Sacrosanct
Legend
Seems to be a catch-22. If they don't include it, it's "the absence of X, Y, Z is bad.". If they do include them, then it's "cultural appropriation is bad."
I won't disagree that some of the stuff TSR did back then was pretty problematic. But I think it's important to look at the context as well. Most everything that came out was inspired by fans and players, and back in the late 70s early 80s, pretty much everyone in the community was a white male. There has been a lot of progress with becoming more diverse as a group of gamers, and thus now it's easier to find a player from Central East Africa who can give a much more accurate account/supplement for Central Eastern African cultures and not have it be cultural appropriation. But in 1980? If you wanted to have a campaign in Africa, finding someone who was a gamer who was from Africa was much more difficult. And of course, the danger/risk of that is that you get errors because of stereotypes. it's highly unfortunate, but it was the reality back then.
Point being, is that it might not be fair to judge TSR D&D through a modern standard.
I won't disagree that some of the stuff TSR did back then was pretty problematic. But I think it's important to look at the context as well. Most everything that came out was inspired by fans and players, and back in the late 70s early 80s, pretty much everyone in the community was a white male. There has been a lot of progress with becoming more diverse as a group of gamers, and thus now it's easier to find a player from Central East Africa who can give a much more accurate account/supplement for Central Eastern African cultures and not have it be cultural appropriation. But in 1980? If you wanted to have a campaign in Africa, finding someone who was a gamer who was from Africa was much more difficult. And of course, the danger/risk of that is that you get errors because of stereotypes. it's highly unfortunate, but it was the reality back then.
Point being, is that it might not be fair to judge TSR D&D through a modern standard.