I didn't suggest we shouldn't address colonialism, just that we shouldn't glorify it. My take on adventure design is to just present the situation, and the opinions of the NPCs involved at face value. There may be characters in the setting engaged in colonialism, genocide, slavery, murder, etc, but I don't artificially encourage the players' characters to go along with it or especially reward them for making value decisions (unless it's a campaign where we've agreed beforehand that certain value based decisions are rewarded).
Very close (if not exact) to the way I do it too.
Take B2 as an example, that ruleset rewards the players for coming home with treasure. All the drama about the beleaguered keep and the marauding humanoids is just the opinion of the NPCs they meet in the keep. There's no inherent mechanical reward for helping the Keep, or betraying the keep, or ignoring the keep and exploring the area for the hell of it, or opening a dialogue between the keep and the humanoids so they can live in harmony. Putting hands on gold is the only action that's rewarded (and perhaps glorified). Everything else you do on the way to that goal is your choice.
On the nosey, as the saying goes. Again, I'm in agreement with you.
The only thing I'd like to comment on is...
"...or opening a dialogue between the keep and the humanoids so they can live in harmony".
Great option and I have had a group of PC's actually do that (but it was using "Little Keep on the Borderlands", the Hackmaster remake, using the Hackmaster 4th Edition rules). It was with the Hobgoblins. They made a deal, but didn't read the 'fine print'. The hobgoblins got food, gold, and goods for not attacking anyone from the keep. Of course, anyone going TO the keep...fair game in their minds.
Point being, any "dialogue" with evil humanoids is, at best, a temporary reprieve. It'd be like making a deal with a serial-killer husband and wife duo....they may abide by the agreement, but only up to the point where they think they can get away with breaking it. Because, you know, EVIL.
That was sort of a sub-text to my initial comments about the "humans in funny suits" thing; these races are not human, and attempting to ascribe "normal human thoughts, emotions, etc" to them is fine and all, but some things are just going to be completely alien.
Edit: i meant to also say I don't think you should be glorifying murder and theft either. You get XP for acquiring treasure and defeating monsters that have HD. If you want to kill the kobolds and take their lair treasure, that's one way to do that. If you want to find a way to get those kobolds to willingly part with enough treasure for you to level up, you can do that too.
Too many people use "glorifying"...I used it to make a point (or tried to). My reason for using the word was to emphasize some people's disconnect/bias when talking about things they feel comfortable about, but find other things completely unacceptable. For example, nudity in the west here (Canada/America). In Europe, a woman's breasts or a mans penis are seen as, well, just nudity. Nothing really "bad" about it...also in Europe, they see guns as dangerous and scary tools that should have heavy restrictions if not outright illegal. But here in Canada/America... you can have a kids and teens "Gun Safety Camp" where kids between 9 and 17 learn all about guns and go out shooting at targets...but have the 27 year old woman change her shirt around the corner but 6 teens see her boobies? INSTANT calls for a veritable tar-and feathering of the woman for "corrupting the poor, innocent youth".
Point being, we "accept" murder and even torture in a game of D&D...but bring up "colonialism" and suddenly we need to "not make light of it and point out how bad it was so that the players all feel guilty about something they had nothing to do with". It's... weird, if you ask me.
Oh well...just as long as I get to roll some dice and play make-believe, I'm happy!
^_^
Paul L. Ming