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So /tg/ I've been working on an African inspired setting and I've got some stuff sorted out.
Right now I've got the continent split between fiver rather broad regions. The desolate east, the mineral rich west, the veldt of the south and the deserts of the north, with the jungle lakes in the centre. Broadly, very broadly, affirming to semi-realistic African geography.
The veldt is home to the Grassland Confederacy, which is dominated by the warrior battalions of the Kutung. The Kutung are a fierce warrior people who live in a gender segregated societies. All young men serve in warrior battalions from ages twelve to twenty five, when they are moved into a veteran battalion and are allowed to take a wife.
No Kutung is permitted to 'toil like a beast'. This is where their slave tribe, the Gulum, come in. The Gulum aren't an ethnic tribe as such, but are an organization of land working serfs made up of captured and indigenous slaves. They have a bit of a representation within the Kutung society, and aren't completely without power as Gulum serfs also fill the role of educators and high placed servants in noble families. Gulum are often directly under the supervision of another Gulum who is favoured by the Kutung family that owns them. The same word for favoured servant 'haki' is also the same word for a favoured hunting dog.
The Lords of the Kutung form a warrior council. This is usually made up by the best and oldest warriors, and from among their number they elect a warlord, who is bequeathed with the pelt of a black lion to mark him as ruler. He serves until he is either killed or crippled.
Kutung too old or crippled to serve in a battalion are retired into the Maho, the masters of the young. Their job is to train the next generation of young warriors in the gated communities all boys are forced into from about age five.
(cont)
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>>33015207
The Kutung oversee the protection of the Grasslands, which encompasses city states and nomadic tribes. When they feel their (usually unspoken) overlordship is questioned, they do not hesitate to bring their might down upon this person, be they individual or community. The Kutung have a reputation as fierce warriors. It is bad luck to surrender to a Kutung, as thy see this as cowardice and you will be brutally castrated and forced into a 'woman's role' for the battalion.
They however have no stigma about fleeing in the face of impossible odds, as tactical retreats are one of their prime military doctrines.
They are nearly purely infantry. They only use beasts to cart supplies and even then would rather carry their supplies alone rather than risk a ponderous baggage train. So despite being a pure infantry force they maintain a fast, punishing pace and can cover ground with an extreme rapidity.
Within the Grasslands there is another powerful force. The Nimini, the blacksmithing people of sorcerous power. They make the weapons the Kutung use, and the greatest among them is often called upon by visiting dignitaries to craft items of power for the rulers of foreign states. They fork out a kingdoms annual wealth just to grasp a single weapon forged by the master of the Nimini's hands.
They alone do not fear attack from the Kutung, and are the only people who travel the Grasslands unimpeded. When they travel they do so in pairs, master and apprentice. No one knows the full number of Nimini in existance. Their home is a barren stone city overlooking the ocean, carved into a mountain that bears no life. They live off tribute brought to them by the other people of the Grassland. For without them the secrets of steel and fire would be lost forever.
This is the Grasslands as is. There is room for improvement.
I'll talk about the rich West next.
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>>33015346
The West is ruled by a dynasty called the Armossa, who have held the title Musa, a title equivalent to Emperor. The West is also called the Flower Kingdoms due to its pageantry and wealth. Gold is drawn from its rivers and hills in fists, and is sold to lands local and mysteriously foreign.
The Flower Kingdoms have a chivalric order of armoured lancers that form the bulk of its military. Armoured in heavy quilted vests, armed with steel shod lances, they are the land owners and restless sons of the nobility.
The current king, Armo Armossa, is not a warlike man. He wastes his days in his harem, with women from all over the land and beyond. He spends more money on building ships to traverse the coast and discover what mystic lands might lie beyond the north, south, and west. In short he is a useless dreamer who has spent more in a year than both his predecessors combined.
None the less between his extravagant tournaments and generous payments, he has overseen an explosion of literary and other advances. Even if in the process he has alienated the conservative religious figures of his kingdoms.
The Flower Kingdoms was originally twelve separate realms until the Armossa, with the help of northern and jungle mercenaries, brought it all under their sole control. The old kings were allowed to keep their titles, but were relegated to being merely hereditary advisers to the Musa with all their land and real power stripped from them.
The Musa is protected by a female regiment of warriors, recruited from all the noble and good standing families of the realm. They are his virgin brides and best warriors. A disciplined force of warriors, they act as security for the palace and personal agents for the Musa. They are called the Musa-Mai, the Musa's brides.
The main religion is the worship of the River Gods, who gift the land with good food, travel and most importantly gold. The great delta formed by the river is a sacred place.
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>>33015541
The capital of the Flower Kingdoms and the palace of the Musa are built on this delta.
Another sacred site is far up river, in the lands of the jungle people, the birth place of the river and home of the River Gods. When the Musa's favoured wife is pregnant she is sent to a palace built high in the mountains that faces towards the unreachable birthplace of the river, and when she gives birth facing it the gods are said to be pleased and bless the child. This child, if it survives, almost inevitably ends up becoming the next Musa.
That's what I have for the west so far. The plan is for each of the original kingdoms to have a very distinct cultural identity but I still have to work those out.
Next is the East.
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>>33015583
The East is a very harsh, inhospitable place. The people there have a reputation for humourlessness, and live half in ancient ruins. Once upon a time it had been a great country, but a terrible calamity came upon it and killed the local gods and spirits. There is little left in the way of civilization outside the ancient monoliths that stand erected across its landscape. The people now live in clannish communities, fighting for the few meagre resources that remain to them. Man and women both must fight for the survial of their clans, armed with bows and long sickle shaped swords.
