#nahual

[temporalhiccup]

Play Diary

Nahual: So a Priest and an Angel walk into the bar...

In an effort to display how awesome indie ttrpgs are, I thought I'd start sharing some cool sessions I experienced first hand and how I think the design of the game and the play culture was part of that!

This year, Thomas and I are sharing a weekend time slot. Nowadays I'm running Bite Marks and he's running Nahual! We take turns running a game to avoid GM burnout.

Nahual is a fascinating game. Player characters are always three things: they are Mexican, they are poor, and they are angeleros. They hunt angels, terrible parasitic and violent creatures from the invading conquerors long ago. But the Angeleros don't do it out of duty, killing angels and harvesting them is a means to survive. Our group creates tequila from angel blood.

Today was our first real session after making our characters a few weeks ago. Some truly fun stuff happened this session, and the more I think about it, the more I feel it was a really good mix of game design, GM facilitation, and player ingenuity.

The Expendido Move happens at the start of the first session or when time passes. It's a way to see how your business is faring. We didn't roll well: the option we landed on was that one of our regulars brings their troubles to your cantina at the worst possible time.

From the Cantina sheet we choose who our regulars are, and one of them is Zofiel, a double-agent angel, working for both Heaven and Hell, who can be in the right place at the right time.

So you can imagine that the kind of trouble a double-agent angel brings is legitimately awful. At the start of the game we're hit hard with how tough life is for an Angelero, and I loved it! It really sets the stakes for the premise.

A powerful angel, one not to be trifled with and way above our abilities, walked into the bar with a suspicious priest alongside him. They were looking for Zofiel, to take back something important.

Each player had a cool moment thanks to their playbook moves, but my favorite had to be what Josh did as Marco, the Tlacuache. As an Angelero with access to the scoundrel Opposum Nahual powers, we were in for quite a few surprises!

Marco transformed into his Nahual form and used one of his totem moves, Guise. He placed a mirage of Zofiel on himself, and rolled high enough that it was impossible to tell the difference between the two.

One thing lead to another, and a brief fight broke out. We collectively managed to force the angel to leave the bar, but not before he reached out to grab Zofiel - and thankfully he had grabbed Marco in Guise instead! Normally, being dragged into the sky by a deadly angel is a bad time. But Marco had one more trick up his sleeve! Thomas, our GM, couldn't believe it. "You want the angel to drop you? From high above? What?" That's when I said, "Josh, I think you should read the Play Possum move out loud so Thomas gets how cool it is."

"They can BURN your body? And you're UNHARMED? WHAT?"

I marveled at how many things had to go right for this move to be pulled off so perfectly. The guise's mirage needed to be perfect. The fight had to be violent but controlled enough that we would 1) survive it and 2) force the angel out but take fake Zofiel with him.

Play Possum by itself is already an incredible move. But getting to line it up perfectly so that a terrifying angel thinks one of your regulars is dead, so you get to protect them a little longer? Sheer perfection.

It was a great way to start our game. I've played Nahual as a one shot a few times during its crowd funding period, and I'm so glad I get to play the final version of the game as a campaign. I'm really looking forward to playing more soon!

[basiliskonline]

Okay so I've been keeping an eye on my most recently read TTRPGs, this has been a thread going on twitter, but as I move over here, I wanna start it up here, I guess this will be a tag! #BasiliskReadsTTRPGs

Würm  •  Primal Quest  •  Cypher  •  #iHunt  •  OpenLegend  •  Sundown  •  Here, there, be monsters  •  Perilous  •  Nahual  •  Orun  •  Roots & Flowers  •  Mouse Guard

[open-hearth-rpg]

Nahual (2021) Edgar Clément

One of the best things to happen in the last decade in ttrps has been creators from outside the US/Canada/Europe cultureplex get more attention and access. That still has a long way to go but what those creatives have brought is new themes, elements, and illustrative sensibilities. That’s part of why I dig the Nahual cover. 

But its also pretty f*cking cool in its simplicity. The title sit in the middle of drawn elements, mirrored,with a style suggesting Mexican art and decoration. It frames up the mask face of our main character. It is wild, animalistic and reminds me of masks from Polynesia, Japan, and Bali. Look closely at the tiny lines and patterns there– because the mask wearer is looking back at you, making eye contact. They don’t care about your approval– they’re going to do what needs to be done. 

