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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kankichi" data-source="post: 2458912" data-attributes="member: 11319">In regards to whether a fantasy setting or a real world setting is done, I do not believe a strict adaptation of the real world would be as fun as a fantasy setting.  Just as the standard Medieval fantasy setting does not usually strictly adhere to European life of the time, I believe that a similar balance can be struck here.  In the end, I suppose the question is what is the purpose of this work?  Fun or Fact?  Not that they are mutually exclusive, just that it would direct us in one direction that would override one over the other in a possible conflict.I was thinking that perhaps we could take a page out of Dark Sun's book in terms of weaponry.  Obsidian tools were available in Hawaii, it is possible you could extrapolate it to include weapons.  Now for more mindless recollections on my part:In Hawaii, land was organized in strips called ahapua'a.  They started from the top of the mountain all the way to the sea.  The idea being that each ahapua'a was subsistent.  There used to be a picture in elementary schools here of how this worked, great visual.  Anyway, typically a water source would run down through the strip of land.  Water for drinking would be collected at the top, while bathing would occur further down the stream, followed by washing of things and then dumping stuff out to see that needed to go that way.  The village would typically be at the beach and the social strata would seem to increase as we head north.  Meaning that the higher up in the ahapua'a one lived, the higher your status.  This was an undoubtably idealized version of how it ran, but it gives you an idea of what you might want to consider.  Another thing I remembered was that Hawaii has things called places of refuge.  In my town, we have a small island just off the shore in Hilo Bay called Coconut island.  Today, there's a bridge that goes over so families can picnic and such, but in times past it was an island of refuge.  Apparently when one broke the law or a kapu you could escape the consequences by fleeing to a place of refuge.  In this case, the island was said to be surrounded by shark infested waters so if you made it there alive, you were safe.  Usually, it seems that you could leave the place of refuge when whoever was after you gave up or so.  I'm sure there is more to it than that, but that's what I remember.  A twist on the traditional sanctuary I suppose.  The great thing about living on the island of Hawaii, is the number of environments that can be found here.  We have desert, tropical jungle, mountains, and even snow.  So it could provide different kinds of adventrues.  With the volcano active here, you usually here things about Pele, the goddess of fire.  Its been a while, but I remember when I was a kid seeing these things called Pele's Hair and Pele's Tears.  Basically these were small pieces of glass that rained down.  Pele's Hair looked like hair, but was hard to see and if you stepped on it, you slice yourself.  Pele's Tears were like small hail stones, the size of marbles, but they were also sharp and you could get hurt from those as well.  Of all the deities, Pele has the most stories I know of.  How she turned a group of people into a petrified forest, how she spared a home by having lava flow around it.  It is said that you can't take a rock off this island without asking permission from her or you will get bad luck.  Perhaps something for flavor would be land surfing?  There is a story about how Pele competed with a man who boasted that he was better at it than she was.  For mortals, land surfing involved a lot of grass going down a hill.  For Pele, it meant travelling on lava.  Well, I think that's it for now.  I hope this is of some use.  If not, just let me know.  Or if there is something you'd rather hear about instead.  I'm just typing stuff that I think might help.</blockquote>

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