Why are middle-eastern settings so rare?
>>46773221
I don't have an answer to your question, but that's a good first pic. It's funny Are Middle-Eastern settings rare? I've played in a few
>>46773221
There aren't too many middle-easterners writing for RPGs. They're either from the UK or North America, and they don't have much, if any, experience with those sorts of cultures, mythology, tropes, etc. They write what they know.
>>46773221
Just with D&D you have
>Forgotten Realms had no less than 3: Anauroch, Al Qadim, the Mulhorand-Thay-Rashemen region
>Most elements of Darksun are a mix of that and mesoamerica
- One of the old historical sourcebooks was the crusades
- Birthright had Khinasi
A large portion of the West is naturally against the middle Easter culture, as the western meta-culture used to be very "DEUS VULT" towards the middle eastern one.
And usually are western countries that make games.
>>46773274
>using a cultural current that has been dead for centuries
I don't really care about slavs, since they're not really western either. Comparatively there was a massive orientalist cultural current just in the last 200 years.
The mediterranean was always a trade highway, and the countries that weren't Habsburg cucks or Russia usually had relations with Turkey.
>>46773265
>They write what they know.
This.
My guess is the reason why you don't see many non-western european settings is that people don't speak the languages and all the history,myths, classics aren't translated or well known.
Pre-Islamic Persia had a huge wine and poetry culture for example, but who the fuck is going to dig around for translated stuff to pull out the gameable parts?
Same with India, SEA, Central Asia, Subsaharan Africa, Pre-colombian South America etc. etc.
>>46773221
Several reasons that have already been mentioned. I also think middle-eastern culture has created a substantial rift between itself and westerners. Whether sub-consciously or intentional, civilized people are steering clear of it and its associated negativity.
>>46773336
It actually lasted well into islamic persia. Umar Khayyam wasn't some zoroastrian holdout. The whole "no wine ever" thing is pretty much a modern thing that people only ever paid lip service to at best until the 20th century.
>>46773265
>from the UK
>no experience of middle easterners
Somehow I doubt it.
>>46773376
>h-hey guys, pancakes!
>>46773221
Play more spanish games.
>>46773376
Please read again. Knowing people from a certain place and knowing the place's culture, stories, and religion are two very separate things.
>>46773221
Because game developers don't want to get suicide bombed like France did.
Because the vast majority of people would not have gone the the middle east even when a war had not developed.
Now fraction that down to role players, who then fraction into people who would bother to publish their setting.
>>46773446
Spain , along with portugal and Iceland is the westernmost part of europe dude. Tough there are some good games than have middle eastern inspired settings like La Puerta de Ishtar.
>>46773376
/pol/kek
>>46773564
And Morocco is the westernmost part of North Africa, which doesn't change the fact that the histories and modern myths of these countries are tightly tied with middle eastern history.
>>46773221
>Middle Eastern settings
>Rare
Anon, literally what? The first and probably last every single fucking standard generic medieval fantasy will have as a dash of exotism will be some version of Middle East
And that's just the tip of an iceberg.
>>46773564
Spain also got cucked by muslims so hard that there still are very clear arabic influences in spanish
>>46773221
There are tons of fantasy settings that have a middle eastern atmosphere. Pretty much anytime they want a 'foreign' atmosphere city, writers throw in some sultans and bazaars.
OP, you're point is wrong.
>>46773596
Even things people don't think of as exotic, like ghouls and rocs, are from middle eastern folklore
>>46773612
And the muslism were kicked out and cucked in return, apart of some words, some festivities and monuments there isn't a lot of muslim influence (unless some GHettos in Barcelona and other big cities that's it),the muslims of Spain were mainly local converts like in every part of the world than Islam got his hold, and the genetic mark of North African elements from the Moors barely shows in any part of the paeninsula because the Limpieza de sangre and kicking out the Moriscos and Jews than didn't convert.
>>46773737
I was talking about the language, a lot of common spanish words and phrases have arabic origins. "Ojalá" is pretty much a misheard arabic expression which means "if god wills it", for instance.
>>46773564I'm spanish, was joking about al·andalus, also all spanish games always have not!muslims
>>46773809
Castilian you mean, than is the Spanish language with more Arab words (the Andalusian dialect for sure), Galician, Basque or Catalan have a lot less arabic words in them mainly because they intereacted less with the moors (the Catalans/Aragonese were more mediterranean and French oriented than the more landlocked Castilla) and even then Spanish castilian isn't as cucked as English for example, than is the rapebaby of Latin, lots of different german/Norse dialects, french and loanwords from all the world...
>>46773221
1: They're not, you just think that because there aren't many splatbooks for your rpg of choice with turbans in them.
2: because at the end of the day, role-playing games need settings that enable the kind of adventure and action that people enjoy, and sticking to familiar tropes makes it easier for players to "get" the setting and act in a way that makes sense.
New and exotic things sound great in theory, but as soon as you make people leave the familiar zone you realize that you're either just sticking to super cliché stuff anyway (omg a thousand and one nights, how novel) or you're wasting tons of valuable time having to explain the setting over and over to people.
>>46773941
>trying to discuss non-anglo/german story on /tg/
anon you're only hurting yourself, this is /tg/, here people idolized fucking VIKINGS.
>>46773915Pretender ser retardado en la interne, en 4chan de todos los sitios, y mucho menos sin una imagen para denotar el sarcasmo, es bastante toca-pelotas, como se yo que no eras un giri ignorante.
>>46773698
Wait... what?
There are people who don't know rocs are from Middle East?
