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moonbeast
Senior Scribe
USA
522 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 05:59:40
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So I finally got to reading about 80% of the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. I do quite like it, but I do realize how it's too "generic" and vague in certain areas. I do want to discuss something about the Population of settlements and towns in the 5th Edition.
Numerous Sword Coast and "North" settlements (towns, cities, villages) are mentioned and discussed. Rarely does the book mention the population of these settlements. I guess it's up to me as DM to make up the number to suit my needs.
The SCAG book says that Baldur's Gate is a city of "tens of thousands". But what does that mean? 20,000 is a completely different city than 90,000.
The thing that's throwing me off is the historical narrative that — supposedly — the last Spellplague and the Sundering had killed off and de-populated many many cities and towns all over Faerun. Therefore, I cannot simply just look up in Forgotten Realms wiki as reference and assume that Waterdeep's 3rd Edition population of 1,347,840 is the same for the 5th Edition era of around 1490.
And just looking at that City Map of Waterdeep (in SCAG)…. I doubt it would house more than 100,000.
And how about those ordinary small towns and human villages in the middle of nowhere? The ones that probably were not important enough to be destroyed by Orc Horde invasions or be punished by the gods. Did they escape the mass population kill-off that happened to cities like Neverwinter? Perhaps those once-ordinary and boring villages and small-towns GREW in size…. because the other larger cities were invaded and razed (e.g. Sundabar) and so the survivors had to resettle somewhere right?
I would appreciate others' insight on this.
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 06:54:20
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| In 4ed Baldurs gate (although no census has been taken) became the most populated city in the Forgotten Realms and Waterdeeps population shrunk greatly due to a plague or crop blight in 1395 |
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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JohnLynch
Learned Scribe
Australia
243 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 12:22:46
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| I'd go with the 4th ed values. If you have any questions about specific settlements post up a list and I'm happy to look up those population values for you when I can. But from what I know of the Sundering there's no reason most regions should have a significant change in population from 4th ed. |
DM of the Realms: A blog for my Forgotten Realms adventures. |
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moonbeast
Senior Scribe
USA
522 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 12:30:27
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quote:
Originally posted by JohnLynch
I'd go with the 4th ed values. If you have any questions about specific settlements post up a list and I'm happy to look up those population values for you when I can. But from what I know of the Sundering there's no reason most regions should have a significant change in population from 4th ed.
Yeah…. I was leaning towards that. The time difference between 4th Edition era and 5th Edition era is only about a dozen years or so, right?
P.S. — never played 3rd or 4th editions. Last version played prior to 5e was ancient AD&D and when the 2nd Edition books began to appear (although I was the DM about 98% of the time back in those days). |
Edited by - moonbeast on 23 Nov 2015 12:34:22 |
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1294 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 14:21:06
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| I saw at least one reference in 2ed that called Calimport bigger than the Sword Coast cities of Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. It was like 2million people or something? I thought in Halfing's Gem they say it's the largest city in the Realms. Calimport always seems to fluctuate in size depending on the writer for some reason. It annoys me. |
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combatmedic
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2015 : 15:47:15
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Waterdeep reminds me a bit of Novgorod the Great.
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YMMV= Your Mileage May Vary. I'm putting it here so I don't have to type it in every other post. :) |
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pedro2112
Acolyte
11 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2015 : 05:16:54
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| They purposefully left a lot of things vague in the Realms. It's for you, the DM to make up this information in your own campaign. Personally, I would decrease the population in the smaller towns due to the spellplague and sundering, unless I felt there was a reason a town would have gained population during those times (such as Helm's Hold.) |
Pedro2112 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11923 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2015 : 12:34:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Seravin
I saw at least one reference in 2ed that called Calimport bigger than the Sword Coast cities of Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. It was like 2million people or something? I thought in Halfing's Gem they say it's the largest city in the Realms. Calimport always seems to fluctuate in size depending on the writer for some reason. It annoys me.
Considering that the original sources for Calimshan stress how much the Calishites will lie just to boast, you can't trust anything about population figures. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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City, town populations in 1490?
