics-online/
The first section lets you plug in an area's size and resourcey-ness, and spits out a passable percentage of arable land and settlement numbers.
Maybe that can provide a starting point?
By quickie calculation 3 acres a person, 640 acres a sq mile let's one 6 mile hex support about 6,600 people. But that's per fertile, green hex with people engaged in agriculture.
ReplyDelete@Erin cool link.
Maybe that can provide a starting point?
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the utility is nifty, it spits out too many villages. Not for accuracy's sake of course, but for my purposes. The Dark Country is a bit more fantastic I think than what that was designed for.
By quickie calculation 3 acres a person, 640 acres a sq mile let's one 6 mile hex support about 6,600 people. But that's per fertile, green hex with people engaged in agriculture.
That would make the farms around the towns considerably smaller. Too bad I'm not sure what the total population of the Dark Country is yet.
Thanks to both of you for your responses.
Too low for what?
ReplyDeleteThe land could clearly support more. But if this is some sort of borderland area, or if there are roving bands of humanoids also living off this land, or the world is recovering from a plague, or you just want a small population, it seems reasonable.
At the very least, you don't have too many people living in this territory, which I would see as a more serious sin. ;)
At the very least, you don't have too many people living in this territory, which I would see as a more serious sin.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, though with the Outdoor Survival map one must wonder where Gary and Dave wanted you to build your damn strongholds!
Historically speaking, a medieval peasant could feed a typical family with 20 acres of land, leaving ten acres of land farrow each year and allowing animals to graze upon it. This was the before the three crop rotation system, where one field grew autummn crops, one grew winter crops and one was left fallow as grazing land. This second system actually meant that the 20 acres of land went much further.
ReplyDeleteSorry just to be clear: with the two fields method, 10 acres would be used to grow crops at a time while the other 10 acres would remain fallow.
ReplyDeleteHere's another take on the topic that assumes some population figures first, then distributes it across manors and villages:
ReplyDeletehttp://25milehex.blogspot.com/2010/04/determining-feudal-population-density.html
Again, perhaps too many villages for your purposes, but given the 'borderland' nature of the area, maybe you could consolidate, say 7 villages equal 1 town, or somesuch.