In the deep depths of the haunted ruins other powers play. Babes born with pure white skin, pure white hair, and bloody red eyes are left in these places to be taken in by these strange powers. These children emerge years later swathed in the clothes of long dead emperors, wielding awful power, and if they are powerful enough, for a time banding together the disparate clans and leading them on an unholy pilgrimage into the fat green lands that surround them, to feast on softer people. They command monstrous creatures, ogres formed from the misshapen clay of man and beast, and ride dead steeds.
There is an order of mystics, also born in this land, that work to stop these albino witch-kings. Students of the old civilization, they were the clever youths that deciphered ancient clues that led them into the heart of a mountain called 'the mouth of god' and there learned the mystic craft.
They are called the Witch-Doctors, and they make it their mission to destroy the Witch-Kings whatever form they take.
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Moar, OP. This sounds cool and I want to play in this setting.
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>>33015657
The East has no formal name. It is called 'The Land of Ghosts and Shadows'. In the time before the calamity that killed its spirits it was called 'Karkoom'. The idea of a ressurgent Karkoom, and the wizard-priests that rule it, is often used to draw the barbarian tribes together under the banner of a Wtch-King. Only the Ghoul, a particularly terrible beast, has managed to keep a kingdom together longer than a single generation, and that is due to her unnaturally long life. She has plagued the East for nearly a century and a half, killed scores of witch-doctors and defeated foreign legions sent to over throw her, but still her power grows, slowly but steadily.
It is said she has ties to beings beyond the ocean, and strangers have been seen in her ruin-court. Men all clad in steel from head to foot, men in ornate ropes with spiked hats, men with pale skin but black eyes, or green or blue. She has by her side a red haired giant who speaks no known tongue, and carries a strange long axe that can kill anything with a single blow.
Young people in the East often flee their landscape to find a better way of life, or serve as hardened fighters in foreign courts. They are a naturally adventorous sort, perhaps because of the few prospects they have back in their home land. Some of the greatest warriors and heroes originally called the Land of Ghosts and Shadows their home, and most returned to die there, killed in battle with some monstrosity.
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>>33015719
The North is an unspeakably large desert. No one knows where it ends, some say there is no crossing it. That doesn't stop the young and foolish from trying.
The Desert is home to many nomadic groups but the most famous are the Burfa. The Burfa are a gregarious people by nature, who always greet strangers with a happy cry, but they are not fools and know the secrets of the desert well. Though not all are warriors, many traders are found among the Burfa, they do have a strong warrior tradition. The camel-riding swordsmen of the Burfa are considered a fearsome foe. As they are naturally hospitable people, when taken advantage of or deceived they have a great, uncompromising wrath. Those who commit taboo are to be killed, even at the great loss of life from the Burfa themselves.
The Burfa are a matriarchal people. Camp life is run by the dictates of their women, and the women take multiple husbands. The Burfa have an excess of men, and they consider themselves particularly foolish, believing a man without a wife is a man without sense.
This has some truth to it, in that the Burfa are occasionally overcome with a sense of foolishness. They love their jokes and their jappery, and are easily drawn into over the top competitions. More than one young man has died because he has been dared to wrestle a desert tiger with his bare hands, and few Burfa men would refuse such a dare.
The other main group is the Cin-twa. The Cin-twa are the palest people of the continent, their skin is only a light brown, and they have slanted eyes. They favour the bow before all else and have a reputation for banditry, but also as mercenaries.
It is said their original homeland was far from here, beyond the great desert. A land of wizards and marble palaces, of lobster men with steel skin and sword-poets with wind chariots. Most find this unlikely, but few call them liars to their face. Either way they had come to this land so long past few can be sure.
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>>33015827
The Jungle centre is home to alien creatures and a few Bush tribes who hire their axes out as mercenaries.
That's all I've got off it so far on the Jungle, and that's all I've got for the (as yet unnamed) setting.
Thoughts?
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So many typos, jeez. That's what I get for being on my phone.
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I never like it when a world is based only on a single region or is wholly composed of just that place, so I borrowed elements from other cultures for some of the cultures of this Not-Africa while making dumb, ham-fisted allusions to other continents.
Pegaso models are pretty cool.
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Breddy gud. I'd play it.
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Please critique and help me flesh it out more. I'm quite desperate.
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>>33016161
I think you're fine as it is. Stat up some example characters and put a few plotlines together.
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I'd play the fuck out of this.
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>>33016180
This
Run some adventures in it and cultivate the setting naturally through use.
I find this is the most intuitive and holistic way to develop settings
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>>33016246
>>33016180
Hmm, I suppose you're right.
Now I have to think of a system and try to rope a group into playing.
Any opinions in regards to system? I personally don't care for D20, and was originally thinking of making it a Song of Swords/Riddle of Steel setting, but that comes with its own problems.
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>>33015207
>veldt
>comes from the Afrikaans word veld
>no Fantasy-Afrikaans in the veld.
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>>33016723
Voortrekkers are interesting, but I didn't want too many non-African additions.
I just really like the word veldt too.
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>>33016744
>Afrikaans
>non-African
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>>33016885
Take your butthurt somewhere else, colonizer
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>>33016885
>implying bastardized dutch is african
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>>33016311
What kind of feeling and campaign do you want? Heroic? Realistic? Inbetween? Lots of fighting and adventuring, political games with intrigue?
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Are the PCs outsiders or natives. It could be cool if you drip fed them the information
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>>33017176
>?
This, I would love to learn more about the nobility, grass houses and all that.
that said, Another vote for some white people in your africa. Have them be from a previously prosperous civilization that abandoned them there and they now have to fend for themselves. (for extra lolz make their bodies magical components of great virtue).
