The Pros and Cons of Fantasy Counterpart Cultures
Long-time role-player. Translator of old German folk tales.
Main Mastodon account where I share German folk tales is @[email protected].
Long-time role-player. Translator of old German folk tales.
Main Mastodon account where I share German folk tales is @[email protected].
The Pros and Cons of Fantasy Counterpart Cultures
What are your thoughts on Andoran?

Any long-running published setting is going to have a couple of warts - ones where parts of the audience are going to say: “What the hell were they thinking?” The same is true for Golarion. For the most part, I love the setting, but there are a number of setting elements I find problematic. One of these is Andoran. The best way I can describe it is as: “A fantasy counterpart culture of the post-Revolutionary War United States of America - as retconned through American propaganda.” So while the real world American Revolutionary War was allegedly about “Freedom”, but at the same time reinforced the system of slavery and exploitation of the First Nations - something commonly glossed over in American history - Andoran simply leaves out these ugly aspects and says that Andoran’s revolution was really about fighting for Freedom and Democracy - which they now seek to export to the rest of the world. I mean, I am not opposed to democracies in fantasy settings, or groups of people fighting slavery. But it’s the mixture of these elements with tropes of the nascent USA that really bothers me. What are your thoughts on this?
Interactive Map of German Folk Tales
Guest article about the Wild Hunt
Hexxen 1733 - Warum nur weibliche Hexen?
Mixing Fantastic Creatures from different Cultures
Fantasy Settlement Patterns
The Privilege of Sorcerers
"I don't want Politics in my Gaming!"
Interesting premises for "Frontier Exploration" games?