Populating a tropical archipelago

[Tonguez]

Perhaps a nice little trade cartel, with amphibious races (e.g. sahuagin) harvesting pearls, which they pass on to a humanoid land-based tribe, which pawns them to pirates, with food, weapons and slaves going the other way. Gives the PCs something to interrupt (good) or muscle in on (bad or ugly).


I'll start work on my slow Jamaican accent.

Depending on the size of the Island you can have a variety of zones and in particularily mountainous islands (like the Marquesas) some valleys might be inaccessible and form distinct micro-climates

Anyway in one of the Tropical Islands imc the zones include
1. Deep Aquatic - were lurks Sekola the Shark god
2. Reef - where the Sahuagin have their lair
3. Coastal - the area of human habitation. IMC two distinct regions
4. Jungle - populated by Giant lizards and velociraptors and insectoids
5. High Mountain - home of Ogres (NB Hawaii has Snow on its High Mountains)
6. Swamp - home of the goblins
7. Leeward Desert - yes deserts can exist as can scorpions and two Palm dryads. IMC the desert was also a Makatea (infertile coral badlands)
8. Volcanic Badlands - hot sulfur pools, larges areas of sharp obsidian rock, magma elementals and dragons
9. Underground - the Cave of Spiders imc

 

[taliesin15]

Aren't Zombies in the real world in fact created from toxins found in blowfish off the coast of Haiti? (not to mention the witch doctor involved...)

 

[Wik]

Glad someone mentioned sharks--don't neglect killer whales

Hate to nitpick, but Killer Whales are not a tropical mammal - they live near where I live (Vancouver Island, British Columbia), and while it can be warm, it's most definately NOT tropical.

***

To answer the question, I think setting the game on a series of unconnected but close tropical islands and atolls would be a lot of fun - PCs would have to use rafts and swim skills to move from Island to Island. Crabmen near a coral reef could be fun (*south park voice:*crabpeoplecrabpeoplecrabpeople). Demons summoned near the volcanoes would be fun, too. And don't forget pirates!

Also, check out Phanatons. I don't know where you could find 'em, but they're this great little race of monkey people. Grippli (intelligent, small-sized frog people) are one of my favourites, as well.

 

[Brimshack]

I like to think of a shallow reef as a kind of sylvan setting in its own right, not the least of reasons being all the beautiful sea life that swims around in them. If you can imagine a Dryad protecting some magical meadow, then why not put a Nixie or some comparable creature in a special reef. So, I adapted a Fey creature or 2 to that setting. Combined with Stormwrack, a few little creatures here and there are enough to get a flavor of the setting.

The folks at the Hawaiian Gamers website gave me some great suggestions for Polynesian Monsters as well. Nightstalkers and (well a few I won't attempt to spell without looking them up first). I think some kind of Ogres pop up in pretty much every people's legend. I do think a Polynesian sort of wereshark would be a great twist. The idea of a guy with something over his shoulders warning you to be careful of sharks before you head out to the coast. ...roll sense motive (No reason).

 

[Hairfoot]

To answer the question, I think setting the game on a series of unconnected but close tropical islands and atolls would be a lot of fun - PCs would have to use rafts and swim skills to move from Island to Island.

That's what I'm hoping. A day's adventure might include a volcano dungeon, a trudge through a swamp, canoe rides through monster-infested straits, deck-to-deck fighting on a pirate galleon, and a steep climb into the mountains.

The first player to say "can I surf on my greatshield?" summons Demogorgon.

If anyone knows of any web resources for maps or good terrain photos, please point me at them.

 

[Brimshack]

Are you wiling to try testing some new stuff?

 

[Hairfoot]

Always. But no warforged - they rust on the beach.

 

[Brimshack]

...and sink to the bottom.

Anyway, I've just finished drafting 25 pages of sea creatures and some prestige classes for a seagoing adventure. Now I'm moving on to do 25 pages of Polynesian stuff, but I'm still looking for game testing on the sea creatures. It's about a dozen creatures of various types and 5 classes. You posted your OP here on the same day I finished the last of teh current batch. If you're interested, try dropping me an email at danielwall@earthlink.net

 

[Hairfoot]

That'd be great. I'm at work now, but I'll email ASAP. Cheers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something else to think about...

Pistol and Mantis shrimp are tiny- no more than 6" long, but even at that size, they could injure even an armored person. Pistol Shrimp can use their claws to create a tiny sonic boom and stun their prey. Some Mantis shrimps (a close relative) can punch with a force equivalent to a .22 bullet- they've been known to punch holes in the thick, tempered glass of aquariums.

Now...scale that up to monster size...