Back in 2003 I was inspired by an article by Jim Esler called “Meet the Aztecs”. Jim offers an informed critique of the then WRG, primarily DBM and DBA, army lists for the Aztecs. Since then both DBM and Jim’s page has disappeared. I thought I’d pull Jim’s article back from the WayBackMachine and make it more easily accessible for the community. All words are Jim Esler’s; I have modified the formatting a tiny bit. Thanks to Ethan for finding the article.
Conquistadores
Conquistadors (from Spanish conquistadores i.e. “conquerors”) were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish King. They sailed beyond Europe conquering territory and opening trade routes.
Pastimes in the Place of Reeds
The inhabitants of the Place of Reeds have the normal Mesoamerican pastimes. Games and sports, and the gambling the comes with them. In terms of sports they favoured anything that tested skill and endurance.
Why I Called it the Place of Reeds
The setting is called the Place of Reeds and is based on the historical city of Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan means “place of the gods” in Nahuatl (Vogel, 1995); it is likely this is a latter name given to the ruins rather than what the inhabitants called it.
Currency in the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds is based on this historical city called Teotihuacan. We know nothing about the currency in use in Teotihuacan but we do know something about Aztec “money”.
Tonulli: Fate RPG in Mesoamerica
I love the history of the New World, both before and after the Spanish Conquest. I’m slowly working on a pre-conquest setting called the Place of Reeds. This section is about using Fate RPG 3.0 in a Mesoamerican setting; I’ve called this Fate RPG variant Tonulli. There are a lot of Fate 3.0 variants but Tonulli is primarily based on Free Fate with bits from Spirit of the Century.
Geography of the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds is based on this historical city called Teotihuacan. The site of Teotihuacan is 40 km north-east of present day Mexico City.
Sources for the Place of Reeds
If you want to investigate Place of Reeds setting further then have a look at some of these:
Timeline of the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds is based on this historical city called Teotihuacan so I’ve included the timeline for the latter.
RPG Plots for Mesoamerica
Here’s some rough plot lines set in Mesoamerica and hence for the Place of Reeds. it started as a list I typed up in 2006 then got expanded a lot by borrowing ideas from The Big List of RPG Plots.
Religion in the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds is based on this historical city called Teotihuacan. The religion of Teotihuacan preceded that of the Aztecs but bore a strong similarity to their religion and others of central Mexico.
People of the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds is based on this historical city called Teotihuacan. Who the main inhabitants of Teotihuacan were is unknown, but the contenders are Nahua speakers (like the Aztecs), Totonacs or Otomis (Miller & Taube, 1993). Vogel (1995) adds Nahua-Chichimecs and Olmec-Chochopopolocas to the list of possibilities. Vogel says the most accepted theory is that the inhabitants were proto-Nahua.
Flora and Fauna of the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds, being based on this historical city of Teotihuacan, has typical flora and fauna for central Mexico.
Calendars of the Place of Reeds
The Place of Reeds uses the three calendar systems of Mesoamerica: 260 day ritual calendar, 365 day vague calendar and the 52 year bundle.
Steven’s Aztec Army
I picked up a small Aztec army on ebay. I didn’t know the figure manufacturer but Peter Feinler kindly pointed out they are Naismith Design available from Navwar. They are compatible with Essex and Gladiator although a tad more slight that either, and a lot smaller than Falcon. I’ve also mixed in three Essex figures that I had – two painted by John Mclennan and one by me.