Burning Games Carlos Gomez Quintana, lead designer and co-writer of Dragons Conquer America, took a few moments away from preparing the launch of the DCA Kickstarter to talk to us about how the game came about and what we can look forward to. The Dragons Conquer America Kickstarter launched on Tuesday 13th March and runs until Thursday 12th April.
We are a small group of four friends who make tabletop roleplaying games under the name Burning Games. We have made FAITH, a sci-fi ttRPG, and we wanted to take our unique game system to a fantasy setting. We were sure we didn’t want to make another medieval european setting, because there are plenty of awesome ttRPGs about it out there, and we felt there’s not much we can add to that subject that would make an original or interesting game. We considered several ideas, such as Mesopotamia, or the Old Testament, a bit like Aronofsky’s film Noe, but they were only brainstorming ideas, because my mind had already been caught by pre-hispanic America.
My first trip to the South American continent was when I was around 12 and I went with my family to meet our new sister. My parents had adopted an 8 year old Colombian girl. While I don’t remember much of that trip, because we only saw Bogota and its surroundings, many years later I met my now wife while studying in Cambridge, who -coincidentally- is also Colombian. Since then, I have travelled to Colombia many times and last year we took the opportunity to fly to Peru to visit some friends and as many Inca ruins as we could.
All of this, mixed with how much reading Aztec by Gary Jennings affected me as a kid, was an amazing cocktail of inspiration and the idea of Dragons Conquer America came to fruition.
I admit my personal interest came from learning of the Mexica civilization as an outsider. I wouldn't have dared getting into this game, these subjects, without a Mexican writer (JC Obal). While he is not a historian but a game writer; his sources include the most respected historians in Mexico, such as Alfredo López and Miguel León Portilla… and his very own grandparents, natives to one of the cultures we are exploring who offered him first hand access to their lore and myths. Additionally, we share a strong anti-colonial thinking.
The Inca, the Mexica, the Muisca, and the many other cultures in the area of that era were all so interesting. I am actually kind of sad that there haven’t been more ttRPGs written about them before (I know there are a few, but not enough!) as I would have played that to exhaustion in my teens!
We decided to set the game during the very first years of the arrival of the Spaniards, because they were a disrupting force that completely changed history. The game also has fantasy elements, as you can figure out from the game’s title. Fantasy allows us to explore myths and religions. Fantasy turns fears into truths. The Mayan temple is haunted. The shaman is a powerful mage. Fantasy also allows for more freedom and experimentation.
DCA is based on history, but it is not historically accurate. We have reinterpreted many historical facts and myths: Saint George did not kill the dragon, but instead converted it to Christianity. The Mesoamerican city-states are protected by guardian feathered serpents. The Catholic Kings of Spain have discovered the Fountain of Eternal Youth in the jungles of the Amazon and are now Immortal. Abandoned Mayan cities are now inhabited by strange beings, and haunted by their proud dead Kings. Priests of all religions hold formidable powers and their prayers are mighty spells.
The way you play the game remains the same as in most other ttRPGs: You are a party of adventurers braving into the unknown and performing quests. Most parties will be composed of mixed groups of Natives and Europeans, and most of the time you’ll be fighting monsters and creatures of the mythological pantheons of Mesoamerica.
To ease players into this setting, we have decided to write two short campaigns to accompany our Core Book, the Eight Omens and the Conquistador’s Gold.
The Eight Omens campaign is a celebration of Mexica myths. Players will embody four Native characters who are experiencing different omens that take them to various points in American history. Their aim is to interpret the omens that will help them be ready against the Spanish menace.
The Conquistador’s Gold is told from the perspective of four Spanish individuals that indirectly work for Hernán Cortés. Their main goal is to secure a huge bounty known as the Conquistador’s Gold, but the story might develop in a different direction depending on the player’s actions. The mechanics themselves promote tolerance and acceptance of the different, creating a natural arc towards tolerance for the players.
The Core Book itself is a classical RPG book, containing everything you need to play the game, from the core rules and subsystems, the character creation, gear and equipment, non player characters, the setting information itself and a short adventure to get you started.
The mechanics of DCA are oriented towards bringing people together to take down dangerous monsters, find treasures and unravel ancient mysteries; and not towards playing a “colonizer” or to play part in big wars and things like that.
What DCA as a ttRPG does is it focus its system so it works well when solving all kinds of issues, but it subtly rewards/punishes different types of gameplay to thematically guide the players into exploration, supernatural conflicts, teamwork, and overcoming one’s prejudices.
