How would you do Americana fantasy?
The closest I can think of is maybe Dogs in the Vineyard, which presents a really interesting world, at least in terms of making the Dogs feel fantastical. I don't really remember if Deseret itself gets the same treatment, though.
What would you say are the unique aspects of America that would need to be brought over for a uniquely American setting? What monsters would go well in such a setting? Magic?
>>43762219
Guns, fat people, and blatant racism
>>43762219
Bioshock Infinity on ground for settings. For monsters, maybe some of British folklore combined with native Americans legends?
>>43762252
Now you aren't even trying.
>>43762339
Nah, native American legends more than fills up everything and it makes the perfect offset to the 'American' side.
>'Americans'
They have the new ways for everything. Magic, gods, worship, society, it is all organized, orderly, and at times rather cold. Gods are worshipped in churches and monasteries, magic is mass produced onto tools and weapons(if you want something really good, you'll have to find a craftsman and commission them for it). Totally at odds with
>Native Americans
They follow the old ways. It never stopped working for them, so they had no reason to change. Their power comes from the spirits, unknowable things that can be great and terrible. Magic is hand made, though it can be better than the 'American' equivalent, it cannot reach the master craft of 'American' magic, as natives simply pass down their teachings from apprentice to master, whereas 'American' magic comes from years of practice, understanding theory, and pushing the boundaries of what that theory can do.
Example: to cleanse an area of evil, and 'American' priest with speak a few words, lay out several items and perform a ritual with his staff. a native will pull out a drum, and beat it to a song he was taught by the elder shaman, calming the enraged spirits and let them move on.
Neither are wrong, but both are very different in practice.
>>43763976
>Just remembered I had this to illustrate my point.
>>43762219
Books you should read:
America Bewitched - does a great job of talking about American magic belief after the 1600s.
Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods/Fearsome Critters - Both give you some awesome Americana beasties to work with. Also read a bunch of American Gothic, especially Southern Gothic, books. They have a great deal of supernatural or magic to work with.
I made the thread and then fell asleep.
>>43763976 >>43763976
I was thinking that the tropes or bullet points that Americana fantasy needs is:
>Culture Clash
America has always been a nation of immigrants, at least since the 1585. We've had Englishmen, Dutch, Scotch-Irish, and a dozen others besides, as well as Black and Chinese brought over as slaves or basically-slaves, as well as the Natives that were here originally. Americana Fantasy should have a LOT of cultures and races mixing together, possibly with bitter histories. Which is one of the reasons I linked that image.
>Immigration and Expansion
This is a thing I've noticed gets overlooked, but America, especially early on in the colonial period, had a very strong "we left our homes behind" feeling. I feel like there needs to be some kind of acknowledgement of that. Some sort of one way trip that needs to be made. Or even the way that Dogs in the Vineyard has Deseret set against the Eastern cities of sin. Americana is all about going westward. Speaking of DitV and the way Deseret is spiritual...
>Religion
It doesn't have to be all monotheism, but a LOT of American culture has been about Religion. There were even "sinner" cities that did much better because they weren't so religious and ascetic (and worked with the natives) that were attacked by the religious groups for their wicked ways. I wish I could remember what the name of that township was. Either way, religion has played a big part in American history. DitV does this really well with turning Mormons into Paladins.
>Guns
I mean, you could probably do it with swords and bows, like pic related, but I feel like America has been strongly associated with guns since it's inception. It may even have been the first country truly founded on firearms. Not necessarily the Revolution, but the way that hunters, trappers, and colonists used firearms.
Also, the Frontier, and the differences between the East and the West.
Honestly, it's a bit more German than anything else, but I think Innistrad has a lot you could work with to make something very Colonial.
A race of violent savages, both serving as slaves to the rulers, and as the greatest threat to their expansion.
Injun orcs
>ctrl-f Unknown Armies
>no results
I am dissapoint.
>>43765768
That's because Unknown Armies isn't what I'm talking about. I want actual fantasy settings inspired by the Colonial period to the prebellum period instead of knights and armour.
Also, there are only like 10 posts in the thread to begin with.
>>43765376
>>Culture Clash
That's the whole set up between 'American' and native. Everything down to how an average person lives out a typical day is different. I realize that there are many different cultures in 'Americans' but back then there was a pressure to homogenize, or at least blend the cultures together that all could accept.
>Immigration and Expansion
Simply the way adventurers would have to try harder to achieve the same things they did back home.
No wood? Guess you'll have to burn bison dung to cook your meals.
