architects of aztlan

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Credits

Architects of Atzlan

Copyright © 2006 Adam Dray

Design, Writing, Editing, and Layout

Adam Dray

Inspiration

This game is based on a character sheet byMike Ramsey. The sheet is available via the

Creative Commons License. Download it at http://www.kevinallenjr.com/reverseengineer/MikeRamseyEntry.pdf

This game borrows ideas from otherindependently published games, especiallyDogs in the Vineyard by Vincent Baker. I walkin the footsteps of giants.

Images

Cover and left: “Chicomoztoc, the place of the seven caves.”From the Historia Tolteca chicimeca, 1550.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztlan

Page 3: From The Sacred Symbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/index.htm

Page 4: “Atlantis.” From Atlantis, the Antediluvian World.Ignatius Donnelly, 1882.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ataw/index.htm

Page 7: “Objects…” From How I Found the LostAtlantis,The Source of All Civilization. Dr. Paul Schliemann, 1912.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/hif/hif03.htm

Page 8: “The Hittite Bird Symbol” From The SacredSymbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/ssm06.htm

Page 11: “The Sun” From The Sacred Symbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/ssm06.htm

Page 13: “The Daisy” From The Sacred Symbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/ssm13.htm

Page 15: Serpent from Nootka Indian tableau.From The Sacred Symbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/ssm06.htm

Page 16: Analysis of Mu figure by Viola de Gruchy.From The Sacred Symbols of Mu. James Churchward, 1933.http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/ssm13.htm

Page 18: “Winged Deity Kneeling beside a Sacred Tree.”From Myths of Babylonia and Assyria. Donald A. Mackenzie, 1915.http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/mba/mba20.htm#img_34000

All images used in this text are in the Public Domain.



Contents Architects of Aztlan is a two-player tabletop role-playing game in which you tell the stories of a citizen of ancient Atlantis, a powerful civilization that has tragically brought cycles of cataclysm upon the world, and that has learnedhow to travel to the future by reincarnating into the lives of other people. In this way, they hope to prepare thosecivilizations for the unavoidable disaster that will come. Will they believe you? How can you save thousands of yearsof knowledge and civilization from certain destruction? If you fail, human kind will be lost…

Credits 2

Chapter 1 4

Atzlan

Chapter 2 5

Characters

The Timaeus 9

Chapter 3 11

Playing

Character Sheethttp://www.kevinallenjr.com/reverseengineer/MikeRamseyEntry.pdf



Chapter 1 − Aztlan

Cataclysm

The rise and fall of Atlantis is the stuff of legend.Plato described Atlantis as a perfect society but it wasnever without issues and challenges. Built on what isnow known as the continent of Antarctica, Atlantis—or, as they call themselves, Aztlan—was a vast landdivided into seven kingdoms around a centralmountain upon which stood a shining city. While thecivilization had attained great power and miraculoustechnology, its people fought and bickered andpoliticked like any other.

The largest war was fought over the energy web. Thesouthern kingdoms stood to benefit the most fromthis invention but the northern kingdoms believedthat the energy web could disrupt the structure of the

world. In the end, they settled the issue in a terriblewar that lasted eight years and the southernkingdoms won. It took a decade to realize how theenergy web was sapping the power of the earth’smagnetic fields. It took longer torealize how grave it would be.When the sun god opened upwith all his wrath, the world wasunprotected. Without warning,everything changed in a moment.

The night swallowed the sun. The

ground shook. Ice rained from thesky. Tidal waves crashed over theland. The few thousand whosurvived were tossed to distant lands on makeshift boats.Hundreds of millions died.Aztlan was gone.

Messages

Before the Cataclysm, someAztlantians tried to warn people.They sailed all over the worldwith a warning. They explainedas best they could to the lessadvanced people of the worldhow life as they knew it would soon come to an end.Their message was grave:

The end is coming. Prepare for it. You will not survive. Almost everyone will die. Civilization will crumble. Whatis important is that history and knowledge are not lost so

that the few survivors will remember you and will remember this lesson.

The Aztlantians convinced many kings and queens toget ready for the end. They built great stone structures—

pyramids, temples, vaults, tunnels—and filled themwith scrolls and tablets that recorded their histories andpoetry, their mathematics and science, with the distant hope that someday other men might find them andknow they were here.

Cycles

Unfortunately, this was not enough. The Aztlantiansalso understood that they had unleashed a cycle of cataclysms upon the world. When the planets werealigned, it would happen again. Even if their warnings

were heeded now, how would they warn futurecivilizations?

A group of Aztlantians called theArchitects had learned how to travelthrough lifetimes to distant times.This is how they had discovered theimminent Cataclysm, yet thesouthern monarchs dismissed theirwarnings as delusional magic hocuspocus. The Architects did the best they could and used their power to

warn others in the future. Theycannot stop the Cataclysms fromhappening but they can warneveryone.

Time Travel

In 9500 BC, the Architects are able tovisit different places in the futurethrough reincarnation. They usegreat power concentrators in theform of giant pyramids to sendthemselves forward in time toinhabit the body of some personfrom that time. The process is

difficult and expensive so it cannot be easily repeated.The Aztlantians must choose their travels carefully.

Furthermore, they have no control over the specificdetails of the reincarnation. They can choose fromseveral methods to manifest in the future but theycannot choose whose life they end up overtaking.



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Chapter 2 − CharactersTo play Architects of Atzlan, one player must create a character called the Architect. (The other player, called the guide,will create a mission for the Architect.) This chapter explains the character generation process. Some things about yourcharacter are permanent. Your static traits never change and, once you have earned a discipline, it’s yours forever.Other aspects of your character change from mission to mission. You choose your method of rebirth every time andthat influences many other things about you.

Rebirth

At the beginning of every mission, you must choosehow you will be reborn. The choice you makedictates other things about your character: yourdynamic traits, your static trait modifiers, yourstarting insight and starting life-time. Worry not about these new terms—they’re all explained later.

