About Maztica Alive!

 

In 1991, I fell in love with the Dungeons and Dragons sub-setting known as Maztica.  Found to the west of the main continent of Faerûn on the world of Toril in the Forgotten Realms setting, Maztica was an outlier in a game that had not often explored Mesoamerican myth.  Certainly there was the odd adventure here and there (with the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan being an excellent example), but up until this point, it had never been the true focus of a setting (fans of the Empire of the Petal Throne will certainly argue this is untrue).

Maztica certainly had its detractors and problems.  The Maztica trilogy of  novels in particular are seen as insensitive and in hindsight, the underpowered nature of its presented peoples were a slap in the face to what could potentially have been.

The creator of the Forgotten Realms, Ed Greenwood himself, has also expressed his disappointment in a number of settings that seem to be "bolted on" to his beloved Realms - and rightfully so.

Despite its problems, I still longed for the setting to continue. So much potential had been untapped!  I loved the novels, not because of the colonial themes, but because of the wonderful new places they explored.  I wanted to know everything there was to know about the plumaweavers and hishnashapers, gods like Qotal and Zaltec, and monsters like the two headed rain dragons known as tlalocoatl or the beastly ahuizotl.

Rocky Beginnings

Though I had no experience with game design whatsoever, I slowly set out to "fix" Maztica on my own.  I started in the third edition of the game by updating some old monster statistics and tearing the original boxed set, game books and novels apart to create a timeline.  This would be the core around which I created the first version of the Maztica Campaign Guide in 2011.

While the original version of the campaign guide is out there on the net in its original form, I beg you not to seek it out.  It was the independent flailing of an amateur writer who had done no such thing in the past.  The errors, both typographical and logical, are astounding and now more than twelve years later I cringe knowing it still exists in a digital world.  So too am I embarassed with my follow up products, Claw and Sting, the Lopango Campaign Guide and the Monsters of Maztica (which included creatures from Lopango at the time).

While I am not proud of my third edition "netbooks," I found my writing getting better with each new book.  I learned tricks of the trade and also discovered the website known a DeviantArt, where I could contact so many talented artists to truly give life to my creations.  My passion continued and then suddenly, DMsGuild was opened for self publishing in 2016.  I realized I could get serious about what I was doing and reach a broader audience.  I had never intended to make a single dime off the products as this was purely a labor of love.  Eventually, I just wanted to make enough to cover and repay the art expenses.

Communities

Thus I set off to "re-do" it all.  I found communities that had been helping me now for years, such as the Piazza and Candlekeep, would continue to encourage me and I took all of their praise and criticisms into account each and every day.  I would not have continued so many years without the thoughtful responses of such folks as Havard, Big Mac, Sleyvas and NathanWormer.  With some others I have missed, artists that I have used dozens of times now (including my former student Thamara Gomez and my daughter Reagan), I consider this the "Maztica Alive!" crew!    

Current State

Maztica Alive! has now released fifteen products for the Maztica Campaign Setting, fifteen products for the Anchôromé Campaign Setting, eleven for the Lopango Campaign Setting and eight for the tangentially related Planes and Stars Campaign.  Philip Wallace (Sleyvas) has also contributed seven of his own primarily for his favorite region of the Anchôromé subcontinent known as the Adusgi Forest.

There are at least a half dozen other products in the works at the moment, mostly continuing in Lopango and the Planes and Stars portion of the True World.  Get ready for a host of books, many of which are free or very low priced that can all be found on DMsGuild.

Why this Blog?

This blog is designed to be a place I can organize my thoughts much better than I can do so on many of the forums and communities I am a part of.  I will try to keep everything organized here in one spot that has ever, or will ever relate to Maztica and the True World. This will include but is not limited to links and descriptions of the products themselves, brainstorms and works in progress.  I also might at some point add some bonus material here that can be found nowhere else. 

Maztica Alive Logo artwork by yarDarkwood 

Profile Picture artwork by Zeezee Canning

Background Image artwork by Dragos Jieanu