Don't make them white stronk, just paranoid as fuck as black hating.
as for the other nations, putting some different sizes (you know like pygmies or giants or something) would be cool. I mean africa actually has a basis for some of that shit so it makes sense to put it in. Pygmys in the jungle maybe make your grasslands infantry, freakishly tall (increased stride = increased speed).
That said, the whole infantry only thing is kinda asking to be raped, unless they are actually more of an ambush specialist.
>>I like that mountain magic ax making ninni niggers or something, more magical cities (maybe a forest one that walks arround on walking trees, or is all under one single huge baynan tree or something) would be some magical shit.
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>>33017131
>COLONizer
>butthurt
nice one.
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>>33017161
>Implying the Afrikaners are bastardized Dutch.
>not mix of French, Flemish and Dutch Huguenots and later massive influx of German Protestants
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>>33017382
>Dutch Huguenots
Exactly.
And the language itself is bastardized dutch, which is the important bit.
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>>33017398
But the culture isn't.
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>>33017420
But we were arguing about language.
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>>33017420
Yeah, that's more akin to liquid turds learning how to socialise
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>>33015207
If you are the OP from the last thread, thank you.
There was so much info to be gleaned it was unreal.
And thanks to the janitor who cracked down hard on the inevitable /pol/ bullshit. Need more like you.
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Not OP, but anybody want me to elaborate on my bare-bones not!African setting anyway?
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>>33017537
Yes.
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>>33016885
The original voortrekkers were not really African. Afrikaans kind of count as African, but not the original settlers.
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>>33017176
>Inbetween? Lots of fighting and adventuring, political games with intrigue?
Think Conan the Barbarian. So low fantasy heroic, I guess?
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>>33017241
>Are the PCs outsiders or natives. It could be cool if you drip fed them the information
I guess it would be up to the players, but I'd be open to either, though with a preference for native.
>>33017316
I'm not too keen on adding any kind of white culture. White people aren't really known about. These people think, for a start, that white folks would probably be related to the evil albino witches.
They're pretty isolated from the rest of the 'world' I suppose you could say. What the rest of the world is yet I'm not sure and not really too concerned about.
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>>33017509
Hey, that's no way to talk about niggers.
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>>33017580
Original settlers were Dutch. A few hundred years passed before the Voortrekkers set out inwards. They were Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a culture that evolved in Africa.
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>>33017605
>I'm not too keen on adding any kind of white culture
Good. Best to avoid it. As the anon above demonstrates, most people can't abide by not seeing oppressive monstrous white stereotypes. It's basically a given in any "African" setting. There has to be evil white people.
I'd like to see more of the setting itself.
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>>33017639
Eh, they were interesting in the sense they were pretty much Dutch cowboys, but outside the specific colonial period I just don't think they fit.
>>33017316
>That said, the whole infantry only thing is kinda asking to be raped, unless they are actually more of an ambush specialist.
You are grossly underestimating infantry. The only time infantry gets wholesale slaughtered is when up against mounted archers, otherwise there is a good reason infantry made up the bulk of an army.
They're pretty much Zulus by the way, so they use similar tactics, including some ambush tactics but mostly their success is for the same reason the Mongols were successful, precise co-ordination over long stretches of territory and an entire culture motivated and driven by warfare from top to bottom.
The Zulu society is very interesting, and with only a few minor alterations I ripped it off wholesale.
Sorry if I'm a bit scrambled right now, I'm very tired.
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>>33017640
>Good. Best to avoid it. As the anon above demonstrates, most people can't abide by not seeing oppressive monstrous white stereotypes. It's basically a given in any "African" setting. There has to be evil white people.
To touch on this a little bit, one of the possible hooks would be you are an outsider ship wrecked off the coast of one of the kingdoms, and you'd get to play an African fantasy version of Shogun. That's the only way I'd let someone play as a non-native.
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>>33017639
>Afrikaans is a culture that evolved in Africa.
It's a culture made by whitey in Africa though, so it don't count as African.
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>>33017665
Sounds strangely similar to the Spartans, but I guess the model works elsewhere too.
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I'd just like to say that I'm really bad at incorporating proper fantasy stuff. Which is to say fantasy of the DnD variety. Really, really bad. I never factor in non-human PC races because I just don't find them all that appealing, I'm pretty skimpy on magic because I'm just not a big fan of it as it is usually presented.
I like magic the way Tolkien did it, with it being a touch more subtle than you'd find in most DnD campaigns. Where the 'wizard' better know how to use a sword too or he won't last long, and can't find a spell for any problem. Or the way Robert E. Howard did it, by making it something vile and perverse that no right thinking individual would dare court.
So yeah, I hope that also makes sense.
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>>33017756
Yeah, that's one of those non-African additions I mentioned up thread. Good eye. I gave them a Helot inspired equivalent in the Gulum, as well as the idea of them being a meritocracy, but they are otherwise very Zulu. The Spartans and the Zulu have a bit in common in regards to how they raised their sons from birth to serve very specific military functions, though they are very different in specifics.
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>>33017546
It's pretty rough tho (sorry for my wonky English):
The Southern peninsula had once been inhabited by the people now known as the Red Women tribes, who built sturdy huts of clay, herded cattle and (as the name suggests) painted the skin of their women with a mixture of red earth and butter, which shielded their skin from the sun. Their men would travel with the herds to protect them from rival tribes; he who managed to steal a cow would be awarded with the blessing of the tribe's "ihen", the lingering spirits of long-gone heroes or leaders. Likewise, to have a cow stolen from you would put you at odds with these spirits, which could be remedied in two ways: the man would either have to steal back his property or kill the thief in battle. They tamed wild hyenas to serve as guard "dogs" and for tribal warfare; if a war did break out (apart from the usual stealing of cattle and stealing it back and so on), it was not what we would consider a "war": bands of about a dozen men with hyenas aided by the chants of their women would face off against each other and more often than not, one side simply backed down and surrendered before any blood could be shed.