The Newborn reincarnate as infants in the womb.They must grow up in that world over decades.Slowly, over years, they begin to “remember” theiroriginal mission. This process is filled with self-doubt and pain, as many of the subjects think they’re goingcrazy with these memories of the past.

The Prophetic reincarnate as a spirit only barelyconnected to a body in the future world. They canspeak to the person to whom they’ve attached but only as a voice in that person’s head. These peopleare often driven insane by the insistent voices with amessage of doom.

The Possessed reincarnate in the middle of the host’slife. They instantly start a struggle with the person tosuppress their personality so that the Architects cantake over and begin his or her mission.

The Enlightened also reincarnate in the middle of theperson’s life. Instead of fighting for control, however,they gently augment their subject’s knowledge andabilities and nudge them towards the mission.

All of these people whose bodies and minds theArchitects “borrow” suffer a great deal. Some are

raised on a pedestal as powerful shaman. Others areburned at the stake as evil sorcerers. Most developmental problems of some sort. Some think they’re

just going crazy. Others think they are chosen bytheir gods to lead the world. Many end up dyingcruel fates at the hands of their own people.

Use the following chart to determine the modifiers tostatic traits, the number of dynamic traits and the

points to spend on them, insight earned at start, and life-time spent at start.

Newborn Prophetic Possessed Enlightened

Flesh +0 –2 +2 –1Spirit –1 +2 –2 +2Mind –2 +0 –1 +1Connection +2 –2 –3 +0Dynamic Traits• Number• Points

620

25

410

515

Insight earned 0 10 5 8LifeTime spent 10 5 0 0

Rebirth modifiers to the Flesh, the Spirit, the Mind, andthe Connection are temporary (only for this mission).Write them as a modifier to the actual score. Forexample if your Connection is 5 and you choose theNewborn rebirth (+2 Connection, –2 Spirit), then youwould write 5+2 next to The Connection on yourcharacter sheet.

Traits

A trait is a cool thing that describes your character. You

need your traits to accomplish your missions. They earnyou dice to roll in conflicts.

Architects of Aztlan has two kinds of traits. There are fourstatic traits and their scores never change. Yourcharacter also has up to six dynamic traits and these canchange from mission to mission. As you completemissions, you may earn disciplines, a special kind of trait that grows with your character over time.

Static Traits

The four static traits are The Flesh, The Spirit, The Mind,and The Connection.

These represent your true self, even when you arereincarnated into someone else’s life. They never changethough they are modified temporarily in different waysaccording to your rebirth method. Distribute 12 pointsamong them. No trait may be lower than 1 or higherthan 6.



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The Flesh represents your health, strength, manualdexterity, grace, and all other things physical.

The Spirit is your willpower, luck, and moral fiber. If your spirit is weak, you might have a hard timedoing the right thing.

The Mind measures your intelligence, memory,creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

The Connection represents your charisma,likeability, charm. It is your ability to get people todo what you want.

When you talk, you use Mind + Connection. Whenyou do something physical but don’t fight, use Flesh+ Mind. When you fight but not try to kill, use Spirit + Flesh. When you try to kill, use Spirit + Connection.

Even when you step into another body, a certainamount of life force goes with you. If you arephysically powerful, your host will also become so,

too. If you are physically weak, that will transfer toyour host, even if he was a great athlete before youconnected with him.

Dynamic Traits

Each mission, you are reborn into another person’slife. Your dynamic traits represent what that person(the host) offers you. Your choice of rebirth (seeabove) determines how many dynamic traits you get and how many points you can place in them.

A dynamic trait is represented by a word or short phrase that describes it, a blessing, and a bane. Youmake up the description freeform, like “Pharaoh’sengineer” or “famously charming” or “politician.”The blessing is the benefit you receive from it. Thebane is the punishment if you use the trait and fail.

Points Benefit Bane1 add 1 die –1 to highest trait1 reroll 2 dice lose 1 dynamic trait1 reroll 3 dice –2 dice on next conflict1 +1 harmonic –1 harmonic next conflict2 add 2 dice –1 to two highest traits

2 reroll 4 dice lose 2 dynamic traits2 reroll 5 dice –2 dice on next conflict2 +2 harmonic –1 harmonic next conflict3 add 2 dice –2 to highest trait3 1 free success –1 success next conflict4 add 3 dice –1 to three highest traits5 add 3 dice –3 to highest trait5 add 4 dice –2 to two highest traits6 add 4 dice –1 to all four traits6 2 free successes –2 successes next conflict7 add 4 dice –4 to highest trait8 add 5 dice –3 to two highest traits10 add 5 dice –5 to highest trait

You receive a number of traits and a number of points tospend on them when you start a mission. These numbersare determined by the rebirth you choose (see the chart in Rebirth for details). You must spend all the pointsbefore the mission starts.

During missions, your character will run into all kinds ofproblems, and you and the GM will roll dice to resolvethem. Whoever gets the better roll wins the conflict and

one person also wins the right to narrate how thingsturn out. The Harmony dice system is explained later, sodon’t worry too much about this now.

When you use a trait in a conflict, you receive itsblessing. When you fail a conflict, all the banes of all thetraits you used are applied to your character. Thebenefits and banes in the dynamic trait table areexplained below.

Benefits that add dice (“add 1 die”) allow you to rolladditional dice into a conflict. Pick up that many dice

and roll them and sort them according to the Harmonyrules.

Benefits that reroll dice (“reroll 2 dice”) allow you topick up discord dice and reroll them and sort themaccording to the Harmony rules.

Benefits that give free successes (“1 free success”) allowyou to add free harmony dice to your harmony pool.

Benefits that give a harmonic bonus (“+2 harmonic”)increase your harmonic value (not the number of dice in

the harmony pool) towards winning narration.

