D&D General Indigenous Australian-inspired D&D

[humble minion]

Is anyone aware of any sort of D&D setting or sourcebook or similar that draws mostly or entirely from indigenous Australian myth and legend? Any edition, or Pathfinder, or even any other fantasy RPG?

I've seen the odd Australian critter in monster books here and there - bunyips, thylacines, and so on, but if there's anything more than that, it's escaped my notice. I've seen a few different versions of Mesoamerica, a couple of African-inspired settings (of varying quality), and enough interpretations of Norse myth to choke Jormungandr. Even poor neglected India seems to have had more attention paid than pre-Colonial Australia.

For what it's worth, I'm Australian, non-indigenous, and probably slightly better informed about indigenous culture than most non-indigenous people, but that's really just the equivalent of saying I speak more French than most non-French people because i can say "je ne parle pas Francais" - i only really know enough to be aware of the true depths of my own ignorance. Especially if there are any indigenous Australians on here, it'd be great to hear their thoughts on whether something like this should be done, or what it should look like if it was done.

 

[Tonguez]

Voyage of the Princess Ark, Dragon # 186 made a visit to the Wallara Tribesman who looked human but with scales that changed colour and allowed them to dissapear from sight. The Chameleon men are blatantly Aboriginal and the first encounter involves a Boomerang, a roo, Wallara medicine men calling a Coroboree and a curse to be healed by the Rainbow Serpent.

 

[Jadeite]

The Orc Head Peninsula sourcebook for Savage Coast has more on Wallarans, but they don't make up a major part of the setting.

 

[Tonguez]

Pandius - Official Page on Wallara

 

[humble minion]

Yeah, I am aware of the wallara, but while on the whole it's a fairly sympathetic portrayal, to be honest they make Oriental Adventures look nuanced, well-researched, and culturally aware. I was looking for something maybe a bit more recent and in-depth.

 

[Marandahir]

Not an RPG, but I high recommend trying to get your hands on the 3-volume English language original manhúa "the dreaming" by Queenie-chan, which creates a really cool fusion of western and eastern and aboriginal perspectives on Quinkans and the dream-time and the danger of going out into the bush.

Set in an old boarding school. Horror/Mystery/Fantasy series, interesting paralleling between ghosts, elves/faeries, Quinkans, and imperialism/colonialism in Australia.

I would caution that the author herself is originally from Hong Kong but moved to Australia when she was 6 years old, so that that what you will - it's not a story told directly by an aboriginal Australian writer. I'd love to find good sources for fantasy that are more closely told from a descendant's perspective.

 

[Haldrik]

A tv show, Cleverman.

 

[Tonguez]

You’re going to be hard pressed to find actual RPG material thats faithful but for novels there are:

The Red Chief bv Ion Idriess is the retelling of a true Aboriginal Legend about the rise of the Gunn-e-darr warrior Gambu Ganuurru.
Its good for giving insight into pre colonial life in NSW

Dreamtime An Aboriginal Odyssey by Nigel Clayton is about a man on walkabout 60000 years ago during the Dreamtime

 

[Voadam]

The only stuff I am familiar with only touches on it Rifts Australia.

Werewolf has a lot with the spirit world so there might be stuff in Rage Across Australia.

 

[Northern Phoenix]

The Forgotten Realms setting has its very own not-Australia (Osse), which is sparsely detailed as of yet. I think it'd be interesting to see Wotc go in depth there with an adventure and/or book, especially in these more "enlightened" times.