Since the ones who were believed to be most connected to the spiritual world were the women, it was their duty to take care of the wooden idols that held their essence. To damage or destroy one was to kill the "ihen" a second time, cursing you and your lineage until the end of time -or until a sacrifice was made to revive the spirit. To say these people, who were clad in mere animal hides, were peaceful and merry would be a lie; but compared to who came to conquer them, they were almost pacifists.
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>>33017792
(cont.)
When the Punini (a name is said to mean "the brass forgers", but actually derives from "awful people" in the language of the Red Women tribes) came, they did not stop to negotiate: while the local tribes had small warbands, the Punini army is estimated to have had about 10 000 armed men at its disposal, clad in bronze armour and wielding spears that didn't break, one-handed curved swords that they drew quicker than the bat of an eye, great longbows and a far more dangerous weapon than any of those mentioned before: shells of pottery filled with a strange powder that would explode and tear a man to pieces. Swiftly, they conquered the peninsula, setting the stage for their modern day empire.
A good 600 years after their conquest, the Punini remain a militarised society under a god-emperor by the title of "Ogiso", who resides in a a palace temple on top of Twin River Hill. He is revered as the reborn sun and formally owns all of the empires lands, rivers, crops, ores and slaves, which are lent to his underlings with the possibility of him just taking them back without compensation being a very real concern. The slaves working the fields and harvesting rice, beans, yams, etc. are either from conquered peoples, indentured farmers or criminals who serve as a punishment. The labyrinthous cities built along the shore are goverened by the emperor's most trusted nobles, the "Edaiken". Each of them is unto his subjects as the emperor is unto the whole state. Upon the death of an Ogiso there is a vote on who should replace him, rather than him simply being succeeded by his oldest son. The dukes, the "Edaiken", of the empire's cities gather at the Court on the Hill to mourn the Ogiso. If one of them wishes to join his master in death, he is expected to throw himself into the open grave before the body of the Ogiso is lowered into it. To do so afterwards would be shameful, as this is what the servants and slaves are meant to do.
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>>33017763
Don't think that's a bad thing. D&D has kinda ruined fantasy in making everyone think there HAS to be elves and dwarves so they end up completely cookie-cutter.
You could have mysterious pygmy tribes and whatever if you're not worried about coming off as too racist. (given you're setting a campaign in a fleshed out Africa I think you have some leeway)
And if people are annoying you about incorporating more modern African elements, make it a laugh by adding the Prawns.
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>>33017615
You do realize the group in question is dutch, right?
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>>33017802
Punini society operates on three core principles:
First: A free man must work three days and then rest for one; a slave or a woman must work four days and rest for none. A free man must fight and die in honour; a slave or a woman may only die in honour if they follow their master or husband in death - else they die in shame. A free man yields only to the lord of his land and to the constables of his army; a slave or a woman yield to both of them and to the free man.
Second: To serve in the empire's army is mandatory for every free man's sons; they may be called upon to fight for their liege at any point in their lives even after this service of three years is over. They are expected to keep a sword and a gun in their homes and use them to discipline and punish unruly slaves or women as the Law sees fit.
Third: Only the Ogiso, who is birthed by the Moon in the Rite of Ascension, knows the way of the gods and the roaming spirits; he is his own highest ranking priest and has the last say in all spiritual matters. Every religious ceremony in his domain has to be approved or visited by him.
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>>33017896
>>33017802
> Punini
You might want to change that.
Punini has a slang meaning just so you know.
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>>33017803
Hell, the Prawns might actually work something like that alien race in Everworld; a small number of scattered, disorganised and utterly alien outsiders who arrived by some mysterious magical accident and aren't exactly happy about being stuck here, with a handful of super-advanced artifacts of technology/magic both but mostly stuck with what amounts to a tribal lifestyle with no infrastructure, feared and marginalised by most locals but willing to trade their unique weapons and equipment for either practical things like food and furs (in large enough quantities) or seemingly useless but rare and hard to find resources like certain rocks.
Also, intelligent gorillas if you want to get hilarious.
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>>33017896
They were the first to discover iron and learn to use it, developing steel from it soon afterwards. Their bronze swords became blades of almost instant death, folded over a thousand times (so it is said) to make them unbreakable; their little pots of powder became awe-inspiring cannons that could rip a man in half and still hit the one behind him; and with the help of the famed engineers of the Lagoon cities beyond the sea, they created their most dangerous weapon yet: the gun, a hand-held cannon that could put a bullet of poisonous lead into a man's heart so fast that he would die from the impact alone, before the poison could take its toll on him. The bronze they kept for purposes less violent: to cast figurines and wall-plates which told stories of the spirit world from it. Currently, after the second war against the Lagoon cities and their involvement in the war against the intrusive Idan people, who came from over the Western Sea to conquer the lands they thought uncivilised (and were crushed by the largest existing navy of its time, property of the Southern peninsula's even more southern neighbours, Valis), the Ogiso's empire is at the apex of its power, with its lack of a strong navy remedied by their alliance with Valis and a defeated nation across the ocean just waiting to be plundered by the most effective army to ever march on land.
>>33017935
Hm. "Ahigbeni" it is then.
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>>33018055
>folded over a thousand times (so it is said)
I see what you did there
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>>33018055
Also, I have a crude map for clarity's sake.
