Truth be told, I'm not sure this is the right place to talk about this, but it's related to the game so might as well try. Medieval fantasy worlds are almost always styled after Europe. And while Europe is always welcome, I've always been fascinated by other cultures. As such, my own setting not only has nations based on Celtic Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, City State era Italy, and Renaissance Spain, but also has nations based on Africa, Arabia, China, India, and Japan. Some nations even zigzag with real world nations. For example my High Elf Kingdom is actually a hybrid of Ancient Athens and Australia.
But, being a white Minnesotan who has only recently been forced to accept that she has benefited from a fixed system that demonizes "the other", building nations like these must be done with caution, or else I could accidentally walk into racist territory. If any of you have built or role played in worlds or settings based off nations like those, how did they avoid falling into racist stereotypes? (If they did avoid it) At the very least, I want all the nations of my world to have their good sides and bad sides.
I'm a firm believer that fiction and writing should not be subjective based on the race of the person who wrote it - judging it because the person who wrote it is one race or another is, by definition, racist.
That aside, I think the key thing is, as you have said, to avoid stereotypes. But then, a lot of people will try to claim something is a stereotype when it's actually a key part of reality ("You can't claim english people drink tea, that's a stereotype!" - I am on mug 5 of the day and ain't stopping there). I think the biggest thing to avoid any steretypes is to make sure you never say "all of them do X".
For example:
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. Their culture is built heavily around set mealtimes, proper manners, and a drink which they discovered after invading the Gnome kingdoms. Now they import thousands of crates of Tea from the gnomes each year, making it one of their most popular drinks."
This is not a stereotype - it speaks of trends and generalisations, and is recognisable as English, but leaves ample room for people who don't like tea, dont have meals at the right time, and are generally not stereotypical "Unglish".
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. They all have their meals at the exact same time evey day, they all have stiff upper lips and the women all wear corsets and carry parasols, the men all have mustaches and drink brandy and go shooting on the weekends before going to the pub. They have managed to transcend the need for drinking Tea in favour of having it intravenously applied to their veins, keeping them mobile whilst still consuming the stuff".
This is a steretype - it implies every single one of these people - and so, every one of the English on which they are based - are like this.
I think that's key - if you imply that "civilisation A is based on the Chinese", and then say "All of the people in Civilisation A are like >insert a stereoype", then you are, by implication, saying "All Chinese people are like >insert that stereotype<".
So use them, but do not make them seem like the rule. By all means have an aristocratic upper class like Britain had (and still has) but do not say "all of the aristocrats in Ungland are slightly inbred and have the capacity to somehow display every tooth on their top row at all times", because this is a Stereotype!
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. Their culture is built heavily around set mealtimes, proper manners, and a drink which they discovered after invading the Gnome kingdoms. Now they import thousands of crates of Tea from the gnomes each year, making it one of their most popular drinks."
This is not a stereotype - it speaks of trends and generalisations, and is recognisable as English, but leaves ample room for people who don't like tea, dont have meals at the right time, and are generally not stereotypical "Unglish".
This is a stereotype, you even call it one yourself. Stereotypes are not inherently bad, they only become bad when you start to assume that they're true for everyone in a particular group.
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. Their culture is built heavily around set mealtimes, proper manners, and a drink which they discovered after invading the Gnome kingdoms. Now they import thousands of crates of Tea from the gnomes each year, making it one of their most popular drinks."
This is not a stereotype - it speaks of trends and generalisations, and is recognisable as English, but leaves ample room for people who don't like tea, dont have meals at the right time, and are generally not stereotypical "Unglish".
This is a stereotype, you even call it one yourself. Stereotypes are not inherently bad, they only become bad when you start to assume that they're true for everyone in a particular group.
Fair point actually, my wording is off It's a stereotype, but it's not a generalisation. I guess the generalisations are what you need to avoid more than the stereotypes!
The bigger sin is to suggest that those traits define or are central to their identity. Suggest that the English are only about tea is problematic. Saying tea is popular is fine, but it's important to recognise that there is a lot more depth, nuance and value to the English than "they drink tea". If you make them as deep, interesting and varied as you see and understand your own culture and identity (ok, that's a bit much, but you get the idea. I'm no less British just because I never drink tea (I'm not communicating any offence here, there is no offence, I'm just showing an example).
The major problem is people often reduce cultures down, but then they become like McDonald's is to American cuisine, or Taco Bell is to Mexican. Develop a rich and vibrant culture that has meaning...and you're fine. A society can have trends, be more warlike or imperialistic than another for example, but make a it a trait, not the one and only aspect to their society. The Ferengi was pretty 2D and, if they'd be been based on a specific culture, would have been quite offensive in TNG. In DS9, they were a lot more explored and developed, and stopped being a mere caricature - while still maintaining those dominant traits that made them different to the Federation.
Don't be McDonalds. Be the street vendor giving out authentic food. Minus the food poisoning, of course.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Truth be told, I'm not sure this is the right place to talk about this, but it's related to the game so might as well try. Medieval fantasy worlds are almost always styled after Europe. And while Europe is always welcome, I've always been fascinated by other cultures. As such, my own setting not only has nations based on Celtic Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, City State era Italy, and Renaissance Spain, but also has nations based on Africa, Arabia, China, India, and Japan. Some nations even zigzag with real world nations. For example my High Elf Kingdom is actually a hybrid of Ancient Athens and Australia.
You're absolutely right about how Eurocentric D&D and the gaming industry has historically been. Things are changing, but fairly slowly. As an example of some of the newer work that's being done here is an article about Coyote and Crow, a roleplaying game about a fantasy North America never colonized by Europe and created by an indigenous Native American-led design team. Your work sounds interesting!
But, being a white Minnesotan who has only recently been forced to accept that she has benefited from a fixed system that demonizes "the other", building nations like these must be done with caution, or else I could accidentally walk into racist territory. If any of you have built or role played in worlds or settings based off nations like those, how did they avoid falling into racist stereotypes? (If they did avoid it) At the very least, I want all the nations of my world to have their good sides and bad sides.
I'd like to thank you for your awareness and sensitivity in this area. You're absolutely right that your viewpoint and position in society has not given you the background to speak with authority about issues of cultures not your own, and on top of that people who have experienced racism their whole lives can be especially sensitive to mistakes from people who look like their lifelong abusers. So thank you, I applaud your awareness, it is the first step in trying to fix the broken system all of us live in and the first hurdle that a lot of people don't get over.
