An idea for a campaign setting - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

An idea for a campaign setting

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
connortheconman93
May 15, 2010 14:23:50
I've been playing around with an idea for a campaign setting for a while now: an archipelago controlled by city-states of various aztec-like cultures. I haven't put much work into it yet, but I'd like any tips you guys might have. Thanks.
#2
deschain_of_gilead
May 15, 2010 14:51:17 My girlfriend, who has quite a lot of history training, has consistently toyed around w/ running a pre-Columbian Aztec style game. Although she's been a good sport b/c I pretty much said the only way I'd play in it is if there were dinosaurs.

The resources we collected for it were:
Bartolomew Las Casas account of the Aztecs. Really, I'd just try to find a decent in-depth historical account or two. Not that I think it's important to have verismilitude, but b/c that will give you the maximal amount of bits and hooks for interesting RP and encounters.

I'd also pilfer from all the surrounding pre-Columbian cultures for neat ideas. For example, I find the Incan mummification and bloodletting practices to be extremely interesting for RP. To this end, I actually found the old Rifts books on South America a little useful, although anything similar can work. For example, if Conan has a South America style setting you might just want to see what was interesting in there.

The old Matzica (2E) campaign setting and Savage Tides adventure path.

Speaking of Conan, the Solomon Kane stuff also has some good stuff to mine. I also like Gregory Keyes' "Fool Wolf" books for a less European medieval setting that has some intense deific/priesthood involvement.

Depending on how much sailing will matter, whatever the 4E equivalent of Stormwrack is.

#3
connortheconman93
May 15, 2010 16:25:17 Thanks Deschain_of_Gilead. Those resources will help a lot. I've never read Bartolome de Las Casas' account, but I've read excerpts from Cortes' letter to King Charles V which describes a market in an Aztec city pretty vividly. I am definitely plundering Mayan and Incan culture. I've seen some of the Savage Tide adventures and they look pretty good. Sailing will be important if I decide to set the city-states at war with each other (pretty much a guaranteed since Aztec culture involves massive amounts of blood sacrifice), although I'll be using 3.5 E and I already have Stormwrack. I have never heard of the Matzica campaign setting. I googled it and most of what came up are discussions of the worst campaign settings ever published. Where could I get a copy? I can't find a pdf to see if its worth buying, so I'll have to see if I can find a print version for sale somewhere. Is it any good?
#4
nincubus
May 15, 2010 17:26:16 You may want to have a look at this. The Wizards site contains lots of free to download material from the previous editions.
#5
connortheconman93
May 15, 2010 20:21:55 Thanks NINcubus but I found that right after I posted. It looks good, and I'll have to give it a good leaf through. I'm toying with the idea that magic in the campaign setting will use sacrifice as a component (either by empowering it or simply allowing the spell to work). Any thoughts? Also, the Matzica pdf has links to some sources for their work, so I'll see if I can get ahold of some of those to better understand the time.
#6
DerelictDroid
May 15, 2010 21:28:54 Will this be a 4e campaign or 3e? I had been toying with a low magic campaign, and 4e seems wholely unworkable in that context. I like your idea of sacrifice magic, but in a 4e ruleset, how does that work for 2/3rds of the classes that use structured magic? Though I can see such magic rites used for Rituals in 4e. There's also a great supplement on ships for 2e that might be useful for an island hopping adventure.

#7
connortheconman93
May 16, 2010 0:06:24 3.5 edition Derelictdroid. In Mesoamerican culture, there wasn't a 'magician' sort of person in society. The only people that used it were minor conjurers who entertained the king. Priests, however, sacrificed dozens of people annually in the hope of a good harvest. I'm thinking that instead of a wizard-type class, there is a class that invokes effects similar to a wizards' spells but through sacrifice. If you sacrifice someone, you can cast a certain number of spells before you need another sacrifice. I'm thinking of a way to do 'bottled' sacrifices which are only good for one spell.
#8
DerelictDroid
May 16, 2010 0:57:47 I think 3.5 is a smart choice for this type of campaign. Logicially speaking, how will extended treks work for PCs? Will the spell-users have in tow a group of sacrificial subjects? I know a player in one of my games would totally 'game' this and have like 10 people in tow behind his character. Years ago I played an Elven Priest (I was never a min-maxer) in a friend's campaign. Though the character never sacrificed humans , we had sacrificial rites (using weapons like certain Celtic rites) which added a lot to the game play. These happened on the full moon every month and made for some memorable adventures. It helped that my fellow players were into this sort of minutia as well.