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>>33018044
Hmm, those three possible 'races' could very well reside in the central region, shielded from outside invaders by a wall of thick jungle, disease and jungle spirits. The Pygmies could be the descendants of an ancient empire which had colonized the area but has since been gone; they could be the ones living on the outermost rim. The Prawns had arrived from a magical flying island, that has landed and became a plateau; but many other similar plateau could be found in the deep jungles. This is where the Ape-men came from, from one of the plateaus; a place where time is said to be distorted, and thus preserving many things long gone from the world.
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>>33018286
Ooh, that works. Somehow the Prawns make me think the Floating Island from Sonic, please kill me. Also a bit of the Lizardmen. But the whole deal of alien refugees mixing advanced tech that can't be repaired or replaced when broken with bare-bones survival has something fun about it.
Pygmies, could go a lot of ways- you could have them be the local equivalent of Halflings in their comfortable lifestyles hidden from humans, or strange fey-ish savages with magic and rituals, or just particularly short and weird humans who have lots of weird superstitions about them among humans.
And of course, the gorillas could go about either way, but everything's better with gorillas.
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>>33018347
Heh, it's more to the fact that the Prawn mothership has 'fell' and became one of the plateau-mountains. The kind that holds a Lost World above it. But yeah, they would have stripped any metals bare I guess, they were refugees; and any metal they didn't salvage would rust hard with the jungle climate.
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>>33017594
Sword & sorcery.
Do you want combat to be complicated but rewarding (many different styles and moves but rules-heavy) or simpler and faster (I hit him with my sword. He dies)?
Will characters be able to learn magic or is it NPC only (and thus rule-irrelevant)?
How good are you at learning rules?
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>>33018402
That sounds fun.
I kinda like the idea of the Prawns actually being new to the world, which stands out all the more when they're surrounded by things that are ancient and remnants of ages past. They're still culture shocked by a world that is as alien to them as they are to it, and legends and superstitions surrounding them aren't ancient but are new campfire stories and rumours.
They seem capricious and dangerous, because they don't and possibly can't speak human language, but they're really just in survival mode, confused and scared, and learning fast. Their future is the kinda thing that PCs could decide.
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>>33018571
Magic is a tricky thing, but there could be different approaches to it. Maybe it relies on communing with local spirits and gods, which requires a mage PC to be basically keeping up contacts and having to make new ones when travelling? Possibly it's more like a Cleric where it doesn't give you much or any power for yourself but lets you work through others with blessings and curses?
You gotta keep tabs on your Friends On The Other Side, after all.
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>Africa
>culture
top lel
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>>33019018
That'd actually really be a neat way to do magic, the Friends bit. Like you pick a domain/spell list depending on where you are and what spirits you can interact with safely. You'll need to be careful though, not every Loa or Orshira is just going to give some stranger spells... and the ones that do just hand out spells will want to be paid back
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>>33018571
>How good are you at learning rules?
Pretty bad. I have mild dyscalculia (diagnosed), which makes juggling numbers a bitch. Despite this I'm apparently a decent DM.
> Will characters be able to learn magic or is it NPC only (and thus rule-irrelevant)?
Haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm leaning more towards 'yes, the players can learn and use magic'.
I prefer rules-lite systems, but not exclusively. If I think it works for the game I want to play I'll put the effort in to learn the rules. Or make sure there is someone else at the table who knows the rules.
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>>33019230
Are you using a calculator and a list to keep track of shit?
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>>33019389
Note pad.
People think I'm smart, but I literally have to manually count pretty basic mathematics. Little dots on a pad so it isn't obvious.
I'm very, very ashamed of it.
I dislike calculators, they feel like cheating.
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>>33019415
If you're not comfortable with telling them, I feel ya, but is the game even still fun when you're constantly under math pressure?/tg/ is always there for you[/ spoiler]
>>
>>33019490
Well I get a high off the narrative achievements 'n' shit.
So there is that.
It does leave me burned out at the end of a session, but it's worth it.
>>
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>>33019068
>>
>>33019530
Narration is one of the best things in a game when you're with people who can do it well
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTEtRNU5QNA
Have an African Heavy Metal band.
>>
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>>33015207
Out of curiosity, have you read Hellboy? The Makoma story is based off a fairy tale, and it's really quite good.
>>
>>33019576
I've read some Hellboy. Not enough though. The entire Mignola-verse is so big these days its hard to find a place to start, and I was a bit put off by the first story. John Byrne's narration just wasn't helping.
>>
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>>33019564
Awesome.
>>
>>33017382
Don't forget the Portuguese who joined in, the influence from the Sotho and the Swati, and how the natives called them "The White Tribe," even after coming in contact with Europeans.
By the time Afrikaans was a separate language, Afrikaners were very much a distinct, and effectively African, culture, right up to being brutally subjugated by the British Empire.
>>
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>>33015657
>>33015719
OP, I'm getting the impression that "The East" in your setting takes a lot of ques from Egypt, but you might also consider doing some research on the Axumites and their kingdom in the mountainous highlands of Ethiopia. You could get some good stuff out of that. Huge steles, stone palaces and castles, underground rock-churches, cultural isolationism, there's some interesting material there.
>>
>>33020225
I just posted this: >>33020120
They are entirely based on Axum and Kush. Egypt is an accident by association, since the Kushites and their successors were heavily influenced by Egypt.
>>
>>33017763
There's a lot of quality mythical creatures and magical beliefs in Africa that you could make use of. The most all-encompassing one would probably be the animal people, who were the quasi-fairy spirit-beings of a lot of Africa.
Consider reading "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman.
>>
>>33020120
Yeah. I sort of dispute OP's treatment of the east. Even though it is quite dry, it was still the home of many strong native cultures such as Axum, Medieval Ethiopia, and the Swahili Coast. And none of those collapsed on their own without foreign intervention.