>>46773994Por que si fueras español sabrias que es un meme nuestro decir que somos moros.
Que no saberlo es mas feo que el fari comiendo limones coño.
>>46773221
Besides Magi? or H-B's Shazam?
>>46773376
Oh you silly nazi!
>>46773314
Hapsburg Cucks sounds like a baseball team.
>>46774028
Yeah, seeing as they've become adopted into standard fantasy, and most burgers don't know much about middle eastern mythology aside from genies.
>>46773221
hard to make a setting about something you don't know well
most people who are into RP have at least a solid foundation of western history, the rest of the world is a loosely defined curio cabinet. they go with what they know
also RP inherits from the rich western tradition of fantasy literature which is likely at least partially known by players; not like the rest of the world does not have fantasy literature, just that they don't RP as hard
Because despite how much propaganda keeps being shoved down our throats, in truth, no one still likes mudslimes.
>>46773221
What's the more important aspect of a "middle-eastern" setting to you OP?
>Takes place in a desert with desert animals (camels, scorpions, etc.)
>Has people with olive skin
>Has cultural stuff associated with the middle east (hookah, hajibs, oub music, etc.)
>Has a not-Islam religion
Or some combination of those?
9/11 killed arabian nights
>>46774997
>bestiality
There's enough of it on TV.
>>46773221
you should probably phrase that "why are non-european, non-japanese settings so rare?"
the middle-east probably does relatively well. feel sorry for india and sub-saharan africa.
>>46774997
Not OP, but in order I think it would be
Cultural aspects
Geography (not necessarily pure deserts, but definitely fairly arid)
Olive skin
not-Islam
I could go for a good Arabian Nights setting, but frankly if I really wanted one I don't think it'd be that hard to find. No harder than Not!AncientEgypt, Mythic Norse, or punk rarer than cyber (Bio, for instance, even steam is surprisingly rare to actually do something with versus how much people go for the aesthetic.). It's all on the second tier behind Space Opera, Medieval Fantasy, Three Kingdoms/Sengoku Fantasy, and Cyberpunk. And even the far east stuff is less common than the big three.
What's really a shame that we're missing out on is good Mythic/Vedic India in RPGs. I feel like that's a tier below most of the others in how common it is.
>>46775356
And feel more sorry for South East asia or South/Meso american settings.
>>46773336
>SEA
For Flipfags, you can just ask them about all their children's books and mythology-related comics. There's a huge glut of the material written in English.
>>46773221
>Amin Yashed
>I'm In Your Shed
Ahahaahaha!!! That's great.
>>46774056
Yeah, but, remember that Esp culture != Spanish speaking culture when it comes to the web. There are a lot of Latinos/bilingue/halfie-kids who speak both and don't get most of those jokes.
I'm working on a game right now and I've tried very hard to make my "generic desert civilization" as ungeneric and different as possible without making it too gimmicky.
Thematically it's got the generic Middle-Eastern look, but the culture is based on a strict caste system with a heavy emphasis on putting the needs of the many before the few. The government is fusion of monarchy, democracy, and communism. Rulers are voted into power by their peers in the ruling caste and have pretty much unlimited power to control everything. The small, powerful central government is seen as the most efficient way to control and distribute the limited resources available. To cut down on corruption, after someones term is up, they are demoted to the lowest caste, or they can choose to serve slightly longer and then go into exile.
>>46775975
>M-muh sudacas
Hahaha
>>46776088
If you didn't already, read about the Garamatas and they slave fueled farms in the middle of the Sahara.
>>46773221
It's awkward to RP about the Middle East's medieval ages when they're still stuck there culturally.
>>46776322
9/11
Well done
>>46773221
That's not a real picture
That dude also looks Sikh, not Arab
>>46776269
Interesting. My idea had been that while the lowest caste was worked hard and had next to no rights, they would not have been slaves. In fact, they would have had a pretty decent standard of living, with the government subsidizing most of their needs since they were such an important part of keeping the nation running.
>>46776338
Most people don't know the difference, even though it could save their lives.
>>46776435
That sounds like slaves really,only than owned be the state.
>>46776519
Eh, maybe. The idea was that while they worked like slaves, they were not treated like slaves. Just becasue they had no rights, did not mean members of other castes could do whatever they wanted to them, laws would be universal, not only applying to specific people.
If you want to be a murder hobo in a middle eastern setting you don't have to pretend. you can just go.
>>46773221
There are tons of RPGs in the middle east.
>>46776639
I'm pretty sure that's called 'serfdom'...
>>46776725
Too few djinn.
>>46774194
How is he a nazi? There are plenty of middle eastern imigrants there right now.
>>46775849
>tfw no hijra trap waifu
>>46773265
>There aren't too many middle-easterners writing for RPGs
There is also that teensy totsy issue that propagating any sort of folkflore from before Islam's conquest can end up getting you jailed in some middle eastern countries and make you a complete pariah from your community in civilized ones.
Doesn't leave us a lot of material for fantastical tales.
>>46778592
That's worse than medieval europe, how the fuck this people clings to this fucktard religion outside they countries is beyond me.
>>46773221
Because any depictions of allah result in a lot of angry religious barbarians?
>>46773221
To portray it accurately would be racist.
>>46778884
dats racis
>>46773221
Because writing an interesting fantasy setting that pollutes pure middle eastern culture with evil heretical "magical" ideas would be grounds for beheading and no one would want to play it anyway because "You steal the gold from the evil genie and run through some SAND" gets old after the first few thousand times and then you'll want to get to killing infidels out of boredom and then racism.
