TEXT: CARTEL
  MEXICAN NARCOFICTION POWERED BY THE APOCALYPSE
  MARK DIAZ
  TRUMAN
  
   
  1
  CARTEL
  
  2
   
  2
  Cartel Credits
  Published by 
  Magpie Games
  Printed by 
  Taylor Specialty Books
  Design, Development, and Writing by 
  Mark Diaz Truman
  Additional Design by 
  Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  Developmental Editing by 
  Brendan Conway y Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  Copy Editing by 
  Monte Lin 
  Proofing by 
  Katherine Fackrell
  Indexing by 
  J. Derrick Kapchinsky
  Art Direction by 
  Marissa Kelly
  Cover and Chapter Art by
  Andrew Thompson
  Interior Art by 
  Mirco Paganessi
  Graphic Design y Layout by 
  Miguel Ángel Espinoza y Mark Diaz Truman 
  Cover Layout y Design by 
  Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  Cultural Consulting y Spanish Language Editing by 
  Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  Staff Support 
  by J. Derrick Kapchinsky y Sarah Doom
  Cartel is copyright 2015 by Magpie Games, including all 
  text and art. All rights are reserved. First printing, 2020.
  Special Thanks
  Cartel is dedicated to those who helped me wrestle 
  with the depth of my Latino identity: Abel, Ariana, 
  Art, Celina, Erika, Jahmal, Marshall, Mendez, Misha, 
  Mona, Travis, Uyen, Ram, Ray, and more. Thank you. 
  As always, I am eternally grateful to my friends and 
  collaborators: Marissa, for always pushing me and my 
  work to new heights; Katherine, for playtesting every 
  single playbook; Justin, for matching my enthusiasm 
  for narcofiction; Brendan, for never letting me get 
  away with less than my best; Sarah, for reminding me 
  that the work is worth it; and Derrick, for convincing 
  me to watch The Wire, no matter how long it took.
  I owe an incalcuable debt to Miguel. From adding 
  Mexican slang to helping me understand la polícia 
  in Mexico, he has made this final version of Cartel 
  a truly authentic journey into Durango, MX. I could 
  not have done it alone. ¡Muchas gracias, cabrón!
  Finally, thank you to my Kickstarter backers—
  you all made this impossible dream possible. Your 
  patience—and your belief in my ability to bring 
  this world to life—has made all the difference. 
  Additional Credits
   
  ĵ Cartel makes use of the Apocalypse World engine created 
  by Vincent and Meguey Baker through Lumpley Games. 
  You can find more of their work at lumpley.games.
   
  ĵ The section on r-maps is drawn from Paul Beakley’s post 
  titled “Paul’s R-Map Method” (bit.ly/3ghEoLc). You can 
  find more of Paul’s work on indiegamereadingclub.com.
   
  ĵ Getting fucking shot was created by Jason Morningstar. 
  You can find more of Jason’s work at bullypulpitgames.com.
   
  ĵ Vector graphics used throughout from Vecteezy.com. 
  
   
  3
  Table of ConTenTs
  CHAPTER ONE 
  Introducción .................................. 4
  ¡Bienvenidos! .....................................................5
  What is Cartel?  .................................................6
  Tres Cuentos ......................................................8
  How This Works ..............................................10
  Playing Safely ................................................... 13
  CHAPTER TWO 
  La Guerra Antidrogas ...............14
  ¡Viva México! ................................................... 15
  Un Poco de Historia .......................................16
  Los Jefes de Jefes .............................................18
  Los Carteles .................................................... 20
  La Ley de México ............................................24
  Diablos y Ángeles ............................................26
  Durango, MX ...................................................28
  CHAPTER THREE 
  Mecánicas y Jugadas ................. 30
  ¿Plata o Plomo? ............................................... 31
  Scenes y Stories ...............................................32
  Moves y Dice ...................................................34
  Basic Moves .....................................................36
  Stress Moves ....................................................58
  Heat Moves .................................................... 64
  Other Rules ..................................................... 68
  CHAPTER FOUR 
  Los Narcos de Durango ...........76
  Fierro Pariente .................................................77
  Creating Narcos ..............................................78
  The Playbooks ................................................ 86
  El Cocinero ..................................................... 88
  La Esposa .........................................................92
  El Halcón ......................................................... 96
  El Narco ..........................................................100
  La Polizeta ......................................................104
  La Rata ...........................................................108
  La Sicaria .........................................................112
  CHAPTER FIVE 
  El Maestro de Ceremonias ....116
  Ésta es la Neta ................................................117
  Your Agendas ................................................. 118
  Your Principles ...............................................120
  Your Moves .....................................................123
  Moves Upon Moves ......................................130
  Engaging The PCs ......................................... 134
  Using NPCs in Play .......................................142
  The First Session ...........................................146
  The Long Example ........................................150
  
  4
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  4
  Chapter One 
  Introducción
  
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  5
  ¡BiEnvEnidos!
  Cartel is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you play ordinary peo-
  ple mired in the drugs, money, and violence of the Mexican drug war. 
  When you play it, you and your amigos (or enemigos?) tell a story to-
  gether, a tale of bloody drama and tragic violence set against the tense 
  backdrop of the broader Mexican experience in Durango, Mexico.
  As you play your character, you speak as they speak and decide what 
  actions they take, but the events of the story aren’t solely up to you. 
  Instead, Cartel requires that you sometimes roll dice to find out what 
  happens—a reminder that la guerra antidrogas is as unpredictable as it is 
  inescapable—a way of ensuring that the story doesn’t stagnate or deflate 
  in the telling. In Cartel, you never truly know what will happen next.
  This chapter introduces Cartel’s setting and explains what you need 
  to play the game with your friends, including:
   
  ĵ The Basics: This chapter opens with an introduction to how 
  Cartel works as a game (page 6), as well as details about the 
  setting—Durango, MX—and the drug war itself (page 8).
   
  ĵ Best Practices: Playing Cartel requires some play materials—such 
  as playbooks and dice (page 10)—and a willingness to engage 
  with difficult material (page 12). I cover best practices for both!
   
  ĵ Safety Tools: In addition to explaining the materials you need to 
  play, I also cover some basic safety tools (page 13) your group 
  might want to use when you play a session of Cartel. 
  If you’re familiar with roleplaying games like Cartel, you can jump to 
  Chapter 2 (page 14) to read about the setting or Chapter 3 (page 30) 
  to learn more about how the mechanics of the game work.
  
  6
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  6
  WhAT is CarTel? 
  When you play Cartel, you take on the role of 
  a person whose life has been intertwined with 
  the Sinaloa Cartel, a sprawling network that 
  moves drugs—heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and 
  meth—from producers in Central America to 
  the rest of the world. Your characters might be 
  lovers, friends, allies, or enemies, but they are all 
  tied together through los carteles, often finding 
  themselves in conflict with each other when 
  things spiral out of control and violence ensues.
  That’s not to say that you’re all ruthless 
  killers. Most of the work of the Sinaloa Cartel is 
  done by people more desperate than ambitious, 
  more foolish than cruel. Some of you might 
  even play characters who don’t realize how 
  completely the cartel has infiltrated your lives: a 
  woman whose husband keeps his work with los 
  carteles secret might find out too late what her 
  esposo really does late at night.
  Cartel is ultimately about the intersection 
  between the roles characters have adopted—the 
  cook, the jefe, the dirty cop—and the personal 
  lives and obligations those characters want to 
  preserve. What will you choose, cabrón, when 
  you must decide between your life and the lives 
  of your closest amigos? What will you do when 
  your family gets too close to the secrets you 
  keep from them? What are you willing to give 
  up...to keep from losing everything? 
  Stories of the Drug War
  Cartel uses dice, but the stories you tell with 
  your group while playing it aren’t random. They 
  are stories of circumstance and coincidence, sí, 
  but they are also stories of cruel fate and crueler 
  choices. Cartel is about clever people caught 
  up in a system bigger than them, one that cares 
  little if they live or die, so long as the flow of 
  money and drugs is uninterrupted. 
  Playing these characters—instead of merely 
  observing them from a distance—challenges 
  the dominant narratives of the drug war, ask-
  ing us to find the humanity in the people that 
  are often described as monsters. In your hands, 
  these narcos stay people, even when they do 
  terrible things or make the wrong choices. 
  After all, they are trying to do their best in the 
  most difficult of situations, trying to find their 
  way when all paths lead to darkness.
  But be clear, güey, there are no heroes here. 
  No rescue, no happy ending for all involved, no 
  justice save what you claim for yourself. So long 
  as Los Estados Unidos prohibits the drugs it can’t 
  stop smoking, snorting, and shooting, there will 
  be cartels with all their accompanying sales and 
  savagery. Ni yendo a bailar a chalma. Do not pre-
  tend that you can plan to make things better for 
  the people of Mexico; you are lucky if you have 
  a chance to do the right thing for once.
  
  7
  2007: Durango, MX 
  Cartel is set in a particular place at a particular 
  time—Durango, MX (2007)—a moment in which 
  the cartels were at the height of their power, just 
  before the Mexican government set a plan in 
  motion to remove the cartels with military force, 
  a strategy that would leave more than 100,000 
  Mexicanos dead from a decade of violence.
  Durango—located in the Free and Sovereign 
  State of Durango, nearly ten hours from the 
  Mexico-US border—is a small, but thriving ciudad 
  known for its eclectic architecture, stunning ca-
  thedrals, and annual street festivals. Yet Durango 
  also lies on the border between two of the most 
  powerful drug trafficking organizations in the 
  world: the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas.
  If the Sinaloa Cartel is classic rock—perfecting 
  the combination of violence and patronage that 
  made Mexico a narcostate in the first place—
  then Los Zetas is dubstep, incomprehensible to 
  anyone who worked the streets fifty years ago. 
  Los Zetas aren’t the only cartel to use videotaped 
  beheadings, mutilated bodies, and mass killings 
  to seize power, but they pioneered the form. 
  It’s hard to describe how much ordinary 
  Mexicans fear Los Zetas. They are the boogey-
  men of Durango, “those-who-should-not-be-
  named,” the enemy that even the most hard-
  ened narco fears. Monstruos, muchacho.
  Caught between the devils you know and 
  the very things devils fear…that’s you, cabrón.
  
  8
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  8
  TREs CuEntos
  Listen closely, cabrón. Everything you need to 
  know about Cartel is right here, más o menos. 
  The stories of the people caught up in la guerra 
  are more truthful than any government report.
  43 Missing Students
  In September of 2014, forty-three students 
  were kidnapped in broad daylight by unknown 
  assailants on their way to a political protest. 
  Some said the police had taken the students, 
  but others claimed that it was cartel enforcers 
  disguised as police. No one knew why these 
  students had been targeted, and no one knew 
  what had become of them.
  Soon, authorities announced that they had 
  found a mass grave. Forensic tests, however, re-
  vealed that authorities had discovered an entirely 
  unrelated mass grave: the students’ bodies were 
  nowhere to be found. The shallow pit contained 
  only the victims of another unrelated massacre.
  Some reports claim that the local cartel—
  Guerreros Unidos—killed the students because 
  the protesting youth had been infiltrated by Los 
  Rojos, a rival gang. The mayor of Iguala, and his 
  wife, were eventually arrested, and many believe 
  that the power couple asked the cartels to kill 
  the students to hold on to political power.
  But the truth is…no one knows. No one will 
  ever know. That’s Mexico. That’s the drug war.
  The $57,000 Receipt
  Back in 2005, a woman driving across the Mex-
  ico-US border was detained when US border 
  agents found over $50,000 hidden in her car. 
  The agents detained the woman and took 
  the money, but didn’t have any way to charge 
  her. It’s not illegal to have money, güey, even if 
  everyone knows you don’t have it legally. They 
  can take it from you, but they can’t charge you 
  with anything. Not even if you’re Mexican.
  Those pinches cops asked if she was going to 
  be in danger when she went back to Mexico. It’s 
  a typical police tactic: put a narco in a tough spot 
  and then ask if they want any help staying alive. 
  The woman said no, mostly because “it 
  wasn’t that much money.” Turns out, $50,000 
  is just the cost of doing business at the border. 
  The cartels expect folks they send to el norte to 
  get caught sometimes with cash or drugs.
  But the woman did have a request: a receipt. 
  See, she knew that getting caught by the cops 
  wasn’t that big a deal, but she wasn’t a pendeja. 
  Losing the money wasn’t the problem. But if the 
  jefes thought she stole the money…that’s a death 
  sentence. So the cops wrote her a receipt, she 
  went back to Mexico, and everyone was happy.
  Even the cartels keep records, cabrón. How 
  else would they count all their money, scat-
  tered across international bank accounts? 
  
