In my review of GURPS Banestorm, I briefly mention one of the points that intrigues me about its gameworld: Unexplored pockets of diverse Earth cultures tucked among Yrth's dominant European-, Middle Eastern-, and Asian-descended cultures. From page 9:
...African, Chinese, German, Indian, and Slavic groups popped up across the continent. Dominant local cultures quickly absorbed most of these smaller ones, but even today travelers can find isolated villages where almost all the inhabitants have black skin, worship Krishna and Vishnu, or speak undiluted German.
This is an opportunity for the GM to create any sort of interesting micro-culture that he can envision, as long as it is well off the beaten path!
While that's pretty much all the book has to offer on the overall topic, it's plenty to set the GM mind in motion. A few non-dominant cultures do get a bit more mention (like low-tech Hindi or Mesoamerican peoples around southern Araterre and Bilit Island), yet others remain entirely up to us to flesh out (African tribes? Slavic villages?).
I like the possibilities, and think there's a great supplement concept waiting to be born: Banestorm Enclaves, books detailing outlying clusters of humanity from non-dominant cultures. (Hmm, I thought I picked up the label "enclave" from within Banestorm, but a quick search shows I must have tacked it on myself. I like it anyway!) Read more...