If you were to use it, where would it be located? And what modifications would you make to it?
Håvard
I wouldn't use Maztica in Outer Mystara unless it was for some lost civilization in a place nobody had visited before.
:-) Jesper
One of the fundamental reasons I didn't like it for FR is for the same reason I didn't really like Kara-Tur or the Hordelands (and the Horde trilogy)- FR is not, and never has been based on Real World cultures. Not really. The core of Faerun is and always has been largely just its own fantasy realm, and, as such, introducing the Real World realms into Toril just doesn't seem to mesh- especially when so much of these cultures is just transposed wholesale from the RW, and not much effort put into modifying them according to the introduction of fantasy elements. The same problem exists, IMO, with the Hepmonaland/Amedio Jungle information introduced into Greyhawk in the Scarlet Brotherhood book.
That isn't a problem for Mystara, though, as fundamentally Mystara has always been largely based on RW cultures, so I don't see where Maztica would be any different. In other words, it could probably be inserted very easily somewhere.
As Spellweaver notes, though, there are already Oltec/Azcan cultures in the Hollow World, and native American cultures (the Clans) in the Outer World, so I don't know where it would be at all necessary to introduce yet another Mayan/Aztec culture. The best use would probably be as a supplement to those existing cultures. Otherwise, there are probably places in Davania that could host a Maztica-type setting. There is that area of the Jungle Coast where the Yasuko tribesmen (Yuan-ti, from what little we know of them) hide out. That could be a start.
If you were to use it, where would it be located? And what modifications would you make to it?
I played one of the Maztican adventures, Endless Armies, on the Savage Coast.
I changed the Church of Helm into the Church of Narvaez and the native Payit with goblin tribes of primitive farmers/fishermen along one of the rivers that cross the Pampa north of Saragon.
The characters were hired by a a group of Narvaezan exiles in Saragon to recapture the fugitive priest (the original adventures had the party hired by the Church of Helm), and I added a group of Narvaezan knights sent by the don Hugo as competition for the PCs.
I also used the boxed set to make up an Oltec player character (Eagle Knight) for a one-shot variant of X6 Quagmire! set around 500 AC (right after the arrival of the Traladarans in the gulf of Hule).
Since the last remnants of the Oltec culture have been completely destroyed by the later events, I wouldn't use these character kits in modern Mystara.
Note that, OTOH, the SC boxed set also allows the use of the Plumaweaver in Mystara as a Tortle character class.
Finally, City of Gold can be used as a sourcebook for the Atruaghin (maybe the Bear Clan), or as an hidden surviving group of Savage Coast Oltecs.
The box set, itself, could be put in just about any open jungle terrain on Mystara. On the outer world, they could be Azcan leftovers that weren't taken to the HW. In the HW, they could be an Azcan Empire replacement, supplement or even a separate culture on a different continent.
--Ray.
IMHO, HWR1 Azca is the BEST supplement ever made for Hollow World, and one of the best gazetteers ever written (kudos to John Nephew for that, TOO).
I wonder how Maztica could fare better than Azca as an accessory for Mystara: is it so fantabulous to compete with Azca's accuracy and in-depth description of the Azcan society, history and mythology?
I do not own Maztica boxed set, because for Mystara you already have Azca.
IMHO, HWR1 Azca is the BEST supplement ever made for Hollow World, and one of the best gazetteers ever written (kudos to John Nephew for that, TOO).
John Nephew also cowrote City of Gold (which I just downloaded last night). There doesn't seem to be enough in there (IMO) to warrant its own placement as a setting, but it would definitely help to flesh out the Oltecs in the HW (who don't have a Gaz of their own yet).
Until my wife told me that she hates ants (i was told in a manner that made me completely drop EA as an adventure idea. Anyone have any ideas what could be used as an 'ant replacement?'), I was converting Endless Armies for use in the Azcan Empire.
If you can keep the insect-like look, then you might go with thri-kreen or scrabs (from Dark Sun), or simply keep the stats of the EA ants and make them look like mantis or centipedes or even bees. Also the hivebrood could be used.