I want to both reassure you and warn you at the same time by saying this, "Don't worry, you will be racist, accidentally." It's almost unavoidable. We're all racist unintentionally (hopefully unintentionally) because the system we were raised in is inherently so. So the next hurdle you will have to get over is the urge to try and be perfect. You will not achieve that. You have to realize that this is going to be an ongoing process that will probably be uncomfortable, but you can't let that discomfort stop you and you can't let that discomfort make you give into the urge to make it about yourself. It's not about you, personally, so don't take it that way. You know you're walking in areas with potential land mines so if you receive criticism about something, do take a step back and listen. I'm not saying you're always going to be wrong, but when you're walking through the unknown you should at least consider the points of people who are already there.
The one thing I want to point out is about priority. The more chance you have of stepping in someone else's land mines, the more care you should take. Meaning that if you have players from minority backgrounds, you need to take special care in how your game might affect them. If you are writing to publish your material then you have to write for everyone, but if you're playing with only people of your own ethnicity then maybe you don't have to put sooo much care into this. I mean, I think it's a good thing to do for your own edification, but you won't have to worry so much about hurting the people you're gaming with. Be aware of things that might not be visible, though, like invisible disabilities and sexualities.
Again, I want to applaud your awareness. I think it is a very good thing for you, as a person, to start on this journey of compassion and empathy to your fellow human beings, but it is also a good thing for the human beings you will encounter in your life. People who suffer from the various forms of bigotry will be able to sense your compassionate stance and may eventually deem you an ally and a safe person to be their true selves around. This will result in a richer life for you.
1.) Remember - this is a game for you and your friends at your table. You don't have to hold yourself to the same standards as a billion-dollar company like Wizards of the Coast. It's okay to make some goofs or slip from time to time, the simple fact that you're aware is often enough. Be aware, vigilant, and open to learning and changing what you do based on that learning, and eighty percent of the battle is done.
2.) The easiest way to avoid crappy reductionistic tropes is to avoid making any of your nations 'The Bad Guys'. Sit down and work out three things each nation is known for, things they do well and which are admired by other nations, and then work out three things other nations mock or revile them for. Make sure everybody has ups and downs, reasons to root for them and reasons to bap them over the head. Don't treat any given nation like storybook heroes or storybook villains, treat them like places filled with actual people who live real lives. Do that, and their culture will generally come out fine. People may not like them, but they'll not like a given culture in your game because they disagree with them philosophically. Which is the way it should be.
Even if your game is about an aggressive nation trying to expand and conquer, make sure that in that nation's eyes at least it has a reason to do so. In Avatar: the Last Airbender, the Fire Nation originally attacked the others because it was, at the time, the most culturally and scientifically advanced of the nations and its rulers wished to spread what they believed to be a superior way of life. They wished to introduce the quality of life they'd achieved to others and bring the culture that had developed it to the rustic, backwards people of other nations. Turned out that military ambition was a bad idea and it didn't go well for anybody, but even though it was often mocked as a pretense, just the pretense alone gave a bit more depth to the conflict.
Exploring non-Eurofantasy angles in your games can be a lot of fun, pulling from places nobody else bothers with can be a fun way to explore. If there's someone at your table with a background in one of the cultures you're drawing from, involve them. Get their opinion, and make sure they're not going to feel singled out by your inclusion of elements of their cultural fantasy in your game. And needless to say, the more reading and research you do ahead of time the better your fantasy can be, but don't feel like you have to be a subject matter expert to try. Coming at the idea from a position of genuine interest, a stance of "this is really cool! I wanna try and put some of it in my game!" will ameliorate many issues other folks could have with your work, and if your initial attempts are clumsy to the trained eye, so what? That's where everybody starts, and only jackasses with opinions unworth bothering with will try and castigate you for even making the attempt.
Some folks may calmly ask that you not use such elements in your games without proper research and understanding, which is something to bring up in pre-game prep, but anybody who tries to blast you for it isn't worth associating with. Heh, in the end? Remember that you're not trying to be a jerk, you're trying to run cool games for your friends as respectfully as you can manage, and if folks give you shit about it tell them to pound sand and go home.
Like Yurei said, make sure each nation/culture is represented as the hero culture of their own story, and then let conflicts occur naturally as each nation pursues their own goals. As long as there is no inherently “evil nation/culture,” it will go a long way towards not only inclusionism, but also verisimilitude. (Remember, even Hitler thought he was the good guy.) A notion of “Evil” can come from another culture’s perspective, but not from a culture’s own inception.
Ophid is also right, don’t worry about being perfect, we all mess up. As long as you keep trying to make things better you’re doing more than most folks.
Lunali is also, also right. Stereotypes aren’t bad, it’s when they cross the line “artificial truisms” (for lack of a better term) that things go pear shaped..
As for more practical advice, check out the old Mystara setting, there were a series of Gazetteers published for various cultures similar to what you describe. Anything that seems cool, use it. Anything that makes you cringe, drop it like it’s hot. They were from the days when “artificial truisms” ran rampant, so there’s definitely some cringey stuff in them, but the bulk of the material is a goldmine of useful stuff.
Everyone has provided some good advice so far. I will just add that as you do your research, use multiple sources. Everyone has biases and by referencing multiple sources, you can get a better understanding of the culture in question.
I just want to second Yurei's point that if you are running a game that is for a private group of people that you know personally very well, you do not have to hold yourself to the same standards as Wizards, and as long as everyone is okay with it and no one is hurt, you and your table can play D&D however you like. While I use a lot of innuendos and sexual references in my game sessions that I run for my friends, that is because they are my friends and that is how we interact. There is no way I am going to copy what I do for my friends in a private setting and paste that into a public game for a group of strangers that I hardly know. Behind closed doors, you and your group can do whatever you want.
If you are running a more public game though, then yeah, you will need to hold yourself to a higher standard. If you are interested in various cultures, one easy way to get to know more about them is to immerse yourself a bit into their culture, and it can be simple things like eating their food, listening to their music, watching their movies, etc., and in the process of doing so, you will encounter questions and answers along the way that builds up your knowledge over time.
