Advice On Settlements


Advice

Grand Lodge

I would like to know building averages, so for example a Thorp, on average how many buildings would be in a Thorp and so on and so forth? Any info would help.


If it's a thorp we're talking about, i.e. a small hamlet, then I'd say 8-15 houses. The size largely depends on the surrounding area. If it's a fair distance from any sort of larger settlement like a town or city, then I'd say closer to 25-35, with a small military force and leader (Not to familiar with Anglo-Saxon leadership castes, so I'd say an elder or small council of influential citizens.). If it's close to a settlement with a fairly large military force however and doesn't require that or it's own governing body, then 8-15 is about right.

Grand Lodge

Thank you for your help!


No problem


The Skeptical Gnome wrote:
If it's a thorp we're talking about, i.e. a small hamlet, then I'd say 8-15 houses.

Not a chance (IMHO). A "thorpe" is a defined term in Pathfinder -- a settlement of 20 or fewer people. Fifteen buildings for 19 people?

In general, farming communities have large families, because they need the manpower (and also because family planning is less available). For example, the contemporary American Amish (who are actually pretty close to Pathfinder-level technology) average about six children per household, an average that includes "incomplete" families as well as complete ones. This means you can get a useful estimate of the number of houses in a community by simply dividing the population by 8. So a thorpe would have 2-3 houses, and probably not much else.

A "hamlet" (20-60 people) would have ten or fewer houses. Again, most of them would be farmers, and any businesses, like the mill, the (all-purpose) smith, and the General Store, would likely be run out of someone's house -- no point in wasting valuable land that you can grow things on. You might see a ceremonial building or two. Perhaps there would be a church (although even then, church services among the Amish tend to happen in people's houses), and perhaps there would be an administrative building where the reeve had his office, and possibly where the local drunks were locked up.

8-15 houses sounds like a "village" (60-200) people to me. Fifteen houses could easily hold at least 100 people, and there might enough spare labor and money to support a couple of churches, a town hall, and maybe even a watchtower/keep for defense against raiders (since it's a big enough town to be worth raiding.... there's roughly 500 gp of cash money readily available for purchasing gear, which means there's 500 gp available for stealin', or more if you're willing to go door-to-door taking candlesticks ).

So, in general, I'd say just the formula (population /8 ) x 110% (for non-house buildings) until you get something large enough where multifamily dwellings become common.

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