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 Difference between maztica and chult
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Petra_W
Acolyte

Germany
30 Posts

Posted - 10 Nov 2017 :  19:49:37  Show Profile Send Petra_W a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Besides the fact, that they are two different areas.

What is the style difference in them in E5? If I want to run a jungle adventure on which points I can deside which area fits better?

Chult is more african jungle and maztica american jungle?

Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 10 Nov 2017 :  21:43:24  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
That's pretty much it: Chult is based on movies of African jungles, and Maztica is just real-world history of the conquest of the New World with a bit of fantasy bolted onto it.

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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer

USA
948 Posts

Posted - 10 Nov 2017 :  22:01:09  Show Profile Send TomCosta a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Those are pretty sharp contrasts. They both have jungles, ziggurats, and coatls, but beyond that different very different cultures and peoples. Chult while African-based is also filled with a ton of undead, including zombie dinosaurs, and dominated by the presence or lack there of its missing creator god Ubtao. Maztica is filled with intelligent ogre were-displacer beasts (called jagres IIRC), among other creatures that worship the wicked heart sacrificing Zaltec.

Others on these scrolls have hypothesized quiet eloquently, however, on the possible linkages between the "gods" of both places.
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 10 Nov 2017 :  22:07:01  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yeah, that is all, really. Mostly cultural stuff.

Depending on the year you're playing, Maztica may have been influenced by its one century trip to another world, as well.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...

Edited by - Zeromaru X on 10 Nov 2017 22:09:23
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  05:38:50  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Maztica is more like central America and north of it is more desert lands filled with almost American Indian like cultures. However, Maztica also has more magic related to using animal parts and feathers (pluma and hishna magics) and its gods tend more towards neutrality, but not a lot of wizards. Their magic tends towards the divine or possibly pact magics. The halflings of Maztica tend towards cannibalistic. The dwarves are less focused on metallurgy. The elves mostly don't exist unless you travel north into Anchorome (though there are drow in Maztica, but they pull the strings remotely without revealing themselves). Most of the population is humans.

That being said, Zeromaru is right, Maztica had 100 year ride into Abeir, so its changes may be drastic.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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Faraer
Great Reader

3308 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  13:34:06  Show Profile  Visit Faraer's Homepage Send Faraer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Chult is part of the original Realms; Maztica was a 1990s TSR add-on based on different, earth-analogue design principles.
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  14:17:40  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
That is the main reason I prefer Laerakond over Maztica. Laerakond is not part of the original Realms (is an addition for 4e), but at least was Ed's original creation, not a non-Earth's culture rip-off.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...

Edited by - Zeromaru X on 11 Nov 2017 14:20:03
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  15:47:53  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Chult's closer, thus making Maztica 100% useless.

IMO, of course.

If there is something a little 'weird' you want to run that doesn't quite fit Chult, you also have the almost completely undetailed Black & Mhair Jungles near there (no reason you can't throw a few 'lost cities' or whatever in there for that Aztec flavor), and the biggest one people completely forget about (which shrunk in 3e but should be back now) is the badly-named Forest of Amtar, which is, indeed, 'a jungle' (and also happens to be sitting right in the middle of the old Ilythiir stomping grounds, so you could even borrow from Eberron's Aerenal).

Slightly further afield is the Scarlet Jungle (Ajmer Forest) in the Golden Waters area, but thats kind of small and ill-placed for a 'lost realm'. A good place to stick an Imaskari ruin, but then again, what place isn't?

And probably just as far away but perhaps more fun, you have jungles ALL OVER Zakhara (S. & E.), and east of there all throughout the lower Kara-Tur area.

Without ever having to take a ship anywhere.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  16:12:59  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

Without ever having to take a ship anywhere.



True... But that's a long walk!

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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 11 Nov 2017 :  18:53:49  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There's a gate at the southern edge of The Mere of dead Men that will take you to Chult (Samrach, actually, IIRC). There are also the Muckle stones in the UE that will get you into K-T pretty quick. Of curse you still have to get to those, and you'd still have travel pretty far south one you're IN Kara-Tur...