Rereading the OP, I'm not convinced they're concerned about how they appear or come across. Or rather, not especially concerned about it. I think this is someone who is examining themselves and wants to ensure that what they're doing is the right thing. Which is to say, it's not that they're trying not to offend others, so much as wanting to ensure that their own views, feelings and so forth are not racist or otherwise internalising harmful attitudes. At least, that is my read of it.
As such "what you do behind closed doors with your friends doesn't matter" doesn't really answer their question - they're worried about being racist (well, ok, racist isn't the right term for it, but a better one isn't coming to the mind of this guy who's had 5 hours sleep in the last 48) rather an upsetting someone or provoking some kind of woke crusade.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
As such "what you do behind closed doors with your friends doesn't matter" doesn't really answer their question - they're worried about being racist (well, ok, racist isn't the right term for it, but a better one isn't coming to the mind of this guy who's had 5 hours sleep in the last 48) rather an upsetting someone or provoking some kind of woke crusade.
I'm not going to try to second-guess OP's motive. However, the phrase you are looking for is "being anti-racist."
Rereading the OP, I'm not convinced they're concerned about how they appear or come across. Or rather, not especially concerned about it. I think this is someone who is examining themselves and wants to ensure that what they're doing is the right thing. Which is to say, it's not that they're trying not to offend others, so much as wanting to ensure that their own views, feelings and so forth are not racist or otherwise internalising harmful attitudes. At least, that is my read of it.
As such "what you do behind closed doors with your friends doesn't matter" doesn't really answer their question - they're worried about being racist (well, ok, racist isn't the right term for it, but a better one isn't coming to the mind of this guy who's had 5 hours sleep in the last 48) rather an upsetting someone or provoking some kind of woke crusade.
I reread it now too, and I think I get what you are talking about, especially the second paragraph in the OP. I think bigotry might be the term your are looking for since racism implies race as the sole or main factor for discrimination, whereas bigotry is more broad and can include ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, culture, politics, and basically anything that can categorize a person.
If the OP wants a concrete example of what to do, they can start by using the stories that the people write about themselves. For example, instead of world building and modeling a fictional country based on Japan from scratch with whatever comes to mind first, she can read stories and narratives that the Japanese tell about themselves and use that as the foundation of the fictional country. The good news is that this is relatively easy and can probably satisfy most people: by having everything in fictional Japan be grounded in what the Japanese say about themselves and their country, and by doing that for every people and their country, that should give every fictional country its own narrative that is heroic (people generally do not cast themselves as the villain in their own stories) and authentic (since you literally just copy-pasta what they say). The bad news is that this can potentially be clumsily executed, as practically no country of any reasonable size is ethnically homogenous. If you just pick the story of the majority group of a country and just blindly copy-pasta their perspectives, it can potentially be a landmine for ethnic minorities in those countries. So if you invite a Tibetan or Uyghur player to your table for example, you might want to be careful on how you world build your fictional China, epecially with an active real life genocide going on.
And I guess that leads back to the good-old-catch-all advice of simply talking to your players, and keep engaging with and checking up on them from time to time to see if everything is okay. This can be challenging if you do not really know what vulnerabilities to talk about, so letting players know they can reach you by text, or email, or something later would also help if they are more comfortable communicating in writing.
Another one which is worth considering is to not make a single faction adopt all of the streotypes or cultures from a group in the real world.
Oddly, I was pondering this this morning when I watched a Tictok of someone claiming that the evil mother in Tangled is a character from hercules. I was considering the obvious answer was "they aren't in greece", and then started pondering exactly what culture the city in Tangled is based on.
It's got a european style castle, with spanish style chest plates on the guards, Indian-esque pigments and colours being used, all sorts of accents, all sorts of names, chinese lanterns - and then I realised the most important part of it all; it's a fictional place. It's not based solely on anything, and so it doesn't reflect on anyone.
So perhaps you should write down the key things you want from each culture on pieces of paper - one feature per paper - then put them in a hat and draw 3 per culture you're making! That way you get to include those things you love about these cultures without making attempts at copying them directly into dnd - and so reducing the chances of making this offensive in any way.
The other part of the challenge is perhaps also to not style it too heavily on existing cultural structures, no matter where they come from in the world.
Fantasy worlds are so absolutely fundamentally different to a human society in any setting in there being multiple sentient species that are radically different in their physiology and having developed extremely different cultures. I use the term species deliberately, as I think D&D insisting on calling them races is problematic - and reduces the need to recognise differences - which is effectively built into the world you are creating.
That's before we place magic and gods walking among people, monsters of huge threat, and anything else you might chuck in there. Given the threats and danger of fantasy worlds, my take on it is that the vast majority of common folk don't have the time or resources to be overly racist - anyone that can help from avoiding that purple work ravaging your livestock is welcome in comparison!
The struggles for power is - in my opinion - far more based on things live divine influence, the thinner veil between the planes, and the use of magic. This may lead to struggles and political approaches that are effectively racist against other species - but again, these would be radically different from what we identify in historical societies on earth.
I get that drawing inspiration from cultures still run the risk of making some stereo-types if you go far enough in drawing on that inspiration - but I think the need for people/species to clump together to survive in a world of far greater extremes than our own will dampen most overt racism - although at times it might also sharpen in when different species/cultures are at war. But a war is a dangerous thing since it depletes your own chances of survival - lands being ravaged by monsters while the army is away.
So my advice would be to play more on the fantastical events and threats, and perhaps reduce the mimicry of existing human societies.
If you have people you know who can beta read for you, that can help. If they are from different cultures than yours they can help by bringing a different perspective that might catch some things you wouldn't think of, but also just getting another set of eyes on your work can help catch things like spelling error or awkward word choice, so it's a good idea to get a friend to look over your work in general.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
You may have critics, if they respect themselves, they will explain any concerns, be open to your response and you both grow. Otherwise... you have trolls.
Perhaps human history is not owned by specific groups, perhaps it is public domain.
It's okay to base things on what people do in the real world, but not to say it's enharrent to the race.
