- 7th Sea: Every nation in Théah, the main setting, is an exaggerated version of a nation in 17th-century Europe. Avalon is England (with the Highland Marches as Scotland and Inismore as Ireland), Castille is Spain (with its own Spanish Inquisition), Montaigne is France, Eisen (which means "iron") is Germany, Vodacce is Italy, Vendel (which means "banner") is Holland, Ussura is Russia, and the Vestenmanavnjar are the Vikings. There's also the Crescent Empire, which is based off the Ottoman Empire. Cathay is an archaic name for Imperial China and the setting is an analogue thereof, with various other Asian cultures as kingdoms within Cathay's empire. Last, the Midnight Archipelago is a savage version of Polynesia.
- Castille is an example of Istanbul (Not Constantinople). It was one of the kingdoms that were united to form Spain (Aragon, Leon, and Navarra being the others).
- The second edition adds a new Théan nation, the Sarmatian Commonwealth (the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), and additional fantasy counterpart continents, each containing various nations of their own: Aztlan (Central/South America), Wabanahkik (North America), and Ifri (Africa). Word of God is that later supplements will develop the Asia-analogue along similar lines, with other nations joining the Crescent Empire in the West and Cathay in the East.
- Anima: Beyond Fantasy exaggerates each nation and to the point it would be much faster to list those that aren't represented in Gaïanote , the game's setting. Among many others, we've Solomón (an Ancient Grome with Crystal Spires and Togas and Magitek), Abel (a worldwide, at least until not much ago, and Christian version of the Roman Empire named after the local Crystal Dragon Jesus), Lannet (feudal Japan), Shivat (China during the same epoch), Albidion (Papal States), Argos (XVth century Spain during the epoch of the Catholic Monarchs complete with heavy religious fanatism and a strong bound to the former), Kushistán (Middle-East), Alberia (forest-shrouded Ireland), Togarini (a Renaissance version of Nazi Germany complete with a equivalent of the SS and the Gestapo mixed together according to Word of God — funnily enough with drow-like humans having dark skin and white/silver hair, its leader being one of them), Remo and Bellafonte (medieval/Renaissance Italy, the second with a nobility who has heavy bonds to the Church and includes religious knights), Gabriel (a mix of XVIIIth century France and Venice with lots of pimped-out dresses and luxury in general as well as court intrigues, but rampant poverty in the lower strata of the society), Dalaborn (a military version of Ruritania), Izti (Mayincatec), Daphne (a sort of isle of amazons albeit not so extreme as the equivalent of other settings), and Espheria (an Expy of XIXth century United States of America with democracy and much more freedom than in other countries.)
- Battletech's nations have much more depth to them, but they all can be looked at this way on the surface. Of the various factions:
- The Inner Sphere as a whole is medieval Europe.
- The Draconis Combine is a Shogunate and World War II Japan combo.
- The Federated Suns is British-based.
- The Capellan Confederation is a Chinese and Soviet blend.
- The Lyran Commonwealth is German-based.
- The Free Worlds League, being a multicultural federation of smaller states, loosely resembles the Austro-Hungarian Empire or India.
- ComStar wields the same power and skulduggery as the Medieval Catholic Church.
- The Clans play the role of the Mongol Horde.
- Rasalhague is Scandinavian-based.
- The Marian Hegemony was deliberately founded as an expy of the Roman Empire.
- The location and culture of Dogs in the Vineyard are similar to the Mormon-settled Deseret Territory of early Utah.
- Most Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.
- Many unofficial GM invented campaign worlds do this, because after a while GMs realize that it is a lot easier to crib off real life history for their campaign world then it is to invent everything from scratch, because most GMs are not geniuses and also have other things to do in Real Life.
