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Post by Madpixie on May 18, 2006 13:56:48 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm plannig to buy the book. I really love what you have done. I'm just wondering if I will have difficulties adapting it to my "real" world setting. I would like to use real names of places and gods. Is their a place where I can find the equivalent of all the gods and places that you use and find their real name ?
Also, all the african names that you use in the games, are they from a real african language ?
I'm probaly going to buy it anyway and adapt it a bit so it fits in my setting.
Thanks,
Christian
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Post by Nyambefan on May 18, 2006 21:44:58 GMT -5
You can do several searches of African Gods on the net. There is alot of info. Not all of the countries and cultures correlate directly with each other.
Nyambe: African Adventures is two things in one. First, it is THE D20 source book on african classes, feats, spells etc. Second it is a setting book. You'll have no trouble at all using the material with a setting of "real" world Africa (assuming you mean one where the legends and myths may be true).
As far as real world african language words in Nyambe. Yes, many of them come from the languages from africa. The don't follow any particular one. Plus some of the words are made up to sound "right".
You may find the snippet below useful.
Author: Chris Dolunt (---.comcast.net)
Date: 10-11-2002 22:04
Hi, I thought I'd shed a little light on my writing and the editorial decisions.
Obviously, Africa is a loaded subject for a book. So, for starters, I decided to make Nyambe a fantasy world, NOT real-world Africa. I figured there was plenty of precedent for this decision since Arabian Adventures isn't set in real-world Persia (Iraq), and Oriental Adventures isn't set in real-world Japan. I might consider a historical Africa web supplement eventually though...
As to the term "whacking stick"...
The book also uses the name "knobkerrie" and the more proper name "iWisa". Why is it listed as "Stick, Whacking" in the tables? There are a lot of new terms introduced in the book, and for the sake of similarity to core D&D, we decided to use intentionally generic weapon names. For example, you'll notice there is no "flamberge" or "zweihander" listing in the Player's Handbook - just something called a "greatsword". My old college roomate had traveled around Africa a great deal (his father was director of US Aid at various times to Senegal, Rwanda, and Somalia), I heard him use the term "whacking stick" to refer to a knobkerrie once, and I decided I liked the name...
As to the size of the empires in Nyambe... The nations are based on various aspects of Ethiopia (Bashar'ka), Kush(Taumau-Boha), Great Zimbabwe(Mabwe), Mali(Boroko), Ghana(Boroko), Dahomey(Nibomay), Lybia(Nibomay), and numerous others, with large doses of fantasy thrown in. While these historical nations were probably smaller than my fantasy nations, I don't think that does a disservice to the source material. Nyambe also presents large areas without centralized government, controlled instead by local chiefdoms and/or councils of elders. Such areas include Marak'ka-land, Utucheckulu-land, Entare-land, Shombe-land, Yuan-ti-land, Silwane-manzi-water, and Wakyambi-land.
As to the term "tribe", the term is out of academic favor, so I didn't use it. That simple. But to be honest, when I'm running adventures in the setting, my players use the term "tribe" all the time...
Whew! I think that covers everything. If you have any more comments/complaints, I'd be happy to field them...
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Post by Madpixie on May 19, 2006 7:55:08 GMT -5
Superb. Thanks.
It's exactly what I wanted. The relations between the empires in Nyambe and their real world nations.
My setting is a historic/fantasy one, it's not a historic one. So I think Nyambe will be excellent.
I searched a bit on the gods of Africa and, ouf!, there's a lot of info out there. A bit overwelming...
Can't wait to buy the book now.
Thanks,
Christian
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Post by Nyambefan on May 19, 2006 10:01:01 GMT -5
Another good investment would be a cultural atlas of africa. You should be able to find one at a discount book store such as Half-price books. This will help you get an immediate feel for a region so you can figure out what Nyambe cultures to use for rules purposes.
If you end up doing a game in western Africa such as the Congo or esp. north of there, check out books on the Yoruba. You'll find a wealth of info that will help you use the races in Nyambe book better.
I also found the National Geographic series Africa DVD set to be invaluable.
Happy gaming, and let us know how it turns out.
Oh, you should be able to log into the sight now.
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