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  9
  Narcocorridos
  The cartels are a constant source of death and 
  destruction in Mexico, but not everyone sees 
  los narcos as the villains of Mexico. There’s 
  a whole industry of media—like gangsta rap 
  and mob movies—that promotes, documents, 
  and reports on the cartels, portraying them as 
  romantic outlaws, vibrant revolutionaries, or 
  even just tragic figures of Mexican myth.
  Narcocorridos, for example, are ballads about 
  narcos and their escapades, morality tales and 
  poetic myths that glorify (and sometimes de-
  monize) the narcos. These songs are extremely 
  popular all over Mexico. They are everywhere.
  In Ioan Grillo’s excellent book, El Narco, he 
  interviews a narcocorrido singer named Con-
  rado, asking him if anyone’s ever made a career 
  off a song instead of the other way around:
  Conrado tells me the story of one low-level trafficker 
  who paid to get a particularly catchy ballad made 
  about him. Soon everyone played it on his car stereo. 
  “The crime bosses were like, ‘Bring me the guy from 
  that song. I want him to do the job for me.’ So he 
  rose through the ranks because of the song.”
  “So what has happened to him now?” I asked.
  “Oh, they killed him. He got too big. It was 
  because of the song, really.”
  In a land without irony, the man who laughs is 
  king. Así es la vida. You know how it goes.
  Quid est veritas?
  A few thousand years ago, our lord and savior 
  Jesus Christ told Pontius Pilate, Roman judge 
  and executioner, that he came unto the world 
  to bear witness to the truth. Some say Pilate 
  mocked Jesus, responding “Quid est veritas?” 
  What is truth? Does it matter when so much 
  else is at stake? Does it matter at all?
  So it is in Mexico. Just because a story seems 
  increíble doesn’t make it falsa. Did the Virgin 
  Mary tell an Aztec convert—Juan Diego—to 
  build a shrine for her in 1531? Did she give him 
  dozens of roses and place her image on his coat 
  so that he could convince the local bishop to 
  permit his efforts? Does it matter? Pope John 
  Paul II still canonized Juan Diego in 2002 at 
  Mary’s shrine, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora 
  de Guadalupe; the Zapatas carried Guadalupan 
  flags when they marched on Mexico City.
  Truth is the story that lasts the longest, no 
  matter what actually happened. Everything else 
  might as well be a clumsy lie.
  In los carteles, the secrets everyone keeps from 
  each other—the lies that litter family reunions 
  and court testimony alike—compound this prob-
  lem.”. The only credible story is the worst case 
  scenario, the one that keeps you safe by remind-
  ing you to trust no one, no one at all.
  Piensa mal y acertarás, amigo. Expect the 
  worst, and you’ll never be disappointed by the 
  way things turn out. Expect anything more, and 
  you’re just setting yourself up for a tough fall.
  Quid est veritas? It’s never that simple, güey. 
  
  10
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  10
  How This Works
  In order to play Cartel, you need a few amigos 
  who want to explore Mexican narcofiction 
  with you for a few hours. You might decide to 
  play just a single session of the game—sort of 
  like an intense movie—but most sessions of 
  Cartel end with plenty of story still to tell. It’s 
  up to your group to decide how many sessions 
  is a good fit for your story and playstyle.
  Cartel works best with roughly four players 
  and a Maestro de Ceremonias (MC), a player 
  devoted to portraying the rest of the drug war 
  outside of the player characters (PCs). More 
  than five PCs spreads out the game too much, 
  leaving you with too little time to focus equally 
  on the characters, but fewer than three PCs 
  makes it hard to generate enough chisme drama 
  and relationships between the PCs.
  Before you start your first session, you 
  need to gather some supplies to help the 
  game run smoothly. Usually the MC brings 
  these tools to the first session, but other play-
  ers are welcome to contribute. You probably 
  want to keep this rulebook handy as well, in 
  case you have a question about something 
  while you’re playing the game.
  Everything you need to print is available at 
  magpiegames.com/cartel. If you’d like to read 
  the text for the playbooks in this book, you 
  can find them on page 87 in Chapter 4.
  Necessary supplies
  You need a few supplies to play Cartel:
   
  ĵ Dice: You need at least two six-sided dice, the 
  kind you find in Monopoly or Risk. You can 
  get by with just one set, but most people like 
  to use their own dice. Why give away your 
  luck to someone else when you need it most?
   
  ĵ Playbooks: You need a copy of each of the 
  seven core playbooks for Cartel. Each play-
  book is a different archetype players choose 
  from when creating their characters. You 
  can add in limited edition playbooks or 
  take out one or two core playbooks for your 
  game, but you need to have a variety; no 
  two players can choose the same playbook.
   
  ĵ Pencils y Paper: The playbooks have space 
  to take notes, but you need to have other 
  paper on hand for makeshift maps, lists of 
  characters, etc. And pencils aplenty, cabrón.
   
  ĵ Additional Materials: You might want to 
  pick up the Deck of Locations or the Map 
  of Durango, alongside other images, or 
  worksheets you need for the game. You can 
  learn more about these items at magpie-
  games.com/cartel
  
  11
  Why Play Cartel?
  When I have explained Cartel to people over 
  the last five years, I often get some version of 
  “Good god, why would I want to do that? That 
  sounds like a terrible, horrible time!”
  To be honest, I don’t mind that reaction. Car-
  tel isn’t for everyone. It’s intense, requiring you 
  to play against your fellow players as much as 
  you play against any part of the setting while you 
  keep your head amidst the violence and chaos of 
  the Mexican drug war. ¡Chingale!
  But for those who want to tackle such con-
  tent, I can promise you this: Cartel is a unique 
  experience crafted to simulate the paranoia 
  and tension of your favorite crime dramas, 
  wrapped up in a polished, tragic game engine. 
  I’ve spent years honing Cartel’s systems and 
  playbooks because I don’t want this game to 
  be misery tourism through the worst parts of 
  Mexico. Instead, I’ve labored to create a game 
  that captures the intensity of crime fiction like 
  The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Jackie Brown, all 
  wrapped up in the culture and swagger of Once 
  Upon a Time in Mexico or El Mariachi. I’ve 
  strived to make a Mexican crime game that’s fun.
  When you play Cartel, you walk a mile in 
  the shoes of people struggling to make the best 
  of a bad situation without losing what little 
  they have scraped together. Each decision they 
  make matters more than you might expect, 
  güey, and their lives (and deaths) will move you 
  in unexpected ways.
  
  12
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  12
  Playing Diverse Characters
  I often get asked how non-Mexicans can portray 
  Mexicans in Cartel. I’ve come to understand the 
  question is ultimately about respect. After all, 
  there aren’t any real Quendi for you to slander 
  with your offensive portrayal of Eldar. 
  I can’t snap my fingers and make you com-
  fortable playing characters from a culture you 
  don’t know, but I have a couple of rules I find 
  useful when I play a character (including NPCs) 
  from a different racial or ethnic identity.
  Focus on Demeanor 
  Slang and accents are most likely to convey a 
  cheap stereotype, and they are often the least 
  exciting thing about diverse characters we 
  love. Instead, I try to think of an actor that I 
  would love to see playing the character and 
  think about their demeanor and affect: how do 
  they say things and what do they say?
  Take Benicio del Toro, for example. He’s 
  going to show up in a lot of Cartel games I run, 
  but I never try to mimic his accent. Instead, I 
  try to make my portrayal mimic his intensity. He 
  tends to lead with his head, as if he’s thinking 
  his way through scenes. He’s precise with his 
  language. He is menacing, but rarely threaten-
  ing or vulgar. Including all of that is unlikely to 
  cause harm or offend anyone, but it will sum-
  mon the character I want to see in the game.
  Let Them Be Human
  No one worries about playing elves because 
  elves aren’t real…but elves are also more than 
  one thing. If someone doesn’t like your elf 
  character, you can always say, “I hear you, but 
  that’s how my character acts. He likes to quilt 
  and I think that’s cool.” Since it’s your game, 
  that’s how your elf acts. No one can argue with 
  you; let them make their own elf!
  Give Cartel’s characters that same breadth 
  and depth. Make them diverse, even within 
  a group. Grant them unique interests—like 
  Freamon from The Wire making doll furniture. 
  Let them think diverse thoughts. Mexicans (as a 
  whole) might feel a particular way about politics 
  or family or whatever, but we’re not a monolith.
  Relax, Be Cool
  Once you let go of the idea that you’re playing 
  a character that has to represent all Mexicans, 
  you can just play the character. That sounds like 
  a dodge, but it’s not. It’s the only way forward.
  You’re playing Cartel to have fun. Just play 
  the character, with all the wants, needs, and 
  opportunities that come with that character’s 
  immediate story. What’s happening in their 
  life right now? What conflicts are they dealing 
  with at work? At home? How are they planning 
  to solve those problems? All of their conflicts—
  their internal life!—are ten times more im-
  portant than their skin tone or nationality.
  
  Chapter 1: Introducción
  13
  PLAying safeLy
  I absolutely trust everyone who sits down to 
  play Cartel in good faith to treat the setting 
  and characters with respect. It’s possible for 
  you to create a character that is a terrible, racist 
  stereotype, but many parts of the game—from 
  the playbooks to the setting to the moves—do a 
  great deal of work to keep that from happening.
  And yet...it is inevitable that at some table, 
  in some session, lines will be crossed. Here are 
  some tips to work through those transgressions.
  Setting Expectations
  Before you begin a game of Cartel, take a few 
  moments with your group to discuss your 
  collective expectations. I don’t know if it’s pos-
  sible to play a game of Cartel without violence 
  or without drugs, but the degree and scope 
  of description matters a lot to people. Talk to 
  each other and be honest with your feelings.
  It’s possible that such a discussion leads 
  your group to decide to play a different game. 
  ¡No hay problema, cabrones! You don’ t always 
  have to watch crime fiction when you go to the 
  movies, and you don’t have to play Cartel. This 
  game is designed to make you and your group 
  uncomfortable, to push you to think through 
  your own morality and circumstances; you and 
  your amigos might not be in the right place for 
  that kind of experience.
  Safety Tools
  If you decide to play Cartel, invest in safety 
  tools, even with your usual group. Such tools 
  can’t make the game risk-free, but they can 
  help your friends have an ongoing conversa-
  tion about how the game is working for you 
  all. Here are a few examples of safety tools you 
  might want to use when you play Cartel:
   
  ĵ The X-Card is a tool that helps groups 
  manage difficult content without setting 
  boundaries in advance of play. Place a card 
  with an “X” on the table; a player who feels 
  uncomfortable with the game can touch 
  the card to ask the group to rewrite or step 
  back from the scene. You can read more 
  about the X-card at tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg.
   
  ĵ Lines and Veils is an exercise in which your 
  group holds a discussion prior to the game 
  about what content you all want to exclude 
  completely (lines) while reserving the right 
  to fade to black around additional difficult 
  content (veils) during the game. You can 
  read more at tinyurl.com/lines-veils-rpg.
  Remember that safety tools are supplemental 
  to actual discussion within your group. Talk to 
  each other while you play and be kind!
  
  14
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  14
  Chapter Two 
  La Guerra Antidrogas
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  15
  ¡Viva Mexico!
  You don’t have to be un experto on la guerra contra el narco to play Car-
  tel, but you can’t wander into the game blind either, güey. The play-
  books, the moves, and the overall structure of the game all require you 
  to know a little something about the way things work in Mexico. 
  That said, Cartel is less interested in accuracy than authenticity; 
  I need you to understand the broad strokes of the drug war far more 
  than I need you to understand any particular policy or remember any 
  single event. And if the setting described in this chapter sparks your 
  interest, cabrón, you can dig deeper, but the rough shape of things is 
  what you really need to know to play the game. 
  Thus, this chapter explains the history of Mexico and the cartels, 
  detailing the major actors and factions that shape Cartel’s setting:
   
  ĵ La Historia: This chapter starts with a short primer on Mexican 
  history (page 16) and a brief summary of important events for 
  the cartels from the 1950s through 2007 (page 18).
   
  ĵ Cartel Structure: You may find it useful to understand the structure 
  of the cartels. I review how cartels operate (page 20) and the major 
  roles your characters can take on within los carteles (page 21). 
   
  ĵ Everyone Else: I also review the other factions that might appear in 
  a game of Cartel, including Mexican law enforcement (page 24), 
  Los Zetas (page 26), and the Catholic Church (page 27). 
  If you want to jump ahead to understand how Cartel works as a game, 
  skip to Chapter 3 (page 30) to learn more about the mechanics or read 
  Chapter 4 (page 77) to find out how to make your own characters!
  
