Races for an African-style campaign?

[Tonguez]

About 20 yrs ago I did a whole lot of research on African myth for my homebrew (I've really got to find that folder!)

Anyway what I remember of hand is mostly human and lots of animal-based shapechangers (so Aranea work well as do Eberrons Shifters).

There is a dwarfish race who are said to live underwater (in rivers) and to eat people (aquatic goblin?) -but not to be confused with the Tikoloshe 'demon' (which you must use in any Afrikan game)

I also used Iskandrya a golden skinned psychic race (based on legends of a golden skinned general who marched with Alexander the Great when he was in africa)

I also used Gnolls (anubis people), Mangani Apemen (brachiating bugbears ) and four armed half-giants (so goliath might work) as well...

 

[|)ar|{]

Lets see... off the top of my head:

Humans - gotta have humans
Elfs - wild elves or wood elves stat wise
Halflings - Eberron style only maybe without the dinos
Dwarfs / Gnomes - nahh I don't see them working
Shifters - yes but with african animal themes but otherwise same mechanics
Half-orc - maybe but there has got to be something more themed

That leaves room for a tough earthy race, a small magical one and a strong ugly one. So how about:

Lexidon type class - +con -dex, similar to dwarf in abilities minus stone cunning plus a nat armor or two
OA spirit folk - give them a african theme and I think they work better than a gnome for a magical type race
Primative - Half orc stats on a primative man. or perhaps the neandertal from frostburn minus the cold adaption stuff. might work if you wanna leave orcs out of your game.

edit - Just read tonguez post I like the goldskinned race thing I'd go Elan. I just love Elan.

 

[Nareau]

Check out http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/africa/african/articles.html. I've used it extensively in my African/Japanese homebrew.

Much of African folklore an mythology seems to be based around either animals or really weird spirits (ie, with 7 eyes and 3 arms, and maybe a few extra heads thrown in for good measure).

In the campaign world I've set up, there are two categories of sentient creature: Man (elves, actually) and Orisha. There are also a bunch of half-breeds. If you're interested in some of the stuff I've used, check out the campaign wiki: http://www.the5thcircle.com/najoban/

Finally, if you're looking to add other flavor to your campaign, you might want to use this online Swahili translator: http://www.yale.edu/swahili/home.html. It's a great source for NPC/place/race names.

Nareau

 

[Mistwell]

Check out Monte Cooks Arcana Evolved. Their races section has a lot of great choices for an African campaign, including Litorians (feline people), Sibeccai (canine people), mojh and dracha (reptilian people), and some other races easily adapted to such a setting.

And, since it was/is a supported setting, they have miniatures of these races as well.

See:

http://paizo.com/store/games/miniatures/miniaturesForRoleplaying/arcanaUnearthedEvolved&page=all

 

[zerotkatama]

Another option for the shapeshifters, if you were to go that route, might be the Hengaiyokai from Oriental Adventures. Also, considering there's a WereCrocodile in Sandstorm, croc-based Shifters might not be a bad idea.

 

[Huw]

Gnolls. Hyenas play a similar role in some African mythologies to wolves and werwolves in Europe, so gnolls'll fit right in.

 

[Turanil]

Any suggestions?

Most races from Arcana Evolved seem to apply very well. Just tell the Verrick's skin isn't red, but deep brown (while other human are milk chocolate).

I have Nyambe too, and also agree that its adapted elves/dwarves/etc. races are uninspiring, even cheesy.

 

[smootrk]

Hamunaptra offers a good assortment of races for a Northern Africa, although like Turanil, I would drop the Dwarf, Elf, Gnome aspects. The version of Gnoll offered there is quite nice.

Catfolk, Vanara, Litorian, and spirit folk are all very good suggestions. You might supplement the human races with a couple of variants that might have a few mechanical changes from the norm (Pygmies come to mind, or maybe Zulu type tribes) such as Stat modifiers or Class skill changes.

Any of the suggested races in this thread should have some cultural tweaks to make them fit well with the setting - the Vanara come to mind as needing a few varieties such as massive Gorilla types (who happen to be Vegetarian and peaceful normally), Warlike Baboon clans, the social and intelligent Chimp types (reminds me of Planet of the Apes Cornelius and Vera), and even some obscure tribes like Mandrills or even other 'tailed' types of monkeyfolk. Even the Hadorzee (spelling) from the Stormwrack book can be fit into this grouping of races.

 

[Odhanan]

If you don't mind checking out a supplement for a completely different game and use it as an inspiration for some creatures/races of your African-styled homebrew, you could check out Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom - A sourcebook on Africa for Vampire: The Masquerade. Some things there could be adapted, like its Akunanse, various original Disciplines and such. Good book throughout.

 

[Trench]

I almost forgot. There's also Giff from the seplljammer world which are basically hippo-men.