Cartel: A Mexican Narcofiction Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Created by Mark Diaz Truman
Cartel is a tabletop RPG in which players portray bold narcos, naive spouses, and dirty cops caught up in Mexico's eternal drug war.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
¡No Mames, October 2018 Production Update y Nahual!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Nov 01, 2018 at 01:46:31 AM
¡Hola, compadres!
It’s been a busy month of research, writing, and playtesting, but octubre is nearly over. It’s time for our October production update, and I’m very excited to also share with you a Kickstarter project from Cartel’s cultural consultant, Miguel Ángel Espinosa… Nahual!
Production Update: October 2018
Last month, we added El Güero to the backer version of the Quickstart, so the mechanics for the game are pretty much final. I’ve playtested the most recent version of the basic moves, and it appears that I’ve finally sanded all the rough edges off of justify yourself and make an offer. In other words, cabrones… we’re done with systems.
That said, if you have gotten a chance to playtest Cartel and want to give me any feedback, please email me at [email protected] by November 15th, 2018. I’m going to be locking down text in layout at that time, and I’ll need to know about any issues you spot with the current materials before that date!
In addition to playtesting, I’ve been finalizing my a lot of research for the setting chapter. While our previous projects like Urban Shadows or Masks have had strongly implied settings, Cartel has a lot of elements that are tied to a specific moment in time in a specific place. I’m hoping to distill the drug war (circa 2007) down to just a few, easily digestible pages, but I also don’t want to miss anything! And I’m keeping my eye on Narcos: Mexico, which debuts on November 16th!
(Speaking of missing things, can you believe that I haven’t seen Traffic?!)
As of now, we’re on track to deliver the PDF of Cartel in early 2019, followed by print copies a few months later. We’ll have more updates on exact dates when we submit the files to printer, but I’m excited to get you the full book next year!
Nahual Kickstarter
But Cartel isn’t the only PbtA Kickstarter project featuring Mexico this year. I’m really excited to see Miguel’s Nahual blowing up this week, raising more than $35,000 since it was launched last Tuesday!
Nahual is a tabletop roleplaying game of Mexican urban fantasy. In Nahual you play as shapeshifting nahuales that hunt angels to make a living. You run a changarro—a business—together and sell the angels you hunt as different types of products. Caught in the middle of an ancient feud, you struggle to find your place in a world of fantastical and overwhelming forces.
It’s hard to explain everything I love about Nahual in just a few sentences, but I will say that the game is a really unique experience. You play a pack of shapeshifting nahuales who have banded together to try to survive, hunting down angels—the very colonial monsters who accompanied the Spanish when they came to the New World. Together with your pack, you try to make a living in a world in which everyone (the corps, the politicos, the angels) are out to get you.
I love it. And more importantly, it’s a second answer to my question: what does a Mexican/Latino RPG look like? Miguel’s answer, steeped in religion, culture, and urban fantasy is totally different than my own, and I think it’s another game that’s going to help bring our culture to roleplaying games. Check it out!
Day of the Dead Starts Today!
I would be remiss if I didn't remind all you gringos that Dia de Los Muertos starts today! I already watched Coco this weekend to get ready, but I'm on a plane to Metatopia... so probably no face paint for me this year. (Last year was the first release of the Cartel quickstart; I can't believe it's been a year already!)
How are you celebrating Dia? Got your ofrenda ready? Going to a parade? Tell me in the comments!
¡Híjole! El Güero Arrives y Deck of Locations Preview!
over 7 years ago
– Mon, Oct 01, 2018 at 12:31:57 AM
¡Hola, amigos!
I’ve spent the weekend at RinCon in Tucson, but Septiembre is coming to a close, and it’s time to update you all on the progress of Cartel, including the release of El Güero, the CIA agent!
Production Update: September 2018
We’re continuing to work on the final mechanics of the game, and it’s time for us to start finalizing the text and getting it into layout. Please check your Backerkit for an updated Quickstart with a few tweaks to the llaves, enclaces, and basic moves… and read on for more info on El Güero and the Deck of Locations!
Deck of Locations Preview
One of the things I’m excited about this month is the Deck of Locations. Miguel has been working on the moves, and I’m excited about the potential for the Deck of Locations to help people bring custom moves to their table in force.
I love using custom moves in my games, and I want to give people tools to use them more. But writing good moves is hard, so Miguel and I want to give you a whole deck of moves that will spice up your game and give you new models for your own moves.
Here’s a preview of La Catedral:
La Catedral Mockup
We’ll be sharing a few more of these previews as we go, but look for the full release of these cards on PDF before the end of the year!
El Güero Playbook
It’s time for the newest version of the Quickstart (version 3.3) and… El Güero, the CIA Agent who is assigned to disrupt and/or manipulate the drug trade in Durango.
