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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 789575" data-attributes="member: 7240">CWD saysI think you make some good points. Literal historical accuracy is a pointless thing to pursue. That said, I think that our modern preconceptions about pre-Columbian North America are so unhelpful that a lot of historical information about the main cultures and mythologies of the Americas would be an essential component to any half-decent game. Nyambe is a good example of the kind of game I would see as problematic. It attempts to reduce the whole of Africa into a vague cultural cliche. Ghana, the Shona and other important cultures are omitted to the detriment of creating a world that attracts people because of the diversity of cultures and adventures that exist in an African-style setting.I guess my point is that one produces far better material by digesting and understanding history and then deviating from it than by not bothering to understand the history and presenting a one-dimensional charicature.Your statement about the Mohawk makes my point very nicely:1. The Mohawks were the Guardians of the Eastern Door in the Iroquois confederacy. Their allies, the Seneca, were the Guardians of the Western Door. The Seneca mythology is, in fact, quite interested in dragons. The Meteor Fire Dragons enter into a number of Seneca stories. Thus, the Mohawks did hear stories about dragons.2. The Ethereal Plane could fit very easily into the Iroquoian conception of the soul; each person is given two souls: the animating soul and the sensitive soul. The sensitive soul leaves the body during sleep, severe illness or death and flies around the world via a shadowy otherworld. One could easily use the Ethereal Plane for this.When I'm talking about accuracy, I am simply suggesting that people base their depictions of Native Americans on their myths about themselves rather than our colonial myths about them.</blockquote>

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