Luau lowdown

[undyingking]

One of the things we do as part of the sales follow-up thing is to ask people for suggestions for settings for new games, and one of the most popular -- from the American customers -- is "a murder mystery set at a luau".

Now I'm assuming (perhaps wrongly) they don't mean a game in which the characters are Polynesian tribal elders and someone's poisoned the taro paste, ie it's "a murder at a luau-themed party" rather than at an actual luau? But if so, what characterizes a luau-themed party? How is it different from a barbecue, other than in details of food and costume? What I'm driving at is, what associations does luau conjure up in the American mind, and what sorts of plots and characters are they thinking of?

I'll ask this in brits_americans  as well, but I wondered if any of you guys had experience of such a thing, or had any vague idea of what it's about.

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Er, "a barbecue with more garlands of flowers and tasteless shirts" would be my take on it, but I may not have that quite right ;)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, that's what I'm worried about... I don't think we really want to do a "you are suburban middle-class Americans at a luau party" kind of thing.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I guess the murder is that they discover a human body in the coal pit instead of the pig they expected when they dig it out. ;o)

Wikipedia article on luau

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, tasty!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Now I'm worried about unidentified meat at any BBQ at yours. ;oÞ

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

It will have been brought by the guests, we're both veggie ;-)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

That's good to know. :o)

luau

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

All of the Tiki masks give it a sort of sinister feel, but combined with really bad taste, the buckets of cocktails give it an edge of danger, suburbia out of control, and it's also a beach party of the hula dancer/surfer variety. Elvis, kitsch, pin-ups, surf guitar, retro cool, tattoos, cook-outs and all that -- but with that undercurrent of danger that comes from appropriating somebody else's gods:

Repositories of terrible Tiki taste:

http://www.tikibosko.com
http://www.southlondonpacific.com/

Tattoo Johnny talks Polynesian art and American interpretation:

http://www.tattoojohnny.com/polynesian-tattoo-designs.asp

Re: luau

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the tiki torches. Those Yankies are mad for 'em.

Re: luau

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Heh, not sure we can encourage use of flaming objects during the game. Not to mention the global warming.

Re: luau

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Excellent, thanks for that -- we shall certainly make ritual tattooing play a big part...

[killalla]

The short answer is - nothing is different, apart from food (stuff like poi, manuapua, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice, sushi (homemade kind, not sushi bar kind), music, kalua pig, noodles, maybe some somen salad), music and dance (requisite ukulele and slack key guitar, hula, etc.)and probably clothing (aloha shirts, muumuu, thong sandals). Taking place somewhere near the beach, where you can go swimming or surfing, like that Campbell Industrial Park place, or Kapiolani Park down at Wakiki Beach near the Hale Koa (although I've heard there's been flooding near there of late). Flower leis and the like only necessary if it's a wedding or graduation party.

Frankly, they're kind of horrible. Ugh, I'm getting bad childhood flashbacks. Curse you, undyingking!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I won't invite you to help playtest it...

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Having researched polynesian feasts in Tonga and the Cook Islands, you need

* Drumming
* Food cooked in pits
* Fire dances
* small denomination notes stuffed into the dancers' clothing for appreciation
* huge mounds of food, especially tropical fruit dishes and pork

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Hmm, sounds like a lot of fun but I can't see how it would readily lend itself to a murder mystery...