  16
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  16
  Un Poco de HisToria
  Before I tell you about the drug war or los 
  carteles, I have to first explain some things about 
  México. Like all countries born from the fires of 
  colonialism, Mexico has a complicated and trag-
  ic history; you won’t understand a thing about 
  the narcostate until you have some inkling of 
  how we got here in the first place, mi amigo. 
  1492: La Conquista
  While Christopher Columbus sailed an ocean 
  blue, his legacy is a sea of red. Soon after 
  “discovering” lands in the Caribbean that he 
  incorrectly believed belonged to India, Colum-
  bus brought back enough treasure and legends 
  to usher in a wave of European conquest and 
  genocide that killed more than 80% of the 
  indigenous people living in Central and South 
  America over the next century.
  México was not spared, güey. The mighty Aztec 
  Empire—weakened by smallpox and disease—
  fell to Spanish conquistadors and their indige-
  nous allies in 1521, providing a base of operations 
  from which the Spanish waged war against the 
  people of the New World for the next 150 years.
  The precious gold and silver extracted from 
  the Americas enabled the Crown to massively 
  expand the Spanish Empire, but did nothing to 
  improve the lives of the indigenous people who 
  survived the genocide that followed contact. 
  1821: Mexican Independence
  Hundreds of years after the fall of the Aztecs, 
  Mexican revolutionaries—inspired by Napoleon’s 
  defeat of Spain and the American and French 
  revolutions—won the more than decade long 
  war of independence against the Spanish Crown. 
  No longer truly indigenous or European, many 
  Mexicans had begun to view themselves with a 
  unique political identity and a desire for self-rule. 
  But democracy arrived later. Conservatives 
  first installed Emperor Agustín de Iturbide and 
  a Mexican Empire, but Iturbide was deposed 
  and executed within two years. Spain refused to 
  recognize Mexico’s independence until 1836. 
  1910: Mexican Revolution
  Mexico struggled with further conflict (and 
  European intervention) through the 1800s; 
  President Porfirio Díaz finally managed to bring 
  a measure of stability to the country...but he 
  served seven consecutive terms. His rule (the 
  Porfiriato) was characterized by a ruthless con-
  solidation of power and wealth among elites.
  The people—led by Francisco Madero, 
  Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata—revolted 
  again, but the conflict raged for nearly thirty 
  years across Mexico as the United States rou-
  tinely intervened to promote its own interests 
  and the insurgents failed to maintain power.
  
  17
  2000: The Modern Era
  After two decades of violence, the Institutional 
  Revolutionary Party (PRI) took power in 1929, 
  promising a return to stability. To some degree, 
  they succeeded; PRI ruled México for roughly 
  70 years, including an expansive era after World 
  War II that brought new levels of prosperity. But 
  unrest in the 60s blossomed into huelgas (strikes) 
  by the early 70s, and people began to question 
  PRI’s rule. Neoliberal reforms in the 80s did little 
  to forestall the inevitable: PRI lost the presidency 
  to the National Action Party (PAN) in 2000.
  PAN’s victories brought democracy in only the 
  vaguest sense. The 2006 Presidential election of 
  PAN candidate President Felipe Calderón was 
  widely seen as illegitimate election fraud.
  But as Calderón took office, cartel violence in 
  the states of Tamaulipas and Michoacán grew 
  more prevalent—Los Zetas, the Sinaloas, and the 
  Gulf Cartel openly fighting. Calderón decided 
  to kill many pájaros with una piedra: he sent the 
  military to deal with los narcos, attempting to 
  both distract from questions of his legitimacy 
  and put los carteles in their place once more.
  Calderón’s escalation of la guerra antidrogas 
  unleashed a wave of death that rivals the Con-
  quista itself, killing more than 100,000 Mexicans 
  over the next ten years while rumors swirled 
  around his administration’s connections to the 
  Sinaloa Cartel. The military had some victories, 
  of course, but the cartels are resilient enemigos...
  
  18
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  18
  los Jefes de Jefes
  This history of México is written through 
  transformaciones y revoluciones, conflicts that 
  reimagined Mexican life and structures in 
  messy and sometimes incomplete ways. The 
  history of los carteles is no different, cabrón. 
  There have been kings and princes, rulers of 
  vast territories who thought themselves un-
  touchable. But all things must end, muchacho, 
  to make room for all the new things that start.
  El Padrino: Miguel Ángel
  Drug smugglers have moved product into the 
  United States from Mexico since the early 
  1900s, but los carteles didn’t consolidate those 
  efforts until the 1970s. Suddenly, Mexican drug 
  lords were more than just minor criminals; 
  they became legends. In particular, Miguel 
  Ángel Félix Gallardo—founder of the Guadala-
  jara Cartel in Mexico—rose to prominence in 
  México as El Padrino, The Godfather.
  Don Miguel was a former Judicial Police 
  officer, a cunning criminal who seized on the 
  government’s success in stopping Colombian 
  shipments through Florida by connecting Pablo 
  Escobar’s cocaine to American markets through 
  Mexico. Along with Caro Quintero and Ernesto 
  Fonseca Carrillo, Don Miguel ruled over nearly 
  all of Mexico’s drug operations, bringing in 
  billions of dollars a year in profits.
  The Inevitable Fall
  But nothing ever lasts, güey. Don Miguel and his 
  associates were los jefes de jefes, but their reach 
  exceeded their grasp. Drunk on their own pow-
  er and believing themselves above all law, they 
  murdered an undercover DEA agent named 
  Kiki Camarena, retribution for his success in 
  undermining their criminal enterprise.
  The Americans were outraged—convincing 
  the Mexican government to arrest both Caro 
  Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo—but El 
  Padrino was beyond their reach; his connections 
  ran too deep for him to be extradited over some-
  thing as trivial as a murder of a single DEA agent. 
  An Unholy Alliance
  Yet...Don Miguel was eventually brought to 
  heel. In 1989, PRI decided that El Padrino 
  was more useful as a perro than a lobo. He 
  was arrested, and his connections within the 
  cartels—men like El Chapo and the Arellano 
  Felix brothers—were given their regions and 
  territories, allowed to keep their holdings  in 
  exchange for their fealty and payments to PRI.
  Separated from his empire, El Padrino strug-
  gled to retain control. He tried repeatedly to 
  escape prison or earn parole, but PRI’s plan re-
  quired his absence. He has spent the last thirty 
  years in a maximum security cell.
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  19
  ¿QuE se yo?
  Narcos know a mix of Mexican myth and car-
  tel history—honoring El Padrino in the same 
  breath as Pancho Villa—but most people care 
  only about their immediate problemas; Los 
  narcos have more problemas than most! 
  In Cartel, your character may be versed in 
  all of this history...or they may know nothing 
  about their country and profession. There’s 
  no right answer, cabrón; you don’t need to 
  memorize history to start playing the game.
  Los Nuevos Narcos
  After El Padrino’s arrest, the jefes warred 
  against each other. The conflict was mostly 
  hidden from public view—at least through the 
  90s—but Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (Sinaloa 
  Cartel) and Juan García Ábrego (Gulf Cartel) 
  emerged as a few of the clear victors. Their or-
  ganizations seized territory and control from 
  both the failing Guadalajara Cartel and the 
  remnants of the Colombian cartels that had 
  survived Don Pablo’s similar fall. As la guer-
  ra contra el narco began to consume Mexico, 
  these cartels defined the conflict to come.
  The Sinaloa Cartel
  Cártel de Sinaloa (CDS) originally followed in 
  the footsteps of Don Miguel, moving cocaine 
  into the United States for the Colombians. 
  But as the Colombian cartels collapsed and 
  Mexican meth grew more popular, the Sinalo-
  as became a force unto themselves; they were 
  no longer mere smugglers but powerful drug 
  lords whose operations produced millions of 
  dollars a month in illegal revenues.
  El Chapo took control of CDS in the mid-90s, 
  using a combination of horrific violence and 
  charming patronage to secure his hold on the 
  organization. He oversaw the absorption of most 
  of his rival cartels—including the remnants of 
  Don Miguel’s Guadalajara Cartel—and evaded 
  capture throughout the early 2000s, becoming 
  an international kingpin and famous outlaw.  
  The Gulf Cartel
  By the early 1990s, Cártel del Golfo (CDG) had 
  become the Sinaloa’s primary rivals, an equally 
  sprawling and violent empire that moved mil-
  lions of kilos of drugs all over the world. 
  The organization survived the arrest of Don 
  Juan in 1995, but it took five years for a new jefe 
  (Osiel Cárdenas Guillén) to assume full control. 
  Don Osiel recruited Mexican Army Special 
  Forces soldiers—Los Zetas—to act as CDG’s 
  paramilitary wing (see page 26 for more on 
  Los Zetas). Eventually, Los Zetas would prove to 
  be poor servants, but they were a valuable asset 
  in the early 2000s, allowing the CDG to com-
  pete on equal footing with the Sinaloa Cartel.
  
  20
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  20
  los CarTeles
  Los carteles de México aren’t like ethnic mob 
  organizations; the closest structure is probably 
  a fast food franchise, a hydra of independent 
  operators that get branding and resources while 
  passing money up to the parent organization. 
  Life As a Narco
  For the most part, narcos know only that they 
  work for a specific cartel...and little about the 
  way the cartel operates or who is in charge. Los 
  carteles don’t hold strategic meetings or inform 
  lower-ranking members about future plans; 
  the less everyone knows, the less a federal can 
  get out of a lowlife sicario or halcón if someone 
  stupidly decides to talk instead of going to jail. 
  New narcos learn quickly: when you’re asked 
  to do something, you do it without asking too 
  many questions. It’s better for todos this way, 
  cabrón. You don’t really see the bigger picture.
  The lack of transparency means that working 
  for the cartels is a mess of lies and half-truths. 
  You only know what the people directly above 
  you think you need to know, and it’s never clear 
  who is on your side. Could be that your cousin 
  works as a halcón like he says; could be that he’s 
  just a pendejo in over his head with the wrong 
  people. Only way to know is to start asking ques-
  tions...but anyone who asks a lot of questions is 
  not someone any narco inteligente truly trusts.
  Las Plazas
  The cartel’s criminal activity—smuggling 
  drugs, kidnapping businessmen, fighting other 
  cartels—is always wrapped up in territory. 
  Drugs need to move norte; controlling drug 
  corridors, especially areas that lay between labs 
  and El Norte, is the top priority. Whoever holds 
  the land controls the flow, making money no 
  matter who is shipping drugs to the gringos.
  Back when PRI was in control of Mexico—
  before “democracy” and the narcostate—the 
  government itself organized the cartels into a 
  relatively peaceful and equitable split of terri-
  tory called las plazas. The cartels in control of 
  las plazas paid money to the government in a 
  system of bribes and kickbacks, and were thus 
  free to move drugs north and money south. 
  If a cartel got out of hand (or forgot to pay), la 
  policía and los federales moved against them, 
  triumphantly scattering the cartels like roaches.
  When PRI lost control of the presidency 
  in 2000—and PAN attempted to negotiate 
  new, more favorable deals with los narcos—the 
  cartels decided that they liked the plaza system 
  too much to let the newly elected elites screw 
  it up. Now the cartels run the show, taxing 
  those who move drugs through their plazas, 
  and paying bribes only when they gain more 
  from slinging silver than slinging bullets.  
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  21
  El Narco: The Boss
  Given the cartel’s loose structure, each plaza is 
  an independent territory, a fiefdom that answers 
  only to the narco in charge of that particular 
  corner of Mexico. There are many lesser bosses 
  in a given plaza, but the one and only patrón 
  whose rule is absolute is El Narco. To him, all 
  respect is given and fealty paid; to defy him is a 
  quick death, and to anger him is foolish suicide. 
  Installed by the heads of the cartel, El Narco 
  is in charge of all of the cartel’s activities and 
  personnel in a plaza, the head narco who rep-
  resents whatever authority can be mustered. 
  Heavy is the Head
  It’s common in less populated regions—like 
  Durango—for El Narco’s influence to extend 
  well outside the cartel, beyond even the usual 
  corruption you might expect in a narcostate. 
  Yes, El Narco may have la policía in his pocket 
  and connections within the federal govern-
  ment, but he also might be a celebrated busi-
  nessman or a beloved mayor, his loyalty to the 
  cartels an open secret known by all.
  Such authority makes El Narco more of a 
  king than a mere crimelord; all of the prob-
  lems of the plaza are his to address. He has no 
  escape, no one who will remove the burden of 
  the decisions he must make, and no one he can 
  trust. Even his closest allies are the ones most 
  likely to betray him. Como Judas, sí? No one can 
  be trusted when you have so much.
  Above El Narco
  That’s not to say that El Narco answers to no 
  one. Quite the contrary! The real bosses, the 
  heads of the Sinaloa Cartel, take a keen inter-
  est in whatever activities and profits El Narco 
  makes on their behalf. It is expected that El 
  Narco will make his payment to those who 
  have blessed him with the right to rule in full 
  and on time, regardless of whatever problemas 
  he may have encountered running la plaza.
  Thus, it doesn’t matter what kind of business 
  a local cartel conducts, so long as the real jefes 
  believe that replacing El Narco is an unwise busi-
  ness strategy. But failing to make payments—or 
  causing more trouble than you are worth—is a 
  quick way to a bloody retirement, cabrón. Don’t 
  forget that everyone owes someone for their 
  power...even kings and gods.
  