- The World of Greyhawk references a number of cultures with resonance to Gary Gygax's Swiss family, Wisconsin home, and medieval wargames hobby, including "The Concatenated Cantons of Perrenland" (Switzerland), the Great Kingdom (somewhat like the Holy Roman Empire) the Kingdom of Keoland (bearing similarities to both the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England) and its former vassal the Yeomanry (an independent Wales), Thillonrian Peninsula cultures (Norse), various "Paynim" (Muslim) cultures in the west, the "Chekyik Hordes" of Tiger and Wolf Nomads (Mongols), the pseudo-monotheistic Theocracy of the Pale (State of the Teutonic Order), and the vaguely Papal state of Medegia. There are "Native Americans" (Flannae), lake-faring "Romani" (Rhennee), and the map features a couple of large, connected freshwater lakes in the middle (Wisconsin again).
- In fact, Gygax's original homebrewed Greyhawk campaign took place on a parallel Earth (centered in north-central North America, natch) because (as noted above) he simply didn't have time to create a completely new world and run nightly adventures. When the campaign was readied for publication, a new continental map (aka the Flanaess) was created and the various cultures scattered around it, but some features from the original remain –- for example, the Nyr Dyv (one of the lakes mentioned above) is a dead ringer for Lake Superior.
- Sasserine in the Savage Tides Adventure Path is an island-chain Suel colony known for sugar plantations and piracy, off the coast of the Mayincatec Amedio Jungle. It's basically The Caribbean.
- A nonhuman example are the reclusive and xenophobic Grugach or wild elves. Many aspects of their culture - down to their dress - is of celtic inspiration. Even more telling is the relationship between the Elvish dialects and Sylvan, the language of the Fey; Sylvan is implicitly modeled on Gaelic, and the Grugach are sometimes called sylvan elves.
- A map published in Dragon Annual #1, showing Oerth's other continent, included the Celestial Imperium (China, complete with wall), Erypt (Egypt), Fireland (a northern country of volcanoes, probably based on Iceland), and a society of poets, warriors and pearl fishers that was actually called Nippon (although with a suggestion this isn't the proper name, just the one the Flan use.)
- The Forgotten Realms setting features a large number of countries that are obviously based on historical ones. Amn is early modern Spain/Portugal, complete with colonies in the equivalent of Central America, and also has some elements from Middle-eastern Crusader states (such as the Kingdom of Jerusalem); Tethyr is also Iberian, but with the emphasis more on the pre-unification internectine strife; Calimshan is vaguely reminiscent of Muslim Spain, with a few Arabic influences; Mulhorand is Pharaonic Egypt; Unther is old Babylon; Chessenta is a slightly Greek collection of city-states; The Hordelands are blatantly Mongolian, complete with Take Over the World scare; and Chult is sub-Saharan Africa. Bedine people in Anauroch desert (Arabia without genies and flying carpets), Icewind Dale borrows elements from medieval Scandinavia (with some allegories of the proselytizing of the native pagans for good measure), The Moonshaes are Celtic in the south (the Ffolk) and Viking/Saxon in the north (the Northlanders), Rashemen, descendants of Rus (old "Ruthenians (Russians) were descendants of Vikings" anecdote plus grubbed-up Wikkan-friendly fragments plus Slavic folklore), Ulutiun (Inuit) tribes of Great Glacier... Sub-settings are the continent of Kara-tur, a mish-mash of Asian countries to the point that its book reads more like a travelogue/textbook on real-world Asia than a sourcebook, the Aztec-style continent Maztica, complete with straightforward historical allusions, the continent of Zakhara (home of the Al-Qadim setting) is based clearly on mythic Arabia, and the pre-Columbian North America analogue of Anchôromé, which lies to Maztica's north.
- Although one of the background concepts for the Realms, namely that it is liberally sprinkled with portals to pretty much anywhere, might explain some of that, by the fact that it is canon that anywhere includes, yes, the Earth on which the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was published. In the specific cases of Mulhorand and Unther, it is mentioned that their ancestors were ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, taken as slaves by the Imaskari, a civilization very good at the portal-making thing, and after overthrowing their oppressors, they spent the next three thousand years or so ruled by the living incarnations of their deities, which... well, saying it might have caused a bit of social stagnation is an understatement.
- Depending on which Realms writer you ask, Calimshan may also be heavy on Ottoman Turkish influence and Persia in general. It's something of a mishmash no matter how you look at it.
