I've always wanted to DM a campaign set in a Faux-Africa rather than the generic Faux-Europe that is the norm. What are some good splatbooks to work with?
I'm throwing in monsters like giant hyenas, ogres, lions, owls, baboons, leopards, zombies, witches, and dinosaurs in with juju magic, secret cults, and some other stuff.
Anyone know of good plothooks to build from?
The plot hooks that already exist
now with giant hyenas
Osprey books?
Low Tech for GURPS?
All the magic-related books for GURPS, since they cover shitload of stuff taken directly from African religions and magic practices?
And about the plot-hooks - it GREATLY depends on the region. Just to remind you, Africa is almost three times as big as Europe and comes with at least 15 very distinctive regions with different cultures, biomes and what not. Without specifying what part of Africa you want to use, it's like saying "I want to run game set in Earth, what plothooks to build from"
Gnolls?
>Gnolls
>Hyenas
Please leave
Leave now.
Steal heavily from the world and art of Guild Wars: Nightfall
Wut?
Gnolls are hyena men.
What setting are we talking about?
Gnolls are gnolls. They weren't even hyena-like up until mid-90s, and I know this is gonna sound ridiculous, but you can thank Lion King for this
>Gnolls are gnolls. They weren't even hyena-like up until mid-90s
The gnolls from AD&D 1E circa 1979 looked pretty hyena-like; certainly their Demon Lord did
Covering the many environments of Africa or focusing on specific parts like Sahara, savannah, or jungle?
There's a game called Spears of the Dawn that has some cool ideas, even if you don't use the system (it uses Stars Without Number and was made by the same dude). I remember it from a podcast and the guy reviewing it (I think he was a history professor) was raving about how faithful it was to West African culture and mythology.
I actually found the podcast: 2gms1mic.com
>What setting are we talking about?
The setting where they are hyena men?
Aiming for south of the sahara
Nigga there's magic, we globetrottin here
South of Sahara, but east or west shore? Or maybe centre?
Because that still makes a difference if we are talking Mali or Somalia
West Africa judging by the pic of Mansa Musa in the OP
>but wot part of le Vest Aphrikion smugpepe.jpg
Enough Britbong teatime shitposts already. "I'm confounded durr" Wake up, retard.
Novelty won't make your campaigns better.
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hey go post your video game waifus on
It's really not so much about novelty
I've had the idea in the back of my head for a while
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Plothooks would vary depending on place, time and culture used for inspiration.
'Spears of the Dawn' has already been mentioned, which has a faux Wst African setting. The dissolution of the Malian Empire specifically.
The Malians were awesome, so let's take somethignfeom that. Their economy was built on gold and salt, having lage gold mines as part of their polity. These mines were never owned bybthe kimgs aas such, but owned by people who owned fealty to the king. The Malians simply contorlled the trade routes, taxing people trading for gold and the important salt reources through the Sahara.
Plots might include:
- A gold mining toen has not been heard from for a while, and travellers going there don't return. The local feudal lord wamts to know what the hell is going on before the king starts asking questions.
- A dispute has arisen in a village. The townspeople can't agree, and the village chief needs a solution before the conflict goes violent. Knowing that faux-Timbuktu is a center of lear ing he wants the PCs to go fetch a wise imam-scholar to settle the issue. The PCs have to deal with city life, finding someone who wants to leave the metropolis for their shitty village and do it alm before their hometown is doomed.
You have a White Mages tower in a smashed and broken land. Is he magic or does he use the technology if his once people to live a comfortable life?
His tower has many rooms (several story house)
Is so very cold (has excellent AC)
Something bound in the basement (A generator)
Many arcane and infernal devices (tv, radio, computer)
Make sure to have plenty of names and aesthetics to make it more "genuine". Here are some of the swords one can find in Sub-Saharan Africa - which I assume you are talking about because North Africa is copy-pasted Arabia
Not all Africans are pitch black either. Many South African natives, even before Europeans arrived, were much more pale than their neighbors. You could add these "bushmen" in for racial and encounter flavors
And thanks to a lack of modern states like Europe and Asia had, Africa remained and still is incredibly tribal. Cross a river and you might have left a tribe of welcoming folks to a tribe of cannibals that use white flesh to commit various rituals.
Here are names for many of those tribes
Africa had plenty of interesting and powerful customs before colonization. Be sure to look into some practices and dances. Hell, boxing to the death with pieces of stone and metal wrapped onto your hands was popular before Europeans outlawed it for being too savage.
They still do it today in many areas of the Congo.
Despite modern weapons entering Africa, one can still see some tribes defending/attacking in their traditional attire. Take a look at these frightening folks
I don't know a whole lot about africa but I am like 90% sure the Zulu tribe used to use massive leaf shields to defend against clubs and other such weapons
Africans around the equator have extremely dark complexions. They are the reason we refer to Africans as "black people". Their eyes have so much melanin that often it hard to see their pupils in them.
If they get too exposed to the sun, they get sunburnt. Although rare because they have enough melanin to register as 13spf on a sun-block scale. They filter twice as much radiation naturally though, so a pale person would need to wear 26spf sunscreen to just match these Central Africans
It's been 30 years. Get over your self.
>Faux-Africa
KANGZPOSTING GENERAL
They did, They also used short spears with relatively long heads against their foes. These short spears were still effective in close quarters, but could also be used to keep foes at a distance.
The versatility of the weapon gave them an advantage. The Bantu tribes, before their mass migration south, had a huge population boom that spanned a century. Families doubled in size and it provided their armies with massive numbers.
They kept their tactic of using a strong central column of men flanked by rows of light infantry. The center smashed into the opponents and tried to divide their forces.
The flanking force would try to flank and surround the enemy. Effective against smaller neighbors... very effective.
youtube.com
Oddly enough, a movie about defeating the Zulu did a great job portraying them (as far as fictional dramas go)
Let's not.
African? That's a Portuguese man
Don't answer to /pol/acks, you might contract something
Some African nations had extensive cavalry thanks to contacts with Arabia and Europe. Abyssinia, Sudanese kingdoms, and even Somalia had them.
>zap muthufucka
>we wuz wizards n shiet
Anyway, plothook is that the party is on a ship to some unforgivable land as prisoners to be exiled for crimes tailored to fit each PC (whether they were guilty of it or not). They arrive on a shore close to a settlement made up of other exiles struggling to survive. Beyond that, the land plays host to poison jungles and scorching savannas that hides tribes of dark humans that may or may not attack foreigners on sight and large beasts that want them for food.
Ethiopia is an interesting African nation because of its extensive, intact history. It was not shattered by colonizing nations. It also goes back so far because they adopted writing from some of the Jews expelled by the Exodus - although that's disputed
Ethiopia built an extensive army of infantry armed with weapons from as far as India - thanks to their neighbor, Somalia trading with the Indian subcontinent.
Their archers were famed around the area, but it was their religious zeal that gave their armies such power. Their native customs and hints of Judaism mixed well with Christianity when it arrived.
Unlike their Islamic and pagan neighbors, the commonality of Christianity in the many tribes there gave them unity rather than division.
Their Christian faith led them to using straight swords over the curved swords of their neighbors. Here is a great example alongside its crocodile skin sheath
They developed interesting art over the years. The style stayed well into modern times. Here is an example they created during the 2nd Italo-Ethiopian War.
Because Italians can't fight against anybody, including a smaller and less equipped African nation
Islam brought its own architecture style to much of East and North Africa. West Africa adopted some of it, while Central and South Africa had some architecture adopted from Europeans. The kingdom of Kongo already adopted Catholicism and had ordained cardinals in the Vatican as early as the 16th century.
Ethiopia is a unique example because it retained unique architecture compared to its neighbors.
Seeing as how Muslims in the middle east defaulted to straight swords as well before the Mongols made a case for the usefulness of the sabre, and large chunks of Christian Europe also ended up wielding sabres, I'd be cautious about attributing the use of cruciform swords to religious preference.
The Tuareg are a nomadic group of Sub-Saharan Africans that travel from West and Central Africa to North Africa using a carefully plotted route that hops between oasis in the Sahara.
The routes are very old, and some were used during the middle ages to bring gold and salt from West Africa to trade centers bound for Europe and Asia.
The Tuareg have such a long cultural memory, they still have some influences from Vandallic invaders that came to North Africa in the 5th century. Their straight swords are copied from them with their own unique pommel and sheath styles
Reminds me of Russian Orthodox iconography (they probably have the same roots?)
I'm gonna fuck you're gf.
t. alberto barbosa
The use of straight swords can be a stylistic choice. Their semblance to a cross is powerful imagery to a warrior who believes that if they die in combat, their soul is bound for heaven.
As ironic as that is... using a sword in the style of one of Christianity's great symbols to deal death. Sabres came after they realized its superiority on horseback over the straight sword. They have a larger "sweet spot" than straight swords do.
My last post. Africans have a long history. Their customs and lore are great for making a campaign. Gather some info, place it in, and just have fun. You don't need to take a crash course in Bantu languages and dress like Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza to give that "African" feel
To be fair, running around in the renaissance in a land where all the KANGZ stories are actually true would actually be kind of awesome.
Kek
My tribe used to make teenage boys fight with sticks and fists tournament style in the deep jungle to become to men, then we had to hunt and bring proof of killing 3 dangerous game creatures.
Whites banned it for being too violent
Call me a faggot, but I liked the period of mercantilism that came just before true colonialism, where African city-states and kingdoms would work for the Europeans or use them as tools against long-time rivals. A mixing of old traditions and new ideas and technology.
Nyambe.
It's 3.5 but it's well-written.
>Aiming for south of the sahara
Narrow that shit down.
Well, The Sahel isn't subsaharan, so you already have a problem.
Back in medieval times the Kongolese actually got into a bit of a political spat with the Vatican over whether or not it should have been considered its own diocese
Portugal was gonna freakout
>/pol/sters "forget" that Africa held back European advances into the continent because it messes up their mustardrace narrative
>SJWs "forget" that Africa held back European advances into the continent because it messes up their perpetual victimhood narrative
*tips headdress*
Nah, that's basically where my game is set right now.
Excellent advice. Nightfall's Elona is the perfect example of a Faux-Africa done right.
>Description: There is a great resemblance between gnolls and hyenas.
- 1st Edition Monster Manual
>a man claiming to be the messiah of God wages a campaign of conquest
>in a village where the residents have been swallowed by an amorphous beast, one woman manages to escape and gives birth to an extremely precocious and powerful baby boy
>the spirit of thunder & lighting saves the life of a sickly baby princess, but demands her parents give her to him in marriage when she turns 16
>the exiled prince must return home to rescue his kingdom of both the usurpers and the evil wizard king of the north
>the struggle between a tribe of immortals vs mortals
You really seem to enjoy attacking non-existent points
Did your mom teach you to put words in people's mouths? Moron
>get this triggered over an observation
>being so insecure that you think any non-positive response to your post must be a personal attack
wew
>user asks for clarification
>HURRR STOP BEING AUTISTIC
>I JUST WANT AFRICA DURRR
Mate, word "disgust" doesn't even start the subject
Not him, but what the fuck you are even talking about?
You are literally trying to lift shit that doesn't even exists in the first place
These Ethiopians are cute. CUTE!
You need to include kwaku-anansi
PEDANTIC TIME!!!
First mention of gnolls is by Lord Dunsany, who has a short story about a man dealing with 'gnoles'. The gnoles are never described.
In the original Little White Books of DnD, the reference to Gnolls states, essentially, that the author thinks they are a mix of gnomes and trolls, adding in that Dunsany was rather vague on the matter.
By the monsterous manual, they're in the shape we know them as. (I assume that they took the middle-eastern folktales of dog-headed men, and used that as the basis, but that's just me making up shit that sounds vaguely reasonable.)
Bush souls
All over Niger-Congo speaking africa there's this notion that everyone has an animal (or less commonly plant) spirit double
Most people never learn what theirs is, but specialists can teach a person how to discover their own
Other times the spirit animal comes to their aid during a time of great danger or need
A rampaging elephant was once thought to be the soul of an angry and disgraced former chief taking revenge on the tribe, man-eaters who are particularly elusive are often considered the bush souls of evil men.
Often people realize their spirit animal through dreams.
Bush souls are much more powerful and resilient than normal creatures, though they too can be slain. Destroying a bush soul destroys the human body. Oftentimes when a person is killed as a human they can linger on as a bush soul.
Men tend to have the souls of lions, rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, leopards, cape buffalo, etc. y'know really big scary type of wild beasts. Women tend to be birds, antelope, cats, fish, giraffes, etc.
Some natives think the notorious Gustave of east africa is a bush soul left on the rampage.
Many bush souls are hereditary: a family will tend to have an affinity with monkeys, big cats, birds of prey, etc. Young children can't wield their bush soul, nor do they have the desire until 10 years of age. At the onset of puberty an adolescent grows restless, they begin to dream of wandering around in animal form. eventually the desire becomes so great they often seek out a teacher to show them how to consciously enter beast form.
Some very powerful sorcerers can create extra bush souls for a huge sum of money. The auxiliary souls provide an extra line of defense and offense.
Not a very good idea because it kinda screws with your sense of identity.
autism speaks
bump, because there was the one user years ago that schooled fuckers on Eastern and Southern African lore.
Come back, you bastard, you are being called forth.
North Africans should fill the niche of "aliens from another region of the world"
Like steppe hordes were for Europe
And cannibal warriors from the jungle make awesome antagonists
Read about the Imbangala
They were basically a primitive version of the rebel groups who plague modern Africa
>black Egyptian pharaohs
>black Hannibal
>black Roman Emperors
>black Celts
>black ninjas bringing ancient African Martial Arts to the orient
I would play it. I can only imagine it would be like an even more batshit Afro Samurai setting.
>As ironic as that is... using a sword in the style of one of Christianity's great symbols to deal death.
Is it doubly ironic when you consider that the initial great symbol itself came from an instrument of torture and execution?
Kek
Why are those gnolls burning pool noodles?
because they suck. they only exist as a tool to be a dick to someone else in the pool
civilization.com
I guess this would be a decent jumping off point for using the Kongo Kingdom for subsaharan-ness. The picture is of the biggest M'Banza, which was the capital city of the kingdom, the M'Banza Kongo. This leader was absolute dogshit though. Inherited an empire at it's height, then bent over for portugal so hard it's no-wonder the Congo countries are still shit.
Didn't mean for that to be a response. Whoops. For
His fault for trusting the eternal Portuguese
Did the Portuguese hold on to the area? I know the British replaced them as a naval power on the eastern coast, but the Portuguese were also crazy stubborn about giving up their colonies.
>Did the Portuguese hold on to the area?
Fuck no
Interesting, what tribe would that be? And 3 dangerous game? That sounds awfully dangerous
I bet the Portos would freak out
Thanks?
A double dip of irony, delicious
No the Brits got it for a minute... then the Belgians came. They did some fucked up shit while they were there. But hey, they got some rubber out of it.
Never trust a Porto as far as you can throw em
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Wizards stealing people's penises with magic and ransoming them back to them. It's a traditional African belief. People have been murdered over it.
bump
Sounds saffrican
I love that picture. It basically says: Be racist against everybody, even yourself. Completely egalitarian.
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Back in college I took a West African myth class and one of my favorite things that I've wanted to incorporate into a Fantasy Not!Africa is that a lot of these stories have these things called "miracle children" where sometimes when a baby is born it just pops right out of the womb already super intelligent and able to talk and walk around, and that's how everyone knows that baby is going to be a big hero and go on to do cool shit
What about mosquitoes the size of Haast's Eagles who also sting with a necrotic and horribly painful venom?
Their saliva not only prevents coagulation but also the causes nerve damage and paralysis is some cases?
And they're as aggressive as african killer bees.
And they lay eggs inside living creatures which compels them to drink blood until the larvae burst from the victims ears, mouth, nose, anus, and urethra.
That'd be cool, right?
Ah yeah, stuff like Kirikou
youtube.com
Don't forget giant spiders and were-insert feline species that actually lives in Africa here.
And Zulus.
Oh God where to begin?
Ozidi, Mwindo, Jeki, some random hero child from an Ashanti folktale, Lianja, Kambili, Liongo, Sudika-Mbambi, Hlakanyana, etc
It's a favorite theme along with "the big game monster hunt"
Or you could grow up and stop being an asshole, user.
Don't be afraid of anachronisms
African fairytales and legends love mixing wildly different eras
In one version of sundiata the evil wizard is vanquished with a musket ball (dipped in the blood of his totem animal). In one of the Fang epics they battle men in iron suits who use slave labor to build railroads. The Mbundu told a story about a man in "ancient" times who wrote a letter asking for the daughter of the moon to marry.
So go ahead, throw in football and cellphones.
Nyambe
>in a land where all the KANGZ stories are actually true
You mean adventures in the USA?
WE
SOME