The practice of using fantasy counterpart cultures - cultures and societies that are very similar to real world cultures of specific times and places - has a long history in fantasy in general, and fantasy RPGs in particular.

And, in truth, there are good reasons for that. Fantasy worldbuilding is a major task, and fantasy worldbuilding for RPGs in particular requires that not only the GM understands any given culture, but the players as well - but understanding a culture requires a lot of effort, and there is only so much time everyone at the table has available for that.

Thus, using familiar elements is a great time saver. The main reason we see the same Tolkien ancestries over and over again (elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs…) is that most players of fantasy RPGs are already familiar with their basic concepts, and thus only have to learn what is different from the norm. But you create fantasy ancestries from scratch, you need to convey all that information to the players.

The same applies to fantasy counterpart cultures - if you have a vague familiarity with the real world culture, then familiarizing yourself with a fantasy culture will be a lot easier.

However, there’s also a lot that can go wrong with using fantasy counterpart cultures. Misrepresentation is always a danger, especially with marginalized groups and if the developers did not consult with members of that culture. Likewise, if you are building a fantasy counterpart culture of a nation that has some ugly history, then you risk whitewashing that history.

So what are your thoughts? Do you like to have fantasy counterpart cultures in your settings, or do you prefer to avoid them? And what are some good examples of fantasy counterpart cultures done right?

  • Jürgen Hubert@ttrpg.networkOP
    1·
    3 hours ago

    I 100% understand any culture I make up, definitionally.

    If true, that’s very impressive indeed. Every custom, every belief, every fashion, every turn of speech? I study folklore - “culture” is a many-headed beast, and fractal.

    I doubt that even Professor Tolkien truly understood the cultures of Middle-Earth “100%”.

    In many cases, the player characters are themselves unfamiliar with that culture, in which case any mystery, mistakes, miscommunications etc are valuable in-character roleplay. And when the PCs *would *be familiar with a relevant aspect of a given culture, you can simply tell them that detail, no need to loredump everything.

    I do believe that player should be able to gain a basic understanding of the cultures their characters come from. The question is how much information can they get, and process?

    As an example, consider Glorantha with its many intricate cultures. The players don’t need to know everything about the setting - indeed, it is so complex that few people have even read the majority of the source material. However, it is essential that they understand what their home culture believes, and how members of that culture expect the characters to act.