Point being, the frequency of the sacrifices will be the trick for you in my opinion. Too frequently, and it becomes a pain for the players -- too infrequent, and it becomes trivial. I will say, just from my experience, that once a month felt about right. But tastes will vary certainly.
#9
connortheconman93
May 16, 2010 12:13:11 Yeah 3.5 edition is probably the best edition to do it in. Theres probably a mechanic out there somewhere for sacrifice magic, all I have to do is find it. The only extended treks they will make are to enemy islands, where sacrifices (aka people) abound. I think that you're right in frequency, since too often will become a pain and too little will be stupid. Maybe every time a moonis full (I'm thinking of at least three), they make a sacrifice to the gods and they grant them magic till the next full moon. There won't be too many dangerous critters running around, so most combat will be war. I'm also thinking of a different kind of magic based on the powers of the critters in the jungle. I remember a class in Magic of Incarnum that fit the bill, so maybe I'll take a look at that. Im trying to make historically accurate weapon stats for things like obsidian knives, aztec clubs, and incan bolas, and I saw something like this in a Dragon Magazine once, so I'm trying to track that down. Any advice?
#10
grehnhewe
May 16, 2010 13:24:36 If there is anything in 3x regarding "sacrifice magic" it would most likely be found in the Book of Vile Darkness.
#11
connortheconman93
May 17, 2010 14:46:29 Actually the I only mechanic I have found is a d20 rpg supplement, which adds blood magic to the abilities of a wizard or sorceror, although my copy of the Book of Vile Darkness is misplaced, so I have to find it before I can say there isn't.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 connortheconman93 May 15, 2010 14:23:50	I've been playing around with an idea for a campaign setting for a while now: an archipelago controlled by city-states of various aztec-like cultures. I haven't put much work into it yet, but I'd like any tips you guys might have. Thanks.
#2 deschain_of_gilead May 15, 2010 14:51:17	My girlfriend, who has quite a lot of history training, has consistently toyed around w/ running a pre-Columbian Aztec style game. Although she's been a good sport b/c I pretty much said the only way I'd play in it is if there were dinosaurs. The resources we collected for it were: Bartolomew Las Casas account of the Aztecs. Really, I'd just try to find a decent in-depth historical account or two. Not that I think it's important to have verismilitude, but b/c that will give you the maximal amount of bits and hooks for interesting RP and encounters. I'd also pilfer from all the surrounding pre-Columbian cultures for neat ideas. For example, I find the Incan mummification and bloodletting practices to be extremely interesting for RP. To this end, I actually found the old Rifts books on South America a little useful, although anything similar can work. For example, if Conan has a South America style setting you might just want to see what was interesting in there. The old Matzica (2E) campaign setting and Savage Tides adventure path. Speaking of Conan, the Solomon Kane stuff also has some good stuff to mine. I also like Gregory Keyes' "Fool Wolf" books for a less European medieval setting that has some intense deific/priesthood involvement. Depending on how much sailing will matter, whatever the 4E equivalent of Stormwrack is.
#3 connortheconman93 May 15, 2010 16:25:17	Thanks Deschain_of_Gilead. Those resources will help a lot. I've never read Bartolome de Las Casas' account, but I've read excerpts from Cortes' letter to King Charles V which describes a market in an Aztec city pretty vividly. I am definitely plundering Mayan and Incan culture. I've seen some of the Savage Tide adventures and they look pretty good. Sailing will be important if I decide to set the city-states at war with each other (pretty much a guaranteed since Aztec culture involves massive amounts of blood sacrifice), although I'll be using 3.5 E and I already have Stormwrack. I have never heard of the Matzica campaign setting. I googled it and most of what came up are discussions of the worst campaign settings ever published. Where could I get a copy? I can't find a pdf to see if its worth buying, so I'll have to see if I can find a print version for sale somewhere. Is it any good?
