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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9559789" data-attributes="member: 6796468">I was unaware of that use of the word corn. Though I suppose, in hindsight, I shouldn't have been, considering barley corns are a thing and refer to the individual bits of edible plant that you use for cooking. I apologize.This might shock you but I'm not looking to "Win Friends" when I discuss or mention the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism that exists in the TTRPG community. The only intention is to acknowledge that it is there, rather than pretending that it isn't.It was not an "Out of Nowhere" shot across the bow. It was a pointed reference to a specific cluster of people who were entirely happy with TONS of elements of materials from around the world and across history based on their imagined expectations of "Historical Accuracy" in a fantasy setting with magic and monsters from across time and around the world. Which actually has less to do with "Political Thoughtcrime" and more to do with revisionist expectations of historical food, weapon, and armor varieties based on pop culture. (Though the racist part makes Tacos, specifically, a no-go even though they are absolutely a medieval food of Mexico)It was also of direct relevance to the thread, because it shows where the community (or at least a vocal portion of the community) draws the line on Sandwiches: No Tacos or Sushi. Nothing "Visibly Foreign".Highlighting this, bigtime! ^DEEPLY American. Not just in all the food and monster and weapons and armor elements, right? But also the cultural structural expectations being very... let's say "Skewed".Most farmers own their own farms in D&D settings, and more resemble what an American imagines a dust bowl era farmer to look like rather than any kind of historical Serfdom. Farmers often travel "To Town" to sell their produce, rather than being part of a lord's manor who handles all the money, himself. Thanks to Jack and the Beanstalk in 1734 we imagine farmers on the brink of collapse "Selling the family cow". But that was LITERALLY OWNED by the Feudal Lord and would've been direct theft from his pockets.D&D settings often include massive societies of barons and dukes, counts and lords, princes and knights. Every knight (barring a bachelor) was a landowner with serfs directly answering to him, historically speaking. The King owned the Kingdom and gave out sections and slivers of it to various lords and ladies (and typically their families through heredity) with the population working that land under the noble.We tend to include most of that but stop at the -actual- serfdom because no matter how "Historically Accurate" people might want to imagine these fantasy worlds are, we just don't have the same cultural understandings and expectations of the feudal system. We have movies and mass media, instead, where this stuff has been rewritten, renegotiated, or simply made up based on what the writers, editors, directors, and producers think will tell the story and sell tickets/copies/whatever.That's not even getting into how important NPCs are written. From their motivations to their expectations, they're very much written from an American perspective.We do this in hundreds or even thousands of tiny ways, all but imperceptible to ourselves. But practically every D&D setting is incredibly, undeniably, American.Naaaah...Humans invented Deep Frying. And Orcs love it. It's why our life spans are so short compared to Elves and Dwarves and stuff. They'd all die of "Natural Causes" at 110 if they lived deliciously, too.</blockquote>

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