Well, what would you connect to a setting that was African Themed?
For me:
lost cities and/or valleys.
vast jungles
vicious, almost intelligent predators
rich variety of shamanistic folk-traditions
RPGpundit
Shaka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka) and the changes he brought to Zulu culture and Warfare might be of interest. :)
awesome civilizations in hidden places
elephant burial grounds
ruins with Lovecraftian style degenerate submen
gold and ivory
King Solomon's diamond mines
Prester John
badass Zulu warriors
Cannibals
Big pots
People wearing leopard fur
Lions
Explorers & Adventurers
Huge gems and/or gold nuggets
Hidden valleys that time forgot
Veiled desert nomads
Jungles
Sandstorms
Degenerated savages
Noble savages
A yummylicious Sharon Stone
Gorilla City
Wakanda
Inexplicable Whiteboy Ape Lords
There is your struggle against the elements. Didn't Guns, Germs, and Steel talk about the difficulties the european colonizers had the further north into the tropical zones they went from south africa?
Trying to eak out a living when your tools, cattle, crops and the very immune system that served you so well before, being disasterously inaddequite.
Royally-sponsored martial arts tournaments. (African MAs are pretty interesting, from what I've heard of them.)
Barges on the Nile.
Lions coughing at the walls of the karral.
Elephants stealing the oranges from the bowl in your second story room.
Witch hunters
The Nandi Bear and the Bili Ape.
Wereleopards.
Crocodiles larger than your boat.
Hippos that bite through that same boat.
Meerkats and pygmy mongooses.
Watching Cape Hunting Dogs run down an eland.
Observation: A rhino is a large anmal that knows it's a large animal. An elephant is a large animal that thinks it's still a small animal.
Vampires with no skin
Pygmy brontosauruses
Topless dancing girls
What?
as long as they're not the national geographic type...
Tribal wars
Drought
Strange debilitating diseases
Lions
Lions eating people
People eating people
Remote unspoiled locations
Bugs
Animism
Diamonds
Crocodiles eating people
Baboons...lots of baboons.
Pith helmets
lost rivers and mountains
desert schools
discovered dead civilizations
Carthage; salted earth
lions, elephants, hippos, etc.
remote monestaries (desert, plateau, mountain, etc.)
gold, ivory, spices
flies, disease, drought, torrential storms
part of the problem is Africa is so big and diverse, it's really 4-5+ distinct regions
Jo'burg Urban:
Slasher Gangs
Paramilitary Police
Secret Knifefighting Cabals
hidden lands full of otherwise extinct animals.
aids inspired virgin rape
Quote from: Sosthenesas long as they're not the national geographic type...
I was thinking more of the Gerald Durrell type...
Quote from: Hastur T. FannonI was thinking more of the Gerald Durrell type...
Sorry, the only result a Google image search of "Gerald Durrell topless dancing girls" brought was a very stern look from my boss *gulp*
(http://boingboing.net/images/hyena06.jpg)
This is photo was taken in Nigeria in 2005. This is Mallam Mantari Lamal, a debt collector. With him is Mainasara-- a Hyena.
"next time you're overcome with delusions of badassitude, remember this and say -- no you are not tough. This is tough."
Quote from: SosthenesSorry, the only result a Google image search of "Gerald Durrell topless dancing girls" brought was a very stern look from my boss *gulp*
Gerald Durrell's "The Bafut Beagles" should be required reading for anyone planning to set a game in colonial or post-colonial Africa
The late Gerald Durrell was kind of a very British version of Steve Irwin, back when zoos still collected animals from the wild. The book is a mostly-accurate account of one collecting expedition in the kingdom of the Fon of Bafut, who had a thing for topless dancing girls. After a very drunken evening Gerald came
this close to marrying one of the Fon's daughters, only getting out of it by pointing out it would have annoyed his current wife
Quote from: StuartThis is photo was taken in Nigeria in 2005. This is Mallam Mantari Lamal, a debt collector. With him is Mainasara-- a Hyena.
Ah, the Nigerian hyenas, a old forum favorite...
Interesting factoid: Female hyenas have a faux-penis.