- According to R.A. Salvatore, he based the culture of the drow of Menzoberranzan on the Italian mafia.
- The feuding between Neverwinter and Luskan seems to be a nod to the Trojan War, as Luskan is also called "Illusk" (Troy was called "Ilion").
- The human cultures of Birthright are Fantasy Counterpart Cultures; the developers' notes admit as such. Anuire is Renaissance Italy hidden behind a constructed language and some stock Heroic Fantasy tropes, the Khinasi are Turkish Persian Arabs, the Rjurik are Vikings, Brechtur is Renaissance Germany and the Vos are Russian barbarians. Yes, Birthright was written during the Cold War (though released shortly after its end), why do you ask?
- Used to varying degrees in Ravenloft. Some are fairly clear — Barovia is Transylvania, Borca and Invidia are Italy, Dementlieu and Richemulot are France, Falkovnia is Germany, Forlorn is Scotland, Har'Akir and Sebua are Pharaonic Egypt, Pharazia is medieval Egypt, Hazlan is Turkey (by way of the Forgotten Realms' Thay), Lamordia is Switzerland, Mordent is rural 19th-century England, Nova Vaasa is Poland/Russia, Paridon is Victorian London/Paris (notice the portmanteau name), Souragne is antebellum Louisiana, Sri Raji is India, Tepest is Ireland, Valachan is the Pacific Northwest, Vorostokov is Russia, and Wild Lands are Africa. Others, like Darkon and Sithicus, operate through more fantasy filters.
- At least Sithicus is actually a domain snatched from the Dragonlance setting.
- Justified in Odiare, a domain taken from an actual parallel (Gothic) Earth's Italy.
- Pretty much every human culture in the Mystara setting is based on a Real Life country (which makes a certain amount of sense, as it's implied that Mystara is an Alternate Universe to Earth): Thyatis is Rome and/or Byzantium, Karameikos is Rumania, Glantri is a generically Renaissance-era western European nation, the Northern Reaches are Scandinavia, Heldann is the Teutonic Knights, Darokin is a mish-mash Genoese/Venetian merchant republic, the Ethengar Khanate is central Asia, Ylaruam is Arabia (and directly south of the Northern Reaches... WTF?), the Atruaghin Clans are Native Americans, the Savage Baronies are Mexico and Brazil, Cimmaron is Texas (!!), Robrenn is Ireland, Eusdria is Celtic Gaul, Bellayne is England (with cat-people), Renardy is France (with dog-people), the wallara lizardfolk are Australian Aborigines, the phanaton raccoon-people are Mesoamericans... the list goes on and on...
- Many of the city-states in Dark Sun fall under this trope: Balic (ancient Rome, complete with Patricians and Praetors), Draj (very obviously the Aztecs), Raam (either Egypt or India — there's evidence for both), Gulg (Darkest Africa), Tyr (the Phoenician city of Tyre, presumably), Urik (Sumer), and Nibenay (vaguely reminiscent of Angkor, capital of the Khmer Empire in what is now Cambodia). The halflings of the Forest Ridge seem vaguely Amazonian.
- Eberron has Galifar being a mix of Alexander the Great's empire and the Holy Roman Empire, Aerenal as ancient Egypt, the Valenar elves as kind-of Bedouin, Karrnath as Germany (with aspects of both Nazi Germany and Prussia), Thrane as any theocracy ever (primarily the Papal States), Breland as Britain (in the modern day of the setting. Breland at the beginning of the Last War was a combination of Britain and Revolutionary France), Aundair as France, Zilargo as Switzerland with KGB gnomes and a Dutch coastline, the Shadow Marches as Vietnam, and Riedra as North Korea on Steroids (although their human-supremacist bias and practice of eugenics also evoke Nazi Germany). Among Riedra's neighbors, Adar has aspects of both Tibet and Persia, and the Akiak dwarves resemble the Inuit.