So get ready to play dragon rider nuns, tomb raiders, pochteca merchants, temple guards, eagle warriors, Spanish hidalgos, Christian or Mesoamerican priests, and join forces to explore the dangerous jungles of ancient Mexico. We have great plans to develop this game further, and even make it into a series, but that is a topic for another day ;
We are a small group of four friends who make tabletop roleplaying games under the name Burning Games. We have made FAITH, a sci-fi ttRPG, and we wanted to take our unique game system to a fantasy setting. We were sure we didn’t want to make another medieval european setting, because there are plenty of awesome ttRPGs about it out there, and we felt there’s not much we can add to that subject that would make an original or interesting game. We considered several ideas, such as Mesopotamia, or the Old Testament, a bit like Aronofsky’s film Noe, but they were only brainstorming ideas, because my mind had already been caught by pre-hispanic America.
My first trip to the South American continent was when I was around 12 and I went with my family to meet our new sister. My parents had adopted an 8 year old Colombian girl. While I don’t remember much of that trip, because we only saw Bogota and its surroundings, many years later I met my now wife while studying in Cambridge, who -coincidentally- is also Colombian. Since then, I have travelled to Colombia many times and last year we took the opportunity to fly to Peru to visit some friends and as many Inca ruins as we could.
All of this, mixed with how much reading Aztec by Gary Jennings affected me as a kid, was an amazing cocktail of inspiration and the idea of Dragons Conquer America came to fruition.
I admit my personal interest came from learning of the Mexica civilization as an outsider. I wouldn't have dared getting into this game, these subjects, without a Mexican writer (JC Obal). While he is not a historian but a game writer; his sources include the most respected historians in Mexico, such as Alfredo López and Miguel León Portilla… and his very own grandparents, natives to one of the cultures we are exploring who offered him first hand access to their lore and myths. Additionally, we share a strong anti-colonial thinking.
The Inca, the Mexica, the Muisca, and the many other cultures in the area of that era were all so interesting. I am actually kind of sad that there haven’t been more ttRPGs written about them before (I know there are a few, but not enough!) as I would have played that to exhaustion in my teens!
We decided to set the game during the very first years of the arrival of the Spaniards, because they were a disrupting force that completely changed history. The game also has fantasy elements, as you can figure out from the game’s title. Fantasy allows us to explore myths and religions. Fantasy turns fears into truths. The Mayan temple is haunted. The shaman is a powerful mage. Fantasy also allows for more freedom and experimentation.
DCA is based on history, but it is not historically accurate. We have reinterpreted many historical facts and myths: Saint George did not kill the dragon, but instead converted it to Christianity. The Mesoamerican city-states are protected by guardian feathered serpents. The Catholic Kings of Spain have discovered the Fountain of Eternal Youth in the jungles of the Amazon and are now Immortal. Abandoned Mayan cities are now inhabited by strange beings, and haunted by their proud dead Kings. Priests of all religions hold formidable powers and their prayers are mighty spells.
The way you play the game remains the same as in most other ttRPGs: You are a party of adventurers braving into the unknown and performing quests. Most parties will be composed of mixed groups of Natives and Europeans, and most of the time you’ll be fighting monsters and creatures of the mythological pantheons of Mesoamerica.
To ease players into this setting, we have decided to write two short campaigns to accompany our Core Book, the Eight Omens and the Conquistador’s Gold.
The Eight Omens campaign is a celebration of Mexica myths. Players will embody four Native characters who are experiencing different omens that take them to various points in American history. Their aim is to interpret the omens that will help them be ready against the Spanish menace.
The Conquistador’s Gold is told from the perspective of four Spanish individuals that indirectly work for Hernán Cortés. Their main goal is to secure a huge bounty known as the Conquistador’s Gold, but the story might develop in a different direction depending on the player’s actions. The mechanics themselves promote tolerance and acceptance of the different, creating a natural arc towards tolerance for the players.
The Core Book itself is a classical RPG book, containing everything you need to play the game, from the core rules and subsystems, the character creation, gear and equipment, non player characters, the setting information itself and a short adventure to get you started.
The mechanics of DCA are oriented towards bringing people together to take down dangerous monsters, find treasures and unravel ancient mysteries; and not towards playing a “colonizer” or to play part in big wars and things like that.
What DCA as a ttRPG does is it focus its system so it works well when solving all kinds of issues, but it subtly rewards/punishes different types of gameplay to thematically guide the players into exploration, supernatural conflicts, teamwork, and overcoming one’s prejudices.
So get ready to play dragon rider nuns, tomb raiders, pochteca merchants, temple guards, eagle warriors, Spanish hidalgos, Christian or Mesoamerican priests, and join forces to explore the dangerous jungles of ancient Mexico. We have great plans to develop this game further, and even make it into a series, but that is a topic for another day ;
