Useful Resources for Maztica

[Jürgen Hubert]

I think it would be a good idea to start a thread for resources that we have found useful when preparing for Maztica campaigns or for expanding the setting - beyond actual Maztica publications, of course. I will start:

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann: Provides a decent overview of the state of knowledge about the pre-Columbian Americas - as of the year 2005, that is. But that's still far more current than the state of knowledge the Maztica Boxed Set was based on (i.e. in 1991).

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, also by Charles C. Mann: This book details the profound changes the Columbian Exchange has introduced to both the Americas and the rest of the world - and this book was ultimately the inspiration that caused me to start my Returned Maztica project. Beyond expanding your knowledge of post-Columbian America drastically, this book is also full of gameable stuff - such as the off-hand mention that there were Japanese samurai guarding silver shipments in 17th century Mexico. This book should be first on your reading list.

GURPS Aztecs: A useful primer of the Aztec civilization as an RPG setting, written to the usual high standards of Steve Jackson Games (though it is also somewhat dated, as it was written in 1993).

What books, articles, and other resources did you find useful for your Maztica campaign?

Additionally, I am also looking for a searchable dictionary of Nahuatl that would help me coming up with names - can you recommend one?

[Sturm]

I remember I just used the search "nahuatl english" on Google and some good results came up, but I have no more specific suggestions.
Good links BTW

[Jürgen Hubert]

Aztec Philosophy - a long article decribing the Aztec way of viewing the world which I will probably use extensively. This should help emphasize how different Maztican culture is from the usual pseudo-European fantasy.

[Sturm]

Good link, a lot of interesting informations!

[Jürgen Hubert]

Aztec Calendar - a site where you can get the associations for each real world day in the three different Aztec calendar system. Very useful if you want to insert some astrology into your game!

[Havard]

Great thread!

I just posted a similar thread here for campaigns set in South & Central America on Earth, but I think many of those resources could be useful for Maztica as well.

-Havard

[Jürgen Hubert]

'Game Changer': Maya Cities Unearthed In Guatemala Forest Using Lasers

We don't have population information for most cities of Payit and Far Payit. But it seems that we can justify making them... high.

[Jürgen Hubert]

World's Largest Underwater Cave discovered: A fascinatinh piece on the underwater cave network of the Yucatan - which fully justifies a (submerged) "Underdark" for Payit.

And due to the presence of "sacred sinkholes" used for sacrifices, you can easily justify treasures...

[ghendar]

And due to the presence of "sacred sinkholes" used for sacrifices, you can easily justify treasures...

And angry spirits who object to the removal of said treasure

[Jürgen Hubert]

And due to the presence of "sacred sinkholes" used for sacrifices, you can easily justify treasures...

And angry spirits who object to the removal of said treasure

Maybe, but I will stick with Crabmen for my first adventure set there.

[Jürgen Hubert]

In This Ancient City, Even Commoners Lived in Palaces - an article about Teotihuacán, a pre-Aztec city in the Valley of Mexico that was held by the later Aztecs to be the "City of the Gods" (i.e. the city built by the gods), and which was likely the inspiration for the location in Maztica of the same name.

Within Maztica, this article might also serve as an inspiration for Tucan.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Another recommendation I have is to register at Academia.edu and download a few articles on topics relevant to your research on Maztica - or any other conceivable topic. Then you will regularly get recommendations for further articles related to the cultures you are interested in.

I started with researching the symbology of eagles and jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures, and by now I've got a fairly large library of academic articles on Aztecs, Mayans, and other local cultures.