Morning Myth - Bats and Heads

In Mayan mythology there is a god named Kamazotz Zootz (various spellings). It appears in oral tradition and in the Popul Vuh, one of the few surviving manuscripts of the Maya. A lot can be determined from what is writ on the walls of palaces, from oral traditions, and scattered references. But it is incomplete. Kamazotz Zootz is a bat god who famously cut off one of the heads of the Hero Twins. The head was used by the gods in their ballcourt – as a ball.

Kamazotz Zootz appeared as a man/bat hybrid. He had the arms and legs of a man, a mixed torso, and wings of a bat. His face was probably a mixture as well. Bats in general are associated with darkness, death, and sacrifice. Kamazotz Zootz is associated with the same. It is likely Kamazotz Zootz bargained with man such that, in exchange for human sacrifices, he would give man fire. The deal was struck and sacrifices were enjoyed by all (except the one being sacrificed I suppose). Fire was given to man and used for all its various purposes.

It is unclear, though can be inferred, that there were mini-Kamazotz Zootz’s. The House of Bats is referenced in the Popul Vuh as messengers of Kamazotz Zootz . These messengers and servants likely variously served the purpose of collecting sacrifices, presiding over ballcourt games and rituals, and, interestingly, chasing down and killing cowardly warriors. 

 

Kamazotz Zootz is not in any of our bestiaries (Monsters and Treasures, Gods and Monsters, Codexis). At least to my knowledge it is not. Because I like the deity, it will make an appearance somewhere. Kamazotz Zootz and his minions will most certainly appear in the upcoming Gods and Legends book and the mini-Kamazotz Zoots may appear in the Monsters and Treasure book in the future. However, there is no name for these and mini-Kamazotz Zootz is not going to hack it. I will probably make a derivation name from the Ki’che word for bat or something.

Here are a few ideas for the appearance of a mini-Kamazotz Zootz for your game (I will tentatively name them Camazootz with a soft "C or 'S' sound). Mind you, I have not written up a stat block for them and the following is really off the top of my head.

Adventure 1:  A priest serving Kamazotz Zootz failed in his duty to protect a shrine and ran away in a moment of danger. This cowardly act angered Kamazotz Zootz so he sends several Camazootz to kill him. The priest is trying to regain his honor before being killed. His plan is to retake the shrine from those who took it and desecrated it. He needs allies. Can the party help him retake the shrine before the Camazootz find him? Once the party discovers who the priests worship, will they care?

Adventure 2: Reviled by nearly all, the priests of Kamazotz Zootz sacrifice humans to their deity. A farmer’s daughters have disappeared and no one cares. He suspects foul play and begs the party to help find his daughters. Should they care to help the farmer, they find a hidden shrine where a priest is planning to make sacrifices to his dread god. The proceeding is presided over by several Camazootz who intend to deliver the heads of the victims to their master.

Camazootz (This lawful evil extraplanar’s vital statistics are HD 5d8, HP 29, AC 17, BtH +5, and Move 30/60 feet walk/fly. Its primary attributes are physical. It attacks by weapon or with two claws for 1d6 damage each and a bite for 1d4 damage. Its special abilities are ethereal jaunt 3/times a day, darkvision to 120 feet, twilight vision, and decapitation on a natural 20 if using a weapon.)

 

Happy Birthday Davis! Happy Birthday C&C PHB!

Steve is doing an AMA on REDDIT beginning today at noon (December 6). He will be there all day, answering whatever questions people have about whatever comes up: from our founding to working with Gary Gygax, Castles & Crusades, Castle Zagyg, Dr. Pepper, conventions, aliens, the crash of 47, and so on and so on and so on. Here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/

Back in December of 2004 Troll Lord Games released the first printing of the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook, which has become TLG’s flagship product. Today, December 6^th, 2021, at 1pm CST we release the 8^th printing! Today is particularly “special” (and I use that word lightly) because it is Davis Chenault’s birthday (he is the co-creator of the Siege Engine with Mac Golden).

It is by far our finest publication and to celebrate this release (at 1 PM CST) we’ll be offering a special A.M.A. on Twitch today at 6pm CST.  Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games will also be doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit's rpg subreddit as well.

Post questions all your questions, it will be available from 12 noon CST and up for 24 hrs. After the live Twitch show, Steve will be monitoring Reddit from 7pm to 10pm CST to answer posts and also be available for those that would like a live discussion.

On Sale at 1pm CST! https://www.trolllord.com/tlgstore/

LIVE on @twitch at 6pm CST! twitch.tv/trolllordgames

Ask Me Anything on Reddit! - https://tinyurl.com/y2ek4vsu

Morning Myth – Wealth and Cigarettes

Recreating old myths and reviving old deities must be a pastime for mankind. The deities and beliefs ebb and flow in appearance and other details but it seems the meanings always hold true to their original intent. I am one of those supra-human types who believes in the connection between all mankind at a very deep psychological level (the physical level connection is fairly obvious – should anyone have missed that). To the right is a composite image of the average human. I will extrapolate and say that man's mythologies are likewise similar and our manners of making them are similar as well.

But to the point, let me introduce you to Ekeko. I first meandered across an Ekeko doll in college. I didn’t give  much thought to it and was reluctant to ask my host about the doll. I was somewhat shy about such things then. I am no longer that shy. I ask if I am curious. In any respect. Ekeko….

Ekeko was/is a god of prosperity amongst the pre-Columbian Tiwanakan of the Andes. Not much is known about that civilization excepting from archeological records and rumors of rumors through those who still lived in the area of Tiwanaku. The civilization collapsed in the 1000s AD (maybe, but around then, certainly by the time the Spanish arrived the civilization had long since disappeared). Ekeko remained, was reskinned, and revived – with a cigarette in mouth no less.

We don’t know how or in what manner Ekeko was worshiped or regarded in pre-Columbian civilizations but we do know the mustachioed man existed prior to the arrival of the conquistadors. Ekeko’s association with abundance may not have been well known but was known. Ekeko may well have been on the point of disappearing when a little-known writer in the 1940s, Antonio Diaz Villamil, related a tale he heard, or made up, who knows?

This tale is one of love and war and stealth. Isodoro and Paulitta lived together at a hacienda as youngsters and were in love. Paulitta went to La Paz to serve at another estate. In a war, wherein La Paz was under siege, Paulitta was hard put to food. Years previous, when she left the hacienda, Isadoro gave her an Ekeko doll for luck and fortune. During the siege, she placed it outside her front door. Isodoro was had been conscripted into the army defending La Paz and would sneak over the doll on occasion and leave food there. Paulitta was none the wiser.  I don’t know what happened after the war but I will assume they reconnected, married, had many children, and lived a happy fruitful life.

After the dissemination of Villamil’s tale, Ekoko became popular again. One can find likenesses of the doll everywhere in the Andes and beyond. His basket and hands are stuffed with money and goods and he smokes a cigarette now. As an interesting side-note, one shouldn’t have more than one doll in a house at a time. The spiritual forces manifested by the dolls war with one another much to the loss of the owner. This is a warning against greed FYI.

Adventure Hook: Someone has placed an extra doll in a merchant’s house. The spiritual war between the two manifestations is causing money to simply vanish from the house. The merchant suspects a thief. The solution is to find the extra doll and remove it, then discover who put the doll there in the first place.

Adventure Hook: The characters find a doll in some treasure. If one of the characters place it prominently in their house (it must be a permanent or near permanent abode), a silver piece appears everyday in their trunk or where coin is stored. If he doll is destroyed or removed from the house, all the unspent silver disappears.

 

Word of the Day -- Chickadee

I love birds.  Here at the cabin I have rigged 3 feeders so that we can have them at different points and heights around.  At the height of the feeding frenzy in the spring, they will go through a 20lb bag in a day.  Right now there are very few at the feeders, a 20lb will last over a week.  I had to fill it today finally and that got me to thinking about my favorite bird and state bird of my adopted home state of Maine, the:

Chickadee -- any of several small North American oscine birds (genus Poecile of the family Paridae) that are related to the titmice, usually have the crown of the head distinctly darker than the body, and have sometimes been placed especially formerly in a related genus (Parus).

That's the MW version of what a chickadee is.  I just think they are cool. 

 

Morning Myth – Story Telling

 Your Myths

There were three core elements in the design of Castles and Crusades; simplicity, malleability, and storytelling. Of the three, both Steve and I focused a great deal of attention on storytelling. The question we asked ourselves was, how do we design a game such that storytelling is a function of how one plays the game? How were we to create a game that naturally and organically encourages this? I don’t know if we were successful, that’s not for me to decide but it is still one of our core tenants when doing anything related to Castles and Crusades. 

 

With regards the Monsters of Legend (or whatever the book is to be named) we are attempting the same. We want to encourage storytelling on a grander scale, on a mythic scale. We both believe everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a great story to tell. Sometimes it just takes some nudging to get people to tell their story and, even more difficult, to get people to tell their story on a mythic level. I say a mythic level because I believe the mythic story telling is far more truthful (not honest but truthful) than the day to day factual ‘as we know/see it’ level. A myth reveals the truths of the world as we understand them to be, both individually and collectively.

Playing The Game is an act of Myth Making.

The myths and legends of our world, both from the past and in the present, help us to understand our lives and our place in the scheme of things. These are tails we tell ourselves to let us and others know how we should act, how we shouldn’t act, what is good, what is bad, goals to attain, and basically organize our world or at least allow ourselves to organize within it. The act of story-telling is an act of myth making.  Role-playing is an act of story-telling.

 

One might not think so, but indeed it is true. A hapless and seeming meaningless (though enjoyable) night playing a character rooting around a musty old dungeon for the coins dropped out of some creature’s pocket is story-telling. Mostly the stories are writ small in the beginning but over time, the stories grow and take on a life of their own. The characters develop histories, the antagonists develop goals and aspirations, and both intertwine and act out a story containing, without fail, mythologies of being and meaning.

Building Mythologies

We all do this whether we like it or not. We do it in our daily lives wide awake to the world and in our miasmal dreams. We also do it in The Game. Here we voice the mythologies and give life to them. Mostly these are small myths played out on small scales, not always, but mostly. There are reasons for this; time constraints, mechanical limitations, and story-board constraints. By story-board constraints, I mean the manner in which the protagonists are designed, presented, and managed as part of most games, our game included.

My intent with the Monsters of Legend book and the removal of some monsters presented in the Monsters and Treasure book is to change the presentation to encourage a myth building aspect in the game. To wit, the unique monsters of legend and myth from our world will be removed and reconfigured as singular and powerful monsters the conquest of which would by truly mythic. 

 

But further, and the point of this, is to encourage those who worldbuild and who run games to create their own mythic monsters or creatures that better fit their own world. Creatures and beasts who have their own particular histories and legends within their game. Creating these mythic beings or using those presented should help to anchor the players in the game, give them reference points, guidelines, and goals to attain outside the meager droppings of wandering orcs and other simpering beasts.

The final goal being, build your worlds and tell your stories.

Word of the Day -- Byzantine

This is one of those words you never quite know if it is capitalized or not.  Turns out, it can go either way depending on what you are referring to:

Byzantine -- of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium; also architecture : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in the Byzantine Empire especially in the fifth and sixth centuries featuring the dome carried on pendentives over a square and incrustation with marble veneering and with colored mosaics on grounds of gold; also: of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation; and finally: intricately involved : labyrinthine

Today, the city that lies on the Bosporus Strait in Turkey is named Istanbul, but it was once known as Constantinople (a name given to it when it became capital of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire), and in ancient times, it was called Byzantium. Its history is exotic—filled with mystics, wars, and political infighting—and the word Byzantine (from Late Latin Byzantinus, for "native of Byzantium") became synonymous with anything characteristic of the city or empire, from architecture to intrigue. The figurative sense of labyrinthine deviousness first appeared in the late 1930s. It was popularized by its frequent use in reference to the Soviet Union, whose secrecy and despotism were equated by Westerners with what went on in the old Byzantine Empire.

sources cited: Merrriam-Webster and Britannica.