Indian campaign setting using 3.5

[Amurion]

Hi all, I am looking at creating a campaign world based on the north american indians before the white man ruined everything. I'm hoping to get it going for this summer and I want to get a good jump on it. I am looking at basing it in cultures of the North West coast and probably extend it through California and the peoples of the Southwest.

My problem is that I have never taken on a task of this magnitude before and would like some advice on creating this beast.

What are peoples opinions on class and race changes, game mechanics, basic world building, etc.

Basically any advice would be stupendous.

[Chrono22]

Create human subytypes. By and large, there shouldn't be any inherent differences, so add cultural ones. Racial proficiencies, skill bonuses, and even increased run speeds could work.
Also, I know it might be alot of work, but a few 5-level culture specific prestige classes could also add something to it all.
Create/find a TON of new and more specific uses for survival.

To be honest, I wouldn't allow any of the dnd base classes (as written) for such a setting. All of them are very defined by their role in an adventuring party- roles that have their origins in european culture. Making derivations on the ranger, fighter, barbarian, scout, and witch could work. Maybe feat lines or talent trees.

As for religion, and fluff... I'm no expert. You could go the route of Rokugan and have a chapter for each of the major tribes of the americas.

Question: Will supernatural monsters actually exist in your setting? Spirits? Gods? Will it be unknown, but widely believed?

[Lappy9000]

Hi all, I am looking at creating a campaign world based on the north american indians before the white man ruined everything. I'm hoping to get it going for this summer and I want to get a good jump on it. I am looking at basing it in cultures of the North West coast and probably extend it through California and the peoples of the Southwest.

My problem is that I have never taken on a task of this magnitude before and would like some advice on creating this beast.

What are peoples opinions on class and race changes, game mechanics, basic world building, etc.

Basically any advice would be stupendous.

How true do you want to be to Native American religion? I know a decent amount of the mythos from the Western/Californian tribes, particularly the Sioux. Will this be semi-historically accurate, or Western with elves? (not that there's anything wrong with the latter)

[Darkkwalker]

K. For Vancouver Island area, some bands/tribes/cheifdoms you should know.
Nuu-Chah-Nulth (western coast)
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) (North eastern coast) CHECK WIKIPEDIA. useable stuff.
Coast Sailish (south eastern coast)

There are others. just search wikipedia.
search their myths.
As for gods/demigods/mythical beasts.
very animalistic in nature.
Thunderbird
The giant whale
(some sort of sea serpent, forget the name)
Raven (very important)
the Sun is an actual item.

And if you wanna go as far north as the Charlottes
include the Haida.

Note: Some groups had camus fields, a starchy plant native to Van I. Should be importance on that. Also, Fishing rights belonged to cheifs, and were in a certain area.
Coppers (pieces of copper about the size of a human torso) were signs of wealth but weren't used to buy things.
Concept of a potlatch should be included. wiki it. coppers sometimes destroyed at events to show extreme wealth.

That is if you wanna do RP heavy. But also all this could be relevant to plot hooks/adventures to carry out. like secure camus feild of this area. Raid this potlatch at this time. and the like.

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Pacific_Northwest_Coast

[Darkkwalker]

Also keep in mind the level of technology. There wasn't much for armour. and I can't recall if bows were ever used or not.

[Amurion]

I'm hoping to stay fairly historically accurate, so no elves and whatnot. I am also hoping to include the spirits and all sorts of supernatural animals and monsters. Since these peoples believed that the supernatural directly mingled with the people, then that is what is going to be in the game. I am planning on making classes based off of historical tribal positions and hopefully having two branches of magic, clerical or good magic and sorcery/witchcraft or bad magic. I want the magic items that tribes had to actually hold power. True there might not have been much for armor, although there was some, magic items can be substituted. Magic in some way is going to be all over this campaign setting to make up for the lack of technology, which mirrors how cultures actually exist in the world.

[Darkkwalker]

Sounds good. You from around that area? or just interested?

Edit: Nevermind. see your loc. I'm from the area myself.

