Good Mesoamerican setting suggestions?

[petermcleod117]

Anyone know where I could find a good Mesoamerican setting for 3.5 D&D? The only one I know of is the one from Avalanche Press, but those supplements suuuuuuuuck (except for the Celtic one, which by all accounts is surprisingly good).

Homebrew is good, but official release is better.

Technically, there is a micro-setting on athas.org called City-State of Draj, but that is part of the Dark Sun setting so it doesn't really count. I'm looking for something in the vein of the Mythic Vistas series by Green Ronin.

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I'm posting it here.

[Oracle71]

Well, the Forgotten Realms has Maztica. And if you want to go waaaaaaaaay back to the Old D&D world of Mystara, there is the Azcan empire in the Hollow World. Not sure exactly how much content is available for either one, though.

[petermcleod117]

Well, the Forgotten Realms has Maztica. And if you want to go waaaaaaaaay back to the Old D&D world of Mystara, there is the Azcan empire in the Hollow World. Not sure exactly how much content is available for either one, though.

Do you know if Maztica has a 3.5 adaptation?

[Oracle71]

I do not know about 3.0/3.5E. I know there is some 2E material, but I was never into that particular setting of the Realms, so my knowledge is limited.

[DrMotives]

Do you know if Maztica has a 3.5 adaptation?

I don't think so, although there's a couple random magazine articles with bits of old campaigns brought up into 3.5 standards. There's one that touches Maztica in #315, with a couple PrCs. There also is an article in #317 called "beasts of the sun" with 6 creatures from Aztec myth.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by petermcleod117
Anyone know where I could find a good Mesoamerican setting for 3.5 D&D?

What aspects of Mesoamerica are you interested in? And what, for you, would be a “good” Mesoamerican setting?


Originally Posted by petermcleod117
Do you know if Maztica has a 3.5 adaptation?

It looks as if 3.5 skipped Maztica almost entirely, apart from a few stray references here and there. And apparently in 4E, Maztica is no longer on the same planet....

[Bullet06320]

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19368

its technically homebrew, but its pretty good

[Palanan]

You should also check out the Crossroads thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?345327-Crossroads-II-I-m-on-a-Mammoth) in our own homebrew section. This is a detailed, well-thought-out alternate history which Admiral Squish and a number of others worked up for a Pathfinder campaign setting.

Sadly, that project petered out a couple of years ago, but they did have both Aztec and Mayan elements in Mesoamerica, with more emphasis on the Aztec side. Really cool stuff, worth looking through.

[petermcleod117]

What aspects of Mesoamerica are you interested in? And what, for you, would be a “good” Mesoamerican setting?

For me, "good" is fairly loose. I'm looking for something like Necromancer Game's Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia, but something like any part of Green Ronin's Mythic Vistas series would be even better.

Just not something like the stuff Avalanche Press typically produces (my biggest complaint with those is the absolutely abhorrent format, but they also usually have difficulty capturing the tone of the setting, and their base classes are exceedingly bland. Except for Celtic Age, which again was startlingly well-crafted, especially for them).

Mostly, I'm interested to see if there is anything you guys liked a lot that fits the theme that ISN'T avalanche press.

[Andor13]

Well, there is the classic Empire of the Petal Throne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Petal_Throne), but it's hard to find and not 3.5, so there would be work involved.

There is a d20 version of Tekumal listed on Amazon as being out of print, but I don't think it was ever actually produced.

[petermcleod117]

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19368

its technically homebrew, but its pretty good

Hey! turns out that this is what I was looking for. Would have been nice if it included some custom base classes, but the prestige classes look nice, and it even has a custom-made vestige. Nice find, dude!

[BWR]

You might want to check out "Sons of Azca", the totally not Aztec culture for Hollow World. It's a product detailing a single country rather than an entire setting, but it does give you a lot to work with. Adapting it shouldn't pose much of an issue since the mechanics are few and mostly unimportant.

