Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Guiltl3ss Mar 09, 2010 18:45:37	What demographics are you all using to detail a nation?  I have a small list... Population Government Alignment Imports Exports Capitol Major Cities Any other details you prefer to use?  Also, same question for a city... Thanks!
#2 mieorabloodsong Mar 09, 2010 21:40:09	These are all important, but also: Religion (who do most people worship, or is it polythiestic) Gender Roles Slavery? How is it handled? and i also like to have a list of Problems, things that are causing conflict within the nation, like the slaves are revolting, the high priest has gone mad, the Council is corrupt, etc.
#3 Guiltl3ss Mar 09, 2010 21:42:06	Oh, not a bad thought there.  Nice ^^.  I was also thinking armed forces and organization....but I just feel like I still dont have enough information...bah.  But thank you very much!
#4 mieorabloodsong Mar 10, 2010 8:30:04	Yeah, i know, it never feels like enough.  I'm creating a new campaign world and the one page of general information on a country just feels so... small...
#5 Leoven Mar 10, 2010 9:29:59	Hey there, Just a few things off the top of my mind. - Culture (whats ok and what isn't, traditions, likes, dislikes, conduct, etiquette etc) - Values (its general population) - History / What has been important - Technology - Diplomatic relations / to other races - Desires of surrounding nations / independents - Magic / whats the norm and what isnt - Tolerant or not - races, customs etc - Architecture / how do things look like - Freedoms / news, slavery, ownership, serfs, citizen class(es), warrior status, etc - Taxation, on trade, land, production, rights, privileges etc - Nature / how is it treated, cared for, regarded etc etc perhaps you could specify some area's on what you are looking flavour for. Hope this lists helps at least. Good luck!
#6 Guiltl3ss Mar 10, 2010 13:34:43	Well, like MieoraBloodsong, I'm creating a new campaign world. www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/the-emp... if you wanna take a peek.  It's still formative...haha. I have a lot of cities I'm going to make and I was hoping to get a nive template for them and the nations that house them.  Granted, I have only so much information available to me.  And most of the work I do ON the world is while I am at work.  Thus, I dont always have books with me.  Anyways.  Yeah.  ^^  And thanks for all the info so far!!
#7 Guiltl3ss Mar 10, 2010 13:39:52	Yeah, i know, it never feels like enough.  I'm creating a new campaign world and the one page of general information on a country just feels so... small... YEah, I feel ya on that one...I wanna make another Landmass just to have some more Umph to it.
#8 mieorabloodsong Mar 10, 2010 18:05:04	For cities I also added an Organizations section. Secret societies, cults, priesthoods, thieves guilds, etc.  I think the DMG2 has a guide to creating them, which I found helpful
#9 grumpycelt Mar 10, 2010 23:03:28	Don't forget property law and civil law.
#10 yellowdingo Mar 12, 2010 3:38:33	What demographics are you all using to detail a nation?  I have a small list... Population Government Alignment Imports Exports Capitol Major Cities Any other details you prefer to use?  Also, same question for a city... Thanks! You just asked for the DM's guide to Gazetters, Almanacs, and Setting Development. YOu will find Gazetteers and Almanacs on the vaults of pandius website. These will provide you with a pretty good layout method for information on Kingdoms and their communities. I include a few things when doing settlements... Alignment Spread: I include Alignment of Leader/Government, but also ALignment spread of Community (Most dominant Alignment-50%, 2nd most-25%, 3rd most-12.5%...Other-12.5% THis is useful in random development because it gives me a profile the community. i once rolled up a Chaotic Evil=50% and decided that this meant there was a Prison full of humanoids (Predominantly CE though others to a much lesser extent) ruled over by a Lawful neutral Warden. That changed my regional comminity into a few good Farmers living near/around the heavily populated Prison. Dominant Features: Options: Ecclesiastical, Mining, Administrative, Residential, Primary Residential, Millitary, Market, Commercial, Industrial, Isolated Farm, Resort, Educational/Cultural, Port...the full list is found in your certificate level geography book...i select based on what I am looking for or randomly.
#11 strand0 Mar 12, 2010 18:18:12	Dungeon Master's Guide Building a City wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/2003071... community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758... Return to Saltmarsh Maps The maps are not system specific. Pretty nice too. Oh! and free! www.mad-irishman.net/pub_dnd_3e.html
#12 dannoe Mar 13, 2010 6:11:20	Plenty of good advice already here.  I'll just add that the demographics of your setting should suit your story.  What kind of campaign do you want to run?  Set the stage such that you make your characters fight through it. For example, I had a set of mostly elven and eladrin PCs, so I wrote a campaign where elves and fey were rare--and highly prized as slaves!  So my PCs were constantly dealing with the reality that they themselves were the most valuable commodity in the entire campaign.
#13 Rhineglade_ Mar 15, 2010 11:46:42	I like to use the following: Official Name Ruler Government Important Figures Rule of Law Population Capital Major Towns Military Major Resources Major Religions Climate