This happens to me a lot, so I use my players (especially Aviv, who is very good at this) to recalibrate my speech.
The campaign Zeitgeist, which is the best campaign ever published or at least top 3, does something clever with accents. It’s a fantasy world going through an industrial revolution on the brink of a world war, so you’re already in the mindset of late 19th century (Euro-centric) global politics. It then vibes well when they tell you “we suggest that this nation uses French names (and some French cultural elements), this nation uses Russian names (with some Russian cultural elements)” etc.. It’s barely anything more than choice of names and accents, really, since almost all other cultural elements are based in fantasy, but for example it doesn’t surprise you to find canals and open-air restaurants in the Italy-inspired land.
A reminder: my a solo storytelling game Caregiver is coming soon to Kickstarter! Play as an exasperated spirit trying to aid a group of clueless heroes on an arduous journey. It’s been said that “the fights feel like a JRPG”, which is great but isn’t what I’m actually going for (playtesting is still in progress), so maybe there could exist an altered version of the game that focuses on that aspect. Perhaps a stretch goal? That’s how we got My Grandparent’s Weird Zoo out of Menagerie of the Void.