>Religion
Never said monotheism, but 'American' faith is structured, established hierarchies and positions that perform specific roles, compared to the natives who ususally have the 'holyman' a shaman or medicine man, or some mix of the two.
>Guns
Yeah that kinda plays into the mass production. Anyone can buy a musket, but if you want a musket worth a damn, you'll need to find someone skilled in making each part, that can withstand a stronger powder mix, or with patterns carved into the barrel so the shot can be more potent.
Still my main point was that Native Americans have enough magic and monsters to create their own setting if you look into it. Imagine American adventurers having to deal with something like this rather than a troll.
>>43765711
>Injun Orcs
Injuns already got their own orcs to deal with. They don't need to be orcs on top of that.
Another thing I forgot is that America has heroes who are apotheosized people. While you've got your Paul Bunyan figures, most of America's folk heroes are real people, like the Founding Fathers or Johnny Appleseed.
>>43765885
I wasn't so much trying to say "you're wrong", just jumping off of your post. I do think that it might be a bit of a 'trap' to go with Native American stuff to fill in the more "fantasy" type of thing. You don't actually get much of the Native American stuff in the Americana stuff. It's all Marlboro Men and fur trappers. I don't doubt that Amerindian/First Peoples stuff has a lot of potential for a fantasy setting, I just don't know if it's really right for the feeling I want, at least not without some tweaking.
Although like I said, culture clash and the different cultures was a big thing before America formally became a country, especially during the early colonial era, where colonies were rarely even formally together.
Guys quick. Stop talking about this. He owns the topic. If you keep talking about it he's going to say you hijacked his topic and demonize you. Seriously. You should really stop talking about it. It's his topic. He doesn't want to discuss it. He wants to say things while you listen.
>>43766094
wat
>>43765956
Who better to fight an orc than an orc?
>>43766112
I linked the thread to my channel. Someone from the channel has a grudge against me.
I brought up the topic of an American inspired fantasy setting and someone else "hijacked" it to talk more about a Weird West setting that more directly takes place in historical America, with things like Billy the Kid's daughter and a half-bigfoot.
>>43766196
>someone else "hijacked" it
Cry more fag.
>>43766178
Necromancers that imbue dead children with thunder spirits so they have an army of zombie kids that shoot lightning? Like>>43763993
>>43766196
>half-bigfoot
/tg/ does it again
>>43766196
Sounds like some feminist webcomic trash. Billy the Kid killed like twenty people, his daughter wouldn't be any more interesting than he would.
>>43766291
You mean 8.
Also, being the child of an outlaw could make for an interesting character. "I'm not a bad person like my parents were" is a pretty common motivator for being heroic.
But that aside, I'm mostly looking for true fantasy, not Weird West, which is the issue.
>>43766330
what the fuck is true fantasy?
>>43765979
>>43766330
That's why I'm spamming this stuff, to show that a fantasy setting can work using native American mythology to fill out the bestiary, rather than 'They're centaurs, but more native American-y'
>>43766330
America really starts with pirates and cowboys, nobody really gives a shit about the period before the 1700s.
>>43766363
Colonial America is pretty cool.
>>43766360
I wouldn't say you're spamming it, you've posted maybe three images.
>>43766357
Something that isn't "this real place, but MAGIC!"
So not something like Deadlands.
>>43766427
Well I'm posting stuff whenever I dredge something up from my 'fantasy crap' folder
Have none of you read Gulliver's Travels?
>>43766515
You mean the satirical book by famed Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift?
I'm not sure what that has to do with Americana.
>>43766588
It is colonial-style fantasy without being a specific time/location plus magic.
>>43762219
Go read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
>>43766630
That's what got me started here.
Though it's more Marvel 1602 but in a fantasy setting that I was thinking of.
>>43766196
"Someone from the channel has a grudge against me"
Wee bit paranoid are we?
>>43762219
Xenophobic racism and puritanical zelotry.
>Tfw I'm irish and most people have no idea how badly the irish suffered in the earlier centuries.
History sucks bruh. But I know this isnt the thread for that sort of talk.
>>43767420
It is now, hijacked!
>>43767460
You seem super upset.
Leave IRC drama on IRC
>>43764113
Myths and Legends of our Own Lands
Google it bitches
>>43762339
This is good.
Colonial Gothic
>>43769769
Never heard of it. Looking at it now.
Although this seems more "the American Revolution with supernatural elements" as opposed to full on fantasy fare.
