Excellent post, I really like the limited range of the kingdom, it’s very evocative in terms of the experience of the locals and their understanding of the world. That alone shows what you’re talking about it good thought. I think I’m going to cut back on my ‘settled’ areas.
If the worldbuilder/GM use realistic populations, then they can make things "medieval unless otherwise noted". That assumption doesn't make sense in points-of-lights style settings, so a PoL setting breaks a lot of common tropes and creates extra worldbuilding work:
The players meet some ordinary pilgrims while traveling? Not so in PoL where no-one travels without high-level magical protection. The players find a small peaceful village deep in the woods? Not in PoL: That village needs a gigantic capacity for violence to survive. Traders? Bah, barely no-one can afford to trade in PoL since transportation is so hard. You need a PoL price list? Or you want to do wars and army logistics in PoL? Or PoL domain play? Then the worldbiiler/GM have to invent everything ground up instead of simply using historical prices, army sizes, march speed and land rents. Etc.
The easy answer to all of these PoL problems is "don't think too hard about it, it will seem believable anyway during play" but then again you might as well just do "medieval unless otherwise noted" and sprinkle some game-enhancing features on it that also doesn't work if you think to hard about it.
I don't see these as problems of a PoL setting, I see them as features. They are challenges for players to overcome. It's not your typical medieval setting. In some ways it's a post-apocalypse setting. The characters beat back the darkness and make it safe for those activities to occur again.
You're misunderstanding me: I agree that PoL settings contain interesting problems for the players (but also so do "realistic medieval settings"). The problem with PoL is that they create extra work for the worldbuilder and that some common fantasy tropes doesn't make sense in PoL. I've edited my post to clarify.
This is an insightful observation regarding old-school gameplay mechanics. This is one key element often overlooked in modern game design. The Wargaming elements were still a large influence on the way the game was planned and played. Even when considering the impact of a single dragon, which can devastate towns, villages, and cities, careful consideration must be given to the number of dragons and powerful wizards placed within a given area. While weaker antagonists can be included, the death of a primary antagonist creates a power vacuum, potentially allowing for the emergence of even more formidable foes. Therefore, multiple powerful enemies should constantly threaten each other and chaotically team up against the most powerful protagonist and actually prevent them from consolidating their power resulting making it nearly impossible for a single powerful entity from achieving unchallenged dominance.
You just helped unblock a block I've been having in my world building efforts (using WWN). Thank you!
No problem. You can always call when in need!
Excellent post, I really like the limited range of the kingdom, it’s very evocative in terms of the experience of the locals and their understanding of the world. That alone shows what you’re talking about it good thought. I think I’m going to cut back on my ‘settled’ areas.
Yeah, exactly. I've been overthinking it.
If the worldbuilder/GM use realistic populations, then they can make things "medieval unless otherwise noted". That assumption doesn't make sense in points-of-lights style settings, so a PoL setting breaks a lot of common tropes and creates extra worldbuilding work:
The players meet some ordinary pilgrims while traveling? Not so in PoL where no-one travels without high-level magical protection. The players find a small peaceful village deep in the woods? Not in PoL: That village needs a gigantic capacity for violence to survive. Traders? Bah, barely no-one can afford to trade in PoL since transportation is so hard. You need a PoL price list? Or you want to do wars and army logistics in PoL? Or PoL domain play? Then the worldbiiler/GM have to invent everything ground up instead of simply using historical prices, army sizes, march speed and land rents. Etc.
The easy answer to all of these PoL problems is "don't think too hard about it, it will seem believable anyway during play" but then again you might as well just do "medieval unless otherwise noted" and sprinkle some game-enhancing features on it that also doesn't work if you think to hard about it.
I don't see these as problems of a PoL setting, I see them as features. They are challenges for players to overcome. It's not your typical medieval setting. In some ways it's a post-apocalypse setting. The characters beat back the darkness and make it safe for those activities to occur again.
You're misunderstanding me: I agree that PoL settings contain interesting problems for the players (but also so do "realistic medieval settings"). The problem with PoL is that they create extra work for the worldbuilder and that some common fantasy tropes doesn't make sense in PoL. I've edited my post to clarify.
Excellent piece. In any setting there must be places that are at least somewhat safe. That is, if you want the characters to live very long.
I tend to try and give players a place to rest occasionally so it isn't too deadly.
This is an insightful observation regarding old-school gameplay mechanics. This is one key element often overlooked in modern game design. The Wargaming elements were still a large influence on the way the game was planned and played. Even when considering the impact of a single dragon, which can devastate towns, villages, and cities, careful consideration must be given to the number of dragons and powerful wizards placed within a given area. While weaker antagonists can be included, the death of a primary antagonist creates a power vacuum, potentially allowing for the emergence of even more formidable foes. Therefore, multiple powerful enemies should constantly threaten each other and chaotically team up against the most powerful protagonist and actually prevent them from consolidating their power resulting making it nearly impossible for a single powerful entity from achieving unchallenged dominance.