Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Journey To...South America
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="SMHWorlds" data-source="post: 7726027" data-attributes="member: 6853809"><p>It can be difficult to separate out the true myths of any particular culture from stories told by explorers who came after. Perhaps those become part of the mythology as well, but we want to do our best to get as close to the root mythology as possible. This is doubly difficult in South America where all we have of some of the cultures that called that land their home are ancient sites and strange monuments. Many of the civilizations overlapped and others were contemporaries.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]89606[/ATTACH]</p><p>[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p>Somewhat sadly the typical modus operandi of many of our games follow along the tragic path of the explorers who plundered these ancient lands for their wealth. Still it is not impossible to incorporate the myths of these lands into our play in such a way that it does not continue exploiting them. For instance, the root of the El Dorado myth is actually quite interesting all by itself. It was not a city but a Golden Man that was covered in golden dust and rowed to the middle of Lake Guatavita. There is some debate over what exactly he did once there, but the actions of the Golden Man were necessary to appease the gods. This ceremony was performed by the <a href="http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/south-american-mythology.php?deity=EL-DORADO" target="_blank">Muisca (Chibcha) people</a> who lived in what is now Colombia.</p><p></p><p>Southwest of the Muisca lay the Inca civilization. The Inca Empire controlled a fair amount of territory on the western coast of South America and the Andes mountains. As an empire their reach and power was quite impressive. Their history and mythology was passed down orally until the arrival of the Spanish who managed to <a href="http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ho-Iv/Inca-Mythology.html" target="_blank">write much of the information down</a>.</p><p></p><p>It is said that the first Inca man was created by Inti the sun god. The man was named Manco Capac and with his wife (or sister) he took a special staff of gold to find a good place to build a city. Together they journeyed and <a href="http://incas.mrdonn.org/mancocapac.html" target="_blank">found the place where the city of Cuzco would rise</a>. This is just one of the many Inca myths that would reward a good campaign.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]89607[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Of course I would be remiss if I did not mention the Nazca Lines. Although there are many theories by modern researchers on what the lines are, there is little concrete proof as to why the Nazca built them, if indeed they did build them. What we do know is that there are a series of biomorphs and geoglyphs that number in the hundreds stretching through <a href="http://www.unmuseum.org/nazca.htm" target="_blank">the plain between the Inca and Nazca valleys</a>. What is their purpose? Discovering that could be a campaign unto itself.</p><p></p><p>How would I use them? I would use them very carefully to be honest. The cultures of South America had a history all their own before the arrival of Europeans. There is no reason you cannot have an entire campaign set in South America or an analogue of that continent that never touches traditional fantasy tropes. In a Traveller or (any version) Star Trek campaign, these cultures could inhabit an entire world, which may be primitive from a technological point of view but is still highly advanced and well educated. I highly recommend delving into these cultures and their mythology for inspiration for your games.</p><p></p><p><em>contributed by Sean Hillman</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SMHWorlds, post: 7726027, member: 6853809"] It can be difficult to separate out the true myths of any particular culture from stories told by explorers who came after. Perhaps those become part of the mythology as well, but we want to do our best to get as close to the root mythology as possible. This is doubly difficult in South America where all we have of some of the cultures that called that land their home are ancient sites and strange monuments. Many of the civilizations overlapped and others were contemporaries. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]89606[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Somewhat sadly the typical modus operandi of many of our games follow along the tragic path of the explorers who plundered these ancient lands for their wealth. Still it is not impossible to incorporate the myths of these lands into our play in such a way that it does not continue exploiting them. For instance, the root of the El Dorado myth is actually quite interesting all by itself. It was not a city but a Golden Man that was covered in golden dust and rowed to the middle of Lake Guatavita. There is some debate over what exactly he did once there, but the actions of the Golden Man were necessary to appease the gods. This ceremony was performed by the [URL="http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/south-american-mythology.php?deity=EL-DORADO"]Muisca (Chibcha) people[/URL] who lived in what is now Colombia. Southwest of the Muisca lay the Inca civilization. The Inca Empire controlled a fair amount of territory on the western coast of South America and the Andes mountains. As an empire their reach and power was quite impressive. Their history and mythology was passed down orally until the arrival of the Spanish who managed to [URL="http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ho-Iv/Inca-Mythology.html"]write much of the information down[/URL]. It is said that the first Inca man was created by Inti the sun god. The man was named Manco Capac and with his wife (or sister) he took a special staff of gold to find a good place to build a city. Together they journeyed and [URL="http://incas.mrdonn.org/mancocapac.html"]found the place where the city of Cuzco would rise[/URL]. This is just one of the many Inca myths that would reward a good campaign. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]89607[/ATTACH][/CENTER] Of course I would be remiss if I did not mention the Nazca Lines. Although there are many theories by modern researchers on what the lines are, there is little concrete proof as to why the Nazca built them, if indeed they did build them. What we do know is that there are a series of biomorphs and geoglyphs that number in the hundreds stretching through [URL="http://www.unmuseum.org/nazca.htm"]the plain between the Inca and Nazca valleys[/URL]. What is their purpose? Discovering that could be a campaign unto itself. How would I use them? I would use them very carefully to be honest. The cultures of South America had a history all their own before the arrival of Europeans. There is no reason you cannot have an entire campaign set in South America or an analogue of that continent that never touches traditional fantasy tropes. In a Traveller or (any version) Star Trek campaign, these cultures could inhabit an entire world, which may be primitive from a technological point of view but is still highly advanced and well educated. I highly recommend delving into these cultures and their mythology for inspiration for your games. [I]contributed by Sean Hillman[/I] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Journey To...South America
Top