During a recent kickstarter delve I ran into something that really stuck a chord with me: Nahual.
The very biggest allure is that it is a game of Mexican mythology and identity. With fantasy so often being steeped in tolkenesque iconography and eurocentric myths, it is a very welcome escape to enter a wholly different mythos and have some of the fantastical restored to fantasy.
I miss stories that aren't eurocentric, told by the people who aren't the conquerors. A game like Degenesis that embraces all the cultures within a continent, and how their cultures clash, but never judges or paints on as the savage and the other as the noble, its just people and their lives. Likewise I have an immense respect for the people behind Vampire the Masquerade for talking about wanting more Egyptian and middle eastern stories within their fiction, but simultaneously recognizing that they being white europeans shouldn't be the ones writing it, as they cant correctly portray the complexities and nuances of that life.
I miss stories that aren't eurocentric, told by the people who aren't the conquerors. A game like Degenesis that embraces all the cultures within a continent, and how their cultures clash, but never judges or paints on as the savage and the other as the noble, its just people and their lives. Likewise I have an immense respect for the people behind Vampire the Masquerade for talking about wanting more Egyptian and middle eastern stories within their fiction, but simultaneously recognizing that they being white europeans shouldn't be the ones writing it, as they cant correctly portray the complexities and nuances of that life.
But I am getting ahead of myself: the Players are known as Angeleros mask wielding young adults who by necessity poach the lower castes of angels to butcher for parts on the black market - to make a living in a oppressed and persecuted time. The angels are an invasive species brought along the conquistadors of old, as they brought war and famine to your land and people. They hunted your ancestors and shamans, branding you as heathens and ungodly.
But somehow the bloodline persisted and the Angeleros still retain the shamans sight and a vague connection to the Nahual - a primal instinct and spiritual connection to the world. So you are able to see the celestial angles feeding on mortal lamentations, and you can make them physical with a mere touch, physical enough to hurt and kill. So you don the masks of your totem animal to channel their powers and hunt for survival. Through play you begin to connect the Nahual, channeling stronger forms and becoming closer to the divine beasts you draw upon to hunt.
But somehow the bloodline persisted and the Angeleros still retain the shamans sight and a vague connection to the Nahual - a primal instinct and spiritual connection to the world. So you are able to see the celestial angles feeding on mortal lamentations, and you can make them physical with a mere touch, physical enough to hurt and kill. So you don the masks of your totem animal to channel their powers and hunt for survival. Through play you begin to connect the Nahual, channeling stronger forms and becoming closer to the divine beasts you draw upon to hunt.
Its a game about unjust prosecution, colonialism and dogged survival in a world that wants you erased. But contrasting these supernatural hunts is the everyday life in the Barrio. A reality of poverty, gang violence, police raids and family. And on top of that is powered by Vincent Bakers amazing Apocalypse Engine, which is my go to game system these days!
It might be a product of the current political climate, but I crave stories and games like this, stories of perseverance, cultural pride and stubborn resistance in the face of erasure. Rather than these dime a dozen stories about heroics and power fantasies.
I have already backed Nahual with what I could because this is something I'd like to see a lot more of.
It might be a product of the current political climate, but I crave stories and games like this, stories of perseverance, cultural pride and stubborn resistance in the face of erasure. Rather than these dime a dozen stories about heroics and power fantasies.
I have already backed Nahual with what I could because this is something I'd like to see a lot more of.
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