So, having just watched the Dr.Who story "The Aztecs" for the first time ever, I have to say I felt it inspiring me somewhat.  

If you were to run an Aztec campaign, which system would you use? Is there any game made for this?

I know there's Empire of the Petal Throne, but that's not real aztecs, its some weird pastiche of a number of cultures that doesn't end up feeling like any of them.

I know also there was a pretty good Aztec setting in the Hollow World, but I'm not too sure about using that.

Finally, I know that there was at one point a GURPS aztecs book, I never read it. Was it considered a good historical GURPS book? or one of the poorer ones?

Anything else I might have missed?

RPGPundit

I study the Aztecs, more specifically,my Master's Thesis was on the political interplay between Cortes's interpretation of Spanish Hegemony over the Valley of Mexico and Moctezuma's administration.

I think the GURPS book is actually pretty good as an overview, but spends way too many pages on auspicious dates.  I mean, that's important, culturally, but didn't need to take up 20 pages.

If you want to run a game set in the Aztec world, with Mixteca PCs...there's really nothing that models their worldview properly.  GURPS works as well as it does in anything, but there's really nothing that hits the mark, system-wise.

Also, other than the GURPS book, most of the "Aztec" books out there are pop-history interpretations with little accuracy beyond what anything on the History Channel will show you.

I am more a fan of the Maya and I have run several Mayan adventures and one campaign. Essentially, I have not found any setting or source book I am really happy with. There is some GURPs books but...meh, they always leave me sort of uninspired. Usually, to get really inspired, I sit down and glyph out a message for the players or read one of the history books from my library.

I would be interested in an RPG that dealt with this subject matter as well.

Quote from: joewolz;283064Also, other than the GURPS book, most of the "Aztec" books out there are pop-history interpretations with little accuracy beyond what anything on the History Channel will show you.

What are your suggestions for scholarly books on the subject that are reasonably layman-friendly?

By reasonably, I mean, does not presume indepth background in mesoamerican studies already.

I played in a game that had similar story lines leading to  Aztec culture.  We used the Stargate game, with Spycraft rules.  It played well, until our group dismantled.

I suggest Tlachtli, that ball game where they knock the ball through vertical hoops on the sides of the court, using their hips and knees.

-clash



EDIT: Remember to read the original post before replying next time, clash!

Quote from: joewolz;283064If you want to run a game set in the Aztec world, with Mixteca PCs...there's really nothing that models their worldview properly.  GURPS works as well as it does in anything, but there's really nothing that hits the mark, system-wise

What do you see as required for this?

I'm no expert regarding Aztecs, but I fully recommend GURPS Aztecs. In fact it's one of my favorite GURPS historical supplements (after GURPS Imperial Rome and GURPS Russia. Not only it crams lots of information in its 128 pages, but it provides with ideas for adventure (not all supplements do this, some of them forget they're meant to be used for gaming), for example there's one chapter about pochteca, which is a gold mine for adventure ideas.

Quote from: joewolz;283064I study the Aztecs, more specifically,my Master's Thesis was on the political interplay between Cortes's interpretation of Spanish Hegemony over the Valley of Mexico and Moctezuma's administration.

Good on ya for writing "Moctezuma", but why not "Cortéz"?

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;283289Good on ya for writing "Moctezuma", but why not "Cortéz"?

In Bernal Diaz's autobiographical account: "The Conquest of New Spain" He also uses an 's' when spelling 'Cortes'.

I think Tekumel took inspiration from Maya rather than Aztec culture didn't it?

I recommend The Conquest of Mexico by Hugh Thomas, and The Broken Spears by Miguel Leon-Portilla. Both contain good and very detailed overviews of Aztec society just prior to, and during, the Spanish conquest.

Quote from: Jaeger;283301In Bernal Diaz's autobiographical account: "The Conquest of New Spain" He also uses an 's' when spelling 'Cortes'.

Well, smack me with a handle.  As a kid in Mexico, we always spelled it with a 'z', in school.  Huh.  Go figure.

I just think it'd be pretty cool to play a short campaign with a fascinating alien culture that was also actually real and thus worth the effort of learning about, instead of the product of some ultra-weird dork's inner fantasy world.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Jaeger;283301In Bernal Diaz's autobiographical account: "The Conquest of New Spain" He also uses an 's' when spelling 'Cortes'.

In every case, in modern Spanish the correct form of writing his surname is Cortés.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;283306Well, smack me with a handle.  As a kid in Mexico, we always spelled it with a 'z', in school.  Huh.  Go figure.

Huh? In school? What kind of crappy school was that? :confused: Forget it, too much of a tangent, sorry, but I can't help it, bad orthography makes me sick, whatever the language.