With the family events going on, I've had little time to post or work on projects. I did manage to get through the Monsters section and only increase the page count by 8 for monster descriptions. Currently when there is time, I've been adding the new monsters to and reworking the encounter tables. I'm still polishing up the Lairs and Tribal Spellcasters sections (still about a page long).
Then it's on to the Treasure section. There are only minimal changes planned for there, so hopefully there are no suprises. I plan on adding minimal information to the Atlas, mostly things like national exports, dominion type for kingdoms, and the ruler's name. If there is something you (the readers) want to know or think is useful, let me know in the comments or email me.
With everything going on, the only other project I've touched is Onn Supplement II for the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules. This has been shaping up extremely nicely and I hope it's a worthy follow up expansion to Onn Supplement I for your Swords & Wizardry games.
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Some things I'd like to see with regards to kingdoms are entries about the towns; on average, what are they made of, are they walled, do they have a standing militia or guard, how common are horses for riding, and are the the towns usually run by an elected mayor, a headman, shaman, noble, or something else.
Each culture is different and I'd expect Onn to be the same; what works for something in the south around Sirrac's Point is likely to be different in the north, and so on.
I'll look into that. Describing individual towns was something I felt should be left in the domain of individual Referees.
Not everyone is going to use every named city or location in their games. While I was planning on adding some additional general details to the setting information, I'm not sure exactly how much yet will go into the civilized portions.
Your suggestion though has gone into the box of important details.
Not every town...just something like this:
In the Duchy of Crasmon, most towns have a population of between 500 and 1000 people, are ruled by a popularly elected mayor with an elected town council acting in an advisory capacity. Buildings tend to be stone or masonry for most of the first floor, and wood in a modified Tudor style for the second and subsequent floors.
The towns generally have a wooden palisade and an active duty guard unit of 1 guard per 50 people. In times of crisis, a militia may be raised that swells this number to between 5 and 15 people per 50.
Horses are common with both lowlander breeds as well as heartier mountain breeds predominating. With the isolated nature of most towns in the Duchy, horses serve as a favored method for inter-town travel. The small goblin community prefers a large breed of wolf rather than horses as befits their smaller stature.
Villages are similar to towns, but have a population of between 100 and 500. Settlements of less than 100 are called farmsteads or holdings, usually after the first family to build or the family that owns the location as the other families are employees.
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This gives enough information to set the tone. If the players are in the Duchy and find a town that has lots of troops, say 1 for every ten residents, and is ruled by someone calling themselves "Count Norbergen", they'll know it isn't normal for that region.
Ok, would something like what a generic, typical village/town/city description in a nation's description block be more useful? As far as military numbers, Referees can equate their own 'standing army' versus 'militia army' numbers, especially since the Core Rules doesn't touch on mass combat (but the Companion will).
Yep. Something that gives enough color so that when you enter a town in the Duchy of Resson's region you know, "Hey, this is an this is one of Resson's towns because the homes are all stone, two floors, with no openings on the first floor because of frequent kobold attacks."
There should be enough paint a picture, not enough to paint faces, inn names, and such.
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