City-states raiding and sacrificing their neighbors is big fun for an rpg setting, and I'm all in favor of a mishmash of cultures to make a good game.

I'm running a fantasy game, not a educational cultural simulation.

Quote from: darthfozzywig;1023338City-states raiding and sacrificing their neighbors is big fun for an rpg setting, and I'm all in favor of a mishmash of cultures to make a good game.

I'm running a fantasy game, not a educational cultural simulation.

Then you can just throw together whatever you think will be fun.

I'd be more inclined to look at an Aztec / Mayan / Incan themed board game than a RPG. However, I think the ideas found in their histories have great potential to be stolen and used in other games.

OK, I've gotten to my copy of GURPS Aztecs.

I think my memory is pretty good. It's an excellent overview of the historical setting, but it doesn't have much on how to make characters and adventures that are fun and compelling. The characters section suggests various professions from physician to courtesan, but it doesn't have cool character archetypes. There are three pages of adventure seeds for the GM, but there is little for the players to show them how playing in this period is fun, and what they should expect from adventures.

Which is to say, I think there's room for more material on how to do that. I actually just saw Apocalypto for the first time recently. I thought it was quite good overall, but it isn't much of a template for continued adventures in such a setting. I'd like to ponder a bit and try to write some ideas up. I'm curious about the Tarascans now.

Perhaps of interest:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/maya-laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/

Quote from: jhkim;1023397OK, I've gotten to my copy of GURPS Aztecs.

I think my memory is pretty good. It's an excellent overview of the historical setting, but it doesn't have much on how to make characters and adventures that are fun and compelling. The characters section suggests various professions from physician to courtesan, but it doesn't have cool character archetypes. There are three pages of adventure seeds for the GM, but there is little for the players to show them how playing in this period is fun, and what they should expect from adventures.

Which is to say, I think there's room for more material on how to do that. I actually just saw Apocalypto for the first time recently. I thought it was quite good overall, but it isn't much of a template for continued adventures in such a setting. I'd like to ponder a bit and try to write some ideas up. I'm curious about the Tarascans now.

Historically and archaeologically Apocalypto is a load of rubbish.

Tarascan culture has a markedly different flavour from other Mesoamerican cultures. For example, the Purépecha language is a language isolate, and the ceremonial architecture is also quite distinctive. Unfortunately available data is fragmentary and their pieced-together history limited and highly speculative. The majority of archaeological research concerns itself with more "popular" cultures from central Mexico and the Maya region.


Ruins of ceremonial platforms at Tzintzuntzan, capital of the Tarascan state.

Quote from: 3rik;1023508Historically and archaeologically Apocalypto is a load of rubbish.

But, as a film, it's really good.

Quote from: darthfozzywig;1023338City-states raiding and sacrificing their neighbors is big fun for an rpg setting, and I'm all in favor of a mishmash of cultures to make a good game.

I'm running a fantasy game, not a educational cultural simulation.

As a guy who writes and runs a lot of historical-fantasy I'm a big advocate of individual GMs making as much or as little effort to focus on the history part as they feel is right for their campaign. The idea that you should be guilted into accepting a boring level of CultureWank is just dumb.

TORG had a supplement called Space Gods. During development, it was called Mayan Space Gods. While the main race in it is alien, the style is heavily influenced by Pre-Columbian cultures, with the aliens having come to Earth at one point and influenced Central American peoples. The effect was like Stargate, but Central American. Interestingly, though, the publication of the book predates the Stargate film by a few years. Not the best of the TORG books, though, if you're into that old system.

Quote from: The Black Ferret;1024081TORG had a supplement called Space Gods. During development, it was called Mayan Space Gods. While the main race in it is alien, the style is heavily influenced by Pre-Columbian cultures, with the aliens having come to Earth at one point and influenced Central American peoples. The effect was like Stargate, but Central American. Interestingly, though, the publication of the book predates the Stargate film by a few years. Not the best of the TORG books, though, if you're into that old system.

I never read that one.

Quote from: The Black Ferret;1024081TORG had a supplement called Space Gods. During development, it was called Mayan Space Gods. While the main race in it is alien, the style is heavily influenced by Pre-Columbian cultures, with the aliens having come to Earth at one point and influenced Central American peoples. The effect was like Stargate, but Central American. Interestingly, though, the publication of the book predates the Stargate film by a few years. Not the best of the TORG books, though, if you're into that old system.

I have it, but I can't remember much of the details. As I recall, it had very little from actual Pre-Columbian cultures - at most from pulp visions of them mixed with general flying saucer mythology. The general concept is based on the real-world fringe idea that flying saucer aliens were behind the Nazca lines, pyramids, and others - because there's no way that that primitive Pre-Columbian people could have built them on their own.

As I recall, the Space Gods weren't a part of the invading cosms that are part of the rest of Torg. They're actual aliens who have returned because of the cosm invasion.

Here's a PDF of it, by the way.

http://onyr.free.fr/Torg/Space%20Gods.pdf

Quote from: jhkim;1024579I have it, but I can't remember much of the details. As I recall, it had very little from actual Pre-Columbian cultures - at most from pulp visions of them mixed with general flying saucer mythology. The general concept is based on the real-world fringe idea that flying saucer aliens were behind the Nazca lines, pyramids, and others - because there's no way that that primitive Pre-Columbian people could have built them on their own.

As I recall, the Space Gods weren't a part of the invading cosms that are part of the rest of Torg. They're actual aliens who have returned because of the cosm invasion.

Here's a PDF of it, by the way.

http://onyr.free.fr/Torg/Space%20Gods.pdf

Yeah, I don't recall much of it. Our gaming group play-tested a lot of the TORG books because one of our friends was working for West End at the time. Some books were less rewritten than others along the way. I don't remember if we did much play-testing for Space Gods, but I thought it was a bit more Earth based than the final product turned out to be.

Quote from: soltakss;1023629But, as a film, it's really good.

Too bad it got sold as something it wasn't. I was given the impression it was an epic of the Mayan empire. Instead, it was about a jungle villager having a really bad weekend.

Agreed, good film, but I wish I had been the correct expectations going in.

Quote from: darthfozzywig;1024691Too bad it got sold as something it wasn't. I was given the impression it was an epic of the Mayan empire. Instead, it was about a jungle villager having a really bad weekend.

Agreed, good film, but I wish I had been the correct expectations going in.

Yeah, I was caught by surprise by that as well. I was expecting Mayans, and the protagonists seemed more like Yanomami. It seemed strange to me that there would be nearly uncontacted hunter-gatherers within two days travel of a big city and agricultural center.

The rpg New Fire: Temikamatl Book of Dreams is inspired by various Meso-American cultures. I had forgotten I even bought this, as I got it shortly before I moved. Only found it while searching through one of my boxes of rpg stuff today