  22
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  22
  Los TenienteS: The Deputies
  El Narco oversees la plaza, but he wouldn’t 
  be caught dead handling drugs, money, or 
  murders himself. He’s got jefes pequeños for all 
  those illegal activities, lieutenants and bosses 
  who keep the foot soldiers and low-level help 
  focused on making everything profitable.
  These middle managers are the primary 
  authorities most narcos report to about their 
  work. But to El Narco, these jefes are his trusted 
  tenientes, the people he relies upon to handle his 
  business and give him some safe distance from 
  the cartels’ day-to-day operations.
  A Vast Machine
  But what operations do los tenientes oversee? 
  The answer is a little bit of everything: extor-
  tion, kidnapping, smuggling, bribery, and vio-
  lence. Whatever they can make money doing!
  Usually, los tenientes focus on transferring 
  meth, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico to the 
  United States: they supervise labs where the 
  drugs are made, warehouses from which those 
  drugs are shipped, and secret places in which 
  the money is counted and secured. If a cartel 
  gets cash from kidnappings, extortion, or other 
  schemes...los tenientes will oversee all that too.
  Ideally, la plaza is a machine that turns pur-
  chased (or stolen) chemicals and materials into 
  drugs, which are then converted to cash at an 
  industrial scale, all while taking a cut of whatever 
  else happens in the territory the cartel controls.
  Reinas de Los Carteles
  The politics of gender and sexuality in México 
  map poorly onto what gringos think is normal. For 
  example, same-sex marriage was made legal in 
  Mexico City in 2009...but most Mexicans still hold 
  a fairly traditional understanding of family struc-
  tures and gender roles. Es complicado.
  Violence against women is a particular prob-
  lem in Mexico: there were so many mujeres killed 
  along the US-Mexico border in the late 90s that 
  the term femicide became a common way of 
  discussing the murders. Few arrests were made; 
  the victims were mostly poor women who came 
  to the border to work at the maquiladoras—cheap 
  factories—that sprang up in the wake of the North 
  American Free Trade Agreement.
  Thus, you might expect the cartels to exclude 
  women—or anyone with an “alternative life-
  style”—from positions of power, but the narcos 
  care much more about profit than they care 
  about tradition. They are always willing to make 
  exceptions for those who are willing to work.
  Of course, women who work for the narcos 
  pack drugs, count money, or ferry contraband. 
  But there are a few who rise to power as jefas or 
  gain reputations as fearsome sicarias. It helps if 
  you are the widow of El Narco or the daughter 
  of a famous sicario, but your life with the cartels 
  is whatever you make it, chica.
  But regardless of the fate los mujeres narcas 
  are seeking, they often find the same end as any 
  man. El que la hace, la paga. Quien mal anda, mal 
  acaba. Your gender isn’t much of a shield when 
  you decide to join la guerra antidrogas in full.
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  23
  Los Sicarios: The Enforcers
  El Narco’s lieutenants take care of the ordinary 
  work of running la plaza, but any kingpin who 
  leaves the entirety of his empire in the hands 
  of his underlings is a pendejo. In addition to 
  whatever thugs he has in his employ, El Narco 
  also keeps a few sicarios—cartel assassins—on 
  hand to deal with special problems that arise. 
  Named after a group of Jewish assassins 
  called “The Sicarii” who attempted to drive the 
  Romans out of Jerusalem around 50 AD, sicarios 
  are more than mere gunmen or gangsters. They 
  are the gunfighters of the drug war, caballeros 
  who have sworn fealty to the kings of México. 
  Their names are legendary, and the exploits of 
  sicarios frequently appear in narcocorridos, the 
  música norteño that celebrates los narcos and 
  their mysterious cartel assassins. 
  Armed y Dangerous
  Since it’s difficult to get your hands on a firearm 
  in Mexico, most cartels get their weapons from 
  the United States. Los sicarios often delight in 
  obtaining brash American weaponry, including 
  assault rifles, fully automatic pistols, and the 
  occasional rocket propelled grenade launcher. 
  As you might guess, sicarios solve problems 
  by murdering them...but that doesn’t make 
  them fools. Sicarios are the trusted agents of El 
  Narco for a reason; they are often smart, clever, 
  tenacious foes who lure their enemies into traps 
  and disrupt the odds when facing larger groups. 
  Los Halcones: The Lackeys
  Not everyone involved in the cartels has such 
  glamorous work. Los halcones—the hawks—
  are at the bottom of the organizational 
  hierarchy, usually impoverished children and 
  teenagers who surveil the city, spying on los 
  federales and other enemies of los narcos in 
  exchange for petty cash and minor favors.
  A few halcones end up with larger roles in 
  the cartel, but only if they can show los jefes 
  some promising skill or capacity for murder 
  that earns the halcón in question a better 
  position. Moving up isn’t impossible, but los te-
  nientes would rather recruit a fresh sicario than 
  train a pendejo halcón to shoot straight.
  Coyotes, Cocineros, Y MÁs
  In addition to the above personnel, the cartel 
  also makes use of various smugglers (coyotes), 
  drug cooks (cocineros), and other manual labor. 
  For the most part, these people are disposable, 
  trusted to handle only their part of the process 
  and little else. The people who pack and weigh 
  the drugs for shipment or prepare the chem-
  icals for cooking meth are easily replaced if 
  something goes wrong, the kind of people who 
  mostly just follow the routine instructions.
  Occasionally, a cook or smuggler is so 
  proficient that they can demand extra pay or 
  better working conditions. But los jefes despise 
  negotiating with their own workers more than 
  they enjoy the benefits of excellent work...
  
  24
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  24
  la ley de Mexico
  Los carteles may not exactly fear the law, but only 
  a pendejo ignores the schemes of government of-
  ficials. Remember, cabrón: El Padrino found him-
  self in a cell at the end of his illustrious career...
  La Policía
  The Mexican municipal police department—la 
  policía—is allegedly the first line of defense 
  against the criminal activities of the cartels. In 
  reality, however, the local cops are powerless to 
  do much in the face of the dinero y violencia that 
  narcos leverage to get things done, often stand-
  ing by helplessly as the cartels seize the day. 
  And who can blame them? An incredibly 
  good salary for a policía might amount to a few 
  hundred dollars a month, a fraction of what 
  a successful narco brings home in just a few 
  days. Why bother standing against los carteles, 
  cabrón, when you can take a month’s pay to 
  look the other way when narcos move drugs to 
  El Norte and sell them to those pinche gringos? 
  Faced with such cruel logic, even the best 
  cops bow to the realities of the drug war. Truth 
  be told, everyone is on the take, cabrón...even 
  the good cops. It’s better to take the bribes 
  than to stand out in the crowd of obviously 
  corrupt officers; the honest policía know how 
  to look dishonest enough to stay alive even if 
  they don’t want to be complicit in it all.
  Agents of El Narco
  In most places like Durango, the vast majori-
  ty of la policía end up working directly for los 
  carteles—semi-official muscle who take care 
  of things for whichever narco pays them. Beat 
  cops might even escort El Narco around town, 
  providing protection to an esteemed member of 
  the community, while high-ranking officers reg-
  ularly join El Narco for dinner to talk business.
  The corruption of the la policía ensures that 
  los carteles can smuggle, threaten, and even kill 
  with impunity. Who can you go to for help, 
  güey, when los narcos ask you for protection 
  money? Who will help you when they kill your 
  hijo or hija? The people who swore juramentos 
  to protect you? They work for the cartels too!
  Wearing the Mask
  Cops who want to do good have two choices: 
  put on a mask or end up dead. In a twist straight 
  from a cómic, some police pursue justice by wear-
  ing a mask when they do their real work. If todas 
  las policía take bribes during the day, who can 
  say which officer confiscated all those drugs? No 
  one knows. And if the cop in question is lucky, 
  no narcos will ever, ever find out. Of course, the 
  masks also protect la policía from accountability; 
  citizens can’t file complaints about police brutali-
  ty when they don’t know which cop to blame.
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  25
  los amEricanos
  Obviously, the Americans have their claws 
  in all of this, güey. They almost can’t help 
  themselves, promising money to some agen-
  cies while undermining others to accomplish 
  the real objectives of El Norte. ¡Chingale!
  If you want to know how Los Americanos 
  operate, and even include the Drug Enforce-
  ment Agency (DEA) or the Central Intelligence 
  Agency (CIA) into your game, check out El 
  Águila y La Serpiente, as a digital download or 
  an appendix in the special edition of Cartel.
  Los Federales
  Mexican federal police are los federales, officers 
  similar to agents from the Federal Bureau of 
  Investigation in the United States. A federal 
  is better paid and trained than any Durango 
  policía. They aren’t heroes exactly, but los feder-
  ales also aren’t the obvious cobardes that narcos 
  usually push around and ignore.
  In fact, narcos dismiss the federal police 
  at their own peril: an honest federal is al-
  ways looking to make his career arresting 
  prominent narcos...and a corrupt federal will 
  demand a significant bribe to look the other 
  way if they catch a narco in a bad spot. Los 
  federales go toe-to-toe with los carteles and 
  sometimes find themselves in charge. ¡Órale!
  Corruption Within
  The prior federal police agency—Policía Judicial 
  Federal (PJF)—was closed down in 2002 after 
  widespread corruption within the organization 
  finally came to light. More than 20% of officers 
  serving in PJF ended up in jail, their arrests a 
  supposed indicator of PAN’s commitment to 
  cleaning up los federales after PRI’s defeat.
  But nothing ever changes. Right, cabrón? 
  The new agency—Policía Federal Ministerial 
  (PMF)—is rumored to be just as corrupt as PJF 
  ever was. Los federales might have to keep bribes 
  a bit more secret now, but los carteles know that 
  keeping a few federales on the payroll is cheaper 
  than fighting them in the courts...or the streets. 
  Special Missions y Taskforces
  Calderón’s election in 2006 prompted all man-
  ner of changes in Mexico’s strategy to defeat 
  los carteles, including raids by the Mexican 
  Army. But President Calderón also demanded 
  that new efforts be made by the PMF as well to 
  combat narcotics throughout México.
  PMF dedicated new resources to special 
  operations and taskforces, often working in 
  concert with American agents and local policía, 
  but efforts to apprehend important narcos was 
  repeatedly undercut by PMF’s own officers 
  and leaders, many of whom were still on the 
  payroll of the Sinaloa Cartel in particular...
  
