Re: What could a D&D like setting realistically look like?
A realistic setting wouldn't resemble D&D. If the outside reaches of your principality had boundless treasures unrealized that were guarded by some so-so monsters then a major occupation of your army would be plunging those dungeons. For civilian contractors there would be an entire industry that catered to dungeon delving because that was the prime economic driver in the economy. The value of coins would shift in torrents depending on how big the biggest haul was this month. If you signed a lease in a month when adventuring teams weren't returning with much loot you could be paying less than 1% of what the market shop next to you pays and when you renew your lease it could skyrocket that high for you. Thieves' guilds would not be focused on jewers with a few dozen gold in their vault, they'd be totally fixated on adventurers and their pendulous pouches of gold.
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