Native American Environments

[mmadsen]

The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico

I have always wondered why there have never really been any worthwhile supplements for a Native American setting. The recent Nyambe, has, for all that I have heard, finally done for Africa that which has for so long been lacking. Why hasn't anyone been able to design and market a really cool setting and campaign sourcebook for a Native American setting, both for North and South America?

AD&D had the Maztica setting, but I can't comment on it; I don't own it. GURPS definitely had an Aztec supplement, but, again, I don't own it, so I can't comment.

If you want to read a truly excellent (and exciting!) book on the Aztecs (and the end of their empire), The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico was written by one of Cortes's men in his old age. It reads like a novel. It's also eerie just how similar the Conquistadors were to D&D adventurers, going from place to place, killing(with "magic" weapons and armor) and looting, making some allies, then leading a big attack on the supervillain's castle (Mexico city, built on a lake in an extinct volcano).

 

[Silver Moon]

I have always wondered why there have never really been any worthwhile supplements for a Native American setting.

There was at least one. It was written back in 1991 for 2nd Edition. I am referring to the Gazetteer game accessory series, to Gaz 14 "The Atruaghin Clans" by William W. Connors. It is a well written 64-pages booklet that is based upon the Native American cultures of North and Central America.

I would also suggest anyone interested in running a game with a Native American setting read any of the 10-volume "People of the...." series by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. It is historical fiction based upon Native American culture from 13,000 B.C. until 1,300 A.D., with the focus of each novel in a different georgraphical region of North America.

 

[barsoomcore]

Hello, SHARK.

To answer your question, the main reason is lack of information. We simply don't know very much about what life was like before Europeans arrived here because there are so few records of it. Egypt has yielded up her secrets through the hieroglyphs, and Sub-Saharan Africa is slowly getting exposed through archaeology and anthropology and just talking to the existing people and tracing their stories back -- but all of that is very difficult in North and South America.

In the first place because there are so few people left. Whether the figure was 90% or 50% or whatever, the fact is that there is almost nobody left who continues to preserve the cultural heritage of the many nations that once covered this land. At least in Africa those nations still exist, separated though they have been by imposed borders and petty colonialists and local tyrants. But in the Americas, not only were the populations decimated to some degree by disease, alcoholism, and genocide, but the in many cases the survivors were taken away from their culture and the children were raised as European, with no knowledge of their own heritage.

I'm not being a big ol' bleeding heart here, but the fact is we know very little about pre-colonial life in North America and those are the reasons why. Some of them, anyway.

That said, Barsoom fortunately suffers from no such depressing tragedies. The Yshakan nation, holding the bountiful northern plains, has long been immune to the depredations of the Empire of Kish. Even traders seeking their fine worked goods must be cautious, for the Yshakans are proud warriors and their nation is a morass of tribal politics so that making a deal with one group is no guarantee that another will allow you passage. In fact, if you make a deal with the wrong group, you may find yourself being hunted by the others! The Yshakans consider themselves the children of the one goddess, who delivered them from certain death at the hands of the dragons who once walked the earth. As such, their natural superiority over all other, lesser, humans is self-evident. To them, at least.

The Yshakans are sort of a combination of Plains Indian cultures with the city-building religious hierarchies of the Aztecs. The party hasn't explored their country yet, but oh, they will. Not this season, I don't think, but very likely the next one...

 

[Reprisal]

Being descendant of the First Nations people of the Pacific Northwest, I've been interested in finding out the history of -- at the very least -- my people and the surrounding area. It seems to me that not many people tend to think about the natives of this particular area when they think about Native Americans. Generally speaking, it would seem logical to think about the Sioux, Hopi, or the Mohawks rather than the Salish, Tsimshian or the Haida.

The going is rather difficult, since I'm somewhat removed from the people who would know these things... (My grandparents left the reserve around 1960 to continue the educaton of my mother, aunt and two uncles.) If it's one thing I regret, it's the lack of the development of a writing system in my corner of the globe...

- Rep.

