A Tlingit friend of mine was offended by the idea of "Settlers of Catan", which kind of bummed me out because regardless of subject matter, it's a solid board game, my very favorite of all time. So I'm trying to come up with ideas for creating a version of Settlers that revolves around indigenous people rather than a colonial motif.

I am aware they made a "Hunters & Gatherers" version of Carcassonne and some elements were tweaked to fit the motif of pre-agricultural living but I'd like to keep as many of the elements the same as possible simply because I am not a game designer and it would be easier for me to construct a version of the game using a pre-existing model rather than reinvent the wheel. So, like say, settlements would become a fish camp/hunting grounds versus the cities which become the main village. Roads could be 'paths'. But what to do with the resource cards? Wood could be kept, for sure. Sheep could be turned into wild game like deer. To turn the tables a little, the bandit could become "the Explorer" or some invading western equivalent. ;)

Any ideas? For the most part I am stuck on the 5 resources and what would be used to make a road equivalent, settlement/city equivalent, etc. since the values of pre-agricultrual/industrial living are very different from those in Settlers now. :\ I'd ask my friend herself but this was to be a surprise.