American RPGs

[Dannyalcatraz]

Similarly, D&D tends to handwave language translation issues. There is a "common tongue" that most folks are expected to speak. That also strikes me as a rather American point of view. Most Europeans that I've known have had experience with multiple languages, for example, and expect to sometimes have to overcome linguistic obstacles.

Actually, I don't think this qualifies as an "Americanism" or "Anglicism" or even "Eurocentricism."

Historically speaking, whenever you have a powerful "empire" with nearly global influence, you're going to have some kind of language that dominates trade and/or diplomacy and/or the sciences. This would be the "lingua franca" or "vehicular language"

Lingua franca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Currently, English of some sort is the dominant economic/political language...and German & Russian get a lot of play in engineering. Before that (say...pre WW1), the "lingua Franca" was actually French. Before that, it was Latin, and before it, Greek.

Further east, you'd probably find Chinese or one of the languages of India to be broadly spoken. Arabic filled this role as well.

In the pre-Columbian Americas, some languages spread as trade languages the same way.

And by that, I don't necessarily mean fluently. Sometimes, its a "pidgin" version of the language, with all kinds of bad syntax, verb/subject agreement, improper forms & noun genders. Foreign terms creep in. And there is more reliance on gestures.

 

[Ariosto]

Empire of the Petal Throne was American!

So was Chivalry and Sorcery (a bit more medieval than D&D) -- and so were and are a lot of other games that highlight cultural differences from the USA.

I would not be surprised to find in the original D&D concept themes reflecting the Midwestern roots of its creators. I don't think it's just coincidence that one can find parallels between the seminal "sword and sorcery" work of Texan R.E. Howard and his and others' (including some notable Italians') contributions to the "western" genre.

Traveller, as another "adventure game", almost by definition and of necessity follows the "American pulp" tradition of SF more than the social-allegorical literary model of Shelley and Wells, Stapledon and Lem and so on.

 

[Kzach]

1) Do you think there is a U.S. cultural bias to the RPGs created here?

I would answer yes to this, but I fear the socialist and communist repercussions.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Do you think there is a U.S. cultural bias to the RPGs created here?

For sure, yep. I notice quite a few things, as do several of my gaming friends. But it doesn't matter; it's quite a natural tendency, and doesn't only ever apply to US-based games.

In fact, in some cases, it can be a good thing (regardless of the country or countries in question) !

 

[pawsplay]

I think my players must be Communists. Each PC gives according to his abilities and recieves according to his needs, especially resurrection magic. Anyone who isn't a member of the Party is screwed.

 

[Morrus]

I feel that one key area where the game is very US-centric is in the issues of social equality and social mobility. Sure, D&D has kings and lords and nobles of all stripes, but this is really a very thin veneer over a fairly classless society, especially where PCs are concerned.

Even today in the UK, where things are a lot more fluid than they used to be, being a member of the nobility, and particularly having a 'significant' noble rank, is largely a matter of birth.

While technically true, in modern society it's largely inconsequential when compared to the relative wealth and influence of successful businessmen, politicians, those in showbusiness, and so forth. In terms of social mobility, anybody can become wealthy and powerful or can rise to high office, which is the only metric which really matters in this context, and which provides more benefits than any birth title possibly could. On average, you're far better off having a TV or movie star, or the owner of a large national or international business as your parent than some guy who happens to be the Earl of Wherever.

Sure, you can't just grab yourself a title, but a title means far less than being Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, David Cameron, Rupert Murdoch, Jonathan Ross, etc. And any one of us can achieve the heights of these people. Heck, many titled individuals are so poor as to make the average shelf-stacker look rich!

 

[CharlesRyan]

I think perhaps the most American-centric element of D&D (and most RPGs) is the use of inches and feet in measurement. Here in the UK it's not that big a deal--inches and feet are about as common as metric. Elsewhere, it's all metric. Tell someone one square equals five feet, and they'll shrug and say "how far is that?" You get that reaction from some Brits as well.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think perhaps the most American-centric element of D&D (and most RPGs) is the use of inches and feet in measurement. Here in the UK it's not that big a deal--inches and feet are about as common as metric. Elsewhere, it's all metric. Tell someone one square equals five feet, and they'll shrug and say "how far is that?" You get that reaction from some Brits as well.

Though using feet and inches in a fantasy game might be done for "immersion" - they are kinda archaic units we expect in a pseudo-medieval world.

That said - in The Dark Eye, while the names might be feet, miles or stone, they actually refer back to metric measurements. A mile is one kilometer (not ~1.6 km), a stone is one kilogram (IIRC). I prefer it that way, since even after 8 years of D&D, I have trouble visualizing the measurements.

 

[Ariosto]

Make it "paces", and you can baffle folks all over the world except the historical miniatures wargamers!

Maybe inches and feet and pounds are indeed the standard in "most rpgs", but back in the 1970s - early '80s:
Traveller = metric
RuneQuest = metric
Gamma World = metric
The Fantasy Trip = metric
Champions = metric
and I could be missing some other prominent ones.

Of course, there was a period when pedants and pundits expected the US to go metric. I was dubious at the time about the notion that the way to do it was to strain brains (at least those of schoolchildren) with continual mathematical conversions from one system to the other instead of switching by ... well ... just, you know, switching.

 

[Deepfire]

Typical gamisms:

The PC's stay in inns that are very much like hotels, rather than much more like staying in people's homes.*
The PC's order food off extensive printed menus, rather than being served what the host has or simply asking for particular items to be served.
Coin is common and plentiful.
Everyone speaks the same language.
Weapons are freely available and may be carried everywhere. Full plate may be worn into a free town, and no one blinks an eye.
Persons (especially PCs) have freedom of the roads, even when armed.
PCs never pay taxes.
Finance and the instruments of finance are known.
Destitution and poverty are rare, except for when they show up like 'bad weather' to signify the presence of the BBEG.
Gender equality is assumed.
Racial equality is assumed.
Xenophobia is rare.
Corruption is rare.
'Good' aligned societies have modern sensibilities about cruelty in punishment, slavery, libertarianism, and generally resemble modern liberal western democracies in every feature but name.*
Well defined nation states.
Almost everyone is literate.
Professional national standing armies.
PCs have freedom of speach.
Goods can be purchased on demand off the shelf from a large existing stock of such items.
Rank doth not have its priviledges. There is a presumed meritocracy and freedom to change social classes.
*Those might be American biases, or at least Western European biases.

The Midnight World has nearly none of these ... that's why I like it so much