Post #297023 by Trader Tom on Thu, Apr 5, 2007 5:53 AM

Years and years ago I used to be into roleplaying games (Dungeons and Dragons, Middle Earth, Cthulhu, Vampire The Masquerade, etc...). I used to run campaigns for my friends and design the adventures from scratch. It was storytelling, but just in another format. They got to roll dice and make decisions, but it was basically a collaborative process.

Last year, I got a wild hair and thought it would be cool to make a roleplaying game based on Pop Polynesia...not based totally in authentic Polynesian history or settings...but a fantasy world with all the great imagery and themes that we see on Tiki Central. I wrote about 35 pages of stuff...then got sidetracked onto other projects.

Here was my intro to the game:

Welcome to the Tiki Islands! The islands belong to an alternate dimension that is parallel to Earth but has progressed quite differently. This world resembles Earth but has no major continents. Instead, it is dotted with small islands of varying sizes and populated with people whose race and culture most closely resembles the Polynesian people of our own world. Though there are some striking similarities, there are also major differences.

In our world, Pop Polynesia is recognized as a sub culture…but in the Tiki Islands it’s the norm. In our world, a well-prepared tiki drink is magical for the imbiber. In the Tiki Islands a well-prepared tiki drink is just plain magical. In our world, theme parks and bars give us an exotic escape from everyday life…but in the Tiki Islands, every day is an exotic adventure!

How do you start?

In this game, you may role-play either a native or an outsider who inhabits the Tiki Islands. Outsiders have somehow crossed over from Earth. Most have no idea how they arrived and have no knowledge of how to return home, but there are working dimensional portals to return them back and forth if they can find them in their adventures.

This game can be played with dice and paper. It’s not a live action game. I wouldn’t urge someone to hurl themselves into a volcano, become a headhunter, or take on a great white shark…however, the drink potions mentioned throughout are all based on real drinks.

It goes on from here to define around 20 character classes, set up a couple of loosely outlined initial adventures, and give descriptions of some of the islands. The last ten pages are descriptions of monsters, magic items, and magical effects of properly prepared tiki drinks.

So, I guess my question is...should I dust this off and work on it? Is anybody on Tiki Central even into roleplaying games, or is that too nerdy?

Alternatively, (and this is more in line with what I've been thinking of lately) I was hoping some of you writers might be interested in taking a look at the story universe I set up for the game, then each of us could write some short stories that take place in the same mythical world. We could probably put together a nice little anthology of related stories that are all connected.

In the same way that the "Hawaiian Dick" comics fused the hard-boiled detective genre with Tiki, I think Tiki would combine nicely with fantasy.

Thoughts?

If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you the 30 odd pages of the unfinished game to take a look at.