- The third-party Hamunaptra setting is explicitly a magical version of Ancient Egypt, with each of the races tied to an Egyptian god (for example, the jackal-headed gnolls are connected to Anubis, while elves have ties to Isis). In particular, the dwarves have a lot of traits of the rebellious Israelites in the story of Moses.
- Planescape, the setting which focused on the old D&D cosmology, plays with this trope like a kitten with yarn. It contains an idealized "Viking" heaven, a Word of Dante version of Purgatory and Hell, Mount Olympus, the Underworld, and dozens of little pockets which resemble the real world culture which worshiped the god found in said pocket. For example, Set's realm is based on faux Ancient Egypt, but is nestled inside what can only be called Dante's Inferno. It makes sense in context.
- Invoked with Fifth Edition adventure anthology/setting Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, whose sole point was to celebrate cultures rarely seen in D&D. The titular citadel connects fifteen worlds, each representing different real-life culture and coming with a setting and adventure written by an author from said culture. Akharin Sangar is Iran, Atagua is Venezuela, Dayawlongon is the Philipines, Djaynai is a based on the Sahelo-Sudanian region of West Africa with Gnawa-inspired music and some African-American aspects, Godsbreath is African-American culture in Southern United States, N'wari is blend of the cultures of Louisiana, the Caribbean (especially Haiti) and the Gullah people, San Citlan is northern Mexico, the Sensa Empire is the Mali Empire, Shankhabhumi is the Bengal region, Siabsungkoh is Thailand, Tayyib Empire is Mughal India, Tletepec is based on the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures, Umizu is Japan, Yeonido is Korea and Yongjing is Imperial China.
- The third party setting Brancalonia takes place in a fantasy version of Italy.
- The third party setting Wagadu Chronicles takes place in a setting based on ancient Africa, the authors wanted to intentionally avoid the Medieval European Fantasy trope and raise awareness of African culture.
- Name a real life culture. It's somewhere in Exalted. In particular, the Realm appears to be what would happen if ancient Rome, modern-day America, and China had a baby. Lookshy resembles a Magitek Sparta, and the Linowan have similarities to Native Americans, while the Northwestern tribes have a Nordic feel. Then there's the ancient Aztec dinosaur people...
- The Realm's satrapy system is almost exactly the same as the one used by the Persian Empire, down to the name used. Yes, THAT Persian Empire. That's why Lookshy kicked their ass.
- Autochthonia, as a world, is Industrial Revolution Europe, with its endless mazes of factories, almost universal reliance on gruel for nutrition, and decidedly crapsack feel. In recent updates, the crapsack has been dialed down a bit, and the individual Autochthonian nations have been given more emphasis in recent times. It also owes a lot to Nineteen Eighty-Four, to the point of having a nation called Estasia.
- The usual Exalted culture design philosophy was to make cultures have babies. Features of one, aesthetics of another, or something more complicated. So yes, the Realm is Rome (legions), China (jade, rice) and Persia (satrapies.) Autochthon is, well, modelled more on Metropolis (the setting of the 1920s silent film), but it's mostly an illiterate crapsack industrial world with Mesoamerican iconography and strong states that take care of the citizens.
- Much of the South is inspired by medieval African and Middle Eastern nations (plus gunslingers). The oceanic West owes a lot to Pacific Island cultures.
- Fading Suns: The Empire is reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire, in being a loose confederation of noble houses with a close relationship to the church that emerged from a dark age. Though it's not emperors who are elected so much as regents, who nevertheless ruled in the nearly five centuries between Emperor Vladimir Alecto's assassination and Alexius Hawkwood's coronation.
- House Hawkwood are Anglo-Germanic/Scandinavian/Celtic, with an upbeat, anything-you-do-a-Hawkwood-can-do-better, noblesse oblige attitude (in short, Atreides Expy).
- Hazat are Hispanic with roots in our Latin America with appropriate machoistic, honour-obsessed culture.
- Decados are Russians with a backstabby mentality quite out of Renaissance Italy, and they like it (the House Harkonnen Expy).
