Enter The Welsh Piper's Medieval Demographics Online. Erin had pointed me to it when I asked about farmland in the Dark Country. At the time, I was working on a much more High/Dark Fantasy setting; however, it seems like the perfect thing to scratch my current itch.
As an experiment, I decided to make a small island based on the island of Sark. Mine was considerably larger, but it still serves as an acceptable test run. I guesstimated the area, assumed that it would be a rocky and inhospitable island, and punched in the numbers. Here is the result:
The Town contains a little more than 3000 people, and the surrounding farmland (the green hexes) contains some 69 villages. The Keep probably serves to keep some small humanoid tribe that lairs in the heath or the hills from carting off villagers.
I must say that I don't entirely like the look of it yet. I'm beginning to think the "Mystara Style," as Rob Conley termed it, is a poor match for a setting where one must map farmland. There just seems to be something off about the farms covering whole hexagons.
I'm also not entirely sure how a DM whose pressed for time, as I am, would detail 69 villages, but maybe that'll be the subject of another post.
Maybe it would look better if you just used a different icon for the farmland. The way the green farm hex is blank is why I think it looks jarring.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much detail you really need for a village aren't most of them going to be pretty interchangeable? Maybe use a table for if there's anything interesting in the village. Most of them probably won't even have much in the way of businesses.
If you used hexographer for the map (it looks like you did), then there are terrain hexes for farmland that looks much better. Also, what scale are the hexes? That'll help work out whether farmland covers the full hex, or just portions of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wouldn't bother detailing all 69 village; I'd make up a nice set of tables instead, maybe flesh out a couple of examples, and expand as necessary.
Agreeing with the above. As for villages, you can also use the Medieval Demographics Online tool to create settlements. Select Village from the drop-down, and it'll tell you how many nobles, officers, clergy, freeholders, citizens, and buildings are in each.
ReplyDeleteNo maps, but you'd at least have enough info for PCs passing through (e.g., is there a tavern? an armourer? can I buy fresh mounts?), and then flesh out as needed...
Actually, thinking on it, you've inspired me. I'll create a new column on my blog titled "69 Villages". Stay tuned...
Maybe use a table
ReplyDeleteTables are always the best way to do things.
That'll help work out whether farmland covers the full hex, or just portions of it.
It's a bit hard to render partially covered hexes in Hexographer.
As for villages, you can also use the Medieval Demographics Online tool to create settlements. Select Village from the drop-down, and it'll tell you how many nobles, officers, clergy, freeholders, citizens, and buildings are in each.
True, but I'm not even sure I could come up with 69 village names without resorting to Fantasy Gibberish (tm).
True, but I'm not even sure I could come up with 69 village names without resorting to Fantasy Gibberish (tm).
ReplyDeleteOf course you can. Besides, one man's gibberish is another man's poetry:
http://nine.frenchboys.net/fantasyplace.php
69 fantasy village names, assign it as homework! Homework for your Greyhawk players I mean. I've got some gibberish written where I was making a d10,00 chart for Kingdom names, I try to dig it up. Ah, you can always open a copy of Beowulf and grab some names out of the text.
ReplyDeleteAh, you can always open a copy of Beowulf and grab some names out of the text.
ReplyDeleteTrue, though I'd probably be better off using the Song of Roland. I tend to be more interested in the French side of the Channel.
@Evan: If there were a reward for inspiring my gamer ADD, you'd get it. Unfortunately, all I can offer you is this: 69 Villages.
ReplyDelete