Dungeons and Dragons Australia?

:b:ump

>>52955634
>>>/r/

>>52955634
I suggest looking into the Dreamtime stories that the Aboriginal Australians have, which is part of their history/creation myth. It'll probably give some inspiration for deities and cultures and some questlines. The Rainbow Serpent is a spectacular warlock fae/GOO patron for example.

And also in real Australia there's a difference between the Coast, the Bush and the Outback, so you could use that to draw up your map and set major cities. Coastal areas are where all the major cities are, where it's cool where there's the beaches and stuff. The Bush is damn near Eldritch. If you haven't lived in The Bush most of your life or have a proper guide with you, then you can just disappear.

No joke, it's an amazing part of our 'gothic storytelling history', since the Bush is so fucked and weird there's so many stories about people just going missing. Because that's what happens. We avoid it for a good reason, we Coastal folk don't belong in the Bush.

Then there's the Outback. Hot as shit. That's where Mad Max takes place. Wildlife here ain't that deadly since it's busy getting out of the sun, so use that as a plot point. You will die if you don't get shelter, make sure you don't traipse onto a religious site while you're at it.
Plus Uluru/Ayers Rock is called the 'Heart of Australia'. Do you want a giant ass rock to be the literal beating heart of this continent, wherein some evil fuckers want to take it over to turn the entire continent against their enemies? Cause that'd be rad.

tl;dr bring some eldritch shit into the story, separate the people living in the nice safe coastal areas to the people who walk through a fragment of the faewild every day and the people who wander the sand and sun burnt inland. Use Dreamtime for inspiration.

File: 7380180-3x2-940x627.jpg (102KB, 940x627px) Image search: [Google]

102KB, 940x627px

>>52956478
Good shit. Remember the Australia is the size of America, but we have a tenth of the population and almost all live on the coasts, specifically the east coast. The outback is endless and eternal.

>>52955634
Someone asked this question a while ago on reddit, so imma post the answer I gave there here. Basically it's suggestions for how to use australian mythical creatures in game:

>Drop Owlbears
>Yowie (Ozzie bigfoot)=Yeti
>Bunyip (indigenous crocdile metaphor)=Aquatic Roper
>Yara-ma-ya-who (indigenous vampire)=Vampiric tree-dwelling Bullywungs
>giant fruit bat swarm=giant stirge swarm

Apart from that, use lots of creatures that are a mish-mash of "normal" creatures, ie Perytons, Leurcottas, etc. When Europeans first arrived they had to wrap their heads around stuff like the duck-billed beaver (platyus), the giant hopping mouse (kangaroo), the haystack on stilts (emu) and the actual velociraptor (cassowary). But don't use traditional "European" mish-mashes like griffons or Chimera, it should be stuff players aren't familiar with.

When we talked about the setting on reddit, we came up with a kind of flightless aaracokra as a native species. Maybe you could use those?

Mystara actually did a pseudo-aborigines race for the Savage Coast in the form of the Wallara - a lizardfolk offshoot whose once-great empire was reduced to stone age barbarism by the Aranea of Herath. They were an all-male race who reproduced by reverently placing their yearly shed skin into sacred places called tookoos, in hopes of scoring that 5% chance of the skin-bundle being turned into a new baby wallara.

Also, they looked exactly like aborigines painted up for a corroboree, which is probably why they got a drastic visual redesign in the Savage Coast MC Appendix and still haven't been seen since.

But, seriously, something you might want to consider is that Australia is an ancient land that's had very little contact with the outside world for the longest time.

Dinosaurs might be a good thing - in fact, with its native arid temperatures, your not!Australia might be a good place for indigenous civilizations of lizardfolk, serpentfolk, dragonborn and/or kobolds.

Consider exploring the actual prehistoric megafauna of Australia, too. We had jumbo-sized anaconda-style snakes, goannas the size of small buses, wombats the size of rhinos, meat-eating kangaroos and marsupial lines. Lots of weird stuff to really set the theme of the place, considering how little it's ever actually used in D&D.

Maybe consider a colonialism theme: your PCs could be either from the settlers, newcomers to this strange, alien world who can't go back home, or from the natives, seeking to find out who they are or push them back, or even a mix trying to find a way to peacefully coexist.

If I were to build a fantasy Australia, I'd definitely consider using abnormal races to emphasize the point. Rather than "toned down Athasian Halflings" for aborigines, consider using a reptilian humanoid race. As anon above mentioned, the Dreamtime stories make plants, birds, insects and animals all be descended from ancient people who turned into them; a perfect environment for plant-people and beastfolk.

File: quinkana-size.jpg (117KB, 608x307px) Image search: [Google]

117KB, 608x307px

>>52955634
You can have more than dinosaurs play the role of giant reptiles.

>>52955634
Some dreamtime myths and creatures have pretty easy DnD style proxies.
Lizardmen are ancient, intelligent, and benevolent to a degree. They help people, gave the gifts of fire and magic to men, taught them about medicine, language and help travellers in trouble.

Giant tree ents battle evil shadow beings that live in caves in the wild who try to lure children and travellers away to be eaten.

Giant serpents/dragons carved out the land and gave breath to the first humans. They live in rivers.

