Posted by Polemachus on April 20, 2000 at 12:57:15:
In Reply to: Hometown populations / informal poll posted by SphereMaker(IMM) on April 20, 2000 at 09:20:38:
I know less than nothing about coding, so this could be an extreme pain in the ass, but I figure the best way to spread folks out is to reposition many of the areas so as not to have Galadon surrounded by all of these great places to rank, gather clothing, and so on.
It's often been said that many of the areas in CF don't make sense when you look at what's adjacent to them. For instance, frigid wastes is separated from a desert by a small bit of forest and a dry riverbed? I, personally, would like to see Thera reordered with climate, topography, and so forth in mind. Take it from being a patchwork quilt to a land that actually makes some sense geography wise. Then to add the cherry on top make the weather of the areas more appropriate. How many times have I been in the desert only to have it snow on me?
I realize the above is quite the pain in the ass and would probably take a lot of time and would most likely need to be introduced as a new age(if not for rp reasons with a good story thought up for it than for any downtime that might be necessary).
A less intrusive alternative would be to make Galadon LESS attractive. I doubt upgrading the other cities would do too much. Making sure Barovia has all of the guilds probably isn't going to get a lot of people to change their hometown to Barovia.
A less intrusive alternative:
Galadon is the most highly populated city because it's designed to be. If you took out some of the guilds, downgraded the availability of good magical items/food/water and so forth you'd be taking a big step towards spreading out the people.
Galadon is a metropolis whereas many of the other cities are more "specialized". Maybe the mage guilds could get tired of the battleragers always stirring up trouble and pull up their stakes and move to a more quiet location conducive(sp) to studying. Maybe the cityguards could get tired of the increasing crime rate and learn stronger crime-prevention tactics(supe up the battlement guards) and the Enforcer could decide it's time to crack down and start assisting his cityguards automatically.
Spread the guilds thinner. Make some cities specialize, a fighter's city, a mage's city, a cleric's city, with the others city more of the assortment. It doesn't have to be as drab as "Ok, today we're going to move all of the guilds" and could actually be quite exciting like a battlerager quest that if successful would find all of the mage guilds moving from Galadon to another city, or the clerics deciding that Galadon has embraced too much of a pagan lifestyle and seeking a more holy city in which to rest their feet.
I don't know. What I think is certain though is people aren't leaving Galadon unless it becomes significantly less attractive for part of the populace.