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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 3512460" data-attributes="member: 48692">It goes without saying, of course, that medieval/feudal Europe has been well-developed when it comes to standard D&D and its trademarks-demihumans, humanoid races, various monsters, etc. Of course, at the same time that the various European kingdoms and states were going about their business, other cultures in other parts of the world were forming their own states and countries: the Malian Empire in Africa, the Aztec Empire in South America, the Iroquois and Blackfoot Confederacies in North America, the Mongol Empire, Japan and China, etc.  This begs the question: What would a D&D world, where elves and trolls are just as much a part of reality as humanity, look like when it manifests in these other African/Mesoamerican/North American First Nations/Middle Eastern/Asian cultures?  How would you as a worldbuilder design these worlds?  Would demihumans and humanoids exist around the world, just as would humans?  How would they interact with them?  How would orcs react in their dealings with the Mayans?  How would halflings get along with the Chinese?  How would dwarves get along with the Persians or Ottoman Turks?  My own take presumes that the demihumans and humanoids DO exist all around the world, just as do the humans, because without them, I do not feel that D&D is really...well, D&D.  Some may see that as a limit of imagination or a refusal to think outside the box (which I would disagree with), but I am quite comfortable doing it.  Obviously, the presence of races like dwarves and orcs can have a considerable impact on the human cultures.  For instance, all humans would have access to metalwork and steel weapons, either forged on their own or obtained in trade with dwarves and gnomes (similar to how white fur traders would give First Nations people guns in exchange for furs, dwarves might exchange steel weapons for things like vegetables or corn.)  Alliances can also be forged: Gnomes and elves can exchange notes on technology, mathematics or astronomy with cultures that are interested in such things, as the Arabs and Chinese historically were; halflings can form alliances for mutual benefit with cultures that participated extensively in agriculture or were otherwise settled in one place for a long time, if not permanently, such as the Haida or the Iroquois in Canada.  Such cultures would obviously also have their own forms of divine and arcane magic, and classes in those settings might be based on other famous roles (shamans, samurai, etc.) as variations on the standard types we know in a European-based setting.  This would be essentially an extension of the D&D mythos and world beyond its European base, while at the same time retaining the basic D&D trademarks.  We know what Europe looks like in your typical D&D world, what about the rest of the world?  Thoughts?</blockquote>

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