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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 8576505" data-attributes="member: 5948">I know what I'd expect to see in a new Indian-inspired setting.  Rakshasas, tigers, rajahs, war elephants, thuggee cults, hundreds or thousands of gods walking among the people of teeming golden cities from rainforests to the towering Himalayan-esque peaks - but then I remember that my knowledge of India is pretty limited and mostly coming from heavily western sources, from a single-semester Asian History undergrad course i did 25 years ago, to Temple of Doom and Monkey Magic.  I have no Indian heritage, I know almost nothing in depth about India or Indian history or Indian myth and i suspect most posters on here don't either.Which is why it IS genuinely important to have writers and designers from a culture drive a book inspired by that culture (despite the predictable complaints we're already seeing in this thread).  Not only does it mean that less-represented groups get a leg-up in the RPG design industry and the product is hopefully less likely to be offensive or clueless out of ignorance, but also I have no doubt that there's a huge amount of cool stuff that's mineable for D&D material that I, or the vast majority of non-Indian-descended people - would have no idea about.  Go deep into the culture and the myths of all the different indian regions and peoples, give me something that's completely new and unfamilar to me, not Hollywood india again.For what it's worth, Kobold Press should be coming out with their Brilliant East sourcebook for the Midgard campaign setting some time in the not too different future.  It looks to be heavily Indian-focused.  It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.Edit for clarity: I am fully aware that 'thuggee cults' are a construct of British colonial officers etc and got a blip in awareness in the 80s with Indiana Jones.  That's the point i was trying to get across.  My (and probably most non-Indian peoples') understanding of what an Indian-inspired fantasy setting would look like is heavily based on that sort of European-viewpoint or Hollywoodised set of cliches.  Which is why i think it's important that if something like this is done, it should be done by people who are from the culture, not outsiders looking in.</blockquote>

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