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13:16, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game.

Posted by JxJxA
JxJxA
member, 205 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 06:42
  • msg #1

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I love Mesoamerican stuff. The jungles, the architecture, the art, it's all really cool to me. I've always wanted to run a game based on those things, so that's what I'm hoping to do.

I have an idea for a Mesoamerican game and wanted to get an interest check before moving forward. It would be inspired by the Aztec, Maya, and Inca mythologies, but loosely based on it rather than trying to simulate it. Kind of like how Lord of the Rings is inspired by European mythology. However, it would be Human-centric (so regular and variant humans are A-OK) because it'll make world-building easier for me.

The basic pitch would be kind of like King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table dressed in this backdrop. The players would be the King's knights, sent out on quests at the king's request. It would take place in the last years of the king's reign because that's when Really Bad StuffTM starts to happen story-wise. Since you are "knights" (using that for lack of a better term), players would start at lvl 6.

The game would be mature for violence. There would be no human sacrifice (by you, the good guys, but maybe done off-screen by bad guys), no slavery, no incoming conquistadors, no guns, no splatbooks or third party stuff. It'd be done with just the PHB and core books.

Does that sound interesting to anybody?
This message was last edited by the user at 01:17, Fri 11 May 2018.
Hendell
member, 100 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 08:19
  • msg #2

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Assuming you plan to make use of the non human races and are inclined to adapt culture based classes and such to fit this sounds like a very interesting idea.
JxJxA
member, 206 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 08:49
  • msg #3

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

For the time being, I'm thinking of keeping the party at least fully human. There would be monster races as enemies, probably reflavored to something more appropriate than "Orc" or "Goblin."

I've got a few ideas to help get people in the mindset. I've made-up pantheon based on the PHB cleric domains. I'm also kicking around an idea for a calendar based on Aztec duality and Maya base 20 for 360 days: Nine months named after the cultural myths with two phases (sun and moon) with each phase being 20 days. Names would be based on your name + the month and phase you choose to be born.

Example: If your name is Xipek and you were born in the Jaguar month's sun phase, you would be Xipek Sun Jaguar.
Dirigible
member, 201 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 11:31
  • msg #4

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

How would you handle equipment in keeping with the aesthetics of the setting? I'm thinking particularly of armour - the only type that was really used by the cultures that inspired this, to my understanding, is what would be padded armour in D&D. (edit: looks like the Inca, at least, had copper breastplates). Would you ban all heavier armours, or include in some other form - scale armour made of flakes of magically hardened obsidian, or blessed jade and gold plate armour, say?
This message was last edited by the user at 11:38, Tue 08 May 2018.
JxJxA
member, 207 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 11:41
  • msg #5

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Blargh, for some reason I thought I wrote that in my first post. I kept rewriting it, and ended up cutting out that part. x_x

Everything in the PHB class-, background-, and equipment-wise would be okay. There would be metal, wheels, and glass. Maybe instead of having horses, people would ride llamas or alpacas. However, I do like your suggestion of magically infused jade or obsidian, too.
Dirigible
member, 202 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 11:49
  • msg #6

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

That all sounds purdy cool to me, then. I for one would like to read more and subscribe to your newsletter.
rgrnwood
member, 70 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 11:55
  • msg #7

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I don't know the mythology but I've always thought it would be cool to see diverging other than European mythology. Instead of reflavoring goblins, orcs, and other European monsters you could use animal monsters from sources outside the PHB (VGM ,XGE, EE, and UA). Tabaxi cat people, multiple types of bird people, kobolds and Lizardfolk instead of goblins and hobgoblins, tortles instead of ogres, frog people, War forged reflavored as plant people, changeling and shifter, etc.
rgrnwood
member, 71 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 12:08
  • msg #8

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Oh, and an idea for reflavoring armor. Historical padded armor came in many different thicknesses and had surprisingly complicated construction (10-30 layers of specially woven fabric of alternating types and in alternating orientations). Some versions could stop direct arrow hits from the strongest bows. It was basically Kevlar. Kevlar is stronger than natural fabric and spider silk is 3x stronger than Kevlar. So you could replace medium armors with spider silk padded armor as long as there are domesticated giant spiders or some other way to get tons of spider silk. At least medium armors that don't hinder stealth could be spider silk (which would explain the sudden spikes in prices for a +1 to AC from 13 to 14 to 15).
thattripletguy
member, 2 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 18:38
  • msg #9