  26
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  26
  DiABLos y angeLEs
  Cops and robbers may make up the frontline 
  of this conflict, but this is México! We have to 
  talk about heaven and hell if you want to get 
  the full picture of la guerra contra el narco. 
  Los Zetas
  The historia of Los Zetas, like the story of all di-
  ablos, begins with a fall. As PRI began to collapse 
  in the late 90s, the Gulf Cartel recruited Mexican 
  special forces to serve as cartel enforcers, calling 
  them “Los Zetas” after the soldiers’ government 
  call signs (Z-37, Z-74, etc.) Lured by the promised 
  of riches—and eager to avoid los platos ratos for 
  war crimes during PRI’s rule—these elite opera-
  tives immediately put their Israeli and American 
  training to work terrorizing otros carteles.
  Devil May Care
  And how did a small collection of military 
  commandos intimidate entire drug cartels? 
  Simple, cabrón: Los Zetas escalated everything. 
  They filmed themselves cutting off the heads 
  of their enemies and posted the videos online, 
  kidnapped and tortured narcos’ family mem-
  bers, and struck hard and fast at any organized 
  opposition with military precision. 
  By 2007, Los Zetas had become the bogeymen 
  of the bogeymen, a group whose efficiency made 
  them loathed and feared by all, even their mas-
  ters within the Gulf Cartel. Cops that worked 
  with them began to be called “polizetas,” and 
  their influence only seemed to grow and grow. 
  On paper, they were an organization managed by 
  Los Golfos; in reality, they had already become a 
  cartel unto themselves, terrifying and ruthless.
  Diablos, Todos
  Los Zetas are flesh and blood, muchacho, just 
  like any other narcos. Just don’t ever forget that 
  their real power is their moral imagination. 
  They are already thinking of ways to hurt you 
  that you would never even imagine possible. 
  The narcos who work for the Sinaloa Cartel 
  aren’t exactly pacifists, but even the most hard-
  ened Sinaloa sicario would balk at the acts of 
  cruelty the Zetas regularly perform... 
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  27
  The Catholic Church
  You might expect the Catholic Church to har-
  bor an ironclad opposition to the activities of 
  los carteles. After all, even the least violent narcos 
  traffic in addictive substances and regularly 
  engage in extortion, blackmail, and kidnapping! 
  But los narcos hail from the most devout, 
  rural areas of Mexico, and they are careful to 
  offer money and protection to the padres and 
  parishes in their plazas. Sicarios have their 
  weapons blessed after mass; narco funerals are 
  elaborate—and expensive—affairs. In short, 
  the narcos are largely religious, and the Church 
  cannot help but value their patronage.
  Revolutionaries, One and All
   The Church’s position makes more sense in 
  the broader context of the Mexican political 
  experience. Many Mexicans believe that “the 
  people” have never truly been represented by 
  any Mexican government. Emperor Iturbide, 
  President Porfirio Díaz, President Calderón? 
  None of these elites have truly cared for the 
  rural poor or their poverty and problems!
  The heart of México, for many Mexicans, lies 
  in the intersection of the indigenous people and 
  the Catholic Church, in the rural campesinos 
  who toiled in the fields and joined Emiliano 
  Zapata during the Revolution. Who would you 
  trust, cabrón, if you were the Catholic Church? 
  Los narcos who hate the government or the 
  government that has always hated you?
  Santificado sea tu nombre
  Benito Juarez, an indigenous politician elected 
  President of Mexico in 1857, is famous for leading 
  “the second transformation,” a secular revision of 
  the Mexican public sphere. The first transforma-
  tion—the war for independence—freed Mexico 
  from direct European control, but it was Juarez 
  who attempted to limit the Catholic Church, a 
  major obstacle to progressive reforms. 
  Yet the Church was not so easily removed 
  from Mexican life. Reforms led by Juarez removed 
  a measure of its political power, even confiscating 
  Church lands...but the Church never truly conced-
  ed. When anti-clerical reformers tried to restrain 
  the church after the Mexican Revolution—a third 
  transformation itself—thousands of Catholics 
  went to war with the government. 
  The Cristero War, fueled by broad support for 
  the Church among the poor, killed nearly 100,000 
  Mexicans, including Álvaro Obregón, the Mexican 
  president-elect who was assassinated in 1929 just 
  before taking office. PRI rose to power in the wake 
  of La Cristiada, but they only brought peace by 
  making concessions to the Church.
  Los carteles understand such power. While 
  the politicians in Mexico City might despise the 
  Church’s reach and influence, narcos drape them-
  selves in crosses and pray to Santa Muerte. Los 
  jefes aren’t technocrats or lawyers; they come 
  from the stocks of rural poor who have always 
  felt the church offered more than the state. A 
  donde el corazón se inclina, el pie camina, cabrón. 
  Do you really expect the narcos who hide in the 
  mountains to think differently?
  
  28
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  28
  Durango, Mx
  The Free and Sovereign State of Durango, one of 
  the largest and least populated provinces of Mex-
  ico, is a northwestern state immediately south of 
  Chihuahua. Arid deserts to the east and rugged 
  mountains to the west frame a valley region 
  that contains most of the state’s cities, including 
  Durango City—Victoria de Durango!—the state’s 
  capital and home to over a million Mexicans.
  Free and Sovereign
  Durango (the state and the city) is known 
  for outlaws, both because of the Hollywood 
  Westerns shot outside the city in the 60s 
  and 70s...and because of the drug trade that’s 
  made use of the region’s value to smugglers 
  and narcos. Since its founding in the 1600s, 
  Durango’s distance from Mexico City—and 
  the federal government—has nurtured an 
  independent streak in the people of the area.
  Yet the state government—led by the elected 
  governor and legislature in Durango City—re-
  lies on the federal government for revenue and 
  personnel. Local industries include logging, 
  farming, mining, and manufacturing, but the 
  state is muy grande, güey, and the tax revenue 
  gets split up among many towns and munici-
  palities. Without federal support, local efforts to 
  govern the State—let alone deal with narcotraf-
  ficking—are unlikely to get adequate funding.
  Duranguenses o Huevones?
  People who are from Durango—the city—are 
  called duranguenses, but some folks who live in 
  nearby areas like Gomez Palacio or Lerdo have a 
  less flattering name for them: huevones (loafers). 
  In their view, the huevones who run things in 
  Durango are lazy, greedy, and corrupt! ¡Chingale!
  To be fair, the duranguenses have an outsized 
  influence over the surrounding areas, one that 
  ensures that Durango City comes first when 
  money is doled out by the state. The city is the 
  governmental center; everyone knows that the 
  people in charge there are going to take their 
  cut—no matter how much rural areas dislike it.  
  Catholicism in Durango
  While the Catholic Church’s hold on Mexico 
  as a whole has slipped in the last few decades, 
  most duranguenses in 2007 are still traditional 
  Catholics. Meat is rarely sold on Fridays during 
  Lent—some taquerías even close completely for 
  the day!—and Ash Wednesday is a community 
  event attended by most, if not all, parishioners.
  But times are changing. Not everyone goes to 
  mass every Sunday, and the younger generation 
  is starting to question the strict rules that older 
  generations took for granted. While 90% or more 
  of the population of Durango is Catholic, what it 
  means to be Catholic in Durango varies a bit.
  
  Chapter 2: La Guerra Antidrogas
  29
  Sights y Attractions
  Durango is a relatively homogenous urban area 
  punctuated by colonial architecture—modern 
  edificios right next to cathedrals and old plazas. 
  Bounded on all sides by freeways that run to 
  nearby cities, the metro area drops off to desolate 
  desert just outside of town. The weather is warm 
  and dry year-round, and the mountains to the 
  west are only obscured by smog and pollution. 
   Visitors often come to see such sights as:
   
  ĵ Local Universities: Durango City is home 
  to a number of prestigious universities, such 
  as Universidad Juarez del Estado de Durango. 
  Many residents of the state come to the city 
  to study, assuming they can afford to do so.
   
  ĵ The Revueltas Festival: Named after an 
  early 20th-century composer— Silvestre 
  Revueltas—the Festival celebrates art and 
  culture, but often defaults to pop concerts.
   
  ĵ The National Fair: Held every July just 
  outside the city, the Fair celebrates the city’s 
  founding and features agricultural and cul-
  tural events for more than two weeks.
   
  ĵ Hollywood Soundstages: Famous Westerns 
  were shot on soundstages near the city. Con-
  sistent weather and easy access to unique en-
  vironments—deserts, mountains, etc.—made 
  Durango City a movie hotspot for many years.
  Demographics y Race
  Durango is a modern city, but it isn’t really cos-
  mopolitan; nearly everyone in Durango is Mex-
  ican, a mix of Indigenous and Spanish ancestry. 
  Half of the city is “white,” but not in the way grin-
  gos think. Fairer mexicanos—likely wealthy and 
  powerful—trace their roots to Europeans, but 
  they are undeniably, culturally Mexican. Their 
  whiteness is defined in opposition to Indigenous 
  groups (and rural narcos), not ordinary mexicanos.
  The number of Asians, Europeans, and 
  American expatriates living in Durango is low.  
  There are immigrant groups—Ukrainians, Jap-
  anese, Mennonites—but these are small com-
  munities in the broader population. Durango 
  is filled to the brim with Mexicans who grew 
  up in the city (or in the surrounding regions), 
  and outsiders stick out like a sore thumb. 
  location movEs
  If you want to make Durango a more vivid 
  part of your game, write a few custom 
  moves tied to specific locations in the city. 
  Pick up the Deck of Locations for Cartel 
  for a prepared set of custom moves or check 
  out the chapters on creating custom moves 
  in Apocalypse World or Urban Shadows!
  
  30
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  30
  Chapter Three 
  Mecánicas y Jugadas
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  31
  ¿PLATa o PLoMo?
  Roleplaying is a conversation, cabrón. You sit down at a table—with 
  some dice, a few pencils, a few sheets of paper—and you start talking. 
  You might take turns, or interrupt each other, or all go silent for a 
  moment, but the conversation keeps moving, each player pushing it 
  forward by describing what the characters do and say. 
  All the rules in Cartel are about structuring the conversation, giving 
  you the tools to keep the story interesting and guiding your group to 
  unexpected places. I want you to be shocked and surprised at the turns 
  the story takes, to be scared sometimes when the dice are rolled and 
  the fate of your character hangs in the balance. To feel something.
  This chapter contains everything you need to understand those 
  rules and play Cartel with your group, including:
   
  ĵ The Basics: This chapter begins (page 32) with advice on how 
  Cartel works in play, including a review of the core dice mechanics 
  and a primer on structuring interesting scenes with other players. 
   
  ĵ Move Explanations: Moves are the core of Cartel, and this chapter 
  details each type—basic moves (page 36), stress moves (page 58), 
  and Heat moves (page 64)—including examples and explanations.
   
  ĵ Other Rules: In addition to moves, Cartel relies on four systems: 
  stress, harm, lifestyle, and keys. I cover each system at the end of the 
  chapter (page 68), explaining how each one functions in a session.
  This chapter is focused on the mechanical side of Cartel, but the 
  instructions for making characters are in Chapter 4 (page 77). Look 
  there if you’d like to learn more about making narcos of your own!
  
  32
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  32
  sCenes y sTories
  The best way to keep the conversation moving 
  is to frame scenes: propose a setting and situa-
  tion that puts important characters—PCs and 
  NPCs—in conflict about things that matter.  The 
  MC has the final call on scene structure and flow, 
  but everyone is responsible for ensuring that 
  scenes go somewhere meaningful in the fiction.
  You’re familiar with this technique; it’s been 
  used since the dawn of time to turn tales of 
  ordinary people into telenovelas y corridos. Skip 
  the boring mierda and get to the meat of what’s 
  happening or what’s about to happen next. 
  I start the second session of my Cartel game by 
  framing a scene that puts a few narcos together.
  “How about we start at a dinner party? Justin’s 
  Polizeta, Gustavo, has been trying to convince 
  Katherine’s La Rata to help him find the mole...”
  Justin nods, but Katherine proposes an alternative.
  “Santiago told me that he thought Marissa’s 
  Sicaria might be the traitor. Can I bring Gustavo 
  that information directly? Maybe at his place?”
  “That sounds great,” I say, “Let’s start there!”
  Scenes end when they aren’t interesting any 
  longer. The MC might call for a scene to be 
  over, or the players in the scene might realize 
  that the scene’s played out. It’s better to cut 
  scenes too short than let them run too long.
  Hard scene FraminG
  On occasion, the MC might want to jump 
  right to a tense or difficult situation. Maybe 
  the consequences of an earlier decision come 
  to bear —hard and fast—or perhaps the tone of 
  the story calls for a more aggressive scene. 
  We call this technique hard scene framing 
  because there’s less room for negotiation: the 
  scene starts and the PCs need to react as best 
  they can manage. Such a situation isn’t an 
  open invitation for conversation; it’s a demand 
  for answers and actions aimed at your heart.
  While Katherine’s Rata manipulates Gustavo, I 
  hard frame a scene for Marissa’s Sicaria, Mina:
  “Mina, you said last session that you wanted to 
  get your truck fixed up and running again, right?
  “Yes, there’s a garage by my house. I’d go there.”
  “Makes sense. As you hand your truck key to 
  the chamaco at the counter, you look out the 
  window to see another truck pull up. It’s filled 
  with guys you don’t recognize. Guys with guns.”
  “Fuck. Have they seen me?”
  “Maybe? A few of them jump down and start 
  heading toward the garage. What do you do?”
  Keep up as best you can, cabrón. The drug war 
  comes at you fast; think quickly and you just 
  might make it through to the end.
  
