Character Creation: Nahual

FOR THE TENTH GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-FOUR,
TEN NAHUALES HUNTING,
NINE FIGHTERS STREETING,
EIGHT HITLERS BLEEDING,
SEVEN FAIRIES TRAILING,
SIX GOBLINS GOBBLIN',
UGH, FINE, GAME OF THRONES,
FOUR NESTING BIRDS,
THREE VELVET GENS,
TWO SONGBIRDS,
AND BARD THE RPG!

The Game: Nahual
The Publisher: Miguel Angel Espinoza
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this, but it's PbtA
Books Required: Just the one

Nahual has you playing a group of people who run a changarro in Mexico. Depending on what kind of business you're running, you might have to deal more often with rowdy regulars, restocking issues, maintaining your taco truck, hunting down more angels to butcher for meat/blood/bone...

Wait, what?

Yeah, this is a weird one, in a good way. It's based on a graphic novel that I haven't read but is 100% going on my list. Basically when the Spanish conquistadors showed up, they had warrior angels with them, but angels are, most of the time, pretty mindless and animalistic. Their bodies also have restorative and psychotropic properties, so long story short, you hunt, kill, butcher, and render them to sell. 

It's such a goddamn weird premise, and the book totally sells it, mostly because the focus is on making the business work and what that looks like. Hunting is an important part of the game, but it's grounded in something tangible and explicable.

Oh, and, your characters have awakened nahuales, meaning you have totem spirits that empower you and enable shapeshifting that gets more pronounced as you advance. It looks pretty badass, actually. 

Well, I'm a little pressed for time today, unfortunately, so let's get into it! First we choose a playbook. They're all named after the aforementioned totem animals. I like them all, actually. I'm kinda feeling Serpiente, but I dunno, I made a serpent-y sort of character for Crossroads Carnival. But on the other hand, that was like six years and fuck that game. Perro is also appealing because, like, doggo. And of course Venado appeals to my love of speedsters and acrobat characters. I think I'll go with Perro and be a dog person today.

One of the names listed is Timoteo, and I like that (friends probably call him Teo). We'll say his last name is Román (also one of the names listed, but that's incidental, I just think it fits). Teo uses he/him pronouns, he's conforming, young (maybe 17 or 18), watchful eyes, and has a street look. I think Teo grew up in a gang but on the periphery - he's a good lookout but he's got no real stomach for violence (or didn't, anyway). And then the gang he was running with kinda broke up after a couple of them got shot and a couple more had to flee the area. I'll flesh that out more as needed as we go along.

Vices! I get two. These are just impulses that I can pursue to mark XP or clear stress. I think for Teo, it's gonna be Obstinacy (Teo doesn't know when to leave) and Vengeance (he is not, by nature, a violent person, but he's dangerous if given time to stew). 

Stats! I have +1 in Garra and Instinto, -1 in Maña, and 0 in Barrio. I get a +1 to put anywhere, and I want it in Barrio because I see Teo as more tied into his neighborhood.

Speaking of el barrio, I now get to pick one of two barrio questions. And the second one is the obvious choice:

Let's say the person holding a grudge is an older guy everyone calls Tio Juan. Tio Juan isn't actually anyone's tio, but he did have a son, Juanito, one of the boys that Teo used to run with who wound up getting shot. Tio Juan blames Teo, which is weird, because Teo wasn't even there when Juanito got killed! Actually, maybe that's the issue...

Gear and stuff! I have an old apartment (I think Teo probably shares it with his mamá), a third or fourth hand vehicle (very old Nissan Sentra, the passenger seat is missing and Teo replaced it with a folding chair), a cheap cell phone, his nahual mask, and two hearts of the earth. And then I pick two from a list.

Well, I don't want a gun, Teo should by no account have one. I will take the tactical knife, however, and a hatchet. 

Moves! I get two to pick off the Manada list. Well, clearly I want territorio, which means my manada is respected in the barrio. And then...I'm torn between charolastras, which lets us mark stress to take harm for each other, or jauría, which lets me increase the harm that another member inflicts (basically we dogpile someone). The former is more in keeping with how I've conceived Teo so far, but the latter seems like it gets into the potential for violence that he unquestionably has. I think I'm gonna go with charolastras, because that reputation for protection helps explain why he could have (and should have) saved Juanito.

And now I get two totem moves. These are things I can use while I'm in my transformed nahual state. Obviously I'm taking pack mate, which lets me mark stress for someone in my manada. And then I think I want wild dog, which lets me unleash the animal and fuck someone up. I think as of start of game, Teo hasn't used that yet, so that'd be a fun scene. 

And that's it, kids! Teo is skinny, often dirty, and wears a jacket with the gang colors taped over (since the gang is mostly dead and him being associated with it makes Tio Juan angry, anyway). I think Teo's dirty secret is that he blames himself for Juanito as much as Tio Juan does, not that that's going to help him. 

Teo's role in a changarro would depend very heavily on what it is; if he were in the cantina in the example of play, I think he'd be bussing tables, running errands, putting up posters, and suchlike. But honestly being in a Vecindad would be the most interesting proposition for this character.