>>
>>33020285
Well, the Axumites kinda collapsed because of shifting trade routes, as I recall.
>>
>>33020320
The Axumites didn't really collapse per se, but cultural change made them into Ethiopia.
At least, that was what I was taught.
>>
>>33020285
It's not literally those kingdoms word-for-word, it just draws major influences from them. The calamity that felled the oldest and greatest empire adds an element of mystery, and I wanted a land of grim warriors treading on the ashes of lost civilizations. It's the land of black Cimmerians as well as drawing from Kush/Axum/The Nubian Kingdoms.
>>
>>33020349
Well, my wording was meant to imply that I am fine with your decision, but if I was you, I would handle it differently.
>>
>>33020349
I do like the idea of a mountain highland setting dominated by vast ruins. Take the Axumite obelisks and steles and forts and blow them up to fantasy scale. Hell, you could have a single vast city built in a large pile of such ruins, ala Fallout. Maybe the only true "city" in the region.
>>
>>33020335
>The Axumites didn't really collapse per se, but cultural change made them into Ethiopia
No, it was a full blown collapse. We have a fairly long stretch of history between the last mention of Axum and the first mention of its successors that suggests a collapse, as it took a long time for another entity to fill that power vacuum.
>>
6/10, bretty neat broad stroke style setting, mite play
>>
>>33020463
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Empire
Above says otherwise. That said, it doesn't actually matter, seeing as it's your setting, not mine.
>>
I like it!
Are you planning on fantasy monsters? Plenty of good things in african lore, mostly weird reptile-elephant-rhino hybrids there.
>>
I've been considering GMing a setting based on pre-Columbian America around the 13-1400s, without conquistadors ever being a threat.
Although I already have a standard group of people I play with, I would like to see if anybody would be interested.
I would also like to hear any of OP's tips for "indigenous" style settings.
Any idea of an Aboriginal Australian campaign? The only problems I see are the lack of known Aboriginal history, as well as a very low tech level. That said, I do not want to run one.
>>
>>33020817
Aboriginal Australian mythology is crazy but tricky, and a shitload of it is unknown, forgotten or secret. There's an upswing of interest in it every 20 years or so but it gets forgotten again in a few years.
>>
>>33020766
Some. Mostly those weird ogre things.
>>33020655
Check out the actual Axum page. It goes into more detail and is better sourced.
>>
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>>33020766
>Plenty of good things in african lore, mostly weird reptile-elephant-rhino hybrids there.
There's a lot more than that. Animal spirit-people, cycloptic flying rape ogres, jungle goblins, upside-down tree vampires, half-men, quasi voodoo loa spirits, inch-high army ant people with huge inferiority complexes, desert ogres with their eyes in their feet, shapeshifting, river-dwelling reptile men, etc, etc.
To say nothing of leftover Egyptian and Mesopotamian influences, or the later influx of Islamic mythical creatures and spirits.
>>
>>33020817
>I would also like to hear any of OP's tips for "indigenous" style settings.
Just read a lot about whatever place you are interested in, and if you can't go some place get photo references that are credible.
>>
>>33019230
If you want things to be pretty damn lethal, you should look into Song of Swords. Both are fairly simple mathematically, and basically boil down to counting successes and comparing them to another guy's successes. It might not be to your tastes, but you should check it out in the thread that's always on the board. People there are very helpful in helping people learn.
>>
>>33020899
>shapeshifting, river-dwelling reptile men
Que?
>>
>>33020817
>>33020844
Aboriginal magic has a very cool belief about how power left over from the dreamtime has been "locked" into certain objects or places, often things that look unnatural or out of place. An old gnarled tree in the middle of a desert plain, for example.
Anyway, each of these objects or places held a particular power, and there was a particular "key" to tap into it. So, say you found the tree. It doesn't do you any good unless you know to say these words, and touch the tree between a particular split in the branches. Then you can unlock the power, temporarily, for your own use.
And like I said, the power in questioned differed from one object to another. The tree might grant you the power to cause rainfall. Some weird rock formation might grant you the ability to make a sandstorm, or talk to birds.
After some time has passed, or after you've used enough of the power, it goes back into the tree/rock/whatever and is "locked" again.
>>
>>33020929
That is one of the ones I was looking at.
>>
>>33020957
The Mbulu, from Zulu tradition. They look human, except for scaly skin and a long prehensile tail with another mouth at the end. They live in the rivers, but they like to follow people down lonely paths, whispering softly in their ears.
They're mostly harmless, but if you stop to bathe in their river they will steal your clothes. Once they are wearing your clothes, they take on your appearance and identity. Then they go back to your village and steal your life.
Also, if you kill one, a man-eating pumpkin will grow out of the ground wherever it is buried.
>>
>>33021084
Funny. There's an east African myth about a hero
being the son of a "crocodile woman".
>>
>>33021084
Oh, and its weakness is that the tail has a mind of its own, and can be tricked into revealing the Mbulu's true nature.
>>
>>33021011
I'm tempted to start an Aboriginal-based setting. Throw in some Maoris maybe.
>>
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CANNIBALISTIC LEOPARD CULT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_Society
Seriously, sometimes real-life produces shit that seems like it's right out of a splatbook.
>>
>>33021084
>The Mbulu, from Zulu tradition. They look human, except for scaly skin and a long prehensile tail with another mouth at the end.
I'm not saying those were aliens. But they were alines.
>>
>>33021213
There's always the obligatory Maori raiders. Maybe include New Guinea as part of the setting too?
>>
>>33021374
Start bringing in dreamtime versions of Australian/New Zealand megafauna. Haast eagles. Moas. Megalania. Fucking marsupial leopard DROP BEARS.