  33
  Fictional Positioning
  The setup of scenes is important; it plays into 
  the fictional position of the characters, the 
  place they occupy in the fiction you have creat-
  ed. Each twist, each reveal, each bit of dialogue 
  pours into this fictional world you’re building, 
  painting a picture of your characters and their 
  lives. We call this world we’re creating together 
  the fiction, the collection of everything that’s 
  happening—and has already happened—in our 
  story, our version of Durango and the drug war.
  Sticking to what you’ve contributed to the 
  fiction, even if it’s hard for your character, takes 
  practice. You’ve got to let the past define the 
  future, even if you didn’t know what you were 
  committing to when you defined the past.
  “I’m not going to go out there to deal with these 
  guys until I know what’s going on,” Marissa says. 
  “You’re going to wait here in the garage?” I ask.
  “Yup. These guys look like trouble.” 
  “Got it. You take up a position by the door, one 
  eye on the window, when you hear a weapon cock. 
  The kid at the counter—Juan, maybe?—has a large 
  revolver pointed at you. He’s freaked out. Scared.”
  “Whoops. Maybe I should have gone outside...”
  “Too late. He raises the gun. What do you do?”
  You can’t take it back. No matter what it costs 
  you, no matter how close you are to drowning 
  in the terrible river of your own bad decisions. 
  Once it’s done, it’s done. Remember that, güey.
  
  34
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  34
  Moves y Dice
  Framing scenes is the first step in an interest-
  ing conversation, but it’s the moves that con-
  nect your characters to the fiction in exciting 
  ways. Each move is a set of rules that resolve 
  conflicts, answer questions in the fiction, and 
  push the story forward. Moves are like the pro-
  gramming language of Cartel—“When you do 
  x, then do y”—shaping and defining the fiction 
  when your characters take decisive action.
  Triggering Moves
  Everyone can trigger the basic moves at the 
  start of the game, muchacho, but you also get 
  special moves attached to your playbook and 
  might add new moves to your characters as the 
  game goes on. In general, the basic moves cov-
  er situations that come up all the time while 
  other moves cover situations that are character 
  specific or more rare.
  Moves don’t just go off whenever you think 
  it might be interesting; they have to be trig-
  gered by something you say in the conversa-
  tion, usually an action your character takes. If 
  you want to trigger a move, you have to do 
  the thing that triggers it. You can always avoid 
  a move, but then you have to avoid taking that 
  action. Since every move is tied directly to the 
  fiction, we often say that moves are all gov-
  erned by the same idea: if you do it, you do it.
  When you commit to a course of action that 
  triggers a move, you usually end up rolling dice. 
  You don’t roll dice any other time. If a move 
  calls for dice, roll them and consult the move 
  for what happens next. Sometimes cabrones 
  snap up the dice, ready to roll and do a thing... 
  but the fiction always comes first. Say what you 
  do, then figure out the move that follows.
  Sarah’s Cocinera, Yolanda, is a sculptor whose art 
  workshop hides a drug lab. When her usual stock of 
  químicos came up short, she arranged to meet a new 
  “morally flexible” supplier to cover the gap.
  “The woman from ChemiMex—Lupe—is sharply 
  dressed, carrying clipboards, and wearing a hard 
  hat,” I say. “She gets right down to business: ‘I don’t 
  think we can ship such chemicals to this...facility.’”
  Sarah frowns. “Can I try to bribe her?”
  “Sure. What does that look like? Are you trying 
  to pressure her by letting her know this is for Don 
  Santiago? Or are you trying to propose a deal?”
  Sarah nods, and says, “Propose a deal. I say ‘I 
  can handle the chemicals. And I’ll make sure you 
  get a little extra money for the trouble. Okay?’” 
  Not all moves use dice. Some moves—such as 
  Me Lo Chingué (page 93) or Matador (page 97) 
  tell you and the MC what happens when they 
  trigger. No dice needed. No dice rolled.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  35
  Hits y Misses
  If a move asks you to roll dice, roll two six-sided 
  dice (2d6) and follow the outcomes of the move. 
  Traditionally, moves ask you to roll with a stat—
  like “roll with Grit” or “roll with Heat”—meaning 
  you add that stat to the total. A character with 
  Grit +3, for example, adds +3 to the total when 
  “rolling with Grit.” There are ways to get bonus-
  es, but you never add more than +4 to a roll.
  Weak Hits y Strong Hits
  Move outcomes are usually straightforward: 
  anything totalling 7 or more is a hit, anything 
  totalling 6 or less is a miss. Some moves give 
  additional options on a 10+ or give you more 
  description for what happens on a 7-9 or miss. 
  Just follow what the move says, güey.
   In general, a hit means you get what you 
  want. It’s not always pretty, but when you roll 
  7+, you get something. Not everything, cabrón. 
  Don’t be selfish! When you get just a 7-9—a 
  weak hit— there might be some serious costs 
  or complications, but your roll is not a failure.
  A 10+ is often described as a strong hit. If 
  a move tells you to do something on a 10+, 
  it usually means that you get some kind of 
  bonus or strong result, well beyond what you 
  get with a 7-9 result. Most of the time, you’re 
  hoping for a 10+ when you pick up the dice 
  and roll, especially if the costs associated with 
  a 7-9 aren’t costs you want to pay.
  Misses y Failure
  A miss isn’t a failure: it just means that the MC 
  tells you what happens. It’s likely that your char-
  acter won’t like what the MC says, since the MC’s 
  job is to push the fiction in interesting directions, 
  but—as a player—you will often find yourself 
  enjoying the way the MC ramps up the tension.
  Sarah decides that Yolanda is using her De Calidad 
  move—referencing her training as a cook—when 
  proposing the deal to Lupe. She’s got Grit +2, so it’s 
  more likely she hits than if she just rolled Face:
  “‘I’ve been using these chemicals for years, seño-
  ra. I haven’t had any problems,’” says Sarah. But 
  Sarah’s roll is a problem. Snake eyes. Her total of 
  four is far short of the seven she needs to hit.
  “You can tell Lupe is not fooled,” I say. “It’s 
  obvious you’re making meth in your workshop. She 
  says, ‘Years? Well, then you won’t mind training 
  some of our staff. We’ve got new investors that 
  want to see us expand into growing markets.’”
   Sarah groans. El Narco isn’t going to be happy 
  if she is training other cooks, but she doesn’t want 
  to end up with more debts to los carteles...
  The MC never rolls dice. Instead, they tell you 
  what’s happening and respond to your actions.  
  If you’re the MC, see Chapter 5 on page 116 
  for more on your role during a session of Cartel, 
  including making your own moves and resolving 
  conflicts between players during the game.
  
  36
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  36
  Basic Moves
  Every player character makes use of the basic 
  moves throughout each session. Your playbook 
  has other moves that might come into play (or 
  even alter the basic moves), but the majority of 
  the moves characters make during a session are 
  basic moves. These moves are the core narrative 
  triggers that bring the rules into play, pushing 
  forward the story and defining the fiction.
  In this section, I explain each of these basic 
  moves in greater detail, detail some of the op-
  tions the moves present to players, and provide 
  some helpful examples to show these basic 
  moves at work in a session of Cartel.
  Here’s a list of the basic moves, along with a 
  primary stat or method of rolling for each:
   
  ► Justify Your Behavior (Face)
   
  ► Propose a Deal (Face)
   
  ► Push Your Luck (Grit)
   
  ► Get the Truth (Hustle)
   
  ► Pressure Someone (Hustle)
   
  ► Turn to Violence (Savagery)
   
  ► Size Someone Up (Savagery)
   
  ► Get Fucking Shot (Questions)
   
  ► Help or Interfere (Wager Stress)
   
  ► Strain Your Finances (Questions)
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  37
  What Do You Do?
  The question “What do you do?” is at the cen-
  ter of Cartel. Your characters are in over their 
  heads, los lobos are at the door, and there’s lit-
  tle time for you to plot and plan. No one—not 
  your fellow narcos, not la policía, not even la 
  Santa Muerte—can help you decide your path.
  The basic moves are designed to give you 
  tools to act. Right now. Not later, not when 
  you have a better plan. ¡Ahorita, cabrón! 
  You might find it interesting to have long 
  conversations about where your characters go 
  for dinner or about the local architecture of 
  Durango. Those conversations can be pleasant, 
  but they can lull you into a false sense of secu-
  rity about your position in the world. They may 
  mislead you about the reality of your situation. 
  Cartel is not about that kind of innocent con-
  versation. The rules, these moves especially, push 
  you to take action, make decisions, and somehow 
  find your way through the pinches consequences. 
  You can have those precious moments of senti-
  mental wonder, muchacho, but know that they 
  merely fill the space between the moves that 
  matter, that they are fleeting and precious, that 
  they are lies that will not last. Efímeros. Fugaces.
  As you read through the basic moves, know 
  that each of them is an answer to that original 
  question—“What do you do?”—a way for you to 
  seize the moment, to take control, to survive. 
  So... what do you do? 
  Uncertainty y Moves
  If you find the moves limiting, you’re right. 
  They do limit you, focusing you on the mierda 
  that matters. You don’t need rules for tying 
  your shoes or making tamales; you need rules 
  for lying to your wife about the drugs you stole 
  or wrestling a gun away from a deadly sicaria.
  The moves are the locus of uncertainty, the 
  moments in the fiction when we need dice to 
  tell us what happens next. Do whatever you 
  want in Cartel—the MC will tell you what 
  happens—but the uncertainty of some situa-
  tions invokes the moves…and their inevitable 
  choices, complications, and consequences. 
  Marking stress
  Some of the basic moves involve marking 
  stress. Stress is explained in full on page 
  69, but it might be helpful to know a few 
  things before you read through the moves.
  Stress is a measure of your character’s men-
  tal state; the more stress you mark, the closer 
  your character is to losing control. You can clear 
  stress through basic moves, but you often need 
  to make stress moves (page 58) to actually 
  clear the track. Your stress track comes with 
  five boxes you can mark. Don’t waste them.
  
  38
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  38
  Justify your behavior triggers when you try to 
  explain your behavior...even if you’re telling the 
  truth. In a world of shifting alliances and dou-
  ble-dealing cabrones, any explanation you offer 
  is bound to be suspect. When people ask you 
  tough questions, you’ve got to be confident.
  When you get a hit while justifying your 
  behavior, NPCs broadly accept your answers 
  as true. On a 7-9, they ask you for details; you 
  have to mark stress to mislead them about the 
  situation. PCs always get to make up their own 
  minds about how they respond to your story.
  Some outrageous explanations are bold 
  gambits instead of justifications; if you’ve been 
  missing for days and tell your family that you 
  simply “lost track of time” when you return, 
  you are pushing your luck (page 42) instead 
  of justifying your behavior. They would have 
  no reason to believe your story, but they might 
  be so thankful for your recovery that they are 
  willing to overlook your odd actions.
  Options for Justify Your Behavior
  If you’re trying to justify your behavior to 
  another PC, they still get to choose what they 
  believe. Those who choose to accept your 
  reasoning aren’t just going along with what-
  ever you’re saying. They have to commit to 
  believing your story, even to the point of lying 
  to themselves if there is obvious evidence that 
  you’re not telling the whole truth. 
  On a 7-9, you can offer them an xp—a step 
  toward advancing their character—to accept your 
  reasoning or make them mark stress if they keep 
  their own counsel. One is a carrot; one is a stick. 
  On a 10+, you get both options. Either way your 
  target has to decide the outcome. You can read 
  more about xp and advancement on page 73. 
  Note that they can’t choose to mark the 
  stress if their stress track is completely full 
  (page 69)! If you want to put someone in a 
  tough spot, wait to justify your behavior until 
  they can’t afford to (or just can’t) mark stress.
   Justify Your Behavior 
  When you try to justify your behavior to someone, roll with Face. For NPCs: On a hit, they 
  accept your logic. On a 7-9, they have a few questions; mark a stress if you answer with anything 
  other than total honesty. For PCs: On a 10+, both. On a 7-9, choose 1:
   
