Gender and sexuality diversity in RPG settings

[Anymage]

But then again, a more realistic scenario would be that the king remains in power because he has even higher level allies, or that the oppression is a systemic aspect of their culture developed over generations rather than being the fault of a few evil monarchs, or that rather than being evil the king has slowly compromised their morals to account for the harsh realities of the world.

Just be aware that if I wanted to feel depressed about the sheer inertia driving most social problems I'd just go outside. One of the main reasons to play a heroic PC type is to be able to make a significant difference through my actions. In true superhero fashion that does often involve punching one figurehead and doing a bit of speechifying, but that's because other methods of trying to solve major social problems through game mechanics range from poorly implemented to nonexistent.

Due note that I am in no way arguing against players being able to change the world, that is literally what the core of my setting is about. But at the same time, it is also about exploring the costs and the consequences of doing so and there being no such thing as a free lunch.

Skimming your work I see pages and pages of rules for combat and equipment that can be used for combat. Where do you have rules for speechifying, and for the unintended consequences and unforeseen complications that might come of your attempts to fix one problem?

What a game's rules spend more or less attention on will affect what players will see as more or less important. Heart of Darkness doesn't really show me any rules for changing hearts and minds or meaningfully changing the world, outside of the superhero version I mentioned above. Be aware that countless people have tried "we're totally about Deep Roleplaying" while cribbing someone else's rule engine. (Usually some version of D&D, but oWoD was notably based on the Shadowrun ruleset at first.) Intent matters a lot less than what the rules actually support/encourage.