OT - Size of medieval capitals

[Roanon]

100k is a lot. If you want a believable city of that size, first of all make sure they can get food and fresh water in sufficient quantities from somewhere . Farming was not very effective these days, and many of the bigger roman cities had to use aquaducts to carry water to the cities over long distances.
Supply was one of the biggest problems in these times, apart from the danger of diseases due to non-existing sewer systems - despite the romans having it, the knowledge had been lost in these times. But in a fantasy world you don't have an oppressive knowlegde-killing christian church, so this does not have to be an issue .

Command structures, guilds, orders of chivalry and nobility are pretty much arbitrary - wheater a general commands 50 people or 50k depends on the size of the army he is serving in, not his rank. I suggest using any good roleplaying sourcebook detailling a city structure, saves a lot of work. And embarrassment when someone finds out that 96% of the cities' population are nobles or soldiers and no one is doing the actual work there

[ May 19, 2004, 02:31: Message edited by: Roanon ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Answer in ()

Originally posted by Roanon:
100k is a lot. If you want a believable city of that size, first of all make sure they can get food and fresh water in sufficient quantities from somewhere . Farming was not very effective these days, and many of the bigger roman cities had to use aquaducts to carry water to the cities over long distances.

(Ok, Aqueducts, check, three. And I've renovated the docks to specifically cover the waterfront, it's a large bay. That and roman-quality roads, at least in the vicinity of the capital, should cover it.)

Supply was one of the biggest problems in these times, apart from the danger of diseases due to non-existing sewer systems - despite the romans having it, the knowledge had been lost in these times. But in a fantasy world you don't have an oppressive knowlegde-killing christian church, so this does not have to be an issue .

(There is a sewar system, although it's not a marvel of engeneering.)

Command structures, guilds, orders of chivalry and nobility are pretty much arbitrary - wheater a general commands 50 people or 50k depends on the size of the army he is serving in, not his rank. I suggest using any good roleplaying sourcebook detailling a city structure, saves a lot of work. And embarrassment when someone finds out that 96% of the cities' population are nobles or soldiers and no one is doing the actual work there

(I think I will associate military ranks with soldiers commanded. It's not historical, but it keeps things simpler for me and isn't a big issure.)

Would the D&D Dungeon masters guide be good enough, or if not, can you point me to a good one?

[ May 19, 2004, 02:42: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ok, I've made a map of the city. Not an amazing map, but for anyone who wants to take a look at what I'm talking about...How do you put an image on a webpage?

And now, Smallville!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Voila!

[Roanon]

For pure design, if you are looking for an easy tool to design maps, I am using campaign cartographer / city designer from here, here (search for keyword Taevar). I really love this programm, the maps look complicated and like a lot of work, but after taking a small learning curve its really very easy to use and create such maps.

[dogscoff]

, if you are looking for an easy tool to design maps, I am using campaign cartographer / city designer

Hmm, that would have been good to know about before I went and made
this.

Mind you, given that Primavera is over 100kn wide, a building-by-building map as shown in those screenshots might have been a bit ambitious...

[Roanon]

delete function still missing in this forum....

[ May 19, 2004, 14:45: Message edited by: Roanon ]