How do you all space out the towns, villages, cities etc you all have in your homebrewed worlds?
For example: the kingdom my PCs are in have three cities (2 large and 1 smaller), 4 large towns and a couple of scattered villages. How do you all determine if you have enough or if it feels to bare?
It's not so much about the exact number of various settlements, but about their relative location to other settlements and resources.
For example, a major settlement might be found on the coastline at the mouth of a river. Heading up that river, smaller settlements are likely to pop up every couple of days worth of travel (or more regularly) if the river is used as a means of transport between an inland settlement or resource like a mine or logging operation. But if there isn't much that the river gets used for other than fishing (and a source of clean water) there might only be one settlement upriver (popped up around a good fishing hole, or some similar feature of the land).
I like to look at real world maps of areas with similar geography to get inspiration for how to arrange settlements. Especially my state of origin, Oregon, were there are numerous closely organized towns along the coast and in the central forested and mountainous portion of the state, but the southeastern portion of the state (a high desert) has much fewer and much smaller settlements spaced out to a greater degree - my home town being 130 miles from anything larger than it, with the nearby smaller settlements being situated where they are for reasons like being at a highway rest area, or a natural hot spring.
the basic unit of town spacing is the distance someone can travel in a day. all the farms around an area are viable only if they can get to the nearest village, do some stuff, and back in one day. average human walking speed is 4km/h. assuming 12 hours of usable daytime, with time in the middle to engage in trade, you can estimate 16 km/10 miles assuming flat terrain. Double that, to get 32km/20 miles.
It depends on how realistic you want to be. An actual medieval kingdom might have between 30 people per square mile and 120 people per square mile, depending on arable land and other variables. But that would mean potentially thousands of small villages in a given kingdom. I also think it's a good idea to look at real-world maps to get an idea of how towns and cities are distributed, but depending on how medieval your setting is, some historical information might also be useful.
For some interesting facts on this, see this tutorial post on Reddit about Medieval demographics.
When I was a kid I asked my dad how they decided what the county seat city of a county was. He told me that back before cars they decided that the county seat should be a day's travel for anyone who would need to visit the county courthouse. Now, I don't know how verifiable that actually is, but that's kind of what I've thought for "small settlements." A small settlement, with little exception, is generally built within a day or two of travel to the nearest major settlement or city.
If your campaign was set on the (obviously not 100% homebrewed) Sword Coast, for example, the city of Neverwinter may have dozens of orbiting settlements. Farmers may take their crop or livestock into the city to sell. Stations of the Neverwinter guard may be setup around trade roads. But the settlement of Phandalin, which LMoP describes as being a few days travel along the road, lacks much relationship to Neverwinter. Neverwinter's envoy of the Lord's Alliance turned to the Redbrands and nobody knew, because he was seemingly further than their correspondence cared. The miner's trade station is the most influential form of "government," despite there existing a townmaster. Just a few days travel slows the gears of a major city down so much that, until that region is needed for some goal of the city, it becomes beyond its sphere of influence.
I believe that historically, on main travel routes:
villages were placed about 24 miles apart, which was a day's journey either on foot or horseback (since horses needed greater rest than walking humans)
Wayside inns were often placed every 12 miles (since wagon caravans could often only travel 12 miles per day).
How do you all space out the towns, villages, cities etc you all have in your homebrewed worlds?
For example: the kingdom my PCs are in have three cities (2 large and 1 smaller), 4 large towns and a couple of scattered villages. How do you all determine if you have enough or if it feels to bare?
It's not so much about the exact number of various settlements, but about their relative location to other settlements and resources.
For example, a major settlement might be found on the coastline at the mouth of a river. Heading up that river, smaller settlements are likely to pop up every couple of days worth of travel (or more regularly) if the river is used as a means of transport between an inland settlement or resource like a mine or logging operation. But if there isn't much that the river gets used for other than fishing (and a source of clean water) there might only be one settlement upriver (popped up around a good fishing hole, or some similar feature of the land).
I like to look at real world maps of areas with similar geography to get inspiration for how to arrange settlements. Especially my state of origin, Oregon, were there are numerous closely organized towns along the coast and in the central forested and mountainous portion of the state, but the southeastern portion of the state (a high desert) has much fewer and much smaller settlements spaced out to a greater degree - my home town being 130 miles from anything larger than it, with the nearby smaller settlements being situated where they are for reasons like being at a highway rest area, or a natural hot spring.
Thats a great idea! Thank you!
the basic unit of town spacing is the distance someone can travel in a day. all the farms around an area are viable only if they can get to the nearest village, do some stuff, and back in one day. average human walking speed is 4km/h. assuming 12 hours of usable daytime, with time in the middle to engage in trade, you can estimate 16 km/10 miles assuming flat terrain. Double that, to get 32km/20 miles.
It depends on how realistic you want to be. An actual medieval kingdom might have between 30 people per square mile and 120 people per square mile, depending on arable land and other variables. But that would mean potentially thousands of small villages in a given kingdom. I also think it's a good idea to look at real-world maps to get an idea of how towns and cities are distributed, but depending on how medieval your setting is, some historical information might also be useful.
For some interesting facts on this, see this tutorial post on Reddit about Medieval demographics.
When I was a kid I asked my dad how they decided what the county seat city of a county was. He told me that back before cars they decided that the county seat should be a day's travel for anyone who would need to visit the county courthouse. Now, I don't know how verifiable that actually is, but that's kind of what I've thought for "small settlements." A small settlement, with little exception, is generally built within a day or two of travel to the nearest major settlement or city.
If your campaign was set on the (obviously not 100% homebrewed) Sword Coast, for example, the city of Neverwinter may have dozens of orbiting settlements. Farmers may take their crop or livestock into the city to sell. Stations of the Neverwinter guard may be setup around trade roads. But the settlement of Phandalin, which LMoP describes as being a few days travel along the road, lacks much relationship to Neverwinter. Neverwinter's envoy of the Lord's Alliance turned to the Redbrands and nobody knew, because he was seemingly further than their correspondence cared. The miner's trade station is the most influential form of "government," despite there existing a townmaster. Just a few days travel slows the gears of a major city down so much that, until that region is needed for some goal of the city, it becomes beyond its sphere of influence.
I believe that historically, on main travel routes:
I think you've got some great tips. It's ultimately down to necessity as stated. Think about resources, travel time ect.
I play Civilization and that game is great research for understanding ding how a nation is built.