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SR4A -- Going to Aztlan

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EltonJ

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« on: <01-14-22/2206:26> »
I bought the Aztlan book by Nigel Findley off of Drivethru a while back.  This is in preparation for a campaign in Aztlan.

The Shadowrunners have gone to Hawai'i to check on a missing person, who was the sister of their technomancer.  They were in Honolulu staying at an hotel.  Although everyone had fun at the hotel, the sister showed up and was going to Tenochitlan.  They managed to stop her, and while they were extracting tags from her person, two Azzies showed up with guns.  Which the bounty hunter and the street sammy took care of in short order.  The technomancer and the rigger dived into the matrix and found the Aztechnology pyramid.

The technomancer managed to crack the code, then she got past the White IC that was lining the door (Access IC).  While exploring the virtual pyramid, the technomancer came across a jaguar man wielding a obsidian sword (Black IC).  She managed to defeat the IC, and got root access of the node.  After taking the paydata -- including files of Maria Mercurial, they shut down the node and returned to the real world.

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The players told me they had a fun time. I'm preparing a campaign in Aztlan.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Nath

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« Reply #1 on: <01-22-22/1855:50> »
I'd say it depends on how you and your players expect Aztlan to be like, and how much you want to challenge those expectations.

A lot of people only think of Aztlan as the track of land that surrounds the Aztechnology and Blood mages cult headquarters (whether they consider those as a single organization or not is a topic in itself). Even the 184 pages of the Aztlan sourcebook actually say surprinsgly little about what the country is like - most of the content being about what happened or happens there. It also worth noting that the Aztlan background was written in the late eighties and early nineties. The cliché of Mexico as a battleground of drug cartels was not baked in at the time - actually canon-wise Aztechnology was created by Colombian drug cartels.

Among the common misconceptions:

- Aztlan is not Mexico. It includes Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, about half of Colombia, and Corpus Christi, San Antonio, El Paso, Roswell, Tucson and San Diego.
- Aztechnology is not the only corporation in Aztlan, even though obviously no other local corps have rised to a level that could threaten the Big A position.
- Foreign corporations can (and do!) operate in Aztlan, though they must do with local partners which keep a majority controlling share (similar to China nowadays IIRC).
- The David Cartel, criminal arm of Aztechnology, is not the only criminal organization in Aztlan either.
- The New Jesuits ain't a secret order of warrior searching for magical artefacts - there are a paramilitary organization that acts as bodyguards, coursiers and safehouses for the priests and worshipers that defy the ban of Catholicism in Aztlan.

When describing Aztlan, I search for the balance point between the polluted, highly-secured and totalitarian, almost North Korean-like, corporate-state, with only a few select high-ranking officials invited atop the pyramid to see human sacrifice of Texan terrorists and corrupted civil servants (as much to create a sense of belonging than to warn them) on one day, and the vibrant, colourful latin country with people chanting "viva azatlan" when they see a player from Medellin or San Diego score for the national team on a giant 3D display next to the same pyramid the next day. But, to be honest, my players have been more often on the move from one safehouse to another in Colombia or Texas with local "freedom fighters" and cartels than attending soccer matches or official ceremonies.

EltonJ

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« Reply #2 on: <02-21-22/2239:21> »
Ah, thank you for the advice.