  ĵ if they accept your reasoning, they mark xp 
   
  ĵ if they keep their own counsel, they mark stress
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  39
  Examples for Justify Your Behavior
  Sofía, La Esposa, moved back to Durango with 
  her federal husband, Gustavo, but coming home 
  reawakened her feelings for Santiago, an old flame. 
  Gustavo has been busy with work, and Sofía has 
  used the time to sneak out to Santiago’s palatial es-
  tate, leaving their teenage daughter at home alone.
  Sofía—played by Brendan—returns home one 
  morning to find her daughter, Ana, waiting. I say, 
  “Ana is sitting in the living room recliner. You see 
  that she hasn’t slept, dark circles haunt her eyes.”
  Brendan tries to play it cool. “I say, ‘Oh, mija. 
  What are you doing up? It’s so early!”
  I smile. “She says, ‘Where were you? I woke up 
  in the middle of the night and you were gone. And 
  Dad was gone too! What’s happening?’”
  Brendan thinks for a second. “I’m going to 
  justify my behavior: ‘I’m sorry, honey. Your 
  Tía Luna needed me, and I had to go over to her 
  place. She’s going through a really bad breakup.’”
  He rolls with Face +2 and hits a 9. Brendan 
  smiles and says, “Whew. She believes me?”
  I nod. “Sure, she loves Tía Luna. She does get 
  to ask a few questions, though. Ana sighs and says 
  ‘Oh, okay. Is Tía Luna okay? What happened?’”
  “She’ll be fine, mija. She just always picks jerks.”
  “Ana nods and heads to bed, but you’ve got to 
  mark a stress, right? Not the complete truth!”
  Brendan smiles and marks the stress. ”At least 
  she hasn’t already told her father I was missing!”
  Katherine’s Rata, Luna, is an undercover feder-
  al whose cover is so deep that only one or two 
  people in the anti-cartel task force know she’s a 
  cop. While meeting with her handler, Delgado, 
  in a dive bar, she spots Beto, a Halcón played by 
  Derrick, drinking at the bar with his pandilla. 
  “They haven’t seen you yet,” I say, “but it’s only 
  a matter of time before one of the four of them 
  catches you with Delgado. What do you do?”
  “Can I get out of here without being seen?” 
  asks Katherine. “Maybe I’ll just sneak away.”
  “It’s tough. They are between you and the door, 
  and you’re not sure what kind of attention you’ll 
  attract if you try to go out the back. Definitely 
  pushing your luck either way.”
  Luna’s Grit is +1: not bad, but not great. 
  “Okay, I’ll try to justify my behavior instead. I 
  get up from the bar and walk straight toward the 
  pandilla. ‘Hey, cabrones!’ I say as soon as they see 
  me. ‘I’ve been looking for you pendejos.’”
  Derrick laughs. They were looking for her! 
  Katherine rolls with Face +2 and gets a 12. ¡Órale!
  “Looks like you have to mark stress if you want 
  to keep your own counsel, Beto; Luna is quite 
  convincing. But if you believe her, you get an xp.”
  “I’ll take the xp!” Derrick says. “I’ve only got a 
  box or two of stress clear, and I totally buy that 
  she was looking for me. I’m important!”
  
  40
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  40
  Propose a deal lets you put an offer on the table 
  that carries weight with your target. Most of the 
  time, you name your price in dollars, but other 
  things—drugs, guns, favors—might also trigger 
  the move, provided that what you’re offering is 
  something your target actually wants. You can’t 
  offer a sicaria fifty pesos to kill el narco!
  Propose a deal stands in contrast to pressure 
  someone (page 46). The former move is todo 
  business and opportunity—“I’ll give you $10,000 
  to introduce me to Doña Eleña”; the latter move 
  is personal or coercive—“Come on, chica! Take 
  me to meet la jefe! You fucking owe me!” 
  Note that you can propose a deal as a buyer 
  or seller; you can put a price on the thing you’re 
  trying to sell or put down cash for the thing you 
  want to buy. Either way, if the target of your offer 
  turns you down—¡pendejo!—they mark stress or 
  weasel their way out. If you get a hit, your offer 
  puts pressure on them to say yes and take the 
  deal, and the move imposes costs if they decline.
  Options for Proposing a Deal
  When someone imposes a condition on your offer, 
  it means they have an opportunity to modify the 
  deal with a counterproposal. They can’t throw 
  the whole deal out—they’d have to mark a stress 
  and propose their own deal—but they can ask you 
  to do something for them as part of the arrange-
  ment. You get a chance to say yes or no before 
  the deal is done, but what you want is in reach.
  If they choose to adjust the price, you’re in 
  luck, güey. Your target asks for a more favorable 
  deal (+/-30%), but they say yes. They can’t alter 
  it too much if they select this option, but you 
  can’t get tacaño and withdraw the offer either.
  Anyone who points you at an interested party 
  has to know in advance that the person they 
  name is actually interested in what you’re of-
  fering. If they send you on a wild-goose chase 
  by pretending they know a buyer or seller, 
  they have to mark stress to shut the deal down 
  before they lie to you about their contact.
   Propose a Deal 
  When you propose a deal to get what you want, roll with Face. On a hit, they choose: take 
  the deal or mark stress. On a 7-9, they can instead choose one:
   
  ĵ impose a condition on your offer
   
  ĵ adjust the price (+/-30%) and accept
   
  ĵ point you at an interested party
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  41
  Examples for Propose a Deal
  Yolanda, La Cocinera, is desperate to secure 
  the missing chemicals she needs for her lab and 
  reaches out to the only person she thinks can trust 
  with cartel business: El Halcón, Beto. She calls 
  him on her burner phone:
  “Beto, I need some help getting some chemi-
  cals,” says Sarah, Yolanda’s player. “I thought I 
  had another supplier, but things fell through.”
  Beto’s player, Derrick, smirks. Finally, someone 
  thinks he’s useful! He decides to play coy.
  “¡Hola, chica! I don’t know if I can help. I’m 
  pretty busy. Why don’t you ask Santiago for the 
  chemicals? The drugs are his anyway, right?”
  I look at Sarah. “Is that an option?”
  “You were fucking there when he told me to 
  solve these problems on my own, Beto. I can’t give 
  him an excuse to be angry with me. Not now.”
  “Okay, okay,” says Derrick. “I say, ‘If I help you, 
  maybe you can make some extra meth for me 
  and my crew?’ I think that counts as proposing a 
  deal...” Sarah and I both nod. Seems right to us.
  Derrick hits an 8 with his roll. Sarah can 
  choose an option instead of taking the deal. She 
  looks at the list for a bit, then says, “I think I’ll 
  impose a condition. I say, ‘Fine. But you tell no 
  one about this. No one. Not even Mina.”
  Derrick doesn’t hesitate. “Deal. What do you 
  need us to do, chica? We’re ready to help!”
  Santiago, El Narco, is tired of the Zetas who have 
  been challenging him for control of the plaza. He 
  manages to capture a Zeta leader, Guillermo, but 
  Santiago knows that killing Guillermo isn’t going 
  to get him very far. Santiago needs a deal.
  “I tell him that he needs to tell his people to 
  knock off their shit and leave me alone,” says Jah-
  mal, Santiago’s player. “I don’t want to kill him.”
  “That sounds like pressuring someone,” I say. 
  “You’re threatening him with violence, right?”
  “Uh... I think I’d rather propose a deal. I offer 
  him cash to take his people and leave Durango.”
  “Yeah, that could work,” I say. “You’ll have 
  to strain your finances, but your extravagant 
  lifestyle justifies that kind of cash.”
  Jahmal rolls with Face, scoring a total of 11. 
  Guillermo needs to take the deal or mark a stress. I 
  say, “He looks up to you and sighs. ‘Fine. There’s 
  no need for violence here, right? Get us the money 
  and you can keep your pinche plaza. We’re done.’”
  
  42
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  42
  Push your luck is the catchall move for any 
  action that doesn’t fit one of the other moves. If 
  you’re striding into enemy territory, hoping to 
  rescue a friend before the Zetas spot you, then 
  you’re pushing your luck. But you’re also pushing 
  your luck if you’re racing home to clean up a 
  meth lab that exploded in your cochera before 
  your husband gets home from work. ¡Ándale!
  When you roll a hit while pushing your luck, 
  you manage to see the situation through: you 
  dodge the bullets, navigate rush hour traffic, 
  and avoid desastre. The MC isn’t obligated to 
  make the entire problem go away—the Zetas 
  might still be after you, you may have a trunk 
  full of dangerous chemicals—but you avoid the 
  negative outcomes that were set as the stakes 
  for the move when you rolled.
  But on a 7-9, you’ve got some tough choices 
  to make—the MC will always provide a way 
  forward, but you might not like the costs or 
  consequences. Dar el alón y comerse la pechuga, 
  muchacho. You should have expected trouble 
  when you got yourself into this mess.
  Options for Push Your Luck
  Unlike most of the other basic moves, you 
  might try to push your luck and end up in a 
  situation where the costs are greater than you 
  actually want to pay. On a weak hit, the MC 
  must give you an out—a way you can avoid 
  the consequences by acting quickly, making an 
  ugly choice, or toughing it out—but you aren’t 
  obligated to take what’s on offer, cabrón.
  You can always negotiate a little with the 
  MC, especially when everyone at the table feels 
  that the cost isn’t in line with the fiction. But 
  that’s not the same as turning the MC down. If 
  the MC offers you a fair choice—“You’ll take a 
  bullet while you run, but you will get away”—
  and you decline to accept…that’s on you. Get 
  ready for the storm that follows your choice.
  But if you do it, if you accept the MC’s offer 
  and suffer through, then it’s done. You pay 
  the cost and get the benefit, both.  The MC 
  can’t use the cost you paid as an excuse to un-
  dermine your roll, as if you missed. You took 
  the deal, and you get what you wanted.
   Push Your Luck 
  When you push your luck, roll with Grit. On a 10+, fortune favors the bold. On a 7-9, things 
  don’t work out like you hoped; the MC will tell you how you can turn things around if you 
  act quickly, make an ugly choice, or tough it out.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  43
  Examples for Push Your Luck
  Gustavo, El Polizeta, rolls into the daily briefing 
  a bit late, his eyes still bloodshot from last night’s 
  stakeout. As he enters, he sees that the mole inside 
  the cartel has delivered some crucial information: 
  the location of El Narco’s daughter, Mina—the 
  task force’s primary target in the investigation.
  “You see Delgado up at the front of the room, 
  his pointer fixed on a slide with one of the few 
  pictures the federales have of Mina. He says, 
  ‘We’re close, folks. We’re going to get her, and she’s 
  going to take us to el narco.’ What do you do?”
  Justin, Gustavo’s player, panics a bit. “Uh... I 
  get up, I think, and I leave the room.”
  “You just walk out a few minutes after arriving?”
  “Wait. No, that would be weird. I wait a few 
  minutes, then excuse myself. I need to call Mina. I 
  still have that other SIM, right? I swap it out.”
  “At your desk? That would be pretty suspicious.”
  “No, bathroom. Somewhere no one is watching.” 
  “Sounds like pushing your luck.” Justin nods 
  and rolls with Grit +1, hitting a 7. Just barely a hit!
  “Your hands are shaking; you swap in the cartel 
  SIM, but you fumble the other one and drop it. You 
  hear it skid across the floor... just as the bathroom 
  door opens. It’s Delgado. You’ll have to abandon the 
  other SIM for now to avoid suspicion here.”
  “Fuck. I can’t do that. I need that SIM,” says Jus-
  tin. “I’ll start looking for it and live with whatever 
  Delgado thinks of me...”
  Yolanda, La Cocinera, has grown suspicious of 
  Santiago. When his enforcers show up at her place, 
  she knows she’s not going anywhere with them...
  “How far away is the building next door? 
  Could I jump there from the roof of my building?” 
  “Yeah, they’re built close together,” I say. “You 
  gonna jump? Definitely pushing your luck.”
  Sarah nods and picks up the dice, rolling a 9.
  I say, “You run across the roof and jump to the 
  balcony on the next building. Just before you jump, 
  you realize that it’s a lot further than you thought. 
  You’re going to end up marking stress when you 
  crash-land on the other side. That cool?”
  Sarah nods. She’s gotta get out of here!
  ¡no Te rinDas!
  Push your luck only triggers when your char-
  acter is under serious pressure and no other 
  move is a better fit. That said, leaping off a 
  three-story building to tackle someone on 
  the ground below isn’t turning to violence; 
  you are throwing yourself off a ledge in the 
  hope that your good luck carries the day!  
  Use push your luck whenever the outcome 
  is more reliant on the whims of fate and luck 
  than your character’s skills or strategy.
  
  44
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  44
  Get the truth is the only way you’re going to 
  make sense of this fucking mess, cabrón. You 
  can’t make saints out of sinners with a roll, but 
  you can demand answers from someone who is 
  susceptible to your words. They might be moved 
  because you have a gun or because they are 
  familia, but either way you’ve got to take some 
  action in the fiction that goes beyond small talk 
  to the point that they must answer you.
  Of course, getting the truth out of someone 
  doesn’t ever guarantee you the full truth. Instead, 
  it structures the conversation you have with your 
  target, telling the opposition what avenues are 
  closed off if they try to lie to you or mislead you 
  with false impressions and dead ends.  
  Any time you get a hit while rolling get the 
  truth, you get to clear a stress. Even if you don’t 
  actually get your target to come clean about 
  whatever you’re investigating, the fact that 
  you’ve gotten them to be somewhat honest for 
  a moment keeps you from going over the edge.
  Options for Get the Truth
  The options you choose for get the truth do 
  more than just influence how your target 
  immediately responds; your choices echo 
  throughout the conversation, structuring not 
  only what the target can say, but also what 
  they can avoid saying. Consider any options 
  you choose in effect until the topic changes.
  They can’t mislead you with the truth means 
  your target can’t omit any important informa-
  tion or give you a misleading picture based on 
  what really happened. They’ve got to tell you 
  the whole truth if they tell you any truth at all.
  They can’t confuse you with falsehoods means 
  that your target can’t tell you any lies. Truth 
  only, even if it’s not the whole truth. Simple.
  They can’t stonewall you with silence means 
  that your target can’t avoid the topic or change 
  the subject. They have to say something!
  Mix and match these options when you roll 
  a 10+. They work well together!
   Get the Truth 
  When you try to get the truth out of someone, roll with Hustle. On a hit, clear one stress. 
  On a 10+, pick 2. On a 7-9, pick 1.
   
