D&D 5E Fantasy Africa

Derren · Sep 17, 2018

Nagol said:
There were two main African trading powers later. The first was the Islamic golden age where the Arab empire controlled 75% of the sea 800 - 1100 AD. The second is barely a footnote in history and I always have some difficulty in finding it. The Hanseanic League launched a war that completely obliterated an African nation because it started to compete along the trade routes. The League did a very good job of it and it wasn't until modern times the ruins were recognized for what they were.

ETA I call the Arab empire African is this case because much of the feet and direction came from Al Andulas and Morocco. It held territory up to Sicily and the main centres were in the Middle east.

When and where did this war supposedly happen?
I find it very hard to believe that a North Sea trade league could project enough force to Africa to not only wage a war down there but to actually topple a nation. Nor do I see any reason why they would have done so as their interests were far away from Africa.

Nagol · Sep 18, 2018

Derren said:
When and where did this war supposedly happen?
I find it very hard to believe that a North Sea trade league could project enough force to Africa to not only wage a war down there but to actually topple a nation. Nor do I see any reason why they would have done so as their interests were far away from Africa.

Sigh. I'll take a look through my sources, but it'll probably take a day or two.

gyor · Sep 18, 2018

UnknownDyson said:
The highest selling movie in recent memory, Black Panther is about a fantasy Africa. Granted a black director made the movie, it's not impossible to portray a culture without stepping on the "landmines". Again, noone is calling anyone racist. Is that the narrative you want?

Actually the movie got accused of cultural appropriatation by some Africans for using African American actors, so even it stepped on a PC landmind. Still the best Marvel Movie I've ever seen IMO, loved it.

Honestly when I look at Chult I don't think of Africa, then think of the TV show the Lost World of Sir Conan Doyle. The Chultans have some African influences, yes, but they are only a part of the region, nothing else really says Africa, the Wild Dwarves are Shield Dwarves, you have Dinosaurs, and strange Cat Monsters, and tribes of Bird Men, and lost tribes of Goblins, and weird Yuan Ti snake cultists, and a zombie infested jungle unfit for humans, how do that say African stereotype to you, I just don't get it.

TwoSix · Sep 18, 2018

Aldarc said:
Presumably in such a setting, blink dogs cry out in the night as they grow restless longing for some mercenary company and the PCs know that they must do what's right, as sure as White Plume Mountain rises like Olympus above the Flanaess Shield Lands.

The fact that this post doesn't have 10 laughs is a travesty. I mean, it's going to take a lot to drag me away from this post. There's nothing that a hundred orcs or more could ever do.

Gardens & Goblins · Sep 18, 2018

TwoSix said:
The fact that this post doesn't have 10 laughs is a travesty. I mean, it's going to take a lot to drag me away from this post. There's nothing that a hundred orcs or more could ever do.

Stop it. The pair of you.

You're both being Totolly silly.

Eltab · Sep 18, 2018

Gardens & Goblins said:
You're both being Totolly silly.

At least they aren't using the non-authentic (too much electronic instrumentation) remake.

Gradine · Sep 18, 2018

First off, read fantasy by African and African-descended authors. Balogun Ojetade, N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor. Track down re-tellings of oral histories and folk stories (Anansi being a good place to start, also Indaba, My Children). The more your research focuses on primary (and descendant) accounts and less on western anthropology or, heaven forbid, pulp fiction, the better off you'll be.

There's also Ubantu, which a short hop down the Google rabbit hole reveals to be one of the better takes on an African-inspired (specifically based on the Bantu culture) setting.

gyor · Sep 20, 2018

Gradine said:
First off, read fantasy by African and African-descended authors. Balogun Ojetade, N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor. Track down re-tellings of oral histories and folk stories (Anansi being a good place to start, also Indaba, My Children). The more your research focuses on primary (and descendant) accounts and less on western anthropology or, heaven forbid, pulp fiction, the better off you'll be.

There's also Ubantu, which a short hop down the Google rabbit hole reveals to be one of the better takes on an African-inspired (specifically based on the Bantu culture) setting.

I wouldn't look down your nose too hard at pulp fiction, it is popular for reasons, you could use, just as a spicy and not as primary source. After all it still has to appeal to a Western audience, so adding a few pulp elements might help to achieve that.

Even Black Panther mixes in stuff like superheroes and fantasy and scifi tropes among other things to act as a bridge to Western audiences.

Gradine · Sep 20, 2018

gyor said:
I wouldn't look down your nose too hard at pulp fiction, it is popular for reasons, you could use, just as a spicy and not as primary source. After all it still has to appeal to a Western audience, so adding a few pulp elements might help to achieve that.

Yeah, I can't really disagree with that, especially, as you say, you are simply using some of (hopefully more benign) trappings as a spice and not taking the entirety of their depictions wholesale. I have my own reasons to have distaste for the genre, even outside the typical (though by no means universal) reinforcement of extremely negative racist/sexist stereotypes, and not every pulp trope is actively harmful to the already marginalized.