Example: Folks in the desert tend to wear white gowns. Sure, not everybody does, but it's popular because white reflects light and heat, and unless you're going to ride something like a horse, something dress shaped is easier to cool and maintain. Here in the west, we're accustomed to the cold where pants help. Romans saw pants as barbaric because they lived in thr balmy Mediterranean. Those Germanic barbarians meanwhile actually experienced a snowy winter for months out of the year and found value in pants.
Next, we look at how people have migrated all over the world. The Vikings went to the Americas, Constantinople, Russia, Doublin and France. The Carthaginians probably hit Britain, Ghana, and the Arabian Paninsula. China hit the Americas and the Horn of Africa.
The key here is to figure out why something is important to where a person lives and allow that to be their culture. If the Desert Dwarves, and Desert Elves, and Desert Orcs all resemble people from the desert, that's okay. Saying Orcs came from the desert, so even the Arctic ones resemble the Saudis is problematic.
But, being a white Minnesotan who has only recently been forced to accept that she has benefited from a fixed system that demonizes "the other", building nations like these must be done with caution, or else I could accidentally walk into racist territory.
Well first things first, chill out. Take a breather. Worrying that you're going to mess something up at every step is bad for the brain, your creativity, and your enjoyment of the game. I am a firm believer that art is art, and your creativity is yours alone. So do what you want with your world, and not hold yourself back because you want it to please some social standard.
Now on to the actual question, because despite my little prologue it is clear this situation is important to you. The short of it is, if you just make the culture/people believable, the rest will fall into place. Now saying that is much easier than doing it, and so I'm going to try and assist you on that journey. Here is my own small set of advice:
> To specifically be inclusive: Show more of the culture just in general in your game world. IRL, folks of the older times actually mingled with "outsiders" (to their perspective) a lot more than we think. Roman coins have been found in scandinavia, the brits got tea from china, euros got gun powder from china, the vikings made contact with Amerindians, vikings had irish slaves, and so on. Trade happened quite a lot, as did war. So show this in your own world. Describe how the odd, mysterious NPC questgiver in the tavern is paying only in gold pieces with the stampings of a different kingdom/land from far away. How the prancing nobles have gotten the latest fashion trends from X far away country and it's becoming the hot new thing. The PCs find X crazy contraption from some inventor from X land. Just showing that these places exist at all is already a great step forward and that it isn't just there for when the PCs need a hot new foreign backdrop. > Specific suggestion that may only be helpful to some: for doing research on historical societies in particular, I recommend watching videos from pagans who follow that society's gods/traditions. Specifically folks who identify under the specific label of that culture (like "hellenic polytheist" or "norse polytheist"), under the label of polytheist rather than pagan (the GENERAL trend is that folks who label themselves "polytheist" are more focused on reconstructionism and have more of a historical focus), and folks who call themselves reconstructionist. Someone like "Ocean Keltoi" is an example of this, a norse polytheist (or "heathen", as folks of that tradition call themselves) who's YT channel focuses more on discussion of the little historical sources his religion has. You can gain much knowledge on what was important to the norse and what they valued in their culture. How their lives might've been just in their everyday, or what their celebrations might've been like. It all also helps because theses dudes come at it from a perspective of faith that the gods are very much real, which is (usually) the reality of your DnD world. Obviously this doesn't replace full, actual research on a topic, but you're here to make a world for a fun game, not write a dissertation. > Location, Location, Location!: What's the weather/biome of the culture you're trying to build? Is their scrap of land small, medium, or big? How do those people get their food? Do they reproduce like humans do (you have to consider the women! xP)? Who are their neighbors? Are their neighbors asshats? Much of the circumstances of our outlook on life comes about based on what our needs are and the extent of our environment. The vikings lived a harsh life, everyone was a fighter, and making sure to not get walked all over by your villiage and keeping your status up was crucial. So they didn't think of killing as bad in and of itself, it was mostly if you didn't own up to doing it. People died all the time and their stories contained lots of gallows humor. If someone called you weak or insulted/bruised your honor/reputation in some way, it was expected that (generally if you were a man) you'd go out there and demand they take back their shit, and then kill them when they didn't. Honor killings are a common thing across old cultures because of the previously stated reasons; harsh living conditions helped form them like that. > I was making my own ruleset for a game where you made your own nation and had to try and run it whilst interacting with other nations and world & domestic events. One thing I knew from my research is that who your neighbors are reeeeeaaaallllllyyyyyyyy impacts your nation's success. Think about it, if you don't have an airport or are landlocked, you are quite restricted by whether or not your neighbors like you or are stable places to live. That neighbor might have an airport, but is stuck in a vicious civil war with many terrorist killing any who cross into the country to try and starve the populace. They might just be real ****in' poor and not have anything to help you with. They might be a proxy state from some big world power who doesn't want you coming through. Or all three! It's all about the location of where you start! that's why europe ended up as a huge powerhouse, they spawned in the part of the world with some of the easiest routes to success (the non-human animals were great candidates for domestication slavery, for example). Resources are no joke. > Follow the resources: A lot of what runs the world is much more mundane than we envision. While there were great people in history who did great things just because they knew that's what great people did to become great and because they wanted to change the fate of the world, the majority of decisions and actions were driven by simpler wants. Money, housing, quality of life. In both world wars, the allies wanted to get the US into the war because they had much more firepower, oil, food, money, etc than the rest of the allies and axis/nazis combined. Germany tried to rip into Russia, Poland, & France just as much for their land and oil as they did to try and break down the enemy and for "good" tactics. The vikings went murderhoboing for loot, they landed in Canada because they wanted to find land to settle and then sell to others. When they discovered greenland and stuck with it, what did they do? Immediately tried to trick people into coming there to settle and make bank. Think of what your culture wants and follow those wants to their logical conclusion. > Go and ask people about their experiences: If you want some more modern views to help assist with your culture building, going to somewhere like r/AskReddit or the like can help. Even with the whole "anyone can lie about anything on the internet" thing, you'd be surprised how much great information you can learn . And its quite easy.
some videos just to help you along:
Couple books for more in-depth (very in-depth, this is highly optional) research:
In the end however, I believe that you shouldn't stress yourself out too much. Unless your players are big nuts who decided to make a wiki for your world and pay attention to every detail you say, they likely aren't going to even notice much of the work you put into developing the cultures anyway. Most players don't. Just try to have fun with this hobby. Don't worry about getting "sensitivity readers", don't worry about whether or not you should be taking this or that because you don't look like X people, don't worry that X thing isn't historically accurate, just worry about these things: "Am I having fun? Are my players having fun? Is this thing I'm making helping us have fun?" These things are much more important.