Everything has a spirit in it and everything is a spirit. None of them are nice. All of them are like the european fae, except worse in every way.

*GREAT HAIRY MAN Aka Yowie "Doolagahl" They are hairy, naked ape-like forms--a male of about nine feet tall, a female of size feet and a five-foot juvenile male.
*TALL MAN/WOMEN The Charnok woman had long white
hair down to her back. In the darkness of the dreamtime, the spirit
woman saw a small pair of eyes looking up at her. She picked up
this little being. It was a spirit child. She did not want to part with
this child so she placed it in her long white hair and the child held on
tight. As she travelled she collected more and more of these spirit
children.

*POINCIANA WOMAN- the malicious spirit of a young Aboriginal (Indiginous Australian) girl who was brutally murdered. Now her spirit inhabits the Poinciana trees, If any male is foolish enough to call her name three times, they will see a her and branch like claws and will take the male and either kill or they will disappear.

*FEATHERFOOT MAN-A featherfoot is usually a bad spirit who kills people.
A featherfoot is so named because they are believed to have supernatural powers, including the ability to fly. He wears special shoes made of feathers (usually emu) and hair, stuck together with human blood. Scholars say that the shoes leave no tracks

*KURDAITCHA (or kurdaitcha man) THE MAN WHO POINT'S THE BONE, is a ritual "executioner" in Aboriginal culture.
All deaths are considered to be the result of evil spirits or spells, usually influenced by an enemy.
Often, a dying person will whisper the name of the person they think caused their death. If the identity of the guilty person is not known, a "magic man" will watch for a sign, such as an animal burrow leading from the grave showing the direction of the home of the guilty party.his may take years but the identity is always eventually discovered. The elders of the mob that the deceased belonged to then hold a meeting to decide a suitable punishment. A Kurdaitcha may or may not be arranged to avenge them.

>>52956478
This is a pretty good post.
Creating a thematic differentiation between the Coast, the Bush and the Outback is a good idea.

Throw some ungodly dense rainforests and wetlands around the far north and east, a big reef and sand islands off the north-east coast a cold foggy island to the south - you'v pretty much got Australia mapped.

>>52962202
Anon from that post here.
For the OP, maybe watch some famous Australian movies too, they could get your motor running for ideas. Take Red Dog for example, a phantom of a loyal dog, fur dyed red by the dust of the northern deserts. It guides and protects lost travelers, only staying long enough to see them meet their destination before resuming it's own search for its lost master.

You could have the Road Warriors, a band of Outback Paladins who protect the only safe paths through the heat. They follow the ways of Max, a wanderer who never stayed in one place but brought freedom and hope wherever he went.

Tell horror stories of the Creek of Wolves, of a friendly old man who lures in travelers before revealing his true, monstrous form and devouring them.

My film teacher at college sorta drilled something into our heads about Wolf Creek. While there is an Australian among the victims, he's from Sydney. He's from the Coast. He's as much of a stranger to the Outback and the Bush as the rest of the victims are. Hell, if Australia was to be the setting of a zombie apocalypse movie, fleeing to the Bush would keep you safe from the undead. But only because they are unwelcome. So are you. Which is more dangerous? The walking dead, or the land itself?

Those of the Coast may never know of the true terrors of the heart of their land, only that they should be thankful of the watchful ones who keep the balance in check, and appease The Bush. It's simultaneously wonderful and scary to know that I'm fucked if I travel too far inland.

So there's always the fun little idea that Australia isn't dangerous because of the wildlife. It's dangerous because that is it's nature, it is a terrifying but beautiful place that can only be safely walked by the descendants of the native spirits.
Oh oh and focus on the (perhaps unearthly) beauty of the landscape. Seriously, some places here may be bad but they're lovely and its no wonder we get so many tourists to those places.

I'd have mythic not-Australia home to powerful lines of power/ley lines. Where the lines intersect are places of power. These lines are linked to powerful ancient creatures such as giants, titans, dragons, naga etc. People linked to a line can travel along it quicker, draw power from it and summon and incarnation of the spirit. If you 'belong' to the line you can travel along it. I'd also use the ice age version of local animals.

File: 20150117_1308310.jpg (4MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 3264x2448px

>>52955634
The only particular I remember is the Kalkajaka, also know as 'Place of the Spear' or 'Mountain of Death', that looks like a titan piled up coals.

A giant mound of dark granite boulders spewing volcanic hot air. There's no dirt between them, so a person can crawl inside, fall into a chasm, sufocate in a pocket of toxic gas and get lost forever. Many have, as well as horses and cattle. Some say a marsupial tiger is responsible for this.

Plus, the heat makes a boulder or another explode from thermal shock when suddenly hit by rain, or at the very least crack over your head. The cries, wails and hisses one hears there are suposed to be caused by this, running water and the odiferous winds inside.

It's full of geckos, bats and snakes in the dark, deep brackish ponds where no one has gone, and some say the whole site is a magnetic anomaly which causes trouble for airplanes.

The natives don't go near the place.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/the-mysterious-black-mountain-of-queensland/

File: yeLkDG3.jpg (105KB, 584x1215px) Image search: [Google]

105KB, 584x1215px

>>52955634
Some things in Australia already have the "dire" template.