Nyambe thread… countdown…

There is a thread on rpg.net about Nyambe, which is filled with half clues vs. cluelessness, but nothing head-explodey… yet. Read at your own risk.

On one hand, I have to respect that it’s one of the few settings based in Africa, period. And possibly the only setting not based as “a place where europeans go for adventure!”. On the other hand, I feel like I’m not sure who the target audience is with it.

As far as gamers (or the many people raised in a culture with little actual history of Africa), there’s not a lot of real info- some neat mythology, some neat classes, but little in the way of laying out social structures, which a bunch of folks probably need to make it less “Africa the Magical” and more “Africa where my hero comes from”.

A couple of friends also pointed out that the artwork ranges from solid to problematic, and that it’s really interesting how the more “evil” demihuman types fufill the darker, more traditionally african appearance while the nicer ones move away from that.

Of course, it’s not like we’ve -ever- seen rpg material that is less than 5 stars before right? Actually, I think the thread probably will eventually lead into something more telling about gamer culture and it’s issues with cultural appropriation rather than about the product itself…