Cartel Roleplaying Game

In Cartel , you and your friends take on the roles of bold narcos, naïve spouses, deadly sicarios , 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 in this tabletop game of Mexican narcofiction, and discover how far you are willing to go to hold on to what is yours. Buena suerte, cabrón.

Cartel contains:
-Seven character archetypes, each tailored to help your group construct their very own tragic tale of Mexican narcofiction, including El Narco, El Cocinero, La Sicaria, La Rata, and more.
-Summaries of the history and culture of the drug war, focusing on the setting for Cartel: The Free and Sovereign State of Durango, Mexico in 2007.
-Detailed instructions for running the game, including tips on bringing Mexico to life at your table and working with players in short and long-term play.
-Advice on how to bring your players into the world of Mexican narcofiction, including tools for portraying amigos y enemigos to antagonize and oppose the player characters.

Cartel is based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system used in Apocalypse World, Urban Shadows, Bluebeard's Bride, and more. Cartel creates adult fiction in the vein of Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, making it a perfect fit 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.