First, I have also written my own setting that includes other cultures. The important thing for me is to present them as cultures and depict them as having their own virtue based on circumstances. For example, I have a nation that "spies" on the other nations by sending trading caravans to trade with the other nations. The people in these caravans are similar to Arabian merchants. They produce a crop that the other nations appreciate, called Tocco (which is of course, tobacco). It is regarded as Cuban Cigars were regarded in the 1960s, except theirs is not sold as a cigar but a pipe tobacco. I don't depict their conduct in a negative manner, just that they have foreign customs that they cling to.
I also have a culture of Orcs that are idealized as a Native American horse culture that lacks metalworking technology. Because they have no interest in recovering metal from mining, they have to create their metal weapons from those they recover from their enemies or victims. They are otherwise experts in creating weapons and armor from the bones of the animals they kill. In spite of the limited access to steel, the Orcish smiths in this culture are able to make Orc sized equipment that performs just as it should. The depictions of this culture are handled like the traders, just a different set of customs that match their circumstances.
So I hope that helps. Good luck.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Truth be told, I'm not sure this is the right place to talk about this, but it's related to the game so might as well try. Medieval fantasy worlds are almost always styled after Europe. And while Europe is always welcome, I've always been fascinated by other cultures. As such, my own setting not only has nations based on Celtic Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, City State era Italy, and Renaissance Spain, but also has nations based on Africa, Arabia, China, India, and Japan. Some nations even zigzag with real world nations. For example my High Elf Kingdom is actually a hybrid of Ancient Athens and Australia.
But, being a white Minnesotan who has only recently been forced to accept that she has benefited from a fixed system that demonizes "the other", building nations like these must be done with caution, or else I could accidentally walk into racist territory. If any of you have built or role played in worlds or settings based off nations like those, how did they avoid falling into racist stereotypes? (If they did avoid it) At the very least, I want all the nations of my world to have their good sides and bad sides.
I'm a firm believer that fiction and writing should not be subjective based on the race of the person who wrote it - judging it because the person who wrote it is one race or another is, by definition, racist.
That aside, I think the key thing is, as you have said, to avoid stereotypes. But then, a lot of people will try to claim something is a stereotype when it's actually a key part of reality ("You can't claim english people drink tea, that's a stereotype!" - I am on mug 5 of the day and ain't stopping there). I think the biggest thing to avoid any steretypes is to make sure you never say "all of them do X".
For example:
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. Their culture is built heavily around set mealtimes, proper manners, and a drink which they discovered after invading the Gnome kingdoms. Now they import thousands of crates of Tea from the gnomes each year, making it one of their most popular drinks."
This is not a stereotype - it speaks of trends and generalisations, and is recognisable as English, but leaves ample room for people who don't like tea, dont have meals at the right time, and are generally not stereotypical "Unglish".
"The Unglish civilisation is based on the English. They all have their meals at the exact same time evey day, they all have stiff upper lips and the women all wear corsets and carry parasols, the men all have mustaches and drink brandy and go shooting on the weekends before going to the pub. They have managed to transcend the need for drinking Tea in favour of having it intravenously applied to their veins, keeping them mobile whilst still consuming the stuff".
This is a steretype - it implies every single one of these people - and so, every one of the English on which they are based - are like this.
I think that's key - if you imply that "civilisation A is based on the Chinese", and then say "All of the people in Civilisation A are like >insert a stereoype", then you are, by implication, saying "All Chinese people are like >insert that stereotype<".
So use them, but do not make them seem like the rule. By all means have an aristocratic upper class like Britain had (and still has) but do not say "all of the aristocrats in Ungland are slightly inbred and have the capacity to somehow display every tooth on their top row at all times", because this is a Stereotype!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
This is a stereotype, you even call it one yourself. Stereotypes are not inherently bad, they only become bad when you start to assume that they're true for everyone in a particular group.
Fair point actually, my wording is off It's a stereotype, but it's not a generalisation. I guess the generalisations are what you need to avoid more than the stereotypes!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
The bigger sin is to suggest that those traits define or are central to their identity. Suggest that the English are only about tea is problematic. Saying tea is popular is fine, but it's important to recognise that there is a lot more depth, nuance and value to the English than "they drink tea". If you make them as deep, interesting and varied as you see and understand your own culture and identity (ok, that's a bit much, but you get the idea. I'm no less British just because I never drink tea (I'm not communicating any offence here, there is no offence, I'm just showing an example).
The major problem is people often reduce cultures down, but then they become like McDonald's is to American cuisine, or Taco Bell is to Mexican. Develop a rich and vibrant culture that has meaning...and you're fine. A society can have trends, be more warlike or imperialistic than another for example, but make a it a trait, not the one and only aspect to their society. The Ferengi was pretty 2D and, if they'd be been based on a specific culture, would have been quite offensive in TNG. In DS9, they were a lot more explored and developed, and stopped being a mere caricature - while still maintaining those dominant traits that made them different to the Federation.
Don't be McDonalds. Be the street vendor giving out authentic food. Minus the food poisoning, of course.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
You're absolutely right about how Eurocentric D&D and the gaming industry has historically been. Things are changing, but fairly slowly. As an example of some of the newer work that's being done here is an article about Coyote and Crow, a roleplaying game about a fantasy North America never colonized by Europe and created by an indigenous Native American-led design team. Your work sounds interesting!
I'd like to thank you for your awareness and sensitivity in this area. You're absolutely right that your viewpoint and position in society has not given you the background to speak with authority about issues of cultures not your own, and on top of that people who have experienced racism their whole lives can be especially sensitive to mistakes from people who look like their lifelong abusers. So thank you, I applaud your awareness, it is the first step in trying to fix the broken system all of us live in and the first hurdle that a lot of people don't get over.
