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I hate to bellyache . . . but Bard of Eloquence is a rhetorician, not a philosopher. High Charisma, but probably not so much on the Intelligence or Wisdom. And I want some philosophers, but I suppose anyone with a high Intelligence or Wisdom in this setting might fit the bill.

And I guess this particular setting may not have Hercules as such, but yeah, lots of angles you could do. I figure anyone walking around at first level with any ability score of 17-18 will be at least rumored to be the Mighty Son/Daughter of SOMEONE Divine/Demidivine.

Just sons, according to the version of the myth I read. No reason that has to be the case for adapting the myth for this purpose. 49 brothers and one PC sister would be interesting, as would be a Son of Hercules who was just a surprisingly jacked philosopher, like Chidi on “The Good Place.”

OK, one more idea: The Mighty Sons of Hercules. Legends say that Hercules begat 50 sons upon the fifty daughters of Thespius. For game purposes, I would assume that this seemed like a good idea at the time, but then a prophecy pointed out that having 50 quarter-divine boys come of age in...

Alternate alternate approach: Dwayne Johnson this thing. His recent Hercules movie had a pretty impressive party of adventures. I don’t know how this setting will address the prevalence of demigods, but this movie had one angle: some people may be rumored to be demigods, and may actively...

Alternate approach is to Kevin Sorbo this thing. That pankration monk idea I mentioned might be the best fit for an unarmed, unarmored warrior who gets by on his awesome strength and athletic moves.

I’m gonna Steve Reeves this thing. No armor, no pants, everyone has to talk in a rich baritone.

Now wasn't there some talk about a year back concerning a new product that would cover a culture that hadn't been covered ever / for a long time? Hey, we need a pankration monk --- a build that would benefit from a high Strength. Unarmed fighter, with some throws and grapples.

Two words: Bronzepunk Warforged.

"Noxious Aura" = Fart Monk.

Well, my metaphorical pot wasn't a melting pot. It was a stew pot. Throw some stuff in there and stir it up. And D&D is already a stew, baby.

I've been hip deep in "Pendragon" lately, and it's a weird riff on this --- built off of a combination of legend, literature, accurate history, inaccurate history (with varying degrees of inaccuracy), and stuff the author made up.

Well, I think they've already indicated that they're going to try again and do better on some multi-cultural stuff. But sure, it may be that one of the reasons that stuff hasn't happened yet is a concern that it will be closely scrutinized and perhaps controversial. Whether you call that a fear...

Dunno about "fear of offending" . . . I think of it more in positive terms --- a desire to include. And from a storytelling standpoint, it's just good to be open to these different perspectives and different influences, because it's all new ingredients to throw in the pot, right?

My point is just that I think that in the year 2020, conditions are right to do better fantasy versions of non-Western cultures than have been previously done in the history of RPGs, and I think that, when done right, this sort of thing can really benefit the game.

Well, not to get political, but isn't colonization / empire-building usually justified by some variation on that? These guys aren't quite human, we're the good guys, gotta protect the innocent? And I only bring it up because Maztica tried to do something with real-world parallels to...

And if this is just "Sword Coast II: Everything to the Immediate East of the Last One," that's still probably a good book.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing --- D&D is largely about outsiders going to exotic (for them) places and having grand adventures and then moving on. It's just that when those places are based on real-world cultures, the killing and looting can take on a different tone. I'd be fine...

Take into account that WOTC has admitted that they maybe dropped the ball recently with "Fantasy Africa," and vowed to do better in the future when dealing with non-Western cultures. I kinda like a "Wakanda" approach to these lands . . . just because the real-world equivalents got colonized /...

I'll guess it's a grand tour of the Realms, where we get our first official visit in many years to Kara-Tur, Al-Quadim, Maztica, and maybe some new lands (Fantasy India? Fantasy Stone Age?). Almost certainly a bunch of linked adventures rather than a pure gazetteer.