I’m not sure that the cultural emphasis has to get in the way of “adventure stories”. It can be something which deepens them.

My Reign campaign involved the PCs being Dindavaran nobles taking over a province of the Empire which was about to be eaten by a demon as a result of a really odd deal made by its ruling baron.

They took it over for its own good, as they saw it, and then made sure they kept it, defending it from a half-hearted attempt at a take-over from its old ruler, which they intrigued and made sure was unsupported by the Empire.

A big part of the fun was that after the big initial big “supernatural evil” start, everything was human politics, nation building, and a clash of cultures (the Dindavarans and the Empire). And some fun dissonance from the question around the idea of invading somewhere for its own good (they moved a Dindavaran army in to fight the demon, and didn’t leave).