El Güero has been a major design challenge for me, especially because I want to make sure that folks don’t have to read a bunch on the CIA before using the playbook. While I initially thought that I wanted to have some supplementary materials, I think I’ve found a way to build a misión for El Güero that makes the playbook work without requiring a ton of additional reading! I look forward to any feedback you all have.
You can get your copy of the new Cartel Quickstart and El Güero playbook via Backerkit’s digital download system. We’ve already pushed out the files to your account, and you should have received an email letting you know that the files are ready for download. If you didn’t, you can access them directly from Backerkit here:
Note that we’re not updating the DriveThruRPG version of the Quickstart or El Güero: these versions are only for backers. Feel free to share them with your own group or run them at events, but please don’t post them publicly. Updates to the quickstart and new files are for backers only until we get the final book done!
Closing the Backerkit
One last item of business, cabrones! As we get closer to our release in early 2019, it’s time for us to close the Backerkit and charge your credit cards for add-ons and upgrade. We’re a bit behind schedule on the closure/charge, but we’ll be doing both on October 15th, 2019. Thanks for your patience!
¡Oigan Muchachos! July 2018 Update!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Aug 01, 2018 at 12:21:40 AM
¡Hola, compadres!
Julio is almost over, but I’ve got enough time to sneak in an update before we roll over to Agosto! Gen Con 2018 starts in just two days, so I’m going to keep this update corto y bueno!
Production Update: July 2018
The Cartel corebook text and design continues to chug along, and we’re hard at work on getting the book ready for you all this year. I’m still developing a few tools to make MCing the game easier (including full writeups on designing amigos y enemigos), and I’m doing the research on the CIA’s role for the Aguila supplement/LE section. This part of completing a book is slow, but I’ve got a lot of help from the Magpie team to get across the finish line.
Stay tuned next month for more info on Deck/map, previews of CIA info and more. Looking forward to sharing more with you all as soon as it’s ready!
Cartel @ Gen Con 2018
The largest industry convention of the year is upon us, a bit earlier this year than in previous years. Usually we have until the middle of August… but Gen Con, like Santa Muerte, comes upon us when we least expect it. We’ve already flown out to Indianapolis, and we’ll be setting up the Magpie Games booth tomorrow!
I’ve got a ton of meetings scheduled for the next week, but if you’re looking to catch me at the convention, I’ll most likely be at our booth (#2459) or at our game room (#2359). I’d love to meet any Cartel backers, so please don’t be shy about introducing yourselves. Your support has made so much possible!
If you didn’t get into a game of Cartel in our game room, the hosts at the Magpie game room (#245) will do their best to get you into a game if there’s a seat available. Here’s a list of the sold out slots if you want to show up and see if a spot opens up:
Thursday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Friday, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Saturday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Saturday, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Saturday, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
In addition to Cartel, we’ve also got over 100 other Magpie Games’ sessions running in room #245. Please come by and play something with us if you’re looking for Masks, Epyllion, Bluebeard’s Bride, Chaos Worlds, or any other game we publish!
Zombie World on Kickstarter
Speaking of other games we publish, we’ve launched a Kickstarter this month for Zombie World, a card-based PbtA tabletop roleplaying game in which you play survivors of a zombie apocalypse, struggling to make a new life in the face of obstacles both living and dead.
Brendan and I have been working on Zombie World for the last few years, inspired by games like Dead of Winter and movies/tv like The Walking Dead, Day of the Dead, and Zombieland. Zombie World takes the Powered by the Apocalypse system in new directions, using special cards to generate characters, create situations, and resolve conflicts. Making a new character takes minutes: you draw a few cards, and you’re ready to go. Every time you take an interesting action in the game, you draw a few cards that will tell you what happens to your survivor.
Zombie World comes with all the cards, the playmats, the rules, and even a dry erase marker—everything you need in a small box you can easily fit into your bag and play on the fly. Check it out on Kickstarter today!
¿Qué Onda? June 2018 Update y Quickstart v3.2
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Jun 30, 2018 at 08:12:39 PM
¡Hola, amigos!
El verano is upon us, and that means long dias, Sicario 2 in theaters, and… a new Cartel update! Read on for a short summary of Cartel at Origins 2018, an updated Quickstart, and some light production notes!
Cartel at Origins 2018
I got to run Cartel at Games on Demand a few times this year, testing out a few small tweaks to the core mechanics and some new CIA-driven content. Everything went really smoothly, and I was pleased to see one session be driven by La Esposa’s secrets while another session focused on the CIA bringing pressure to bear against a naive Cocinero.