Banes that give a trait penalty (“–3 to highest trait”)modify one or more static traits for the rest of this life. If two traits are tied for “highest,” then you may choosewhich one gets the penalty

Banes that give a dice penalty (“–2 dice on next conflict”) remove dice from the pool before the next roll.

Banes that lose dynamic traits (“lose 2 dynamic traits”)cross out dynamic traits and make them unavailable foruse for the rest of this life.

Banes that give a harmonic penalty (“–1 harmonic next conflict”) decrease your harmonic value (not the numberof dice in the harmony pool) towards winning narration.

Banes that remove successes (“–1 success next conflict”)force you to remove harmony dice from your harmonypool.



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Disciplines

The Architects are very special people and overmany lifetimes they are able to master special traitscalled disciplines that give them an edge duringmissions. These disciplines are the knowledge that characters accumulate from mission to mission.Unlike dynamic traits, disciplines stay with acharacter. Unlike static traits, disciplines have scoresthat can increase over time.

New characters start with a single discipline at level 1. Choose the discipline from the list below andwrite it in the Trait box under Disciplines on yourcharacter sheet.

For each discipline, choose a focus—a narrow aspect of the discipline in which you have a particularinterest and ability. For example, if you chooseAgriculture as your discipline, you might write “fruit trees” or “crop rotation” as your focus. When youcan bring your focus into play, you get an extra die inconflicts.

Agriculture Throughout your manyrebirths, you have learned the best ways to makecrops grow. You understand irrigation and othertechniques to increase food output and handledrought and famine.

Combat You have learned a varietyof personal combat skills. You are dangerous with orwithout a weapon.

Great Works You are experienced in largebuilding projects, primarily temples and monumentsof stone. You understand how to quarry and shaperock, how to move it, and how to lay huge stones intoplace to build enormous structures that will last thousands of years.

Medicine Living many lifetimes hasgiven you knowledge of the theory and techniques of medicine. You understand medications, anatomy,disease pathology, health, and surgical procedures.

Oratory Words are weapons. Whenyou speak, people listen. You have the power tomake people listen and change their minds.

Philosophy You have studiedmetaphysics, epistemology, religion, and other fieldsof thought. This knowledge gives you a broaderunderstanding of why people do what they do.

Science You have studied the sciences ofAztlan and of people from centuries yet-to-come. Youunderstand physics and mathematics and astronomy.

Warfare You have studied the greatest generals of many centuries and you understand militarystrategy, warfare technology, and battle tactics. Soldiersrespect and follow you.

Liege

The seven kings and queens of the northern andsouthern kingdoms have different philosophiesregarding the proper way to deliver the message to thepeople of the future. Your character has allegiance to oneof these monarchs, your liege, and thus you inherit acode of behavior.

This code is not so much a list of rules you follow, but more that you were selected for your position of prominence because you already demonstrated qualitiesthat the king or queen admired. Consider these codes of behavior personality traits that guide you (firmly but notabsolutely).

The North

In general, the monarchs of the North are progressiveand believe in correcting the mistakes of the Aztlantianpeople.

King Ampheres This oldest of the monarchs isinfluential and powerful, yet he forgives his oldenemies. Code of Forgiveness : You must give people asecond chance when they have wronged you.

Queen Evaemon She rules her territory with aniron fist but also a sense of humor. She believes in justiceover all. Code of Justice : You must strive to ensure that



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everyone is treated fairly but that the guilty get theirdue punishment.

King Autochthon His wife Queen Mnese reallyrules their territory. His territory was combined withhers when they married. He believes in strengththrough compromise. Code of Compromise : You must seek a middle ground between what you want andwhat others want.

Queen Mnese She conquered her husband,King Autochthon, and tripled her lands, then fell inlove with him. Code of Love : You must always seekfriendship with the people who oppose you.

The South

Overall, he monarchs of the South are moreaggressive and less concerned with the plight of thepeople who may come after them.

King Mestor He is angry at the North andirrationally blames them for the cataclysm. Code of

Anger : You anger easily and blame others for yourproblems.

Queen Elasippe She consumes resources andpeople without a second thought. Code of Abuse :People are pawns to you, especially those who willprobably end up dead anyway.

King Diaprepes He bends the truth to suit his

purposes. When caught, he makes excuses. Code of Deceit : You cannot help but tell lies, especially whenit advances your cause. There is no inherent value inthe truth.

Queen Azaea She is famous for executingpeople who betray her and for slaying her enemies inbattle. Code of Revenge : When people fail you, theymust die.

Gear, Essentials, andMementos

Since Architects reincarnate into the future, theycannot take items with them. The wise leaders of Aztlan have learned, however, that they can burycertain items in safe places for the Architects todiscover in the future. Even if it takes the Aztlantiansten years to travel to another part of the world andbury a sword or map in a deep tomb, thereincarnated Architect can find it hundreds andthousands of years later.

Write down as many items as you like. These can beimportant tools or weapons, scrolls or books, devices,

jewelry and clothing, statues, carvings, or anything elseyou can imagine. It has to be something that wouldstand the test of time. Anything made of anything lessthan pottery, stone, or metal will likely disintegratebefore your host is born.

For each of these items, write down a short phrase that

describes how you might use these items on yourmission.

Gear and essentials include things you think will beuseful for your mission. They could be tools or manualsfor your discipline or things to help you in your host’slife.

Mementos are items that remind you of your past. Theycan be ties to your “true” identity to remind you that you’re an Architect or to help you remember yourmission. Mementos that tie to people from previous

missions can be especially touching. Remind yourself of your prior successes and failures and the people youhelped, the people you loved, and the people youdestroyed.

In the rules, mementos refers collectively to the gear,essentials, and mementos (reminders) that the Architect has “taken with him.”

Distribute 10 points over the mementos. You can put all10 points in one memento, if you like. If you have manysmall ones, they will help you many times in small

ways. If you have one large one, it will help you once ina large way. You can assign 0 points to a memento (it’s

just story “color” and provides no game benefit).



