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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dungeonosophy" data-source="post: 8488892" data-attributes="member: 6688049">In the thread at the Mystara Piazza, which I linked to in the OP, I did mention that the Machievellian portrayal of Caurenze in GAZ3 (the Glantri Gazetteer) could be along the lines of something which the Sons of Italy might take offense. There are differences though.1) The "red orcs" are a parody of traditional Indigenous American culture; which is still a living ideal and archetype in present-day Indigenous culture. In contrast, Caurenze is a parody of late medieval Italy of several hundred years ago.2) The term "red orcs" is very close to a real-world racial slur. In contrast, the kobolds in GAZ10 are not referred to using a real-world ethnic slur for Italians.3) The Indigenous American nationalities are still emerging from centuries of real racial, cultural, economic, and political oppression in a way that the Italian nationality is not, which has a full-blown nation-state on the map of the world.4) The Italian cultural elements in the portrayal of the kobolds are relatively slender and few. They are quantifiably less than the American Indian motifs in the "red orcs" passages. For example, in the "Naming Your Character" section, whereas the "red orcs" explicitly feature American Indian-style names, and the "yellow orcs" explicitly feature East Asian names, the kobolds (along with three other humanoid tribes) are grouped under generic "Common Humanoid Names: These are the most gutteral and common names used among the humanoid tribes. Anything that sounds crude will do." They're not given Italian names. The only reference to Italy that I see is that is the title of Kol: "High Doge Kol." "Doge" was the title of head of state within Italian city-states during the medieval and renaissance periods. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge" target="_blank">Doge - Wikipedia</a>However, Kol's birth name is "Constantine Diocletius" which is an ancient Byzantine-Roman name, not Italian language. Citizens of Kol are said to "love mimicking the Empire of Thyatis, although they do not really understand the difference between a republic and an imperial autocracy." In various sources, Thyatis is explicitly said to be based on ancient Rome and medieval Byzantium. Though I don't deny the cultural connections between ancient Rome and present-day Italians, fictional portrayals of Rome are simply not as delicate a matter as the portrayal of Indigenous American cultures. Again, GAZ10 contains no no ethic slurs for Romans or Greeks or Italians, whereas it does contain "red orc" which based on a real-world racial slur.Just to be thorough, there are also Roman motifs within Orcus Rex, Turkish and Arab motifs within South Gnollistan, Norse (and U.S. New Yorker!) motifs within Trollhatten, South Asian motifs within Ogremoor, and Nahuatl/Mēxihcah motifs within Oenkmar. The gist of my post is not that all adaptations of real-world-based cultural motifs into a D&D / fantasy context are inherently offensive, but rather, the "yellow orcs" and "red orcs" are especially so, given their similarity to real-world racial slurs. And the pseudo-Indigenous American portrayal is also especially sensitive due to the ongoing cultural subordination of the Indigenous American nations and peoples. I did not delve into the Mesoamerican motifs of Oenkmar, as it appears to be less buffoonish than the portrayal of "Red Orcland", and also because I am less familiar with the indigenous cultures of Mexico.It's true that the battle site is within Apsáalooke Issawua, the Traditional Territory of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation. Nevertheless, the site is significant (sacred) for all the nations involved. It's not a joke.</blockquote>

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