[Amurion]

I'm actually in the midst of a Native American anthropology class. It struck me that their culture could add some unique flavor to a role playing environment, so I am going to see if I can give it a shot.

[Sereg]

I'm very glad to see this thread. The campaign setting that I'm developing requires the use of the mythologies of several cultures, including the Native Americans. Therefore I eagerly await the results of this thread.

[hiryuu]

Note that the word "supernatural" is a bad term to use; if the "supernatural" mingles with the real world all the time, it's not supernatural anymore. It's natural. This is a concept I have lived with for a long time. Everything is alive and part of the same life; the use of dispel magic, for example, as written, would destroy reality itself. This is because D&D's magic system is very western in its origin. However, a living object likes being used for what it is for; cars like being driven and spears like being used to kill (in fact, one of my uncles once told me that spears can be crazy because as tools, they like helping people, but sometimes a spear is used to kill someone, and when you do that, you drive it mad and it becomes easier to kill with it each time because of how insane it is).

I'm Seminole, so I don't know how much help I can be to you, but here, weapons, huts, homes, towns, and domestication are natural human behaviors. You need them as much as panther has claws. Without them, you are nothing.

[Amurion]

Note that the word "supernatural" is a bad term to use; if the "supernatural" mingles with the real world all the time, it's not supernatural anymore. It's natural. This is a concept I have lived with for a long time. Everything is alive and part of the same life; the use of dispel magic, for example, as written, would destroy reality itself. This is because D&D's magic system is very western in its origin. However, a living object likes being used for what it is for; cars like being driven and spears like being used to kill (in fact, one of my uncles once told me that spears can be crazy because as tools, they like helping people, but sometimes a spear is used to kill someone, and when you do that, you drive it mad and it becomes easier to kill with it each time because of how insane it is).

I'm Seminole, so I don't know how much help I can be to you, but here, weapons, huts, homes, towns, and domestication are natural human behaviors. You need them as much as panther has claws. Without them, you are nothing.


That is a very valuable piece of insight, thanks. I guess that is more or less how I would like to portray things. That would also help with weapons, as the character levels, their main weapons would become more powerful with them, but they might also have some sort of cost involved, like how you were saying the spear slowly goes insane. If you having anything else along those lines I am all ears.

[hiryuu]

When I said "easier to kill," I sort of meant that it becomes easier to let someone else die. That is, you think less about the morality of the act as you continue to use it. However, if you spend time with the weapon, talking to it, counseling it, sharpening it, carving the wood, and comforting it, you can make it more efficient as a weapon while still maintaining its "humanity," as it were. Swords and guns are often born crazy, though (so says this same uncle, actually: "Can you kill a boar or alligator with a knife?" "Yes, but the boar is harder." "Then the only purpose of a gun or sword is to kill another man, so they are born crazy.").

Another important aspect is deals. My grandmother once told me a story about how the animals made a deal with the air to keep them alive so long as they took it in and out of their bodies; lo and behold, if you don't do that, you die (they would have died in the outside world if they left the clam without the air's help). This gives you an out for D&D's magic system, too. Every spell is a deal to be made with something or for something. Create Object, for example, makes a deal with whatever type of object you're trying to make to be there for you for a short period of time. Monetary rewards aren't money, they're favors. You don't find an enhanced spear or bow (though such things exist; heroes die, and the bows that the first hunter gave out to all the animals would certainly be special items), yours gets better as you adventure because you rack up brownie points with spears in general or with some other god who wishes to reside inside your weapon and aid it in matters of war.

[hiryuu]

Here is a good website: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/

I found it yesterday and remembered this thread.

Here's some information about Tsalagi (the Cherokee language): http://public.csusm.edu/public/raven/cherokee.dir/cherlexi.html

[Darkkwalker]

pertaining specifically to Nuu-Chah-Nulth.
view that everything is one.
The material world is a manifestation of the spiritual world.
The spirit world is a semi-physical place. (not clear on this one).
Songs are powerful. and can be owned.
Rituals can be owned.
A kind of shell was prized as ornament and trade good. dentalia I think it was.