Their blade, more a machete than a fancy sword, is half-drawn, a clean silver against the brown and blacks of their outfit. We see some other colors– red, orange, gunmetal with the bandoliers of bullets and shells. This figure is outfitted and prepared for what must be done. 

And maybe you don’t notice or realize immediately what that is. At first glance you might think the yellow circle is a pool of light. Then you realize it’s a figure. It’s an alabaster-skinned angel with flowing locks. And it is done. Because that’s what this game is about: desperate underdogs hunting conqueror angels, killing them, and then using them to survive in a nasty, oppressive world.  

[malkshake]

Gonna keep the oc train rollin'

This is Acatl. He's a nahual, an edgelord and very gay man for a djinn. He can only transform into this weird wolf/coyote/jaguar concoction I call the wolfyote.

[sprintingowl]

Nahual

Nahual is one of my favorite Powered By The Apocalypse games, but I guess there's folks who don't know it, so here's a quick overview:

-You play as shapeshifters who own a business together.

-You own that business together because you're each poor, but as a group you can scrape by.

-Your business is the hunting of angels, and you sell their meat.

This is the least wild part of Nahual, a vibrant, flashy, vividly surreal dark urban fantasy.

It's also impressively grounded. For as much as you can teleport as the Aguila or harden your skin as the Armadillo, the game spends a lot of design energy tying you to your business, to your customers, to the structures of mortal power that surround you.

You might be able to 1 v 1 a mobster without much trouble, but that means angering their family, attracting notice from the police, disrupting the thousands of tiny currents of relationship and power that make up a city.

Of course, Powered By The Apocalypse's strength as an engine is that it promotes drama, and Nahual thrives on that drama. Mediocre rolls usually mean a choice---giving up something to get what you want. Bad rolls mean a new complication, or a much more dire choice. And the raw numbers of your character are fairly limited, so choices and complications will happen often.

Character progression is a core part of the game, and your shapeshifter develops as you play. You can make it easier on yourself to transform (normally you need a mask and psychoactive substances,) you can develop more abilities associated with your totem, and you can gain new totems. There are eight in the core book, each with a distinctly different feel, and more in the planned supplements---although I maintain the best is the Tlacuache, who can die temporarily to get out of danger.

Nahual is a relatively intricate game, and if you're planning on GMing it you should read it all the way through at least once, but on the players' end everything is pretty intuitive. The book does a very good job of teaching its mechanics and intended style of play, and even though there's a lot of it, it's not overwhelming.

Also, there isn't really a good place to bring this up organically, but I have *never* seen art in an rpg that's like Nahual's. Edgar Clement's work is detailed and expressive and weird and gorgeous. It's powerful and beautiful. Seriously, click over to the website for the single best piece I've ever seen in an rpg.

Overall, if you like things like World Of Darkness, or the show Diablero, or urban fantasy in general, or stories about crime, or games that feel intensely human, I strongly urge you to pick up Nahual. It's a striking, well-made game, and I'd love to see more people checking it out.

[jadeseadragon]

Mi Corizón Mexica, "In my painting 'Le nahual,' a shape shifting wizard transforms themself into their spirit animal, an eagle."

[stray-and-feral]

Found these beauties painted on a street wall. Tepozotlan México.

[impulseimpact]

[first form]

macrown and nahualornis

so did you like the choice you made?

macrown

based on Ara militaris, the military macaw named as such for its green coloration, its endangered as well due to loss of habitat and illegal poaching, this on top of having a slow reproduction rate. it is also partially based on Kinich Kakmó, a mayan macaw god who represents the sun and drought

[military macaw] [Kinich Kakmó]

nahualornis

the word nahual is derived from nahuali which is nahuatl for hidden, trick and disguise. its often used to describe people with magic abilities such as shamans, witches and people who can turn into animals, although it also has the meaning of a spirit animals who guides and grants abilities related to the animal to everyone but specially people with a special connection to them. in this case sensontli has done the oposite and adopted human traits thanks to its new magic abilities

[source1] [source2]

[somebodytolove31]

"As a kid, my friend and I would talk about the Nahuals, people said they were humans who could turn into animals, some though they were guardian spirits, others thought they were evil wizards, his brother thought it was a stupid fairytale. I believed his brother, he was older after all, that was until I saw one"

[indoraptorgirlwind]

I'm curious y'all. Link here

Had to put almost all together because the poll doesn't admit so many options.

