Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bevin Van Liempt 07-20-06, 10:50 PM	Hi guys, here's the deal. I was doing the campaign's demographics and I came up with a problem, I couldn't figure out exactly how many characters there were at any given level, so I said to myself, "Huh, currently they're using an exponential do describe level distribution, probably for simplicity's sake. I can do better, I'll use a normal curve to describe the level distribution." I have to warn you, the following is somewhat math heavy. I knew that in my campaign there were exactly 2 35th level characters, and I knew the majority of characters would be 1st level, so I use maple (a math program) to determine the standard distribution such that f(35)=2 if the mean is one. I came up with a really long number that has no point to be shown here. Anyway, the beauty of my new system is that it gives a percentage, and the sum of all the characters is almost exactly the total population, because the twice the integral from the mean to infinity of the normal curve is 100%. Anyway, here's the formula: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/Whiterose/Populationdistribution.gif I'm interesting in hearing if anyone else has used a normal distribution to describe thier populations.
Zheon 07-20-06, 10:59 PM	Okay, heres what i have to say. i read all that. understood most of it. but when it comes down to it, i found none of it nessecary. im assuming youre using this distribution to find out the average level characters for a particular city, or perhaps the population of your entire world. well here's the deal. you dont need to know, and neither do the characters. i think youre spending too much thought on that and not enough on the landscape, layout of the city, and most importantly, the dungeons. ask yourself: is this important to the campaign setting? if there is a war about to occur, i could see it being somewhat relevant. otherwise, who cares, really? do the players care? ..im guessing not. so why waste any more time? get making those dungeon floorplans! :twocents: Edit** you made a few (assumed) mistakes in the formula too. for one, if there is one level 35 character who still lives in your world there is probably something wrong (they should be on another plane living up thier demi-god-ness) and the majority of the population is probably not level one. its probably a little higher, 2 or 3. they say most people attain only a few levels, putting it at about level 4 to 5 at death. if this assumed (and random, because my dmg is around and im too lazy to look for it) number is correct, the level average should be a little higher than 2 or 2.5 (slightly higher because of people like the PCs). factor that in, and your answer may differ. this is all just to spite you though-- i still think this a pointless activity.