I'm not saying I don't like Maztica, or that I'm not glad its back (I'm ambivalent, really), I'm just saying I don't see the point of it from an RPG perspective. Detailing a whole world is well and good, but how many campaigns are really world-spanning? I was jealous that EB got such great planetary-wide coverage, but how many people actually played outside of the main continent, Khorvaire (or Xendrik, which was pretty cool)? I'v never even heard of anyone wanting to go to Sarlona (and yet, it got its own sourcebook).

Ed purposely put just about every type of extreme terrain right near each other (like a desert and a glacier). Not so good for realistic world-building, but great for a game and story-telling setting. In fact, when it comes to RPG's, its kind of stupid to make them Earth-sized planets. It just forces you fill more in, and nobody really travels that far. Designers only do that because they don't want to have a degree in astrophysics (or want to hire a 'rocket scientist') to figure-out all the other crap, like day and night cycles, lunar months, climate, etc, etc. Once you veer too far away from 'Earth normal', things get weird. especially in regards to D&D (and its multiverse). For example, if the planet is going to be MUCH bigger than Earth, you'd have to figure-out its composition, otherwise the gravity would be stronger and those folk would be 'supermen' (Think 'John Carter') when they traveled to other worlds. As an aside, when I first 'got into' FR, I had just assumed Torillian days were about 80% of Earth's, because people seemed to live longer, and women have babies much later than was normal here on Earth (so in other words, they were really the same, its just the way they were measuring years was different). A fifty year old on Toril would really be a 40 year old on Earth (just a theory, mind you -thats certainly NOT canon). But RPG's don't like to get into that sort of RW nitty-gritty science.

Krynn's tiny, I think. One of the few things I like about it. Of course, they never bothered detailing much outside of little Ansalon.


"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 11 Nov 2017 18:56:12
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 14 Nov 2017 :  15:52:37  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

I'm not saying I don't like Maztica


Well, in my case its different. I can say I do not like cliché 2e Not-Mesoamerica, but I can like the 5e Maztica if the proper changes of being on another world for a century are applied correctly. I still prefer Ed's stuff over shoehorned stuff, but if a 5e Maztica is applied well, I can make it coexist with Laerakond in my Realms.

However, I do share your opinion about the usefulness of other continents in RPG worlds. I personally, prefer a small region than a world fully detailed with a lot of continents my player are going to visit like... never.


Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...

Edited by - Zeromaru X on 14 Nov 2017 15:55:03
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moonbeast
Senior Scribe

USA
522 Posts

Posted - 14 Nov 2017 :  19:29:48  Show Profile Send moonbeast a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

There's a gate at the southern edge of The Mere of dead Men that will take you to Chult (Samrach, actually, IIRC).



Do you remember the sourcebook for this? I'm curious.
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 14 Nov 2017 :  19:37:45  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm not Markustay, but... this is from the videogames, as both Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir and the Neverwinter MMO use this portal to allow players to travel to Chult.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 15 Nov 2017 :  20:55:17  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yes, exactly. It was from the VG (which is considered canon, so I placed all the VG sites on my Nentir Vale conversion map). It's in the Old Tomb (there are Yuan-ti purebloods guarding it, IIRC).

Sadly, that map remains unfinished. {sigh}

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 15 Nov 2017 20:57:44
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 16 Nov 2017 :  02:14:46  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

Sadly, that map remains unfinished. {sigh}




Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader

USA
2420 Posts

Posted - 22 Nov 2017 :  08:51:21  Show Profile Send The Masked Mage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Petra_W

Besides the fact, that they are two different areas.

What is the style difference in them in E5? If I want to run a jungle adventure on which points I can deside which area fits better?

Chult is more african jungle and maztica american jungle?



Most obvious difference in my mind is the dinosaurs.
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