African Adventures: I Want More!

[Tonguez]

Interesting! I hadn't even heard the term "Sahel" before.

Technically, all the awesome Mali stuff is from a later period in history -- like the 13-14th century AD -- and my game is supposedly set around 100 BC -- but since I've already modified real history with, say, DRAGONS AND MAGIC I suppose it's okay to advance Mali to a cooler period of history...

jason

100BC - In that case you want Great Zimbabwe (IMC the Ras Benari (ie Mansa Musa) made his pilgrimage from Anziko to the Ruins of Great Zimbabwe (rather than Mecca)).

Anyway no-one really knows what the culture of Great Zimbabwe was like (except that they built in stone, were religious and had lots of gold) so you could do anything you wanted there.

Also as at 100BC Berber tribes from the Sahel had already established trade with Numidia (and Carthage before it was raized) so accelarating the existence of the Kingdom of Mali (or any of the others - Kanem -Boru was established in about 800AD) is feasable.

Also Axum and the other Ethiopian kingdoms have existed since at least 100BC

 

[William Ronald]

One thing I was somewhat disappointed about in Nyambe was the near-complete lack of gnolls. I mean, Hello: Africa? Hyenas? I was expecting more on gnoll society (maybe even a non-Yeenoghu-worshipping one), perhaps a Lost Gnoll Civilization, etc. Instead we get yet another variatin on orcs. Meh. Real-world hyenas are so weird that I feel a lot could be done with hyeana-ish monsters/races. Ursula Vernon's online comic "Digger" has a hyenaish race who keep trying to eat our heroine - I love their theology, revolving around "She-Who-Is-Fiercer" and her mate, who was corrupted by "a dark whisper" (Yeenoghu?).

Hamunaptra has the Anpur, a gnoll-like race that largely follows the god Anubis, and Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed has the sibeccai, a race of descended from desert canines who were granted intelligence by the giants of the setting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just for the record, there ARE ads for Nyambe in the back of Atlas Games' newest release, Northern Crown (roleplaying in an alternate 17th Century North America), so while they may not be printing new stuff, they ARE keeping the game in print.

Northern Crown, BTW, is a pretty good game in itself, AND uses Nyambe as its "African" setting.

Check out this thread: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=154915

 

[Mr. Patient]

One thing I was somewhat disappointed about in Nyambe was the near-complete lack of gnolls. I mean, Hello: Africa? Hyenas? I was expecting more on gnoll society (maybe even a non-Yeenoghu-worshipping one), perhaps a Lost Gnoll Civilization, etc. Instead we get yet another variatin on orcs. Meh.

Nyambe does have gnolls: the mBui, and they're listed right in the monster chapter. They get their own homeland, too, and they don't worship Yeenoghu. To be fair, the setting doesn't do a lot of innovative stuff with them, but it does give them a short backstory that differs from the usual d20 gnoll. There are also hyena shapechangers and werehyenas in the setting.

 

[JohnNephew]

Um...since when is Nyambe discontinued? Its still up on the Atlas Games site, and I still see it in the stores.

Nyambe and its two supplements (Dire Spirits and Ancestral Vault) all remain in print. It's true that we are not planning to publish more books in the line. Still, we hope it will stay on the market as the definitive "Africa analogue" d20 supplement for years to come.

-John Nephew
President, Atlas Games