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

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...