Pseudo-Australasian campaign settings?

[HeavenShallBurn]

And dry, dusty heat, of course.

Until about 30,000 years ago the climate was actually very wet and well forested across most of the continent according to what I've read on Australian paleohistory. (Which isn't as much as I'd like to but my University is small and doesn't exactly have the best library. Even using Interlibrary Loan much more seems to be available on Europe/Asia than Australia.)

 

[Crothian]

Rifts version is actually pretty cool. It does have an in land sea but has plenty of a mad max feel. I thought it was one of their better world books.

For an interesting near future sci fi version there is the novel Getting Back by William Dietrich. It though has no fantasy elements in it.

 

[Ry]

/thinks Hairfoot needs to turn on his private messages or e-mailability.

[sblock=Psst, to Hairfoot]Hey Hairfoot - re: Australasian settings

The Great Hundred is a project to make an exotic open content fantasy setting. So far the influences are Mesopotamia and India but there's room for all kinds of australasian goodness. The project is still early on, and I'm not advertising it far and wide as yet but if you're interested check out

http://www.greathundred.org[/sblock]

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Some names from Aborignal folklore that come to me:
Tiddigulp (anglicised?) a frog that drank all the water in the world and refused to share it until made to laugh so hard that he threw up all the water. (mmm, vomit water)
The Rainbow Serpent. A huge, malicious beast. When it was killed it's body formed the coloured beaches around Noosa.
The Devil Dingo. A really, really big dingo. Eat more than just your baby. Killed by two hero brothers.
The Three Sisters. These beautiful women refused the sexual advances of a powerful shaman and were turned to stone.
The Dreaming. This is frequently mis-represented as being a long ago mythological time. It is actually more like a parallel world that mirrors the real world. Or perhaps the real world mirrors it. The two are very much intertwined. The real world cannot exist without the Dreaming. Not so sure if the Dreaming needs the real world. "Dreaming" is an Anglicised name that may make us think it is in some way unreal. Not so, the Dreaming is very real. In many ways more so: The creatures/people of the Dreaming are in many ways similar to Platonic Ideals.

The following is my take only. No offense intended to anyone and if I'm wrong I'm happy to be corrected:
Remember that classic quote: "Am I man dreaming he's a butterfly? Or a butterfly dreaming he's man?" A tribal Aboriginal person wouldn't need to ask him/herself that. They are both simultaneously. If your ancestors were birds you are still a bird and in the Dreaming can take bird shape.

Bunyip: a malicious and dangerous water beast.
Wulguru: can't remember exactly but very bad and very powerful

OOH: I just remembered: there was an old 3rd ed Call of Cthulu supplement for Australia. "The Dreaming" IIRC. That was a fantastic source (as were all the old CoC supplements I ever saw.) If you can find that you'll be set.

And in terms of other media I can recommend 2 movies: Walkabout (circa 1970) and Ten Canoes (2006). Ten Canoes is subtitled and a very traditional Aboriginal story. Walkabout is more the white kids get lost in the desert and meet an Aboriginal boy. But both are good and can give you an idea of style, especially if you've not been exposed to much Aboriginal culture. ACtually there was an old episode of Skippy (oh stop groaning ) that has stuck in my mind all these years. An old aboriginal man is wishing himself to death because he's been scared by an evil spirit (actually the ranger's chopper but we'll ignore that shocking bit of sterotyping.) It worked to give an idea of the different way of thinking from European culture.

hope some of this helps,
cheers.

 

[Testament]

Some names from Aborignal folklore that come to me:
The Rainbow Serpent. A huge, malicious beast. When it was killed it's body formed the coloured beaches around Noosa.

And in terms of other media I can recommend 2 movies: Walkabout (circa 1970) and Ten Canoes (2006). Ten Canoes is subtitled and a very traditional Aboriginal story. Walkabout is more the white kids get lost in the desert and meet an Aboriginal boy. But both are good and can give you an idea of style, especially if you've not been exposed to much Aboriginal culture. ACtually there was an old episode of Skippy (oh stop groaning ) that has stuck in my mind all these years. An old aboriginal man is wishing himself to death because he's been scared by an evil spirit (actually the ranger's chopper but we'll ignore that shocking bit of sterotyping.) It worked to give an idea of the different way of thinking from European culture.

hope some of this helps,
cheers.

A huge number of Aboriginal tribes have legends that mention The Rainbow Serpent, and all (that I know of) relate to water in some way. Not really suprising given the whole Rainbow thing. In some its malicious, in others its benevolent. It really runs the gamut.

And let me echo the recommendation for Ten Canoes.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I like the movie "The Last Wave" by Peter Weir, which is a cool movie as well. Aboriginal magic, ancient civilizations and a prophecy.