On the everything is one. If things are disharmonious in one place they will affect you.
example: out on a whale hunt. You've prepared ritually and practically, correctly. you go to spear the whale, but then it moves and starts swimming away really fast. You eventually get the whale and drag it back home. And you find that at the time when the whale started fleeing, your wife had gotten up from her ritual and had started to prepare for the whale. Her not observing the ritual caused disharmony. this disharmony affected your hunt.

Can't think of anything else at the moment. oh. Nuu-Chah-Nulth had slaves, usually captured during war. There was a Class system, Noble, Commoner, Slave.
Fair amount of mobility for commoners. They could live in a house so long as they had relatives in it. so if cheif in their house was bad they could move elsewhere. elsewhere in the villiage or to an entirely new village.

Book to look up: The White Slaves of the Nootka.
Also look up things on Maquinna.
(note: Maquinna was the highest ranked cheif of the highest ranked lineage of the Mowachat Tribe of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth nation). Maquinna is a name/title given to the one of that status.

[Falconer]

In your campaign are you planning on having any Aztec-equivalents? Just wondering, 'cause I'd be very happy to help (and admittedly only have a little knowledge of the countless other nations and tribes other than the Mexica that made the Americas their home before Columbus)

[Heliomance]

Look up the Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine. Flavour-wise it probably fits quite well.

[Amurion]

In your campaign are you planning on having any Aztec-equivalents? Just wondering, 'cause I'd be very happy to help (and admittedly only have a little knowledge of the countless other nations and tribes other than the Mexica that made the Americas their home before Columbus)

It is possible, depending on where my PCs want to go with the campaign, I'd like to leave it pretty flexible. If they move south, yeah, I'll throw in central american cultures, if they move north it will get cold and Eskimos will become more abundant.

[Valentyne]

First, I am Assiniboine and work in a museum as a historical interpreter. Ask me what you will. But here are a few things to keep in mind too as far as pre-Columbus goes:

1) Bows were used...long and short both. But we never really developed recurve bows. Spears (used with the atalata for added distance) were turning into more of a lance type weapon - hand to hand type thing.

2) Though some tribes will argue with it - no horses. Travel was by foot with dogs acting as pack animals and carrying items via travios. The Ute also kept dear and hawk/eagles as pets. Sooo a lot of use for animal handling.

3) Druid might not be a bad starting class for "medicine man" roles. I can list several stories of medicine men with shape-shifting abilities (Sioux).

4)Different tribes used different languages. However, many languages fell into broad language groups. Ute, Shoshone, Paiute & Aztec were all related languages for example. Also sign language was used for trading purposes on many occasions.

5)Common weapons: war clubs, daggers, spears (lances), axes, bows, bolas, boomerangs... There were some other rather unique weapons - like a sword type weapon with a serrated edge made from teeth...

6) Common monsters I remember off the top of my head from legends: Many tribes spoke of a time in the past that lived giant humans and giant animals (Giants & Dire animals). Others mentioned "little people" living in the woods (feys?). The Navajo have many legends of Skin-Walkers (read undead type shapeshifters). The Sioux, Cherokee and Cheyenne all have legends of large snake-like water dwelling lizards (dragons?).

7) Many tribes have a "sacred clown" - heyoka among the Sioux. Could open up an interesting class. They were required to do everthing backwards. Something along the lines of a wild mage but with more of a druidic feel?

8) Healers healed in many different ways. Lame Deer gives a good account of this in one of his books. Some healed with herbs and plants. Some heal with stones.

9) PLEASE stay away from cheese names. No Rainbow Eagle, Crystal Bear or the like. Honestly some of our names had nothing to do with animals - "Still Water", "White Corn", "He Seeks"... And many of our names were unnecessarily long and were thus commonly shortened. "Man who's enemies are afraid of his horse" = "Man Afraid" Or "Grandfather Mountain looming large gathering the sun's rays" = "Sun Mountain"