A set of 7 dice: 7 dice are only good if you're trying to irritate or confuse new players. You can't roll 4d6dl with 1d6. You need 4d6. You can't roll advantage with only one d20. You need 2 for advantage. The set needs 1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 1d10, a percentile die, 1d12, and 2d20.
this is ]
Rolling with advantage? Roll twice and take the highest roll, disadvantage roll 2x and take the lowest roll. 4D6? Roll the die 4x. For many, many people those dice in the starter set are their first set and saying you "can't" just because... you won't, well that's ableism. Maybe the person who bought it is a 12 year old kid who bought that starter set with their chore money and do not have enough to also buy a set of dice at the same time? That's who these things are targeted towards, people who have never played and want to try it out. Just because you can buy those things doesn't mean they can and they want those people to crack open that box and start playing right then and there. These aren't for you.
But, FYI, D&D hasn't been Eurocentric fantasy in a LOOOOONG time. Eberron isn't Eurocentric, Planescape isn't, Dark Sun isn't, even the Forgotten Realms isn't. Sword Coast? Sure. Dalelands sure but where in Europe is Lantan? Thay? Mulhorand? Evermeet? Chult? That's just on the core continent of Faerun itself. Faerun is as multicultural as it gets whole being EARTH centric. It's also extremely Northern American, specifically Canadian, which means a melting pot of cultures.
EVen Dragonlance is more Mormon than European in its cultural approach and Mormonism is as American as Apple Pie and cheeseburgers. It's got some Wagnerian elements sure but take the QUe SHu, sure Goldmoon has pale skin and blonde hair, the rest are very much portrayed as Native American and as the lost Tribe of Israel.
Ravenloft COULD appear Eurocentric but once you get out of the corelands like Barovia you get into whole other cultures including not like anything on earth.
Speaking about moving away from Eurocentrism while also talking about cultural appropriation leads down a very narrow path that is difficult to navigate in today's climate. Very difficult. People write about what they know and the hobby was not something that appealed to people for nearly 30 years outside of a certain demographic in spite of attempts by companies to reach outside of that demographic. It wasn't racism. In fact it was a stigma to play D&D through the mid 80s to just the last handful of years when Celebrities felt confident enough to come out of the closet about their hobby. People thought they were cool so gaming started to become cool and new demographics started checking the game out. But the guys back then? Many of the guys now? They grew up on classic fantasy and that was their culture, that's what they knew. That's what we knew. You want new stuff? Don't complain about the old stuff, make your own stuff, publish it! Either on a website or on DMSGuild. It's not like the 2e days when TSR would sue you into oblivion for having the letters AD and & or + followed by a D on your website. You can, and SHOULD, get your own material out there. Some people want Eurocentric fantasy and that's ok but lumping everything D&D into Eurocentric? What does that even mean because Europe is just as diverse in it's folklore as anywhere else. An elf in Ireland is not an elf in Germany. A dwarf in Italy isn't even similar to the Dwarves in Northern Europe.
Cultural appropriation isn't defined as using things from other cultures. It is defined as disrespectfully appropriating things from other cultures. It's Slutty Indian Princess costumes. Nothing in the Forgotten Realms, as an example, should be taken as cultural appropriation. It's done with a love of the source material. Is some of it maybe wrong headed? Sure, but none of it is disrespectful. None of it is intended to make fun or marginalize people from Meso-America, Africa, Asia, India, Russia or Europe.
So honestly, what you've done is illustrate your own Ableism in this post while not using it to help others but instead to complain. I may offend you in my response but that is neither here nor there but let's keep it real and be honest because the comment about not including dice and things that help people learn the game and then a spiel on culture like you're chiding someone for doing things you don't like? That's a real demo of privilege.