>>
>>33021244
I would be offended being killed in gauche and silly manner. I mean look at the way he is holding his arms, he is like a psychotic toddler that thinks leopards are the shit so he shanks people in their sleep.
>>
>>33021480
Such is life in the Congo
>>
>>33021480
I'm sure it looks a little less silly when they're breaking into your house at night to claw you to death and then eat you.
>>
>>33021454
Eh, Moas are a bit too much. Just stick with the already-terrifying and more brightly colored Cassowary. Haast eagles and drop bears are all cool though.
What cultures would there be? Should we move this to another thread?
>>
>>33021512
Indeed
>>33021519
Your probably right, but their danger come from their stealth. A good spear would give you the advantage.. unless he brought a lot of friends.
>>
>>33021512
Leopard Society was West Africa.
>>
>>33016723
I actually kind of like the idea of some complete foreigners living in the region, could have a background like the Vikings or Sea Peoples, they were originally from a far off continent, raided the area, some of them conquered an area and settled down. Even in their own lands they are a minority, usually acting as sort of a warrior nobility class.
>>
>>33015719
FYI, the female form of "Ghoul" is "Ghula."
>>
>>
>>33017724
>African: from Africa
>a culture that evolved in Africa not African
Shiggy diggy.
>>
>>33017870
>The Point
>Your head
>>
>>33020103
Exactly. But because they are white, they aren't African enough. I wonder what these idiots would say if they found out that the Dutch got to South Africa before a lot of the black tribes did. Meaning the Afrikaans culture is more South African than some black are.
>>
>>33023494
The Dutch actually arrived at the coast at the same time the Bantu did. In fact, one linguistic opinion expects that the language spoken by the Dutch in Africa was distinct from that spoken in Europe before the language of the Zulus was distinct from that of Bantu peoples they were descended from around the African Great Lakes.
But it's still kind of a cop-out to include da ebul scawwy wite craka.
>>
>>33023494
>>33023932
>the lengths white people go to to justify shitting all over Africa
disgusting
>>
>>33015207
>>33015346
>>33015541
>>33015583
>>33015657
>>33015719
>>33015827
>>33015841
West and East sound pretty well developed, but the North seems a bit underfed. I think the reason for this is because you've left out Egypt/Nubia.
Sure, you've incorporated some of that into the East, but even after the fall of old Egypt The Nile was one of the major agricultural heartlands of Africa. Multiple successive empires grew up around it. Throughout the ancient and medieval periods there were trade routes that cut right through the heart of the Sahara to reach the prosperous cities on the northern coast. It was never all just Bedouin and Berbers.
As for the jungles, I'd suggest researching the Bantu peoples, the Kingdom of the Kongo, and the early Lunda/Luba kingdoms.
>>
>>33024313
Look at modern Africa.
Now look at Africa back in the Sixties.
Was it whites or the people who make it a point to kill the whites over their race who shat up Africa?
Answer carefully. The Boers are facing a genocide over this issue.
>>
>>33023932
Indeed. The Afrikaans culture, along with the San, Hottentot and Khoikhoi (the bushmen) are the true South African cultures.
>>
>>33024672
South Africa has gone down hill since 1994. As bad as apartheid was, the blacks have it worse now. Not to mention the government sanctioned killings of any Afrikaner farmer.
>>
>>33025381
Sounds good to me
>>
>>33025433
butthurt bantu detected.
>>
>>33021244
I think that little outfit is adorable.
Any specific gods or faiths to you your setting OP?
>>
Out of all my (fantasy) Africa pics, I've always liked this one the most. Dude on the left is just baller as fuck.
>>
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Dumping is GO
>>
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Book of African Mythology
>>
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>>33020463
>>33020880
Actually, the other guys right. Aksum doesn't seem to have collapsed at all, and it's hard to say it completely declined either. The lose of the Red Sea trade and the increasing pressure from the Muslims caused the Aksumites to retreat further into the mountains, finally abandoning their capital and going into isolation. It's the single most obscure period in Ethiopia's history (often called the 'Ethiopian Dark Ages'), but there isn't actually any evidence that the empire itself collapsed. Arab geographers of the time mention that it's still a powerful and rich kingdom. There does seem to have been an invasion at some point by a pagan queen, but her rule didn't last long. The origin of the Zagwe dynasty's rock architecture comes from this period (pic related, a pre-Zagwe rock church).
>>
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>>33026467
I'll join in.
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>>33026648
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>>33026550
Meh
>>
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Witches better be the dragons of this setting.
African witches were fucking terrifying.
>>
For magic you can have some different "schools" the two major ones being:
The voodoo stuff that involve spirits and rituals, human sacrifice, ect, that involves the greater effects like cursing lands and subtle things like cursing an individual
and then you can have very primal magic, elemental in nature, and simple to use to those born with the gift for it, but low powered. such as being able to light a small fire in the palm of your hand, change the direction the wind blows by will alone, pushing a rock no man should have the strength to move, and making water flow uphill
>>
The beautiful_men_of Somalia (I think)
>>
We /fa/ now
>>
>>33027186
Those are Nigerian Fulani actually.
>>
>>33027235
I feared I might have been off, but by about 3000 miles? I'm ashamed of myself. Thank you, anon.
>>
>>33026561
that outfit is far more colorful than I expected from Africa
>>
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>>33027328
Africa is funky colors central, mah nigga
>>
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>>33027235
What are those? (inb4 "muh Egypt isn't niggers" butthurt)
>>
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>>33027363
They're a group of nomadic cattle herders who migrated from Senegal across the Sahel, and are now found throughout West Africa. They're probably best known for launching a wave of jihads on the 19th century that imposed Islam across a lot of the region. The ones in that image though are from a particular sub-tribe called the Wodaabe who retained their traditional religion and culture instead of adopting Islam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodaabe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerewol
>>
So speaking of Afrikaaners, which should I play in Vicky 2 - Transvaal, Oranje, or South Africa released from the UK?
