Hawaiian Flavor type game?

[BiggusGeekus]

Shadowrun in 94 I think it was came out with a very richly described Hawaii for their world. It was more fantasy in flavor then the usual dark future of Shadowrun.

Wasn't that Cyberpirates?

 

[Crothian]

Wasn't that Cyberpirates?

that name doesn't sound right, but I no longer have the book and have only vague recolections of it. I do remember the whale totems though, they were cool.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

Though not exclusively Hawaiian, The Bane Ledger and the Bane Ledger II both have some Polynesian monsters in them.

Arms and Armor of the Stone Age features some weapons and armor from Polynesia.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This really seems like a perfect PDF product. (Hint, hint, Tonguez!)

 

[The_Fan]

First of all, no technology above neolithic. Very advanced neolithic tech, but neolithic nonetheless. The best weapons should be spears. No swords. Some stone knives. Clubs and maces exist, and morningstars would be replaced by shark-toothed clubs.

Culturally, it was very comprabale to feudal Europe. There was a royal warrior caste, a priestly caste, and peasants underneath.

Interestingly, the king's royal body guards were the Makini, warriors who needed no armor and fought mostly barehanded. Very comprable to monks. They even had a concept of a mystical life-force that empowered them to fight, calling it mana. Change the names and the monk can fit pretty well.

One thing that should be emphasized is the importance of taboos. You can only fish at certain times. Men and women do not eat together. Never step on the shadow of a ali'i (ruler). Violation of these taboos can bring ruin to community, so justice for breaking them is swift and brutal.

 

[Tonguez]

First of all, no technology above neolithic. Very advanced neolithic tech, but neolithic nonetheless. The best weapons should be spears. No swords. Some stone knives. Clubs and maces exist, and morningstars would be replaced by shark-toothed clubs.
.

Hawaiian culture is advanced maritime neolithic, no metals or clay use and no use (or need) of the wheel. No land mammals (other than Pig, dog, rat and bat). Advanced ship building and stellar navigation techniques.

As to weapons very little use of missile weapons (slings and javelins were used, but bow and arrow were reserved for hunting and sport rather than war)
Also I'd say this is an effective equivalent to a sword

As to working on a PDF I'd be willing to collaborate with someone(s) to create such a thing (ie I can do the fluff not so good with the mechanics)

 

[XCorvis]

I was hoping to run an Iron Heroes game set in a pseudo-polynesian setting - I'd be interested in what you come up with!

 

[Kankichi]

Hello,

I'm not sure what kind of information you are looking for, but seeing as I'm born and raised in Hawaii, I'll help any way I can. I'm not a Hawaiiana expert by any stretch, but it's part of the education system here and I can probably dig up a few old texts and such. Maybe even from memory.

So ask away and I shall do my best to serve.

 

[Turanil]

Now if anyone wanted to collaborate on developing such a setting I'd be in

As to working on a PDF I'd be willing to collaborate with someone(s) to create such a thing (ie I can do the fluff not so good with the mechanics)

I am all for it. (And I can do art and layout!!)

First of all, I can read this French Tahiti Legends game and see the good ideas to take inspiration from. Then, I have a New-Age book that describes many things (probably a mixture of real and false things) about ancient Tahiti religion, magic, and mysticism. Just for example: about warriors who would be buried alive in some sacred place to thereafter act as spirit guardians defending the place forever. Plus many things about monoliths that have magical powers, etc.

I would say, let have this be a "fantasy polynesian-like d20 stuff" rather than accurate description of Hawai legends. The first things that cross my mind:
-- Mana is originally a polynesian term. Maybe this would have to be a spell-point system?
-- Kahuna (Hawaian shamans) will have to be featured.
-- Rangers adapted so they can have sharks as animal companions, and can track things in the ocean, and find their way across the ocean.
-- Maori barbarians of course...
-- And then, add to this an archipelago (setting) that can be used either as a full Polynesian-only setting, or a place for sea-based adventures with pirates (so, for example, you could use it with your copy of Skulls & Bones).

 

[Turanil]

I have been thinking this for a Polynesian d20 supplement:

Aside from all the setting's info and fluff, it must have rules info:
-- How the races fit in such a setting (example: sea-elves obviously).
-- How the classes fit in such a setting (probably with variants in the same template as in Unearthed Arcana p.47-57; e.g.: Kahuna is a druid variant and Tahua a cleric variant; nobody knows about metal armors).

But now I was thinking, to also propose setting variants:
-- How about a Polynesian archipelago where the natives are elves (aquatic elves and wood elves), and the only humans are colonists from afar, essentially pirates and mariners?
-- Polynesian myths tend to see two kinds of supernatural powers: 1) calling on gods and spirits (so Kahuna and Tahua, see above); 2) Mana. However, Mana is all supernatural powers, including that of the monk for example. So, I was thinking that there wouldn't be arcane magic among fantasy-polynesian people, but psionics instead. Psions and the like would replace wizards and sorcerers in other cultures. It would be a great way for a DM to introduce psionics when he doesn't know which place to allow them. (Of course, if a DM doesn't use psionics, he just has to revert to sorcerers and battle-sorcerers.)

Just my 2 cents...