- Li Halan is a mix of Chinese and Japanese with an added twist of being fervently religious after a great reformer turned them from their sorcerous and pagan ways.
- al-Malik are sophisticated Arabic/Semitic types with occasional dashes of Hindu, who are fond of philosophy and trade and speaking in Ice Cream Koans (also limousine liberal Space Jews).
- Apart from the minor houses (of whom some have a distinct cultural feel, while others are too insignificant) there are also Vuldroks (the Space Vikings), Kurgans (the Space Caliphate, another kind of Space Arabs mixed with Mongol elements), and Zuranists (a kind of Space Gypsies and Space Jews mix). Alien races are usually Space Elves and/or Noble Savages.
- Flintloque was just a fantasy version of the Revolutionary Wars with British Orcs, French Elves, Prussian Dwarfs and Russian Undead.
- Godbound has some unusual ones. Ancalia is inspired by Ethiopia. The Bright Republic is an island of high tech in a pre-industrial world, resembling the United States, that has superheroes! Nezdova is much like the Soviet Union and ruled by a cyborg called the Iron Tsar. Other nations resemble more-commonly used cultures. The Ulstang Skerries, for example, are Vikings ruled by necromancer witch-queens.
- The Bright Republic is a weird one in that it's intended to be a counterpart to the reader's home country, although given the demographics of the English-speaking RPG market and the home of its author, it tends to end up more American than anything else — it explicitly uses the same currency the gaming group does. This can be played for anything from a subtle influence (a few dishes and accents) to absurd comedy, i.e. a Canadian Bright Republic with hockey, Tim Horton's, and everyone going "eh" a lot.
- GURPS, being a Universal System, can of course support fantasy settings with Counterpart Cultures:
- The idea is in fact given somewhat lampshaded justification in the world of Yrth, the GURPS "house setting" — many cultures there resemble those of ancient and medieval Earth, but that's because they were founded by refugees from Earth, accidentally transported to Yrth by a truly humongous critical failure on a powerful spell. For example, the nation of Sahud arose from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean peasants recreating their culture from memory ... resulting in a typical RPG-Asian mishmash with shades of Monty Python.
- The Fairy Tale-inspired setting depicted in GURPS Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque is a Fantasy Counterpart of early 18th century Europe and its neighbors, with a whole collection of specific national counterparts:
- The Green Archipelago: The British Isles.
- The Solar Empire: France (in the time of Louis XIV, “The Sun King”).
- The Golden Archipelago: The European Mediterranean, especially Greece but also with aspects of Spain and Italy.
- The Woodland Dukedoms: Germany and Eastern Europe, fading into Russia, with an especially strong Fairy Tale element.
- The White Archipelago: Scandinavia.
- The Sutherlands: North Africa and the Middle East, owing more to the Arabian Nights than to the Ottoman Empire.
- The Transgogian Plains: Central Asia, with an emphasis on horse nomads.
- The wargame Hordes of the Things (released by Wargames Research Group,
better known for its historical games) points out that the inhabitants of fantasy worlds think of orcs and goblins much as medieval Europeans thought of Mongols, and for essentially the same reason. It's no coincidence that HoTT's goblin army handles similarly to DBA's Mongol army in play. Other games that play on this connection include the aforementioned Birthright, which features a goblin khanate. - Iron Kingdoms most of its races and ethnicities are Steampunk counterparts: Caspians are Americans, Thurians are Irish, Midlunders are British, Khards are Tsarist Russians, Umbreans are Romanians, Tordorans are a mix of Italy, Spain and Portugal, Kossites are Siberians, Skirov are Scandinavians, Ryn are French with Welsh names, Sulese are based of the early crusades, with the Knight Templar theme exaggerated, and Idrians are Arabs. For other races, the trollkin are Scottish, the Tharn are ancient Celts, the skorne are a blend Japanese culture, pain fetishes and Roman, Greek and Persian names, the gatormen are Cajun, and the Orgoth are infernal-worshipping Vikings from the other side of the ocean.