#4 nincubus May 15, 2010 17:26:16	You may want to have a look at this. The Wizards site contains lots of free to download material from the previous editions.
#5 connortheconman93 May 15, 2010 20:21:55	Thanks NINcubus but I found that right after I posted. It looks good, and I'll have to give it a good leaf through. I'm toying with the idea that magic in the campaign setting will use sacrifice as a component (either by empowering it or simply allowing the spell to work). Any thoughts? Also, the Matzica pdf has links to some sources for their work, so I'll see if I can get ahold of some of those to better understand the time.
#6 DerelictDroid May 15, 2010 21:28:54	Will this be a 4e campaign or 3e? I had been toying with a low magic campaign, and 4e seems wholely unworkable in that context. I like your idea of sacrifice magic, but in a 4e ruleset, how does that work for 2/3rds of the classes that use structured magic? Though I can see such magic rites used for Rituals in 4e. There's also a great supplement on ships for 2e that might be useful for an island hopping adventure.
#7 connortheconman93 May 16, 2010 0:06:24	3.5 edition Derelictdroid. In Mesoamerican culture, there wasn't a 'magician' sort of person in society. The only people that used it were minor conjurers who entertained the king. Priests, however, sacrificed dozens of people annually in the hope of a good harvest. I'm thinking that instead of a wizard-type class, there is a class that invokes effects similar to a wizards' spells but through sacrifice. If you sacrifice someone, you can cast a certain number of spells before you need another sacrifice. I'm thinking of a way to do 'bottled' sacrifices which are only good for one spell.
#8 DerelictDroid May 16, 2010 0:57:47	I think 3.5 is a smart choice for this type of campaign. Logicially speaking, how will extended treks work for PCs? Will the spell-users have in tow a group of sacrificial subjects? I know a player in one of my games would totally 'game' this and have like 10 people in tow behind his character. Years ago I played an Elven Priest (I was never a min-maxer) in a friend's campaign. Though the character never sacrificed humans , we had sacrificial rites (using weapons like certain Celtic rites) which added a lot to the game play. These happened on the full moon every month and made for some memorable adventures. It helped that my fellow players were into this sort of minutia as well. Point being, the frequency of the sacrifices will be the trick for you in my opinion. Too frequently, and it becomes a pain for the players -- too infrequent, and it becomes trivial. I will say, just from my experience, that once a month felt about right. But tastes will vary certainly.
#9 connortheconman93 May 16, 2010 12:13:11	Yeah 3.5 edition is probably the best edition to do it in. Theres probably a mechanic out there somewhere for sacrifice magic, all I have to do is find it. The only extended treks they will make are to enemy islands, where sacrifices (aka people) abound. I think that you're right in frequency, since too often will become a pain and too little will be stupid. Maybe every time a moonis full (I'm thinking of at least three), they make a sacrifice to the gods and they grant them magic till the next full moon. There won't be too many dangerous critters running around, so most combat will be war. I'm also thinking of a different kind of magic based on the powers of the critters in the jungle. I remember a class in Magic of Incarnum that fit the bill, so maybe I'll take a look at that. Im trying to make historically accurate weapon stats for things like obsidian knives, aztec clubs, and incan bolas, and I saw something like this in a Dragon Magazine once, so I'm trying to track that down. Any advice?
#10 grehnhewe May 16, 2010 13:24:36	If there is anything in 3x regarding "sacrifice magic" it would most likely be found in the Book of Vile Darkness.
#11 connortheconman93 May 17, 2010 14:46:29	Actually the I only mechanic I have found is a d20 rpg supplement, which adds blood magic to the abilities of a wizard or sorceror, although my copy of the Book of Vile Darkness is misplaced, so I have to find it before I can say there isn't.