 

[mythusmage]

Forced assimilation is never a good idea. Then you have those occasions when American Indians* tried adapting to the White Man's ways, only to get dumped on anyhow. The Cherokee for example, whom some considered more white than the Whites. (BTW, there is a Cherokee band still living in Georgia, nobody wanted their land, so they got to stay.) Even today the Indians are still working through the shock of conquest, with the U.S. government and so-called do gooders doing their best to insure our aborigines stay dependent on them.

Now for a mini rant: I am a Native American. Yes, my ancestry is as Western European as you can get, but I was born in this land, my ancestors back 8 generations or more were born in this land. I am a Native American, and I resent the implication that I somehow don't belong here. I am just as native as anybody who's forefathers came over Beringia millennia ago. This is my home. This is where I was born and where I shall die. I will never kowtow to the guilt trippers and the politically correct. What was done in the past cannot be undone, no matter how hard one bemoans the wrongs inflicted upon a people. It is time we started dealing with the present, and the generations to come. Let the dead bury the dead, be you concerned with the living.

*On one of the last good episodes of Politically Incorrect with Bill Mahr Bill had a pair of American Indian activists on. The two men dominated the conversation, which is probably why Mr. Delicate Ego didn't have them back on again.

In any case, Bill asked them both what they preferred to be called. They looked at each other, and admitted that neither was comfortable with "Native American" as applied to the American Aborigine, since it excluded millions of people who were, whatever their race, native born Americans. Then one pointed out that until the White Man came, they had never thought of themselves as a people. So they had never invented a word for themselves as a people. So the two of them figured that "Indian" was a good a term as any.

So all you Indians out there, be proud of it. You've got tons to be proud of.

A Proud Native American Who Sunburns on Overcast Days

 

[Kaiyosama]

I asked the same question before.

Here it is:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38409

You know, Nyambe started as a fan project...

What do you think about the recent theory that the Amazon rain forest was in fact a giant native garden... yup, man made

 

[rounser]

IIRC, there was a Dungeon mag adventure called Ghost Dance set in Greyhawk which focused on the Rovers of the Barrens, and seemed decidedly native american in theme.

 

[Snoweel]

I can't say much on the 'Native American' evidence but do know that here in NZ that there are documented cases of 'Native' village populations going from 600 to 40 in one week due to the outbreak of influenza - something like 94% (Luckily my ancestors were amongst the survivors)

Hey cuz!

Wow, Tonguez - I knew you ran a mystical Polynesia type setting, but always assumed you were Hawaiian or maybe a Polynesia-obsessed American.

Fancy that?!? A gamer of Pacific Islander descent - I thought I already knew the only one who ever existed; my foster brother is Samoan.

Or are you Maori?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Y'know, I'm kinda a sucker for cultural d20 settings.

You have FR for a very good mythic medieval europe feel.

You have Nyambe for an EXCELLENT African feel

You have Oriental Adventures for a superb far-easter flavor
----

Thigs that I'd be willing to write/buy:

*Something on Middle/South America. I ran a campaign heavily influenced by SA mythos last year...Yuan-ti, kobolds wearing feathers, great flying serpents....ah, it was beautiful!

*Something on the New World before it was totally dominated. THIS would have to be quite large, as the differences are much more telling than they are in many other regions...

*Something in the pacific islands/ancient Aulstralia. This'd be fun.

*Something on the bronze age Greeks...this product nearly writes itself, we have so much derivative material.

*Something on the Biblical era, or on a heavily Monotheistic Heavan/Hell of the medieval times/rennaisence. This is what I'm currently working on for my new campaign, though it's a while down the road. You wouldn't even have to step on many toes -- the likes of Dante and Milton give you a cohesive universe, and people like Chaucer, CS Lewis, Tolkien, Spencer, Shakespeare, etc. can fill the temporal with lots of interestin' things.

*Something on pre-Roman Conquest norse tribes....juicy Ragnarok!

*A decently done steampunk campaign setting

Yippee for it all! Anyone want to have me help write this? Or just want to sell it to me? ^_^

 

[sword-dancer]

Helll SHARK

I don`t own it but GURPS Wild West could be a good source.
Rifts had bring out Spirit West, it`s pure fantasy but it could help.