- In Ironclaw the major houses of Calebria (one letter removed from a region in Italy) are based on different Western European cultures. The reigning House Rinaldi is based primarily on Renaissance Italy, with some aspects of the Roman Empire in decline. The Avoirdupois seem to be French while House Doloreaux is probably based on some Germanic culture. And house Bisclavret is rather blatantly Scottish down to their kilts, while their "savage" cousins in the Phelan tribes are Irish pagans. While in the Book of Jade supplement Zhōngguó goes so far as to share the name of its real life counterpart. (The illustrations imply even more, too. For instance, bats are depicted as vaguely Hungarian or Romanian — of course — in the first edition, and generically Slavic in the second.)
- Legend of the Five Rings puts a number of rival Japanese samurai clans on a China-like map under the control of a strong Imperial house — but not strong enough that the clans aren't constantly fighting each other. One of the clans, the Unicorn, has strong Mongolian influences, while the Dragon (and to a lesser extent, the Phoenix) clan has some Chinese bits.
- A number of settings in Magic: The Gathering:
- Kamigawa is based on feudal Japan when it's first shown. 1200 in-universe years later, and it bears a striking resemblance to modern day Japan instead, complete with high technology and lively pop-culture.
- Theros is Ancient Greece with a few tweaks and a bunch of lion-men. Two of its main cities, Akros and Meletis, are respectively Sparta and Athens in everything but name: The former is ruled by a monarchy and an aristocracy of soldiers, and has the most powerful army of the world, while most of its population is composed of serfs whose work allows the warriors to spend all their time training and fighting. The latter is ruled by a more democratic government, is a cultural and trade hub, home of many philosophers, though also with a strong army and an unrivaled navvy.
- Ravnica is urban fantasy with a Slavic flavor.
- Lorwyn/Shadowmoor has roots in folklore and faerie tales from the British Isles.
- Innistrad is practically a love letter to the often Germanic-flavored Gothic horror (and its first return a similar letter to Lovecraftian cosmic horror),
- The Alaran shard Bant owes a lot to a heavily idealised knightly Europe (albeit with heavily Persian-inspired naming conventions) while Naya sports Mayincatec styling on the few cards it has not focused on big stompy things.
- The five clans of Tarkir are visually based on the Ottoman Empire (Azban), Tibet (Jeskai), Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia (Sultai), the Mongols (Mardu) and early Siberian tribes (Temur).
- Kaladesh is inspired by a steampunk, modernistic India.
- Amonkhet owes its cultural cues to Ancient Egypt (if it were ruled by Nicol Bolas).
- Ixalan's four tribal factions are based on the Aztec Triple Alliance, the Maya civilization, the Spanish conquistadors, and the Age of Piracy.
- Eldraine is explicitly High Mediaeval Britain in flavor, featuring Expies of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and the Loch Ness Monster.
- Fiora borrows from Renaissance Italy in general and more specifically Medeci-Era Florence.
- Kaldheim (specifically the human realm of Bretagard) draws heavily from medieval Scandinavia (with some more sensational elements added for flavor).
- New Capenna is based on the prohibition-era United States, with demon crime families and light Dieselpunk elements.
- Mutant Chronicles: The Megacorps are derived from different cultures, despite being corporations instead of nations. Capitol is the USA in the Vietnam War. Bauhaus is composed of various European elements, such as France, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Italy. Imperial are based off the British Empire along with Scottish highlanders. Mishima is medieval Japan with Samurai who strictly follow the Bushido code. The Brotherhood are the combination of The Knights Templar, The Teutonic Knights and The Knights Hospitallers.