I want to both reassure you and warn you at the same time by saying this, "Don't worry, you will be racist, accidentally." It's almost unavoidable. We're all racist unintentionally (hopefully unintentionally) because the system we were raised in is inherently so. So the next hurdle you will have to get over is the urge to try and be perfect. You will not achieve that. You have to realize that this is going to be an ongoing process that will probably be uncomfortable, but you can't let that discomfort stop you and you can't let that discomfort make you give into the urge to make it about yourself. It's not about you, personally, so don't take it that way. You know you're walking in areas with potential land mines so if you receive criticism about something, do take a step back and listen. I'm not saying you're always going to be wrong, but when you're walking through the unknown you should at least consider the points of people who are already there.
I looked for some tips and tricks on the internet and thought these were some good starting points:
https://everydayfeminism.com/2018/04/cultural-appropriation-fiction/
https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/7-tips-for-writing-about-other-cultures
The one thing I want to point out is about priority. The more chance you have of stepping in someone else's land mines, the more care you should take. Meaning that if you have players from minority backgrounds, you need to take special care in how your game might affect them. If you are writing to publish your material then you have to write for everyone, but if you're playing with only people of your own ethnicity then maybe you don't have to put sooo much care into this. I mean, I think it's a good thing to do for your own edification, but you won't have to worry so much about hurting the people you're gaming with. Be aware of things that might not be visible, though, like invisible disabilities and sexualities.
Again, I want to applaud your awareness. I think it is a very good thing for you, as a person, to start on this journey of compassion and empathy to your fellow human beings, but it is also a good thing for the human beings you will encounter in your life. People who suffer from the various forms of bigotry will be able to sense your compassionate stance and may eventually deem you an ally and a safe person to be their true selves around. This will result in a richer life for you.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Couple of things.
1.) Remember - this is a game for you and your friends at your table. You don't have to hold yourself to the same standards as a billion-dollar company like Wizards of the Coast. It's okay to make some goofs or slip from time to time, the simple fact that you're aware is often enough. Be aware, vigilant, and open to learning and changing what you do based on that learning, and eighty percent of the battle is done.
2.) The easiest way to avoid crappy reductionistic tropes is to avoid making any of your nations 'The Bad Guys'. Sit down and work out three things each nation is known for, things they do well and which are admired by other nations, and then work out three things other nations mock or revile them for. Make sure everybody has ups and downs, reasons to root for them and reasons to bap them over the head. Don't treat any given nation like storybook heroes or storybook villains, treat them like places filled with actual people who live real lives. Do that, and their culture will generally come out fine. People may not like them, but they'll not like a given culture in your game because they disagree with them philosophically. Which is the way it should be.
Even if your game is about an aggressive nation trying to expand and conquer, make sure that in that nation's eyes at least it has a reason to do so. In Avatar: the Last Airbender, the Fire Nation originally attacked the others because it was, at the time, the most culturally and scientifically advanced of the nations and its rulers wished to spread what they believed to be a superior way of life. They wished to introduce the quality of life they'd achieved to others and bring the culture that had developed it to the rustic, backwards people of other nations. Turned out that military ambition was a bad idea and it didn't go well for anybody, but even though it was often mocked as a pretense, just the pretense alone gave a bit more depth to the conflict.
Exploring non-Eurofantasy angles in your games can be a lot of fun, pulling from places nobody else bothers with can be a fun way to explore. If there's someone at your table with a background in one of the cultures you're drawing from, involve them. Get their opinion, and make sure they're not going to feel singled out by your inclusion of elements of their cultural fantasy in your game. And needless to say, the more reading and research you do ahead of time the better your fantasy can be, but don't feel like you have to be a subject matter expert to try. Coming at the idea from a position of genuine interest, a stance of "this is really cool! I wanna try and put some of it in my game!" will ameliorate many issues other folks could have with your work, and if your initial attempts are clumsy to the trained eye, so what? That's where everybody starts, and only jackasses with opinions unworth bothering with will try and castigate you for even making the attempt.
Some folks may calmly ask that you not use such elements in your games without proper research and understanding, which is something to bring up in pre-game prep, but anybody who tries to blast you for it isn't worth associating with. Heh, in the end? Remember that you're not trying to be a jerk, you're trying to run cool games for your friends as respectfully as you can manage, and if folks give you shit about it tell them to pound sand and go home.
Please do not contact or message me.
Like Yurei said, make sure each nation/culture is represented as the hero culture of their own story, and then let conflicts occur naturally as each nation pursues their own goals. As long as there is no inherently “evil nation/culture,” it will go a long way towards not only inclusionism, but also verisimilitude. (Remember, even Hitler thought he was the good guy.) A notion of “Evil” can come from another culture’s perspective, but not from a culture’s own inception.
Ophid is also right, don’t worry about being perfect, we all mess up. As long as you keep trying to make things better you’re doing more than most folks.
Lunali is also, also right. Stereotypes aren’t bad, it’s when they cross the line “artificial truisms” (for lack of a better term) that things go pear shaped..
As for more practical advice, check out the old Mystara setting, there were a series of Gazetteers published for various cultures similar to what you describe. Anything that seems cool, use it. Anything that makes you cringe, drop it like it’s hot. They were from the days when “artificial truisms” ran rampant, so there’s definitely some cringey stuff in them, but the bulk of the material is a goldmine of useful stuff.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Everyone has provided some good advice so far. I will just add that as you do your research, use multiple sources. Everyone has biases and by referencing multiple sources, you can get a better understanding of the culture in question.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I just want to second Yurei's point that if you are running a game that is for a private group of people that you know personally very well, you do not have to hold yourself to the same standards as Wizards, and as long as everyone is okay with it and no one is hurt, you and your table can play D&D however you like. While I use a lot of innuendos and sexual references in my game sessions that I run for my friends, that is because they are my friends and that is how we interact. There is no way I am going to copy what I do for my friends in a private setting and paste that into a public game for a group of strangers that I hardly know. Behind closed doors, you and your group can do whatever you want.
If you are running a more public game though, then yeah, you will need to hold yourself to a higher standard. If you are interested in various cultures, one easy way to get to know more about them is to immerse yourself a bit into their culture, and it can be simple things like eating their food, listening to their music, watching their movies, etc., and in the process of doing so, you will encounter questions and answers along the way that builds up your knowledge over time.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Rereading the OP, I'm not convinced they're concerned about how they appear or come across. Or rather, not especially concerned about it. I think this is someone who is examining themselves and wants to ensure that what they're doing is the right thing. Which is to say, it's not that they're trying not to offend others, so much as wanting to ensure that their own views, feelings and so forth are not racist or otherwise internalising harmful attitudes. At least, that is my read of it.