9

The Timaeus

by Plato

I will tell an old-world story which I heard from anaged man; for Critias, at the time of telling it, was, ashe said, nearly ninety years of age, and I was about ten.

Now the day was that day of the Apaturia which iscalled the Registration of Youth, at which, according tocustom, our parents gave prizes for recitations, and thepoems of several poets were recited by us boys, andmany of us sang the poems of Solon, which at that timehad not gone out of fashion. One of our tribe, eitherbecause he thought so or to please Critias, said that inhis judgment Solon was not only the wisest of men, but also the noblest of poets. The old man, as I very wellremember, brightened up at hearing this and said,smiling: Yes, Amynander, if Solon had only, like otherpoets, made poetry the business of his life, and hadcompleted the tale which he brought with him fromEgypt, and had not been compelled, by reason of thefactions and troubles which he found stirring in hisown country when he came home, to attend to othermatters, in my opinion he would have been as famousas Homer or Hesiod, or any poet.

And what was the tale about, Critias? saidAmynander.

About the greatest action which the Athenians everdid, and which ought to have been the most famous,but, through the lapse of time and the destruction of the actors, it has not come down to us.

Tell us, said the other, the whole story, and how andfrom whom Solon heard this veritable tradition.

He replied: In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of whichthe river Nile divides, there is a certain district which iscalled the district of Sais, and the great city of thedistrict is also called Sais, and is the city from whichKing Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for theirfoundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith,and is asserted by them to be the same whom theGreeks call Athena; they are great lovers of theAthenians, and say that they are in some way relatedto them.

To this city came Solon, and was received there withgreat honor. He asked the priests who were most skillful in such matters, about antiquity, and made thediscovery that neither he nor any other Greek knewanything worth mentioning about the times of old.

On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the world--about Phoroneus, whois called ‘the first man,’ and about Niobe; and after theDeluge, of the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha; andhe traced the genealogy of their descendants, andreckoning up the dates, tried to compute how manyyears ago the events of which he was speakinghappened.

Thereupon one of the priests, who was of a very great age, said:

“O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you.”

Solon in return asked him what he meant.

“I mean to say,” he replied, “that in mind you are allyoung; there is no old opinion handed down amongyou by ancient tradition, nor any science which ishoary with age. And I will tell you why.

“There have been, and will be again, manydestructions of mankind arising out of many causes.The greatest have been brought about by the agenciesof fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerableother causes.

“There is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of Helios, havingyoked the steeds in his father’s chariot, because he wasnot able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt

up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.

“Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies adeclination of the bodies moving in the heavensaround the earth, and a great conflagration of thingsupon the earth, which recurs after long intervals. At such times those who live upon the mountains and indry and lofty places are more liable to destruction thanthose who dwell by rivers or on the seashore. Andfrom this calamity the Nile, who is our never-failingsavior, delivers and preserves us.

“When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earthwith a deluge of water, the survivors in your countryare herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on themountains, but those who, like you, live in cities arecarried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land,neither then nor at any other time, does the watercome down from above on the fields, having always atendency to come up from below; for which reason thetraditions preserved here are the most ancient.



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“The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of summer sun does not prevent, mankind exist,sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers.And whatever happened either in your country or inours, or in any other region of which we areinformed—if there were any actions noble or great orin any other way remarkable, they have all beenwritten down by us of old, and are preserved in ourtemples.

“Whereas just when you and other nations arebeginning to be provided with letters and the otherrequisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, thestream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouringdown, and leaves only those of you who are destituteof letters and education.

“And so you have to begin all over again like children,and know nothing of what happened in ancient times,either among us or among yourselves.

“As for those genealogies of yours which you just nowrecounted to us, Solon, they are no better than the talesof children.

“In the first place you remember a single deluge only,but there were many previous ones. In the next place,you do not know that there formerly dwelt in yourland the fairest and noblest race of men which everlived, and that you and your whole city are descendedfrom a small seed or remnant of them which survived.And this was unknown to you, because, for manygenerations, the survivors of that destruction died,

leaving no written word.

“For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in warand in every way the best governed of all cities, is saidto have performed the noblest deeds and to have hadthe fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells,under the face of heaven.

Solon marveled at his words, and earnestly requestedthe priests to inform him exactly and in order about these former citizens.

“You are welcome to hear about them, Solon,” said thepriest, “both for your own sake and for that of yourcity, and above all, for the sake of the goddess who isthe common patron and parent and educator of bothour cities.

“She founded your city a thousand years before ours—observe that Plato gives the same date (9000 years ago)for the foundation of Athens and for the repulse of the

invasion from Atlantis—receiving from the Earth andHephaestus the seed of your race, and afterwards shefounded ours, of which the constitution is recorded inour sacred registers to be 8000 years old.

“As touching your citizens of 9000 years ago, I willbriefly inform you of their laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of the whole wewill hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred

registers themselves. If you compare these very lawswith ours you will find that many of ours are thecounterpart of yours as they were in the olden time.

“In the first place, there is the caste of priests, which isseparated from all the others; next, there are theartificers, who ply their several crafts by themselvesand do not intermix; and also there is the class of shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of husbandmen; and you will observe, too, that thewarriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes,and are commanded by the law to devote themselves

solely to military pursuits; moreover, the weaponswhich they carry are shields and spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first tous, as in your part of the world first to you.

“Then as to wisdom, do you observe how our lawfrom the very first made a study of the whole order of things, extending even to prophecy and medicinewhich gives health, out of these divine elementsderiving what was needful for human life, and addingevery sort of knowledge which was akin to them.

“All this order and arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when establishing your city; and shechose the spot of earth in which you were born,because she saw that the happy temperament of theseasons in that land would produce the wisest of men.Wherefore the goddess, who was a lover both of warand of wisdom, selected and first of all settled that spotwhich was the most likely to produce men likest herself. And there you dwelt, having such laws asthese and still better ones, and excelled all mankind inall virtue, as became the children and disciples of thegods.”



11

Chapter 3 – Playing

Guide and Player

This is a game for two players. The player will takethe role of the Architect. The guide will take the role

of the host and all the other people the Architect meets and will create and run the mission.

The guide is responsible for creating a mission andplaying the characters the Architect meets in that mission. The guide also gets to play the host intowhose body the Architect reincarnates. The guidewill roll dice for the opposition in conflicts against the Architect.

The player is responsible for creating an Architect character and preparing that character for the

mission. This includes choosing dynamic traits torepresent the life which the Architect hasreincarnated. The player makes all the decisions that guide the Architect through the mission anddescribes the character’s actions and feelings. Also,the player rolls the dice for the Architect.

The player and guide can switch roles at the end of amission. This gives both a chance to play anArchitect. The guide can make up his own characterto play, or the guide and player can share onecharacter.

Missions

In Architects of Aztlan, the characters are specially trainedtime travelers—Architects—who reincarnate into the

lives of people in the future (relative to their time in 9500BC). They are disoriented when they arrive and,depending on their method of rebirth, may know verylittle about their actual mission until decades later.Eventually, they start to realize their real purpose there.

Each Architect begins to remember the threat that brought him here: global cataclysm. The Architect is theonly person who knows. If he remains quiet or fails toconvey the seriousness of the situation to the people,they will be lost forever.

This is where a mission begins.

Materials

To play Architects of Atzlan, you’ll need a bunch of dice(the normal, six-sided kind), a character sheet, and somepencils and paper.

Discussion

The guide and player must collaborate on some of the

basic elements of the mission. After all, the player needsto choose a method of rebirth and the dynamic traits torepresent the life of the person the Architect isborrowing.

To accomplish this, you should talk about what kind of mission this will be. Before splitting up to take care of your own tasks, agree on Where, When, and Who.

When and Where go together. Together, determine thelocation and date of the civilization the Architect willvisit. Anywhere in the world is an appropriate location.The date is a little more constrained. The Aztlans cannot visit the past, so you must pick a date after 9500 BC. Anydate after that is okay, but see the later section about FarFutures.

You could visit Augustus Caesar’s Rome, Napoleon’sFrance, Elizabeth I’s England, the ancient Aztecs,China’s Zhou Dynasty, or a 22nd Century United States.Be creative.



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If you want, invent new civilizations in ancient times;after all, little is known about the people who livedbefore about 3500 BC. They seem to have been wipedout entirely…

Determine when the cataclysm comes. This is whenhumanity is threatened with extinction, when allknowledge can be lost, when mankind can slidebackwards into barbarity. Write the inevitable Date

and Time of Destruction on the character sheet.

Who is about choosing a person—the host—intowhose life the Architect will reincarnate. Who is thisperson? Someone with power and respect or anobody? You can choose a historical figure if youwish, or make up someone fictional.

Get specific. Determine the host’s name andoccupation. Where does the host live? Does the host have a family?

Obviously, choosing a host who is powerful willmake the mission easier in some ways. Who listens toa farmer yelling about the end of the world?Powerful hosts come with their own problems,though. They have responsibilities they just cannot ignore. If you choose a powerful host, describe thechallenges and responsibilities they face on a dailybasis and what happens if they ignore them.

Once you’ve nailed down When, Where, and Who,the guide can start creating the mission and theplayer can start creating the Architect. If the player

has an existing character he wants to use, he stillneeds to fill out the method of rebirth and adjust thecharacter appropriately.

Creating Missions

The guide should follow this process to create a newmission for the Architect.

1. Choose a threat.2. Create allies and enemies.3. Set a timeline.

Threats

First choose the major threat to civilization.

Extinction If the Architect fails, the people of that civilization will be destroyed entirely. Not asingle one will survive.

Forgotten If the Architect fails, all traces of thiscivilization will be lost to time. No one will remembereven their name.

Devolution If the Architect fails, civilization willlose an important advancement of science, medicine,architecture, or the like.

Allies and Enemies

Next, determine who the Architect might rely upon forhelp or who might get in the way of the Architect.

Consider natural friends and foes of the host first. If thehost has a family or close friends, who are they? Whichof them will be likely to believe the Architect when theystart spouting messages of doom? Will any of themoppose the Architect? Who does the host care about?Who does the host hate?

Consider people who likely will hear about theArchitect’s message. This might be brought to theattention of a powerful noble, a king or queen or one of their advisors, a doctor or psychiatrist, a scientist, or areligious figure. What powerful people does the host know who might be helpful or threatening?

Consider people who might get swept up in the story. Isthere a reporter or police investigator who might want to know more? Is there a merchant or businessman whowants to make a fortune off the information? What “strangers” would care about the host if they knew histrue story?

Write down the names of three or four characters in eachcategory (natural friends and foes, people with power,and people getting swept up in it). You should have at least ten to twelve characters.

For each character, write down: what the characterwants, the character’s static traits (the same four anArchitect has), and two dynamic traits. Distribute 10points among the static traits and 10 more points amongthe dynamic traits. Don’t worry too much about gettingthese “perfect.”

Timeline

As guide, you can set certain events in motion. Theseevents will occur unless the Architect does something tostop them.

Start with the Date of Destruction—the day on which thecataclysm will come—and work backwards. How longdo you want to give the Architect to work? In terms of



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game mechanics, it won’t matter how much time yougive the Architect to complete the mission. TheArchitect’s life-time track is an abstract representation of the time he has left, and the boxeson that track can be months or decades.

Write down a series of interesting “warning signs”for the cataclysm: earthquakes, volcanoes, storms,tidal waves, comets, solar flares, magnetic

disturbances. Get creative. Choose the year thesemight happen.

Choose some other important events. If you have ahistory book, steal ideas from it. What happened inthose years? Keep in mind that previousreincarnations in your story may have “adjusted”what happens in history in weird ways. Have funwith it!

Think about the ages of the allies and enemies youcreated. When do they die? What is their cause of

death? Is it natural? Do they die in an accident? Arethey murdered? The guide has great power overwhat goes into the timeline. A dozen events shouldbe more than enough for a fun story.

Now pick the year in which the Architect awakens.Subtract that year from the date of destruction. That number, rounded to the nearest whole number, ishow many years each box of life-time represents—more or less. Use this as a suggestion, not a hard rule,when narrating the time between opportunities andevents in the game.

Reincarnation

Back in 9500 BC, the Aztlantians have Dreamers whocan determine when the next cycle of cataclysms willoccur. They gather their Architects into the SleepingChamber where their bodies will lie dormant for amatter of a few hours while they complete the mission.The Architects are sent to locations all around the world

and they all go to roughly the same date in the future.

The Aztlantians know nothing at all about the peoplethere, their civilization, or what threats they face. Allthey know is that the cataclysm will occur and it willtake some time for the Architect to get embedded insociety, “wake up,” and figure out what needs to befixed.

The player must make up all kinds of details about thehost whom the Architect will inhabit, but the Architect doesn’t know these things and the host doesn’t knowabout the Architect until events conspire to make thehost aware during the mission.

Awakening

The host is a person who is living their life, probablypeacefully but perhaps with troubles of their own, andalong comes the Architect who steps into their body, oneway or another, and they start hearing voices orremembering things and the world changes.

The player should determine how their host is affected.

The player plays the host as well as the Architect. Theyare one and the same as far as everyone else in the worldis concerned.

The guide starts by reminding the player about thediscussion they had earlier. Where and when did theArchitect reincarnate?

The player responds by describing the host. What is hisgiven name? What does he do? How was he reborn?What are one or two important dynamic traits he has?Most importantly, how old is he when he wakes up?

The guide then describes a specific place (the host’shome, a marketplace, a hospital, whatever). Thecharacter is here when the mission starts. This is whenthe host starts to realize his higher purpose.

If the host and Architect are tightly integrated, this iswhen the Architect personality starts to come out. If thehost and Architect are separated, such as a possession



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rebirth, this is when then Architect starts to control ortalk to the host.

The guide, playing the host, should describesomething they see that might remind the Architect (now in the host’s body but not yet awakened) of thecataclysm to come. This could be a memory of home,an earthquake or other foreboding event, anotherperson saying something about death, or anything

that could conceivably awaken the Architect. If you’re stuck, use a memento off the character sheet.

This starts the first conflict. This is a conflict betweenthe Architect and the host. Use the stress conflict rules (explained later) to find out who wins. Win orlose, the Architect gets control over the host. If theArchitect fails, however, the host acts erraticallyenough that people in the vicinity notice andeventually important people start hearing about it.

In general, the guide has great latitude over the host.

He can describe the strong emotions of the host uponlearning of the inevitable destruction of the world.He can tell the player that the host is acting crazy ordespondent or whatever. The player must accept thisas the current state, but can work (through additionalstress conflicts) to change the host’s demeanors.

Insight

The character sheet has an insight track on it. Thetrack is 20 boxes and some of them may be checkedat the start of the mission (depending on the methodof rebirth).

Insight represents what the Architect has learned andaccomplished regarding their mission. When all 20boxes are checked, the mission is complete and theArchitect has succeeded in preventing the threat theguide created.

Life−Time

The character sheet also has a life-time track on it. It

is also a series of 20 boxes. Depending on the methodof rebirth selected for the mission, some of theseboxes may already be checked. The remaining boxesrepresent how many opportunities the Architect hasto accomplish their mission.

Life-time represents abstract time, often years ordecades. The actual amount of time doesn’t matter.Each box symbolizes opportunities and when thoseboxes are checked, the opportunities have passed.When all the Life-time boxes are checked, the

Architect has no more opportunities to complete hismission and has failed. Whatever threat the guidecreated will overtake this civilization.

Punishment

Across many missions, Architects will likely suffer allkinds of terrible anguish and torture. They will live life

after life in other people’s bodies. Their psyches will bewrought with the pains of watching civilizationscrumble. In the end, the host dies and the Architect returns to Aztlan to recuperate and prepare for the next mission.

Luckily, Architects are strong and can deal with most of these things. The stress of failing a mission, however,can cause permanent damage to the Architect’s spirit.The punishment track measures this permanent spiritual damage. How punishment and the punishmenttrack work is explained in the Harmony section later.

Opportunities

The guide should present a series of opportunities to theplayer. Each opportunity offers the player the chance todevelop his character, tell more of the story of thecivilization the Architect is saving, and earn insight.Each opportunity also brings the threat closer with theaddition of one or more life-time boxes checked off.

In presenting an opportunity, the guide will tell theplayer the difficulty and the duration.

The guide should roll 10 dice and pick the result that occurs the most often and move all the dice with that result showing into a separate pile representing theduration. That’s how many life-time boxes will bechecked off if the Architect passes on this opportunity.The value showing on these matching dice is the gain of insight if the player wins the conflict. The other dice arethe difficulty, and these become dice the guide uses inconflicts against you during this opportunity.

For example, the guide picks up ten dice and rolls

1223445666. He lucked out with three 6’s and movesthose into a separate pile. This means that the duration is3, the potential insight gain is 6, and the difficulty of theopportunity is 7.

The player must decide whether to take this opportunityor let it go by. If the player passes, he must check off asmany life-time boxes as the dice in the duration pile. If the player accepts the opportunity, the guide thendescribes events in the fictional world to which theplayer can have the Architect react.



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Harmony and Discord

Architects of Aztlan uses dice to figure out what happens during conflicts that occur in missions. Theguide and player each roll a handful of six-sided diceand sort them into piles and compare results.

The main gist of the dice rules is that you pick onenumber that shows up on the dice you rolled andsort your dice into two piles. The harmony pile is allthe dice that match that number you picked. Thediscord pile is all the rest of the dice. You usuallypick the number that occurs most frequently in yourroll.

For example, if you roll ten dice and get 1123344456,you have three 4’s. If you choose 4, then yourharmony is 444 and your discord is 1123356. If youuse a dynamic trait to reroll all of your discord, youpick up all 7 of those dice and roll again. If youhappen to roll 1223346, you get to move the 4 intoyour harmony (now 4444) and the 122336 is yournew discord.

Initial Dice

In any conflict, you start with a certain number of dice.

The guide starts with the difficulty dice from theopportunity roll. (That’s essentially the discord fromthat roll, if you want to think of it that way; theduration was the harmony.)

The number of dice the player gets depends on what theconflict represents and the character’s static traits. If it’sa conflict of words or a stress conflict, the player adds upMind + Connection and rolls that many dice. If thecharacter is doing something physical but isn’t fightingor hurting anyone, you add up Flesh + Mind. If thecharacter is fighting but not using a weapon that is likelyto kill, add up Spirit + Flesh. If the character is usinglethal force or is trying to kill another person, use Spirit

+ Connection.

The guide and player each roll their dice, choose one of the values on the dice (probably the one that occursmost), and sorts them into harmony and discord piles.Both the guide and player should describe what they aredoing in order of harmonic and according to who iswinning the conflict (see below).

Interpreting the Dice

The number showing on the dice in the harmony pile iscalled the harmonic. This number determines who first gets to describe what happens after the conflict isresolved, regardless of whether the player wins or loses.If you want the narrative power to describe how theArchitect succeeds or fails, you want the higherharmonic value.

If the player has the higher harmonic, he narrates theconclusion of the conflict, and then the guide can add hisown description—as long as it doesn’t contradict what the player said.

If the guide has the higher harmonic, he gets to narratefirst, and then the player can add something.

The number of dice in the harmony pile is called thepower. Whoever has the highest power is currentlywinning the conflict.

Improving the Player’s Rolls

The player gets to decide when the conflict is over so hehas a lot of control. If the player decides to continue the

conflict, he and the guide both get the option to improvetheir rolls. In most cases, the player will not stop till hehas won but each time he continues the guide also gets achance to improve the roll for the opposition. Moreimportantly, each roll can escalate the tension in thescene, cost the player life-time, and consume valuablecharacter resources.

There are three ways the player can improve a roll.These involve traits. The player may do only one of these things when improving a roll.



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Static Traits The only way to bring indice from your static traits is to change the nature of the conflict. This is called escalation because youoften ramp up the tension from talking to physical tofighting to killing. You do not have to escalate in that order though. You might start by shooting acrossbow at a guard then decide to smash him overthe head and knock him out instead. That’s an“escalation” from killing to fighting. The level of

conflict you choose determines the level of punishment inflicted (more on punishment later).Roll these extra dice and sort them into harmony anddiscord.

Dynamic Traits You can bring in dice fromyour dynamic traits, too, when you can describe tothe guide how they’d be useful to the host orArchitect. This always costs you a box on the life-time track, so check one off when you do this. Followthe instructions for the specific blessing you havechosen for the trait.

Disciplines You also have yourdisciplines to mine for more dice. If you can explainhow the Architect can apply a discipline to theconflict, you may bring in that many dice. This doesnot cost any life-time boxes! Roll those dice and sort them into harmony and discord.

The player can use any trait that hasn’t been used yet.A trait that is represented by dice on the table cannot be used again.

For example, if you started out talking, that meansyou’ve used your Mind and Connection dice. If yousuddenly decide to kill the person you’re talkingwith, you would bring in Spirit and Connection.Since you already rolled dice for your Connection,you just get the dice for your Spirit.

Mementos

The player can also use the Architect’s gear,essentials, and mementos to help win conflicts. First,he must find the gear. The guide can simply let the

player narrate how he finds it or he can challengethat narration and turn it into a stress conflict. Put acheck mark next to any one of these items (called,collectively, “mementos”) to signify it’s in thepossession of the Architect / host.

At any time during a conflict, the player can cross off the memento to use it. Crossing it off doesn’t meanthe item is lost; it only means that the item has beenused during this mission and can’t be used again.

Using a memento gives the player extra dice. Thenumber of extra dice is equal to the “benefit” writtennext to the item on the character sheet.

For example, an Architect has excavated a tomb not toofar from the Great Pyramid, where he knows is a pictureof his family back home. This picture gives him strengthThe player spent 5 points on this memento, so it’s worth5 extra dice.

The extra dice are placed into the discord pool. They arenot rolled until the player gets a chance to roll again, bythe normal means.

Improving the Guide’s Rolls

The guide has some named characters with static anddynamic traits. When those characters are involved in ascene, the guide should bring in the two static traitsrelevant to the conflict, the same way a player can. When

the player improves his roll using a trait, the guide mayuse the traits of any character involved in that conflict.

Like the player, the guide can only use one trait to try toimprove his roll. The guide should follow the sameprocedure as the player except that the guide doesn’t need to check off a life-time box when he uses a dynamictrait. Even though the guide controls the host, he doesn’thave access to any of the traits on the player’s sheet.

Ending the Conflict

When the player decides not to continue the conflict,compare the power (number of dice) of the harmonypools. The side with the most dice wins.

The person with the higher harmonic (die-face value inthe harmony pile) gets to narrate the conclusion. Thisshould consider everything that the player and guidesaid was happening all along the way and it should not contradict any of it. The narration also must matchexpectations of the winner of the conflict.

What happened? How did it happen? Be colorful and

dramatic! This moment is why you play the game so donot rush over it.

Once the narrator finishes hisstory, the other person getsto add details to it. Thesedetails may not contradict the spirit or letter of what was said before but may



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embellish and add additional information. When indoubt, the original narrator has veto power over thecontent of the second narration.

Consequences

The resolution of the conflict may (should!) haveserious implications within the fictional world.Maybe the Architect killed an important person.Perhaps a king believes the Architect’s crazy stories.Use the insight track as a barometer of the reactionsof other characters when the conflict involves thecivilization finally understanding what will come topass.

The narrations of the players become “real” in thefictional world. Whatever you say becomes fact. If you win narration, you can tell a story about thedeath of a king or the epiphany of a priest. The otherperson —guide or player—must accept this into thefictional world.

If the player wins the conflict, he gains the insight promised by the reward dice. Check off anappropriate number of boxes on the insight track.

The End of Things

If the player reaches 20 insight, he gets to explainhow he stops the threat and successfully completeshis mission (even if he didn’t get first narration forthe conflict). The player also tells the story of the rest

of the host’s life and how the cataclysm comes andwipes out civilization. Success is bitter sweet.

If the player checked off his last box of life-timeduring a conflict and did not reach 20 insight, hishost has run out of opportunities before the Architect could complete the mission. The player gets tonarrate this frustrating end and also the end of civilization. The player should explain how the threat has come to be true and how world history changesas a result.

For example, if ancient Egypt was threatened withbeing Forgotten and the Architect failed, the playermight explain that the Egyptians never built thepyramids and all memory of them was erased;tsunami and sandstorms covered them up and thusEgypt was not around thousands of years later tofeed Rome, and thus the Romans never came to be agreat empire.

Ties

In the case of a tie, the game master wins.

If there is a tie in power (to see who wins or loses), thegame master wins. This puts additional pressure on theplayer to continue conflicts and to deplete trait resourcesuntil he wins.

If there is a tie in harmonic (to see who gets to narratefirst), the game master wins. This gives the player areason to surrender in certain conflicts.

Surrender

The player or guide can surrender, or willingly lose aconflict, at any time. When the player or guide does this,he automatically loses the conflict but wins narration.Proceed through narration and consequences as above.

Stress ConflictsA certain kind of conflict is so important in this gamethat it gets its own section. A stress conflict is a strugglebetween the Architect and his host.

Stress conflicts occur when the game master portrays thehost whom he controls in a way that the player wants tocontest. Within the fiction of the game world, the host doesn’t necessarily know the Architect even exists. Thehost could be upset and the Architect could be a “back-seat driver” personality trying to cheer up the host

without his knowledge. In any case, a conflict resolves ifthe Architect can win control of the host.

The guide should use every opportunity to use hiscontrol of the host, the world, and the timeline to makethe player squirm. The host will naturally struggle withthe difficult situation into which he’s been thrust. Unlessthe Architect can make him understand the importanceof the mission, the host will resist putting himself, hisloved ones, and his countrymen in grave danger.

The guide should make the player choose what is most

important? Is this opportunity to save the world worthbetraying a friend? Losing your wife? Is it worth killingyour brother? After all, there will be more opportunities,right?

Because stress conflicts are so distracting to theArchitect, it costs the player more to reroll. During a

stress conflict each reroll costs 1 box of life-time. Usingdynamic traits still costs just 1 life-time, not 2.



Otherwise, stress conflicts are just like any otherconflict in terms of the rules, except that they inflict punishment.

Punishment

After each roll during a stress conflict, the Architect takes punishment from the stress if he’s not winning

the conflict. Punishment is recorded on thepunishment track.

The punishment track has four groups of boxes:Uninjured, Battered, Wounded, and Breaking Apart.Each group has four boxes in it, for a total of 16boxes. After Breaking Apart is the word Destroyed.

If the escalation level is currently talking, the playermust check off a box in the Uninjured group. If physical, check off a box in the Battered group. If fighting, check off a box in the Wounded group. If

killing, check off a box in the Breaking Apart group.Whenever a group is full, move to the next group tothe right. The Architect suffers the penaltiesdescribed below when the last box in a group ischecked. There is no way to heal punishment. It ispermanent karmic suffering.

For example, the Architect is arguing with his host.This is talking. The player loses the first round of theconflict and must check a punishment box. However,all four Uninjured boxes are already checked, so helooks at the Battered group. Three of those boxes arechecked. He checks off the last Battered group andchooses a Battered penalty.

Uninjured

When all four Uninjured boxes are checked, chooseone of these penalties:

Increase or decrease your harmonic by 1.

Add or remove one die from your discord.

Take a new dynamic trait worth 1 point.

Cross off any unused dynamic trait for this conflict.

Upgrade the blessing/bane for any trait and replaceit with a new blessing/bane worth 1 point more.

Surrender and get a new dynamic trait worth 1-3points.

Battered

When all four Battered boxes are checked, choose one of these penalties:

For this mission, modify one static trait by +1 or –1.

Change your harmonic to a 6, effectively.

Take a new dynamic trait worth 2 points.

Cross off any dynamic trait for this mission.Upgrade a blessing/bane for any trait with a new oneworth 2 points more.

Surrender and get a new dynamic trait worth 3-5 points.

Surrender and get a permanent +1 or –1 level to aDiscipline.

Wounded

When all four Wounded boxes are checked, choose oneitem from the Battered and one item from the Uninjured

lists.

Additionally, all stress conflicts cost you 1 life-time tostart. Pay this when you start a new stress conflict.Rerolls still cost 1 life-time each, as usual.

Breaking Apart

When all four Breaking Apart boxes are checked, chooseone item from the Battered and one item from theUninjured lists.

Additionally, all stress conflicts cost you 2 life-time tostart. Pay this when you start a new stress conflict.Rerolls still cost 1 life-time each, as usual.

Destroyed

When all 16 boxes have been checked, the Architect’sspirit is destroyed utterly. His mortal and immortal lifeis over. The Architect leaves the host and does not returnto his body in 9500 BC Atlantis. The spirit exists nolonger. The character is dead and cannot be revived.

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