- Pathfinder's default setting has quite a few of these, including apparent counterparts of the colonial U.S. and early-20th-century China. The colonial United States analogue is Andoran: a new country that has recently in the past century won its independence from Cheliax and is experimenting with democracy. Golarion also has an ancient Egyptian analogue in Osirion, a Middle Eastern counterpart named Qadira (which is an autonomous satrapy of a Persian counterpart in Kelesh), and a Roman/Byzantine-type country in Taldor. The Land of the Linnorm Kings is clearly based on saga-era Viking myth. Irrisen and Brevoy both play like medieval Russia, with Brevoy going for civil war between noble houses and Irrisen doing the fantasy side. Galt is Reign of Terror France. Ustalav is Eastern Europe through the eyes of Hammer Horror films. Touvette is a mixed dig at Western fascism and North Korea. Cheliax wants to be Renaissance Italy by way of fantasy devil worship. Vudra are meant to portray pre-Colonial India. Bachuan is another dig at North Korea. Minkai is faux-medieval Japan, and Jinin is faux-medieval elven Japan. All of the Lung Wa successor states are essentially pieces of the multicultural traditions of China. Hongal are Mongolian analogs. Tianjiang looks a lot like the public perception of pre-Communist Tibet, so Tibet via Hollywood History. Katapesh is another "pulp-Arabia" country, with Jalamey filling in for "pulp-Near East". Molthune goes for Imperial Germany. The Crown of the World features faux Inuit peoples. The Mwangi Expanse goes for a bit of a Reconstruction of the Darkest Africa trope, eliminating many of its odious connotations while portraying the Mwangi as knowledgeable, intelligent Colonial-era African analogs. The Varisian people are heavily inspired by Roma gypsies and Mediterranean Europe. Quite a few countries make up what could be called a generic mish-mash of South East Asian-themed societies. And certainly more parallels could be found.
- Loosely speaking, the four major nations in Reign are Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. Dindavara is feudal China, Uldholm is the Nordic nations, the Truils are the Germanic tribes, and the Empire is roughly Elizabethan England crossed with Imperial Rome in its decline. However, it does some very interesting things from this base framework... to the point that Uldholm in particular is only a Fantasy Counterpart Culture in the loosest sense of the term.
- The Riddle of Steel has lots of Fantasy Counterpart Cultures in its game world, including Sarmatov (Poland), Otamarluk (Turkey) and Tengoku (guess), alongside fantasy staples such as RenFaire Kingdom and Barbarian Hero Land. Consequently it's often used for Earth-based historical games, with or without the more blatant fantasy tropes.
- Played with in Traveller. The Terran Confederation is rather like a space USA. The Vilani have a vaguely Confucian feel to them. The Third Imperium very much resembles The British Empire. The Sword Worlds interestingly enough are a deliberate attempt to justify a Viking example; not only are they largely Scandinavian decent but they were influenced by a nativist ideological movement called The Viking Revival. However it is a bit of a subversion, simply because Swordies seem a more instinctively rooted people rather then a wandering people. While they occasionally go on epic space voyages they don't do it very often and prefer their plot of ground. The Aslan are compared in the books to Japanese Samurai.
- Warhammer 40,000: Just about every military fighting force in human history has some representation within the Astra Militarum. This makes the army quite popular with players of historical tactical wargames as well. The standard fan joke is that planets the Imperial Guard likes to recruit from were colonized by really dedicated historical cosplayers who forgot that it was a joke during the Age of Strife before the Imperium reunited most of humanity. A list:
- Cadian Shock Troops come from a planet posted right outside the Eye of Terror, a swirling vortex that ensures the world is constantly assaulted by daemons and insane Super Soldiers. Every Cadian can strip a lasgun down and reassemble it before they can walk, wear greenish-brownish uniforms, and their leader is a cigar-chomping, larger-than-life figure. They are a combination of (a self-aggrandizing own view of) World War II-era Britain and (visually) every Space Marine stereotype established in Aliens and Starship Troopers.
- Catachan Jungle Fighters are both sides of The Vietnam War. They also have a good bit of Space Australia.
- Valhallan Ice Warriors, who come from a frozen planet and use human-wave attacks and grinding artillery bombardments, are based on the Red Army circa World War II.
- The Vostroyan Firstborn are the Imperial Russian Army, and pass down Ancestral Weapons worth several times more than the Guardsmen holding it.
- Atillan Rough Riders are either Mongolian or Hunnic in flavour.
- The Tallarn Desert Raiders are based on Arab fighting forces throughout the 20th Century.
- Germany gets three representatives. The Armageddon Steel Legion, with their gas masks and mechanised warfare represents the German army in the starting years of World War II. The Death Korps of Krieg combine gas masks and trenchcoats with grim fatalism and penchant for siege warfare, making them the German army in World War I. And the Mordian Iron Guard, with their distinctive grey uniforms and iron discipline are the Prussian army that fought Napoleon.
- The Harakoni Warhawks, with their distinctive accents, access to high-tech gear and smug can-do attitudes, are very much American paratroopers and special forces. The Elysian Drop Troops are French paratroopers, with their distinctive FAMAS-like lasguns.
- The novel Fire Cast introduces the Arkhan Confederates, an army of intensely xenophobic, grey-clad lovers of mechanised cavalry, i.e the Confederate States of America.
- The Tanith First and Only are distinctly Scottish, being superb scouts and woodsmen with blue facial markings and bagpipes as their regimental instrument.
- The Drookian Fenguard are...ALSO Scottish, though from a completely different angle.
- The Maccabian Janissaries, highly professional soldiers who originate from an arid world which is poor in resources but rich in faith, are a combination of the janissaries employed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire and both contemporary and ancient Israel ("Maccabian" closely resembling Maccabee, of Maccabean Revolt fame).
- The Imperium itself generally is a lot like the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, but also Nazis and Soviets. And we're still supposed to be rooting for them. It's no wonder the standard joke is that the Imperium of Man consists of Catholic Nazbols fighting Cthulhu.
- Xenos races also get in on this as well. The T'au Empire is a Cyberpunk Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere with mech suits, and the Dark Eldar embody the "civilized empire filled with hedonistic degenerates" part of Ancient Greece and Rome, down to the trireme-looking ships, Gladiator Games and naming conventions for units ("Talos", "Cronos", "Hekatrix", "Incubus", "Succubus", "Haemonculus"); the raiding for captives and bloody rituals to sate the appetite of a cruel god is very Aztec however.
- Warhammer:
- The Empire is the Holy Roman Empire, except their version of Jesus is more like Charlemagne meets Conan the Barbarian. Bretonnia is medieval France, with a dash of King Arthur's England. But... wrong. Then you have Estalia and Tilea (Spain and Italy respectively), Grand Cathay as Imperial China, and the imaginatively-named Nippon as Japan respectively. Albion is Iron age Britain, down to the naked warriors and ornery druids.
- The Dwarfs are what you get from combining the Anglo-Saxon and ancient Scandinavians with industrious, salt-of-the-earth Yorkshiremen, even down to the accents. The Chaos Dwarfs are stand-ins for Babylon, Assyria and other ancient Bronze-age city-states that cruelly enslaved the peoples they conquered.
- The High Elves are like the Ancient Greeks, down to the fondness for phalanxes, chariots and fancy helmets with big feather and horsehair plumes; but there is also the argument that as a thalassocratic island nation with something resembling a constitutional monarchy, a greatly diminished intercontinental empire with only a few far-flung colonial outposts, and a powerful navy and air force that allows them to still be major players in global affairs, the High Elves are actually stand-ins for post-colonial Britain. Continuing the first comparison, the Dark Elves are very much the Spartans to the High Elves' Athenians — cruel and warlike, while their counterparts are refined and civilized, while from the second perspective, the warlike breakaway Dark Elves and their use of what are effectively floating castles, fondness for repeater crossbows, and slavery would make them an English-perspective caricature of Americans, just substitute "Supercarriers" and "automatic rifles" for Black Arks and repeater crossbows.
- The Lizardmen are the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas, particularly the Aztecs and the Mayas.
- The Tomb Kings are Ancient Egypt, if Egypt was full of undead.
- The Warriors of Chaos are Vikings. Badass heavy metal daemon-worshipping Vikings.
- The Ogre Kingdoms are like the Mongols and the Huns, but some elements of Ice age Neanderthals are present too.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FantasyCounterpartCulture/TabletopGames
FollowingFantasy Counterpart Culture / Tabletop Games
Go To