As such "what you do behind closed doors with your friends doesn't matter" doesn't really answer their question - they're worried about being racist (well, ok, racist isn't the right term for it, but a better one isn't coming to the mind of this guy who's had 5 hours sleep in the last 48) rather an upsetting someone or provoking some kind of woke crusade.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'm not going to try to second-guess OP's motive. However, the phrase you are looking for is "being anti-racist."
I reread it now too, and I think I get what you are talking about, especially the second paragraph in the OP. I think bigotry might be the term your are looking for since racism implies race as the sole or main factor for discrimination, whereas bigotry is more broad and can include ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, culture, politics, and basically anything that can categorize a person.
If the OP wants a concrete example of what to do, they can start by using the stories that the people write about themselves. For example, instead of world building and modeling a fictional country based on Japan from scratch with whatever comes to mind first, she can read stories and narratives that the Japanese tell about themselves and use that as the foundation of the fictional country. The good news is that this is relatively easy and can probably satisfy most people: by having everything in fictional Japan be grounded in what the Japanese say about themselves and their country, and by doing that for every people and their country, that should give every fictional country its own narrative that is heroic (people generally do not cast themselves as the villain in their own stories) and authentic (since you literally just copy-pasta what they say). The bad news is that this can potentially be clumsily executed, as practically no country of any reasonable size is ethnically homogenous. If you just pick the story of the majority group of a country and just blindly copy-pasta their perspectives, it can potentially be a landmine for ethnic minorities in those countries. So if you invite a Tibetan or Uyghur player to your table for example, you might want to be careful on how you world build your fictional China, epecially with an active real life genocide going on.
And I guess that leads back to the good-old-catch-all advice of simply talking to your players, and keep engaging with and checking up on them from time to time to see if everything is okay. This can be challenging if you do not really know what vulnerabilities to talk about, so letting players know they can reach you by text, or email, or something later would also help if they are more comfortable communicating in writing.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Another one which is worth considering is to not make a single faction adopt all of the streotypes or cultures from a group in the real world.
Oddly, I was pondering this this morning when I watched a Tictok of someone claiming that the evil mother in Tangled is a character from hercules. I was considering the obvious answer was "they aren't in greece", and then started pondering exactly what culture the city in Tangled is based on.
It's got a european style castle, with spanish style chest plates on the guards, Indian-esque pigments and colours being used, all sorts of accents, all sorts of names, chinese lanterns - and then I realised the most important part of it all; it's a fictional place. It's not based solely on anything, and so it doesn't reflect on anyone.
So perhaps you should write down the key things you want from each culture on pieces of paper - one feature per paper - then put them in a hat and draw 3 per culture you're making! That way you get to include those things you love about these cultures without making attempts at copying them directly into dnd - and so reducing the chances of making this offensive in any way.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
The other part of the challenge is perhaps also to not style it too heavily on existing cultural structures, no matter where they come from in the world.
Fantasy worlds are so absolutely fundamentally different to a human society in any setting in there being multiple sentient species that are radically different in their physiology and having developed extremely different cultures. I use the term species deliberately, as I think D&D insisting on calling them races is problematic - and reduces the need to recognise differences - which is effectively built into the world you are creating.
That's before we place magic and gods walking among people, monsters of huge threat, and anything else you might chuck in there. Given the threats and danger of fantasy worlds, my take on it is that the vast majority of common folk don't have the time or resources to be overly racist - anyone that can help from avoiding that purple work ravaging your livestock is welcome in comparison!
The struggles for power is - in my opinion - far more based on things live divine influence, the thinner veil between the planes, and the use of magic. This may lead to struggles and political approaches that are effectively racist against other species - but again, these would be radically different from what we identify in historical societies on earth.
I get that drawing inspiration from cultures still run the risk of making some stereo-types if you go far enough in drawing on that inspiration - but I think the need for people/species to clump together to survive in a world of far greater extremes than our own will dampen most overt racism - although at times it might also sharpen in when different species/cultures are at war. But a war is a dangerous thing since it depletes your own chances of survival - lands being ravaged by monsters while the army is away.
So my advice would be to play more on the fantastical events and threats, and perhaps reduce the mimicry of existing human societies.
If you have people you know who can beta read for you, that can help. If they are from different cultures than yours they can help by bringing a different perspective that might catch some things you wouldn't think of, but also just getting another set of eyes on your work can help catch things like spelling error or awkward word choice, so it's a good idea to get a friend to look over your work in general.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Be yourself; always.
You may have critics, if they respect themselves, they will explain any concerns, be open to your response and you both grow. Otherwise... you have trolls.
Perhaps human history is not owned by specific groups, perhaps it is public domain.
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
It's okay to base things on what people do in the real world, but not to say it's enharrent to the race.
Example: Folks in the desert tend to wear white gowns. Sure, not everybody does, but it's popular because white reflects light and heat, and unless you're going to ride something like a horse, something dress shaped is easier to cool and maintain. Here in the west, we're accustomed to the cold where pants help. Romans saw pants as barbaric because they lived in thr balmy Mediterranean. Those Germanic barbarians meanwhile actually experienced a snowy winter for months out of the year and found value in pants.
Next, we look at how people have migrated all over the world. The Vikings went to the Americas, Constantinople, Russia, Doublin and France. The Carthaginians probably hit Britain, Ghana, and the Arabian Paninsula. China hit the Americas and the Horn of Africa.
The key here is to figure out why something is important to where a person lives and allow that to be their culture. If the Desert Dwarves, and Desert Elves, and Desert Orcs all resemble people from the desert, that's okay. Saying Orcs came from the desert, so even the Arctic ones resemble the Saudis is problematic.
Well first things first, chill out. Take a breather. Worrying that you're going to mess something up at every step is bad for the brain, your creativity, and your enjoyment of the game.
I am a firm believer that art is art, and your creativity is yours alone. So do what you want with your world, and not hold yourself back because you want it to please some social standard.