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I would be interested even though I am not familiar with Mesoamerican mythology.
Mr_Qwerty
member, 61 posts
Tagmar, D&D, oWoD
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tue 8 May 2018
at 18:57
  • msg #10

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

In reply to rgrnwood (msg # 7):

Tabaxi are originally monsters from Maztica, the Forgotten Realms new world-ish setting. Looking through old Maztica materials can work as inspiration, although actually porting over plume magic would be a tall order...
JxJxA
member, 208 posts
Tue 8 May 2018
at 23:31
  • msg #11

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

The Maztica stuff was kind of interesting, but I wasn't really happy with it or how D&D portrayed it. However, thanks for the suggestion of it for monsters. I'll take a second look at it.

Yeah, I think bringing plume magic over would be more than I'm interested in doing right now. :-p
Arlowat
member, 18 posts
Wed 9 May 2018
at 03:43
  • msg #12

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I'm interested in the idea. Whether I'd play would depend on your parameters -- number of players, posting rate, and some more details about what you have in mind. If you put a game together, I'll take a close look. Re-skinning existing classes and spells to the setting really appeals to me.
horus
member, 481 posts
Wayfarer of the
Western Wastes
Wed 9 May 2018
at 11:47
  • msg #13

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Something you may be able to draw some inspiration from is M.A.R. Barker's world of Tekumel:  The Empire of The Petal Throne.  This world was the milieu for one of TSR's first fantasy roleplaying games published in 1975.  There are mountains of information which have been published on Tekumel, so it will be somewhat accessible.

Failing that, take a look at the book Cracking the Maya Code by Michael Coe.

For architectural inspiration, read up on the site at Tikal, or just do an image search on it.

Here's wishing you every success in this venture!
LunarKitty
member, 366 posts
Thu 10 May 2018
at 15:59
  • msg #14

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I'd be up for helping, if not playing. I would suggest not lifting so much stuff from Maztica, as there's plenty of good serviceable monsters in the sources themselves. (I'm not that familiar with it, but from the little I've seen there's tons of completely made up stuff in there). I know quite a bit about the cultures themselves, not so much about mythology or the mythology you'd be familiar with, so I could help to make it more than just bog standard medieval fantasy with different window dressings. Even some small changes in the tropes could go a long way:

[*]In prehispanic cultures there were no "evil" gods. Each deity had their own place in the natural order of things. Conflicts among deities were mostly about specific isolated clashes, and religious wars were inexistent.
[*]Evil was more about disrupting the order on the cosmos, nature and society. Want to get in the way of Fate? you are evil. Want to prevent the offerings to the gods which equaled giving them strength to keep the world running-? You are evil? Do you cause harm to others willingly fur the sake of it or to take their stuff? evil. Are you arrogant? also evil.
[*]Societies would be quite Lawful, with codified laws. Even warfare was ordered, being more of a symbolic fight-by-champion. It was even sport-like at times. The best warriors weren't the ones who could kill the most enemies, the best warriors bested and subdued their opponents beyond any doubt without having to kill them. Which was quite easy since obsidian blades are quite deadly. Warriors were even allowed to turn their backs to their enemies to have a short break and regain their breath. When that happened, the other warrior would not attack.
[*]Now a cool thing, prehispanic cultures had a shared "zodiac" of sorts, where each day was named by a number (from 1 to 13) and a concept (20 of them). People had their birth date as part of their name, and also a secret name that nobody should know, otherwise they'd gain power over you. Giving it away would be arrogant -and set you up for calamity-.
kbdevil1a
member, 116 posts
Fri 11 May 2018
at 00:47
  • msg #15

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

I'd play in this!
JxJxA
member, 209 posts
Tue 15 May 2018
at 03:43
  • msg #16

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Thank you for the advice and feedback. ^_^ I'm glad to see that there is interest. I'm going to do a little research, and then see if this is doable.
Tigore5
member, 1 post
Wed 16 May 2018
at 19:31
  • msg #17

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

If you decide that this indeed doable, I'd to be part of such game
Hatteras
member, 1 post
Wed 30 May 2018
at 16:04
  • msg #18

IC: D&D 5e Mesoamerican Inspired Fantasy Game

Definitely interested, this sounds very fresh and exciting
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