Description
Cartel (including Deck of Locations and cloth map), hardback roleplaying game, by Mark Diaz Truman
“A Mexican Narcofiction Tabletop Roleplaying Game
In Cartel, you play bold narcos, naïve spouses, and dirty cops tied to the Sinaloa drug cartel, facing a dangerous game of drugs, money, and power. Navigate dangerous relationships, make desperate plays for money and power, and discover how far you are willing to go to hold on to what is yours. Buena suerte, cabrón.
Cartel is based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system used in Apocalypse World, Urban Shadows, and more. When your character takes an action that fits a move, the move tells you what happens in the story or you roll two six-sided dice to find out. Each move is a tense beat of a narrative, an opportunity for the drama of Cartel to build to a bloody climax.
Cartel creates adult fiction in the vein of Breaking Bad, The Wire, and El Mariachi, making it fun for lovers of crime fiction and Mexican melodramas alike. Cartel has the mechanical strength and narrative flexibility to create stories that are alternately tragic and darkly humorous, set against the backdrop of an eternal drug war.
Mexico, 2007. The Free and Sovereign State of Durango. Ten hours from the US border. A small but thriving ciudad known for its stunning cathedrals and annual street festivals.
Durango also lies between two of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world: the long-established Sinaloa Cartel and the up-and-coming Los Zetas.
The Sinaloa Cartel: a vast and sprawling network moving drugs from Central America into Los Estados Unidos, China, and Europe. Well-established and ubiquitous, capable of infiltrating city police departments, Mexican state governments…even the DEA.
Los Zetas: formerly the enforcers of the Gulf Cartel, Mexican Special Forces who defected when it looked like Mexico might actually prosecute terror squads for war crimes. Ordinary Mexicans call them La Última Letra (The Last Letter) or “Those who should not be named.”
So here you are. Connected to la plaza in Durango. Maybe you’re just el halcón, and you run errands for the big jefes. Maybe you’re la sicaria, an enforcer, returned from an early retirement in the States. Maybe you’re just married into the cartel, but your esposa means the world to you. Maybe you’re el narco himself, and this plaza is yours to lose.
No matter who you are, not even the Sinaloa Cartel can keep you safe. You’ve got amigos, but you can’t trust anyone. Your boss would throw you under the bus to save himself, and your enemigos would do far worse to get ahead. And that’s before you start worrying about your familia asking for money or los federales listening in on your every phone call.
And don’t forget Los Zetas. Don’t ever forget Los Zetas, cabrón.”
Deck of Locations
“The Deck of Locations is a game aid designed to bring Durango to life without requiring any extra research before play.
Each card features a Durango location that can serve as a backdrop for a scene in Cartel—a lavandería (laundromat) or a catedral (cathedral)—complete with the tools needed to bring that setting to life. The deck now includes 54 cards!”
Cloth Map
An 11″ x 17″ cloth map of Durango.
Additional information
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