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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4993617" data-attributes="member: 58197">I'm sure there is a U.S. cultural bias, but I don't know that these issues qualify. I can't speak to the question of medical treatments in Traveller since I've never played or read the game. However, I'm pretty sure the use of a &quot;Common Tongue&quot; in D&amp;D was lifted directly from the Lord of the Rings, along with most of the standard races. It persists because it's a tremendously convenient handwave and because it enables the standardization of languages across campaign worlds.Since LotR was written by a Brit, that would invalidate the idea that it's Americentrism at work (though it might be Anglocentrism).Offhand, the most Americentric thing I can think of about D&amp;D is the assumption of a laissez-faire market economy with a robust Second Amendment. PCs can run around buying the magical equivalents of antitank missiles and heavy-caliber machine guns and nobody bats an eyelash. Most real-world societies take a dim view of weapons being sold on the open market; in medieval societies it could be a crime for commoners even to own certain types of weapons and armor.To some extent, of course, this is like the Common Tongue, a handwave for ease of play. Still, even the early editions assumed that nonmagical armaments could be freely purchased.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 4993617, member: 58197"] I'm sure there is a U.S. cultural bias, but I don't know that these issues qualify. I can't speak to the question of medical treatments in Traveller since I've never played or read the game. However, I'm pretty sure the use of a "Common Tongue" in D&D was lifted directly from the Lord of the Rings, along with most of the standard races. It persists because it's a tremendously convenient handwave and because it enables the standardization of languages across campaign worlds. Since LotR was written by a Brit, that would invalidate the idea that it's Americentrism at work (though it might be Anglocentrism). Offhand, the most Americentric thing I can think of about D&D is the assumption of a laissez-faire market economy with a robust Second Amendment. PCs can run around buying the magical equivalents of antitank missiles and heavy-caliber machine guns and nobody bats an eyelash. Most real-world societies take a dim view of weapons being sold on the open market; in medieval societies it could be a crime for commoners even to own certain types of weapons and armor. To some extent, of course, this is like the Common Tongue, a handwave for ease of play. Still, even the early editions assumed that nonmagical armaments could be freely purchased. [/QUOTE]

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