Leaning towards Transvaal.
>>
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>>33027520
>speaking of Afrikaners
>literally no-one in the past five hours spoke about Afrikaners
I shiggy my diggy at you
>>
>>33027484
>Travellers have indicated that some Wodaabe groups in Niger are sexually liberal; unmarried girls may have sex whenever and with whomever they wish
2lewd4me
>>
>>33027562
Was browsing the thread.
>>
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Look up Guildwars: Nightfall for an amazing African fantasy setting
>>
Is it chill if I post some things about my setting?
Actually, I guess, it's always storytime. One second, lemme get to my laptop.
>>
>>33027673
Yes, gibe worldbuilding pls
>>
>>33019611
Go read The Crooked Man right now, possibly the best one-off around to introduce yourself to Hellboy
>>
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>>33027520
Post-UK South Africa is best South Africa.
That said, I'll pitch into the African Worldbuilding Picture Dump.
>>
>>33027852
>any kind of white people's South Africa
>good or even decent
I don't agree with you.
>>
>>33027869
>any kind of any people's South Africa
>good or even decent
Let's just leave it at that.
>>
>>33027520
Oranje Vrijstaat is the only true Afrikaans state.
>>
>>33027869
>black South Africa
>doing anything good for anyone
>people not living in abject poverty
>not tribalism to the highest degree
It's like you no nothing of South Africa, Jon Snow.
>>
>>33028000
>tribalism
>bad
ohwow
>>
>>33027697
Might as well start with my first little snippet on my phone.
The mages of the setting are known as the Covenant of Ariadne, and are typically reviled because their magic is almost always offensive, due to the fact that it's literally weaponized bad luck. In the early days, a group of primitive philosophers looked at the gods, and decided that the mortals would be a lot safer without them turning cities into spiders or fucking all the women.
So, they got together, and decided to attempt to slay Ariadne, goddess of fate, intuition, weaving, and intelligence. After all, she controlled the fate of the gods, and could easily make it so an already unlikely assassination attempt would be impossible.
They were under the impression that she herself could not control her own fate, but, as they brought her to physical form using a ritual to beg for her guidance, (Not exactly magic, more just calling for help.) and as she assumed form, they rushed to strike her. Of course, she ended up leaving, cursing their fates to be forever cursed, wherever they go would turn to ruin. As further punishment, their families and their families families would be cursed as well, but not to the point of causing earthquakes and catastrophic floods wherever they went.
Eventually, as they tried to find a place in life due to the fact that they made crops rot, people fall ill, and sometimes just have things catch on fire in their vicinity. However, soon, the empire where this whole mess happened realized that walking plague and disease spreaders made for great siege troops. Ariadne, seeing the intelligent use of a curse, decided to give credit where credit was due, and let those who turned a curse into a blessing have greater control over it, and as the curse is based off of family line, there's quite a few running around from the sons and daughters of the original few cursed. The covenant was formed to give the cursed guidance and hopefully the ability to not fuck everything up.
>>
Tribalism is basically just intra-race racism. Zulus kill San, Matabele kill Shona, Whites kill Blacks.
Under white rule all that nonsense was put to a stop. Now that African rule has been around for a while, it's starting to make a resurgence.
You don't know how important tribe is to Africans.
>>
>>33028172
Apologies for any mistakes, grammar or otherwise. On my phone.
>>
>>33028019
It's getting mighty Xhosa in here, if I dare say so myself.
You bastards went from a single-party dictatorship that practiced segregation to one that practices genocide.
Not to mention that while the previous South African presidents were pretty stand-up fellows, the current South African president's court defense against raping a woman was to sing a song about shooting somebody with a machine gun.
you decide, nigger
>>
>Not fantasy Egypt
Its like you hate fun
>>
>>33028019
>Not knowing that there are around 13 tribes in South Africa
>Blacks count Afrikaners as a tribe
>Not knowing that whichever tribe is dominant will do his best to fuck over every other tribe
>Not knowing this is why South Africa is such shithole now.
>Not knowing the Zulus are fucking everyone over with a vengeance because Zuma is Zulu and Mandela was Xhosa.
>Mandela and Mbeki fucked over every other tribe but the Zulus in particular because ancient grudge
>Zuma is fucking everyone over doubly because if you aren't for the Zulus you are for the Xhosa
>not knowing shit about South Africa
>>
>>33028177
At least the whites were lawful on the alignment spectrum. Lawful evil, but still lawful. The current black government is Chaotic Evil.
>>
>>33028332
My point exactly.
>>
>>33028241
>>33028305
Sure smells like embittered whitey in full /pol/tard mode.
>>
>>33028359
>if you are sucking a black cock you are a /pol/tard
Wow, really? Are you that far up the politically correct asshole that you can't see anything but shit anymore?
>>
>>33028359
Oh right, of course, you are utterly correct. South Africa is a paradise now after the evil white man was kicked out. It has been scientifically proven to be the safest place on earth. The streets are lined with gold, full fridges fall from the sky, the rivers are made of milk and honey. Thanks to the proud black man, South Africa is better now than it ever was before. Heil Madiba!
>>
>>33038482
Have a pastebin, me m80:
http://pastebin.com/cSz3cu4Q
>>
>>33029221
>Black people in fantasy in general, not even necessarily fantasy europe
>IMMERSION RUINED THIS IS THE WORST THING EVER
>Things that never happened.jpg
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