Now on to the actual question, because despite my little prologue it is clear this situation is important to you. The short of it is, if you just make the culture/people believable, the rest will fall into place. Now saying that is much easier than doing it, and so I'm going to try and assist you on that journey. Here is my own small set of advice:
> To specifically be inclusive: Show more of the culture just in general in your game world. IRL, folks of the older times actually mingled with "outsiders" (to their perspective) a lot more than we think. Roman coins have been found in scandinavia, the brits got tea from china, euros got gun powder from china, the vikings made contact with Amerindians, vikings had irish slaves, and so on. Trade happened quite a lot, as did war. So show this in your own world. Describe how the odd, mysterious NPC questgiver in the tavern is paying only in gold pieces with the stampings of a different kingdom/land from far away. How the prancing nobles have gotten the latest fashion trends from X far away country and it's becoming the hot new thing. The PCs find X crazy contraption from some inventor from X land. Just showing that these places exist at all is already a great step forward and that it isn't just there for when the PCs need a hot new foreign backdrop.
> Specific suggestion that may only be helpful to some: for doing research on historical societies in particular, I recommend watching videos from pagans who follow that society's gods/traditions. Specifically folks who identify under the specific label of that culture (like "hellenic polytheist" or "norse polytheist"), under the label of polytheist rather than pagan (the GENERAL trend is that folks who label themselves "polytheist" are more focused on reconstructionism and have more of a historical focus), and folks who call themselves reconstructionist. Someone like "Ocean Keltoi" is an example of this, a norse polytheist (or "heathen", as folks of that tradition call themselves) who's YT channel focuses more on discussion of the little historical sources his religion has. You can gain much knowledge on what was important to the norse and what they valued in their culture. How their lives might've been just in their everyday, or what their celebrations might've been like. It all also helps because theses dudes come at it from a perspective of faith that the gods are very much real, which is (usually) the reality of your DnD world. Obviously this doesn't replace full, actual research on a topic, but you're here to make a world for a fun game, not write a dissertation.
> Location, Location, Location!: What's the weather/biome of the culture you're trying to build? Is their scrap of land small, medium, or big? How do those people get their food? Do they reproduce like humans do (you have to consider the women! xP)? Who are their neighbors? Are their neighbors asshats? Much of the circumstances of our outlook on life comes about based on what our needs are and the extent of our environment. The vikings lived a harsh life, everyone was a fighter, and making sure to not get walked all over by your villiage and keeping your status up was crucial. So they didn't think of killing as bad in and of itself, it was mostly if you didn't own up to doing it. People died all the time and their stories contained lots of gallows humor. If someone called you weak or insulted/bruised your honor/reputation in some way, it was expected that (generally if you were a man) you'd go out there and demand they take back their shit, and then kill them when they didn't. Honor killings are a common thing across old cultures because of the previously stated reasons; harsh living conditions helped form them like that.
> I was making my own ruleset for a game where you made your own nation and had to try and run it whilst interacting with other nations and world & domestic events. One thing I knew from my research is that who your neighbors are reeeeeaaaallllllyyyyyyyy impacts your nation's success. Think about it, if you don't have an airport or are landlocked, you are quite restricted by whether or not your neighbors like you or are stable places to live. That neighbor might have an airport, but is stuck in a vicious civil war with many terrorist killing any who cross into the country to try and starve the populace. They might just be real ****in' poor and not have anything to help you with. They might be a proxy state from some big world power who doesn't want you coming through. Or all three! It's all about the location of where you start! that's why europe ended up as a huge powerhouse, they spawned in the part of the world with some of the easiest routes to success (the non-human animals were great candidates for
domestication slavery, for example). Resources are no joke.> Follow the resources: A lot of what runs the world is much more mundane than we envision. While there were great people in history who did great things just because they knew that's what great people did to become great and because they wanted to change the fate of the world, the majority of decisions and actions were driven by simpler wants. Money, housing, quality of life. In both world wars, the allies wanted to get the US into the war because they had much more firepower, oil, food, money, etc than the rest of the allies and axis/nazis combined. Germany tried to rip into Russia, Poland, & France just as much for their land and oil as they did to try and break down the enemy and for "good" tactics. The vikings went murderhoboing for loot, they landed in Canada because they wanted to find land to settle and then sell to others. When they discovered greenland and stuck with it, what did they do? Immediately tried to trick people into coming there to settle and make bank. Think of what your culture wants and follow those wants to their logical conclusion.
> Go and ask people about their experiences: If you want some more modern views to help assist with your culture building, going to somewhere like r/AskReddit or the like can help. Even with the whole "anyone can lie about anything on the internet" thing, you'd be surprised how much great information you can learn . And its quite easy.
some videos just to help you along:
Couple books for more in-depth (very in-depth, this is highly optional) research:
> Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
> The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
By the gods, that shit was long.
In the end however, I believe that you shouldn't stress yourself out too much. Unless your players are big nuts who decided to make a wiki for your world and pay attention to every detail you say, they likely aren't going to even notice much of the work you put into developing the cultures anyway. Most players don't. Just try to have fun with this hobby. Don't worry about getting "sensitivity readers", don't worry about whether or not you should be taking this or that because you don't look like X people, don't worry that X thing isn't historically accurate, just worry about these things: "Am I having fun? Are my players having fun? Is this thing I'm making helping us have fun?" These things are much more important.
Er ek geng, þat er í þeim skóm er ek valda.
UwU
First, I have also written my own setting that includes other cultures. The important thing for me is to present them as cultures and depict them as having their own virtue based on circumstances. For example, I have a nation that "spies" on the other nations by sending trading caravans to trade with the other nations. The people in these caravans are similar to Arabian merchants. They produce a crop that the other nations appreciate, called Tocco (which is of course, tobacco). It is regarded as Cuban Cigars were regarded in the 1960s, except theirs is not sold as a cigar but a pipe tobacco. I don't depict their conduct in a negative manner, just that they have foreign customs that they cling to.
I also have a culture of Orcs that are idealized as a Native American horse culture that lacks metalworking technology. Because they have no interest in recovering metal from mining, they have to create their metal weapons from those they recover from their enemies or victims. They are otherwise experts in creating weapons and armor from the bones of the animals they kill. In spite of the limited access to steel, the Orcish smiths in this culture are able to make Orc sized equipment that performs just as it should. The depictions of this culture are handled like the traders, just a different set of customs that match their circumstances.
So I hope that helps. Good luck.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt