Plains Indian adventures

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
In no particular order:

1) Seconding Northern Crown- excellent RPG & resource for such a game.

2) Take a look at the game Deadlands- a Western FRPG. It exists in its original form as well as a D20 form.

3) Even though its technically more "South American" and its 2Ed, there's nothing wrong with lifting stuff from Maztica. There were some cultural overlaps, after all, between South and North American native cultures. Think of it more as a sliding scale of cultures instead of a bunch of discrete cultures.

4) As long as people are suggesting fiction, check out the Fallen Cloud Saga series of books by Kurt R. A. Giambastiani.

5) If you're looking for classes to include, Brb & Rgr seem obvious. Also check out the various Shaman classes for your primary Divine casters (instead of Druids or Clerics). The Oriental Adventures one may be too easternized to work with, but it does have the nice mechanic of giving the PC a spirit guide. That could easily be considered a Manitou or Totem.

Other than that, the Spirit Shaman and the Shaman from Kingdoms of Kalamar would both work quite well.

If you're willing to look outside of D&D, also check out the AU/AE Greenbond.

6) For critters, templated animals- Dire, Legendary, Celestial, Infernal, Giant, Multiheaded, Elemental, etc.- will get you a long way. In addition, chimearic critters (Owlbears, for instance) and aberrations would fit into your setting as Things That Should Not Be, resultant from the abuse of magic and warping of nature.

7) Thematically, I'd go with the worldview set forth in the 1Ed barbarian: Divine magic is feared but respected and trusted, but Arcane magic is EEEEEVIL!
 

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dougmander

Explorer
Northern Crown is indeed out of print, but you can still find it fairly easily, I think. it focuses on cultures east of the Mississippi, and it's set in a vaguely 17th century world. The horse-riding plains cultures were in their infancy during that time and they weren't my priority -- I was trying to make an "Eastern" as opposed to a Western.

The Thunderbird might figure prominently in your campaign. Thunderbirds are good-aligned. Undead types akin to wraiths and spectres seem to pop up frequently as baddies, ditto for shape-changers like werewolves.

If I had to write an adventure set on the plains, I'd make it some kind of vision quest that crossed over into the spirit world, where the characters battled undead and evil fey.

Thanks to the good things you all said about my work!
 

JustKim

First Post
Some Native American monsters:
Those are great, thanks! I'll have to use the thunderbird and uktena.

If I had to write an adventure set on the plains, I'd make it some kind of vision quest that crossed over into the spirit world, where the characters battled undead and evil fey.
This might be just the thing for a short adventure. I can work it into the the theme of the vignettes easily, and it gives me someplace to use some of D&D's dreamlike creatures and effects.
 

frankthedm

First Post
Are there any Native American adventures out there? I'm running Mystara vignettes for my game and one of the places I want to feature, the Atruaghin Clans, also happens to be one of the most undefined places in the Known World. The gazetteer describes the clans themselves and that is pretty much it. I get no inspiration at all from that.
Mystaran Geography
http://www.pandius.com/atruaghin-clans-8.png

Have wakened animals be somewhat common.

Thunderbird (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roc with lighting powers and Control weather

Horned Serpent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Linnorm dragons?

Underwater panther - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

Greg V

First Post
They were Mystara.

Tortles of the Purple Sage parts 1 & 2. They appeared in Dungeon mag #'s
6 & 7. They have a lot of grassland/ plains type stuff in them.

I think the poster may have been thinking of issue #32's "Ghost Dance" (2e) by David Howery, a classic Plains Indians adventure set among the Rovers of the Barrens of the Greyhawk setting.

In addition as the wendigo is from Algonquian mythology IIRC, it fits easily into a northern plains style campaign. Wizards did one in the 3.5 Fiend Folio, and Paizo did a much tougher version in Pathfinder #6.

The old Maztica setting hinted around at some Plains-style stuff to the north but never got around to exploring it outside of a single venture into a Southwestern/Anasazi-style culture in City of Gold (2e).
 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
Native American lore is full of shapechangers and tricksters- actually, in some ways not unlike some Western European lore of the Fey (something noticed by writers like the aforementioned Charles de Lint)- meaning races like Doppelgangers, Changelings, Hengeyokai, Shifters, and some of the various Planetouched races might be appropriate for you game...with a little tweeking.

Like the legends of Asia, you can find anthropomorphic or talking animals, so the Anthro animal rules or even Awakened creatures may show up.

Here are some links you might find useful:

Native American Trickster Tales
Native American Myths and Monsters
Native American Lore Index
Native American Indian Legends - Coyote and the Monsters of the Bitterroot Valley - Flathead
 


Mark Chance

Boingy! Boingy!
Over at d20 Pathfinder SRD in Spes Magna's Lab, there are d20 stats for the wendigo.

The Spes Magna Games newsletter Quid Novi? features a new d20 monster every other issue. The next issue e-mails shortly after midnight, December 27, and it includes another creature inspired by Native American myth.

This trend is likely to continue as I have a somewhat lengthy list of North American creatures and cryptids that demand statting. Perhaps then the voices will be silent long enough for me to get some sleep. :)
 



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