If your wife's hate extends to insects in general, you might replace them with humanoid automata (sort-of lesser clockwork automaton).
Håvard
Alot of good ideas here for using the Maztica stuff for complementing the Azcans and Oltecs. One thing that is missing though is the Conquestador aspect of Maztica. I would have liked to try out something like that for Mystara, perhaps with the Savage Coast as someone suggested above, but also quite possibly for Thyatian colonist on Daviana, say on the Jungle Coast. Things will have to be tweaked alot since the cultures there are different, but perhaps I could recreate some of the feel. What do you think?
Håvard
If you do come up with a conquestador campaign please share the details with us, as it could have a great impact on the Treasure Fleet thread also here at the board
:-) Jesper
If you do come up with a conquestador campaign please share the details with us, as it could have a great impact on the Treasure Fleet thread also here at the board
I will! But dont hold your breath on this one. It is more at the stage of a cool idea at the moment, one of many that need development. If anyone else wants to pick up on it though, I will be paying close attention
Håvard
I do not own Maztica boxed set, because for Mystara you already have Azca.
IMHO, HWR1 Azca is the BEST supplement ever made for Hollow World, and one of the best gazetteers ever written (kudos to John Nephew for that, TOO).
I wonder how Maztica could fare better than Azca as an accessory for Mystara: is it so fantabulous to compete with Azca's accuracy and in-depth description of the Azcan society, history and mythology?
The boxed set itself would be of limited use for Azca. Actually, it is most useful for lands other than Azca (the Savage Coast, for example).
The other three modules (mostly adventures, with City of Gold being a gazetteer/adventure mix), OTOH, can well be adapted, since there are few adventures dealing with the SC or Azca or the Atruaghin Clans.
Anyway, you may want to judge yourself, since all the modules we're discussing are available in the classics downloads page:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads
If you can keep the insect-like look, then you might go with thri-kreen or scrabs (from Dark Sun), or simply keep the stats of the EA ants and make them look like mantis or centipedes or even bees. Also the hivebrood could be used.
I haven't read Endless Armies, but might the Horde (the Earth creatures that are a hive-mind of many bodies) work?
Alot of good ideas here for using the Maztica stuff for complementing the Azcans and Oltecs. One thing that is missing though is the Conquestador aspect of Maztica. I would have liked to try out something like that for Mystara, perhaps with the Savage Coast as someone suggested above, but also quite possibly for Thyatian colonist on Daviana, say on the Jungle Coast. Things will have to be tweaked alot since the cultures there are different, but perhaps I could recreate some of the feel. What do you think?
The Conquistador aspect would best work in Davania, if set in modern day Mystara. If you want to use the Savage Coast, you'd probably have to turn back the clock somewhat to get the feel you want. Some ideas, though, off the top of my head:
1) Davania- as mentioned the Jungle Coast might very well hold some Oltec cultures along the lines of those in Maztica. Though we know of Thyatians making incursions into the Gallic-by-way-of-jungle Hinterlands, that area is so huge that it could easily house many cultures that we have yet to encounter or envision. The Yasuko tribesmen region in particular might house some Oltec cultures and Thyatian conquistadors. You might even use the Heldannic Knights instead, as they have more of that missionistic/conqueror blend that the Spanish conquistadors brought to the New World. They could also then have conflicts with the more traditionally imperalistic Thyatians.
2) Brasol- This article, written ages ago by Matt Levy on the MML talks briefly about making the Brasol region into the sort of area you might be looking for. It is located somewhat closer to the Savage Coast than the Hinterlands, as well, and so the more traditionally "Spanish" like cultures (Texeira, Narvaez, etc.) can be used as direct conquistador counterparts.
I haven't read Endless Armies, but might the Horde (the Earth creatures that are a hive-mind of many bodies) work?
Only for a very high level adaptation. The original adventure is for 4th-6th level characters.