The Importance of “Points of Light” in OSR Settings

And, Why They’re Important for OSR games.

Often, when browsing forums or reddit, you will see people asking questions about medieval population density, wilderness, and other things, in an attempt to make their game feel a bit more realistic. I don’t have a problem with this sentiment at all, because, although misguided, I know that it is done with good intention. However, in order to create a world that is both immersive AND good for Old School adventuring, you will need to compromise on this.

There are valid reasons to have some areas of realistic population and population density, and valid reasons that there should be areas where the realism of population distribution should be (mostly) thrown out the window.

What are points of light?

A point of light is a place that you could generally consider to be safe, at least safe from the horrors of the wilderness and the world beyond. This could be a variety of things - a fortified village, a town under the protection of a powerful lord, or a walled city. It could even be an inn. Whatever it is, it simply isn’t a dungeon, tomb, or wilderness filled with things that go bump in the night.

First, let’s start with the general assumptions of the world itself, and how it differs from the actual medieval world:

• Magic exists. Even if magic is uncommon, it still exists, and this changes things. Based on the rules as written in BX, this will have a profound and lasting effect that makes civilized life thrive just about anywhere that there isn’t an evil magic guy to ruin things. The magic system in my game, Old Castle, is revised to create the implication that, although magic exists, the art of using it is so difficult that it kills or maims most who try to learn. This helps give the balance required to create a believable world that is conducive to the idea of a dangerous, mysterious world full of monsters, but still has “unrealistic” population patterns in many regions.

• Monsters are real. More importantly, monsters are abundant. And most importantly, many monsters are sentient or even intelligent. Sure, monsters exist in our world. We have bears, lions, jaguars, wolves, and more. But they aren’t everywhere, and they aren’t very strong if you have a group of guys with even simple weapons. In your fantasy world, the monsters are stronger. Giants live in the mountains, undead lurk in ruins, dragons can control entire swaths of sky, and gangs of goblins, orcs, and more battle in the forest and raid towns in their constant grapple for power.

Taking these points into account helps paint the picture of why it is a mistake to attempt to replicate the demographics of medieval Europe. Now, that isn’t to say you can’t capture the vibe you want. You can always do that. You can have cheerful towns, and rough back alleys in cities, and humble lakeside hamlets. But they won’t be reliably scattered every 5-10 miles like they often were in real life. They won’t be as safe as they were in our world, either.

More realistically, there will be a single safe path between areas (or none at all in some instances). If the area is critical to trade, there may be soldier patrols. But towns that branch from the established trail will likely be completely on their own unless they provide something of very high value to the dominant power in the area. Townsfolk may have patrols that keep a road safe in order to maintain trade routes.

An Example Using My Setting, Azorynia

I’ll be using an example of one of the regions in my home setting that I have deeply fleshed out. This region is a good example of ways to mix some “realistic” demographics, with something more fantastical that allows exploration of unknown territory.

One of the most prosperous kingdoms is basically two cities 50 miles apart, with some towns along the river that connects them. These towns mainly exist to farm the surrounding land in order to feed the cities. The total population of these two cities and handful of towns is about 50k. Keeping this relatively small area safe from monsters and bandits requires a vast amount of security and resources from the king. It is an uncommonly large undertaking, and one that really only works because of some vague treaties with nearby orc and goblin factions, as well as some demihuman societies who benefit and live in some areas nearby.

Here is a largely incomplete map of the area, using 8-ish mile hexes. I have already planned many revisions, but it gives you an idea of what I mean. These hexes come from 2-Minute Tabletop, but the map is my own creation.

This map highlights the extent of potential safety in the region. As you can see, it is minuscule, and there is really only one big chunk of space where you could be mostly safe.

Aside from this, the kingdom consists of a handful of medium-sized villages and towns that have specific industries (mining, logging, etc) that exist on a single, well-traveled road. Despite the fact that this road recieves patrols, it is still dengerous to travel without guards. What this amounts to is about 150 cumulative square miles of safe space, of which 148 of those miles are in the same general area. The rest of the 30,000 square miles are mostly dangerous, and completely out of the minds of civilized people.

Some of it hasn’t been touched by humans in hundreds of years. Crossing one of the nearby forests would take days, and information on what might lurk in there is impossible or nearly impossible to find. In most instances, there isn’t any reason to ever bother anywhere through woods unless you were specifically looking for something of legend. Such as a dungeon, ruined temple, fort, or fae creatures to make deals with.

My Point…

At the end of the day, my advice is not to put too much effort into realism. Save that for where it makes sense. In regions that are largely devoid of the threats of fantasy creatures, you may want to be more realistic. But there is no need to over-do it.

It is also important that you make sure you have points of light in your setting, if you want it to feel lived-in. Sure, having a “frontier” that humanity hasn’t touched in thousands of years can be great. But I prefer having these areas thrown about the world, creating a (mostly) constant threat, allowing you to have diverse “safe havens” and allow the players to smoothly transition between overland adventuring, and city intrigue.

What are your opinions?