[Bullet06320]

Hey! turns out that this is what I was looking for. Would have been nice if it included some custom base classes, but the prestige classes look nice, and it even has a custom-made vestige. Nice find, dude!

when it comes to forgotten realms specific stuff, a lot of authors troll over there and some post material that didn't make into the published works
the home brew stuff over there is usually pretty good and worth while digging around the site

[petermcleod117]

when it comes to forgotten realms specific stuff, a lot of authors troll over there and some post material that didn't make into the published works
the home brew stuff over there is usually pretty good and worth while digging around the site

On that note, I just found this little gem. It's not in pdf format, unfortunately, but it looks pretty good:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Aztec_Priest_(3.5e_Class)

also this: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Aztec_Warrior_(3.5e_Class)

[Andor13]

If you feel like backing a kickstarter, there is this possibility. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5049-Dragons-Conquer-America-with-Carlos-Gomez-Quintana)

[petermcleod117]

If you feel like backing a kickstarter, there is this possibility. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5049-Dragons-Conquer-America-with-Carlos-Gomez-Quintana)



Looks awesome! Unfortunately, my funds are limited.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Andor13
If you feel like backing a kickstarter, there is this possibility.

This looks great, except for these rather telling excerpts from the Kickstarter description:


The mechanics themselves promote tolerance and acceptance of the different, creating a natural arc towards tolerance for the players.

[The system] subtly rewards/punishes different types of gameplay to thematically guide the players into exploration, supernatural conflicts, teamwork, and overcoming one’s prejudices.

You know, I want to play an RPG to have a fun, immersive experience, not to be lectured about intolerance. Much less to be punished by the game mechanics for my supposed sins against the game designers’ superior moral enlightenment.

Also, for such tolerant and morally enlightened designers, they still seem comfortable putting a skimpy Native American bikini on one of their iconic characters. Pretty sure nothing like that existed historically, so its only purpose seems to be blatant cheesecake.

.

[TheYell]

The mechanics themselves promote tolerance and acceptance of the different, creating a natural arc towards tolerance for the players.

[The system] subtly rewards/punishes different types of gameplay to thematically guide the players into exploration, supernatural conflicts, teamwork, and overcoming one’s prejudices.

.

Do they have mass sacrifices and feasting in that setting? Cause, eww.

[petermcleod117]

This looks great, except for these rather telling excerpts from the Kickstarter description:


The mechanics themselves promote tolerance and acceptance of the different, creating a natural arc towards tolerance for the players.

[The system] subtly rewards/punishes different types of gameplay to thematically guide the players into exploration, supernatural conflicts, teamwork, and overcoming one’s prejudices.

You know, I want to play an RPG to have a fun, immersive experience, not to be lectured about intolerance. Much less to be punished by the game mechanics for my supposed sins against the game designers’ superior moral enlightenment.

Also, for such tolerant and morally enlightened designers, they still seem comfortable putting a skimpy Native American bikini on one of their iconic characters. Pretty sure nothing like that existed historically, so its only purpose seems to be blatant cheesecake.

.

I'm pretty sure that, as a DM, you can just ignore any rules you don't like. as for the cheesecake... lets be honest, that's standard d&d fare, a remnant of the 2e art direction. they probably didn't even recognize the irony.

[Bullet06320]

On that note, I just found this little gem. It's not in pdf format, unfortunately, but it looks pretty good:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Aztec_Priest_(3.5e_Class)

also this: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Aztec_Warrior_(3.5e_Class)

ewwwwww dandwiki

the Aztec priest seems over powered at a glance, the Aztec warrior doesn't seem too bad tho

[Andor13]

Also, for such tolerant and morally enlightened designers, they still seem comfortable putting a skimpy Native American bikini on one of their iconic characters. Pretty sure nothing like that existed historically, so its only purpose seems to be blatant cheesecake..

Well, some brief googling does seem to indicate that a bikini as such is inaccurate. A top like she's wearing seems to be close to chimichec garb but would have been worn with a skirt. The loin cloth is also mismatched as it is a common item of dress, but would have been worn without a top aside from perhaps a cape. So for accuracies sake the artist should either cover her knees or expose her breasts. That they didn't choose the latter even though it's entirely defensible from a historical accuracy standpoint suggest maybe they aren't going full cheesecake? Of course they could also have put her in a full huipili and cuetili but that would have looked weird with all the guys in just loin cloths even though it would have also been defensible. *shrug*

I do question a system that seems designed to drive towards politically correct outcomes, but it would be really interesting to explore the concept of the early European/American interactions from a fantasy standpoint. There would seem to be two obvious points of divergence from history, first the massive death toll wrought by European diseases would likely have been blunted or negated by a combination of divination and healing magic, and secondly D&D technology is generally much more concerned with magic than engineering. Would horse with stirrups and Toledo steel have given Pizzaro such an advantage in a world where Incan Priests and Wizards were as advanced magically (and much more numerous) than his little band of murderers?