[nalivaa]

nooooo don't soften her there are so many edgy boys that get away w so much shit let her go!!! I support women's wrongs!!!

!! you're absolutely right i don't know what i was thinking smh

the fun part about my wip is that it's a regression story so that means i can get away with making my characters do absolutely heinous crimes and only the protagonist will carry the Horrors™

so i could totally make her go full 'burn down the world' mode, see her commit a couple war crimes and still explore the other facets of her character <3

thank you nonnie this just gave me the push i needed to commit to the next bit of her characterization (ФωФ)

[open-hearth-rpg]

#Nahual Open Hearth Gaming Videos

Over the many years we have accumulated a large collection of actual play videos for a ton of different games-- both in our previous community incarnation and our new form. We collect these each week and add them to playlists on our Open Hearth Gaming Community YouTube site.

You can see all those playlists here: https://www.youtube.com/@OpenHearthGaming/playlists?view=1&sort=dd&shelf_id=0

For example, we have 17 sessions of Nahual available for folks to watch. These are unedited, raw play from the table-- and a great chance to see what the game's like.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjWnuWTlTzYBnupqbNVCWxylYwFphorKg

We have hundreds off different games and series there for everyone to check out. You can subscribe to be updated as we add new sessions.

[arjuna-vallabha]

Le Nahual - Mexica (Aztec)

The concept of the Nahual in Mesoamerica is an ancient tradition, which stretches back at least 3000 years. In another painting, “La Bruja de Zempoala,” I explored a modern image of Nahualism, in which a woman flies over a church and town accompanied by her tonales, her “spirit animals,” which take the form of alibrijes, which are a modern conception of what a tonal looks like. In this painting, “Le Nahual,” a prehispanic image of the nahual is explored. A “tonal” or “spirit animal” is a soul or animating energy which lives within us. When we sleep, our tonal leaves our body and travels through the world of the gods and ancestors, which we experience as dreams. Our tonal is not a separate thing to which we are linked, but is rather another manifestation of we, ourselves. A nahual is a special person, who has the ability to consciously transform into their tonal. This can mean that they physically become their animal spirit, or that they become two entities, a human meditating in their place, and a tonal which moves out into the world. Yet, even though they are two, they are still both the same being. If the tonal is killed, the nahual will die in the exact same way. In my painting, a nahual is depicted, flying over prehispanic Mexico, transforming into their tonal, an eagle. This painting is inspired by an ancient tradition of Mesoamerican art, in which animals wear human masks. In these sculptures, the animal is revealed to be a tonal, the mask their human Nahual. Here, the eagle wears the mask of the nahual, while the human riding on his back wears the eagle´s mask, to indicate that they are both one single being. The nahual´s body is painted yellow. In prehispanic Nahua cultures, women painted their bodies yellow as a sign of beauty. They are thus revealed to be Xochihua, a third gender, which are neither male nor female, but both. Xochihua people were often priests or priestesses, and held in honor, as containing within themselves both the male energy of Ometecuhtli, and the female energy of Omecihuatl, and thus being closer to divine sources of power and wisdom. I imagined the scene as taking place during the era of the Mexica empire, yet they have painted their body with Olmec glyphs. The Olmec were the most ancient culture of Mesoamerica, from whom all later culture and wisdom flowed. The nahual thus calls upon the Teteo and the ancestors through occult and powerful glyphs which were ancient in their own time. The glyphs reveal the gods of the four directions, the trees which hold the skies in their place, and hands, with which they weave their spells.

Art and text by Mexica Heart:

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1114417648/le-nahual-mexica-aztec-spirit-animal

[wodeworm]

Xiuhcoatl

o blazing serpent, may your hallowed flame burn deeply, thy kingdom rest in deathly peace, thy embers carry on in this ashen world, give us warmth and comfort, lead us towards reverence and devotion in all things monstrous, tempt us to a better tomorrow

[juanfuerte]

Hombre Jaguar

Serie «Nahualismo» Zacapu, Michoacán. Quetzal Fuerte, 2017. 1.60 × 2.40 mts.