Some Real-world History

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Bitom
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Some Real-world History

Post by Bitom » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:51 pm

Maztica is based on the Spanish invasion of South America in our real history, so I thought it might be helpful to add in a little research stuff here for players to look at. Keep in mind, these things relate to the game only if Wayloss says they do. Maztica is not South America.

Most of what I have to share is pictures, but I left the book at home, so they'll have to wait till later to scan them in, but here's a few things I noticed in looking through the book I have:

Armor: Aztec armor was made of heavy cloth, stuffed with unwoven cotton. In D&D terms, it was padded armor. it had the advantage of allowing sweat to evaporate through it, and was effective enough that the spanish started using versions of it as well, since their metal armors were really unsuited to the jungle.

Weapons: The manufacture of steel was not one of the inovations of the Aztecs. This means that there were no swords. However, the sharp thing to beat on your opponents with is an invention that comes up in every culture, and something they had an abundance of was obsidian. Aztec 'swords' were clubs with rows of sharp obsidian chips sticking out of them. Sort of like a nailbat, but much more expertly made. These people weren't unskilled, they just focused their skills in differant areas. Therefore, a sword-club would have perfectly lined-up rows of identical obsidian chips. Very nasty.

One thing that the Aztecs really liked were arrows. They had bows, they had javelins, they had spears, they had spear-throwers. They had an entire class of knight that Maztica did not choose to pick up that were completely devoted to ranged weapons. (Yes, Jaguar and Eagle knights are historical)

Finally... the most feared aztec weapon: the sling. They were deadly with these things. Even in metal armor, the spanish found it difficult to avoid being stunned by one of these incoming missles, and a shot to the head could easily be fatal.
I was wrong... I'm not done futzing with the character, I need to add a sling... all halflings should have a sling.
I Hope this has been useful to somebody. I'll try to scan and post pics later.

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TetNak
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Re: Some Real-world History

Post by TetNak » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:44 pm

Yup. About the swords, I was doing some research on that to see if my 'obsidian scimitar' would be okay. Wayloss, if you want me to changet he base, aka scimitar, to something else, let me know. From what I saw their sword-clubs were almost rectangular, so scimitar might not be the best fit. Otherwise, let me know if I can keep it as a class weapon, which a scimitar is.
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Wayloss
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Re: Some Real-world History

Post by Wayloss » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:54 am

Tet add Maca to the druid weapon list for maztica nd change yours over toa Maca ,same stats as a Long sword, but is the sword club described above.

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Bitom
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Re: Some Real-world History

Post by Bitom » Fri Nov 18, 2005 7:56 pm

As promised: Pics.

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Vardaen
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Re: Some Real-world History

Post by Vardaen » Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:03 pm

Nice.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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