In addition to running games at Games on Demand, I was also lucky enough to run into Andrew Thompson, our cover artist for the book! Andrew had the original art he drew for the cover on hand, so I got to see it up close and personal.
Andrew Thompson, Cartel Cover Artist
It was such a pleasure to work with Andrew on bringing the world of Cartel to life. I'm excited to feature his work on the project, and we hope to see more of his stuff in other games soon.
Quickstart 3.2: Enter La Rata
Now that Origins is over and done, I’m super excited to send out the Cartel Quickstart v3.2, which includes completely rebalanced playbooks (new llaves, new Heat scores, etc) to reflect notes from playtesting… and La Rata, the mole working against the cartel from the inside.
I’m especially excited about La Rata because she adds a whole new dimension of conflict to the game. Each Cartel playbook is designed to bring a new facet of the drug war to your sessions, and La Rata is no exception. She’s got a plan to bring down El Narco, but can she get it done before the rest of the cartel catches on to her betrayal?
You can get your copy of the new Cartel Quickstart via Backerkit’s digital download system. We’ve already pushed out the file to your account, and you should have received an email letting you know that the file is ready for download. If you didn’t, you can access it directly from Backerkit here:
Note that we’re not updating the DriveThruRPG version of the quickstart: this version is only for backers. Feel free to share it with your own group or run it at events, but please don’t post it publicly. Updates to the quickstart are for backers only until we get the final book done later this year!
On that note, I originally planned to have El Güerro included in this update, but I think that playbook actually needs more support from the larger CIA supplement. We’ll be releasing that playbook a bit later, once I have the some of those CIA materials ready for public release.
Next Steps: July 2018
Now that I’ve done a nearly final pass on the playbooks and basic moves for the core rulebook, I’m going to spend most of July working on getting the text in order for the book, including El Güero and the rest of the CIA supplement. A good deal of the game’s text is written already as part of the ashcan and quickstart, but I’m looking forward to generating examples and other tools that will help players and MCs make the best use of the game.
At the same time, we’re going to be getting deep into art specs and art buys. We probably won’t have new art to show you next month, but Marissa will be generating all the materials needed for us to get the final art commissioned for the book. We’ll also have some updates on the Deck of Locations, the santos candles, and more.
Finally, mil gracias for your patience this month. Between Origins and a nasty cold, this June update got pushed out a bit later than I planned. Look for July’s update closer to the middle of the month! Until then, buena suerte!
¡Ave María Purísima! Backerkit is live!
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Jun 02, 2018 at 12:58:01 AM
¡Hola, compadres!
It’s been a little over a month since the end of the Cartel campaign, and I’m still floored that so many of you jumped on board to fund this project. I’m so excited to make Cartel a reality, and you all have made so much possible. Thank you!
Backerkit Surveys
Now that the Kickstarter funds have cleared, we’ve got everything set up for you to fill out your Backerkit surveys. If you haven’t used Backerkit before, it’s an awesome system that allows us to collect way more information that a simple Kickstarter survey, including managing your add-ons for the campaign and handling pre-orders.
If you pledged for add-ons past your initial reward tier, you’ll select those add-on items in Backerkit. If you want to add other items to your rewards, you can add them here as well, and pay for them through the Backerkit system. And if you want to change your pledge tier (from $10 to $50, for example), you can do that through Backerkit too. ¡No mames!
We’re going to collect addresses through Backerkit to make sure we know roughly where we need to ship books when they are ready, but remember that we’re going to run all shipping through our webstore. You’ll get a webstore coupon through Backerkit when the books are ready!
We’ll lock down Backerkit on July 15th, 2018, so please fill out your survey right away. We’ll charge credit cards for any add-ons or upgrades shortly after the lock down (August 1, 2018).
If you have any questions or issues filling out your Backerkit, please just send us a message at [email protected]. We’ll help you get things sorted out right away!
Next Steps: June 2018 Update
Each month, I’m going to put together an update to keep you all informed about our progress, including releasing new materials (like playbooks) when they’re ready for you all to preview and playtest. Sending games to print is sometimes like pushing a giant boulder up a hill, but we’ll keep you all informed as we make the climb.
This month is going to be fairly light—we’re still getting things rolling on art, layout, etc—but I should have some exciting playtest materials, including La Rata and El Güero! Look for those materials a little later this month than usual, probably around the 20th of the month (post-Origins).
Speaking of which…
Origins 2018 Games on Demand
If you’re coming to Origins this year, please come hang out with us at Indie Games on Demand! Myself and a few other Magpies will be be running games, including the latest and greatest version of Cartel! We’ll also have Pasíon de las Pasiones, Masks, Bluebeard’s Bride, Zombie World, Velvet Glove…. and a whole lot more indie games from all your favorite publishers.