  ĵ they can’t mislead you with the truth
   
  ĵ they can’t confuse you with falsehoods
   
  ĵ they can’t stonewall you with silence
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  45
  Examples for Get the Truth
  After catching her husband, Gustavo, with the 
  dead body of a fellow federal, Sofía—La Esposa— 
  needs answers. She confronts him in their kitchen, 
  demanding Gustavo tell her what’s going on:
  “What is happening, Gustavo? Why did I come 
  home to find Delgado’s body in my living room?”
  I think she’s clearly trying to get the truth out 
  of him. I point at the dice. Brendan, Sofía’s player 
  rolls a 12. Looks like she’s getting some answers.
  “I pick... can’t confuse me with falsehoods 
  and can’t stonewall me with silence. No lies. 
  And you have to say something meaningful!”
  Justin, Gustavo’s player, laughs and thinks for a 
  minute. “Hold on, just gotta think of what I’m go-
  ing to say here. Okay, I say, ‘This mierda is compli-
  cated, Sofía. You don’t know what it’s like. It’s not 
  clear who we can trust, who has our best interest at 
  heart. Delgado worked for the other side!’”
  Brendan looks at me, as if to ask me to tell 
  Justin he’s got to be more truthful. I say, “No, that 
  checks out. Delgado did work for ‘the other side.’ 
  So far, Gustavo hasn’t lied or stonewalled you. He 
  just said a true thing that might mislead you!”
  Brendan laughs. “Okay, I say, ‘Which side is that, 
  Gustavo? Did you kill him? How can I trust you?”
  Justin leans in close. “‘Everything that I’ve done 
  is for this family, for us, mi amor. Trust me.’”
  “That sounds like you’re justifying your be-
  havior, Gustavo!” I say. “Roll with Face!”
  Her cover nearly blown and her handler dead, La 
  Rata—Luna—is in some serious trouble. She turns 
  to her ex-boyfriend, a CIA agent named Erick who 
  she thinks might be able to get her away from the 
  cartel before Santiago figures out her betrayal.
  “I say ‘I don’t have time for games, Erick. I need 
  to know if you can help me or not. Now.’ I want to 
  get the truth out of him.” Katherine, Luna’s play-
  er, picks up the dice and rolls. Only a 7. Mierda.
  “What do you pick from the list?” I ask.
  “I’ll take can’t mislead me with the truth.”
  “Cool. Erick leans back in his chair, and lets 
  out a long sigh. He says, ‘Fuck it. I can’t lie to you. 
  My mission here doesn’t have shit to do with you. 
  And until I finish my business, there’s nothing I 
  can do to help you. You’re on your own. Sorry.’”
  i’m JusT sAying...
  Like many moves in Cartel, get the truth 
  triggers nicely over text message or in casual 
  conversation. Make sure the MC and the 
  other players know you’re triggering the 
  move—“I want to know where you hid the 
  body, güey”—and not just making idle con-
  versation—“Cómo está mi tía, primo?”
  
  46
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  46
  Pressure someone triggers when you try to get 
  someone to do something without making an 
  explicit offer of recompense. If you are rely-
  ing on a previous relationship, the threat of 
  violence, or merely pleading with someone to 
  help you out of the goodness of their heart, 
  you are pressuring someone to go along with 
  you. In contrast to propose a deal (page 40), 
  pressuring someone means you are trying to get 
  them to do what you want without giving up 
  anything substantial in return.
  In order to pressure someone, you have to give 
  them a reason to listen to you and ask for things 
  they can give you. The move only triggers if you 
  establish some influence over the target and ask 
  for something reasonable—a stranger is unlikely 
  to betray her lover just because you asked nicely. 
  In fact, if you don’t have a strong relationship 
  with someone or an immediate consequence 
  you can bring to bear, you’re far more likely 
  to get your way by proposing a deal instead of  
  pressuring someone into doing what you want. 
  You can catch more flies with miel, muchacho.
  Options for Pressure Someone
  If your target wants to avoid your pressure, 
  they have to mark stress to put off your 
  request. NPCs and PCs can both mark stress 
  to ignore your demands, provided they have 
  room on their stress track to mark it. Either 
  way, it’s clear to you they aren’t going to go 
  along with you right now.
  Anyone who concedes to your pressure agrees 
  to do whatever you’ve asked them to do, but the 
  situation is fluid. If things change enough, their 
  mind can change, too. It doesn’t hurt to keep an 
  eye on them, güey, just to make sure they follow 
  through on their word. Trust no one.
  On a 7-9, you choose what sensitive infor-
  mation you let slip to your target; the MC can 
  demand you give up more if you try to be coy. 
  In general, this is your moment to hint at your  
  mysteries and lies. If you want to bring up a 
  part of your character that hasn’t gotten much 
  spotlight, letting something slip when you 
  pressure someone is a great way to get other 
  characters to focus on your secrets. 
   Pressure Someone 
  When you pressure someone to go along with you, roll with Hustle. On a hit, they see your 
  point; they have to follow your lead (for now) or mark stress. On a 7-9, you let something 
  important slip as you bring your pressure to bear.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  47
  Examples for Pressure Someone
  Beto, El Halcón, earned himself a kilo of meth for 
  helping Yolanda. His pandilla is connected, so he 
  knows a buyer, Osita. He decides to meet her at a 
  local taquería to make the deal.
  I say, “Osita pulls in on a Harley wearing her 
  usual biker’s outfit, complete with leather jacket 
  and a calavera bandana. What do you do?”
  ‘I don’t trust her at all, so I want to make sure 
  Azul is sitting at a different table with a gun. 
  When Osita gets close, I’m going to nod over to 
  him so that she’s sees we’re not fucking around.”
  “Okay, cool. What are you hoping for? You just 
  want her to be cool or do you want something?”
  “If she’s setting me up, she will probably have 
  people watching this place. I want us to go for a 
  walk so it’s obvious if anyone is following us.”
  “Got it. Do you say that when you nod at Azul 
  with the gun?” Derrick nods. “Sounds like pressur-
  ing someone to me, with the threat of violence.”
  Derrick rolls and hits an 8. He’s put on the pres-
  sure, but he’s got to let something slip. Derrick thinks 
  for a minute, then says, “I think I let it slip that I’m 
  on my own here, no backup from the cartel.”
  “What does that look like?”
  “I say, ‘I’m not estúpido, chica. Eyes everywhere. 
  Let’s go for a walk. I don’t need trouble with this.”
  I nod. “She says, ‘Okay, cabrón. This better not be 
  a waste of my time.’ She follows your lead and starts 
  to walk away from the taquería onto the street...”
  Santiago, El Narco, is missing a cook. He sent a 
  crew to pick Yolanda up from her workshop, but she 
  vanished from the scene. Santiago texts his most 
  trusted sicaria to find her—his daughter, Mina:
  “Santiago’s texts are short,” Jahmal says, “Some-
  thing like ‘Find Yolanda. Zetas looking for her, but 
  she ran off. Get back to me when it’s done.’”
  I turn to Marissa, Mina’s player: “Juan Carlos 
  told you that your father was responsible for your 
  abuelita’s death. Is that on your mind here?”
  “Uh, yeah. I text back.” Marissa mimes texting 
  while she says, “People always ‘run off,’ Dad? Like  
  Abuelita Elena ‘ran off’ to Los Estados Unidos?”
  Jahmal groans. I ask, “Are you trying to get the 
  truth out of Santiago?” Marissa nods and rolls. 
  Her total is only a 5, though. Not enough for a hit.
  I turn to Jahmal. “Mina’s attempt at inciting a 
  response from you doesn’t work. If you’d like, you 
  can pressure her as if you rolled a 10+.” 
  “I’ll take it!” he says. “I’d like to pressure her 
  to do her job and find Yolanda right away.”
  “Cool. What does that look like?”
  “I text back, ‘We can talk later. Do your job.’”
  I look back at Marissa: “You’ve got to go along 
  with him or mark a stress. What do you choose?”
  “I mark the stress. If my pinche father wants to 
  find Yolanda, he can find her himself! I text back, 
  ‘Find her yourself. I’m fucking done...’”
  
  48
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  48
  Size someone up allows you to get information 
  about other characters—PCs and NPCs—by 
  observing them for a short time. In order to 
  trigger the move, you have to narrate how 
  you watch or observe your target, including 
  what kinds of things you’re looking for in their 
  behavior, demeanor, or appearance.
  Note that you get to ask the player of the 
  character your questions, gathering data that 
  your character takes in from the environment, 
  even señales that might be unspoken or subtle. 
  You can ask the question in character as well, 
  but the player has to respond truthfully to the 
  question, even if you’re sizing up an NPC and 
  the player answering is the MC.
  When you hit with a 10+, you get to ask 
  three questions; a 7-9 gets you only one ques-
  tion. Either way, you take a +1 to all your rolls 
  that rely on the information you’ve obtained.
  Options for Size Someone Up
  Asking someone about their weaknesses or 
  strengths can point to physical assets—“I’m 
  wearing a gun, and I’ve got a guy in the next 
  building”—or emotional pressure points. The 
  player should answer the question as you 
  intend it, so let them know what you’re most 
  interested in learning from what you’ve asked.
  Players should strive to be consistent in their 
  answers to questions about dominance, submis-
  sion, or intent. If a player says, “I would totally 
  cower if you got out a gun,” then they are agree-
  ing to cower when pistolas hit the table. 
  You can ask the same question off the list 
  more than once by changing the variables. You 
  might ask, “How can I get you to leave me alone?” 
  and then follow it up with “How can I get you to 
  kill mi padre?” Those are distinct questions, even 
  though both have the same root in the move.
   Size Someone Up 
  When you size someone up, roll with Savagery. On a hit, ask their player questions. When 
  you act on the answers, take +1. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 1.
   
  ĵ what are your current weaknesses / strengths?
   
  ĵ how can I show you dominance / submission?
   
  ĵ what do you intend to do next?
   
  ĵ what do you wish I’d do right now?
   
  ĵ how could I get you to _________?
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  49
  Examples for Size Someone Up
  La Sicaria, Mina, just wanted to get her truck fixed. 
  When strange hombres with guns rolled up on the 
  garage, Mina took cover...only to find herself with 
  a freaked out kid leveling a large revolver at her.
  “The kid is sweating bullets, Mina,” I say. “You’re 
  not sure if he knows about the guys outside, but his 
  finger is on the trigger. What do you do?”
  “I don’t want to kill him,” Marissa says. “I 
  guess I’ll size him up. I’m looking him over for 
  some indication he’s working with these guys, 
  maybe like some tattoos?” I nod. She gets an 11 on 
  her roll, earning three questions.
  “What does the kid wish I’d do right now?” 
  “He’s scared. He wants you to leave, especially 
  if these narcos are looking for you.”
  “How can I get him to give me the gun?”
  “He’s never shot it before. You might be able 
  to close the distance and take the gun before he 
  reacts.”
  “Perfect. What does he intend to 
  do next?”
  “Shoot you? Run? He’s totally 
  lost right now.”
  “Okay, I walk calmly toward 
  him and take the gun from his 
  hand.”
  “Great. Sounds like pushing 
  your luck, but you’ve got a +1 to 
  the roll!”
  El Narco, Santiago, is ready to size up Luna as 
  soon as she walks into his house. There’s a mole 
  somewhere in the cartel, and Santiago has ques-
  tions. I tell him to roll with Savagery. He hits an 
  8: he only gets to ask Luna one question. Jahmal 
  says, “I’ll go with ‘How can I show you domi-
  nance?’”
  Katherine, Luna’s player, says, “I’m already 
  afraid of you! But if you wanted to really terrify 
  me, I think you would just need to get me alone.”
   Jahmal nods. He turns back to me: “Okay, 
  I want to send all my staff and enforcers out of 
  here. I say, ‘Leave us. Luna and I have business to 
  discuss in private. Get out, cabrones.”
  “Everyone clears out. One of the sicarios, 
  Ramón, shuts the door to your study, and there’s 
  a long moment of silence as the two of you look 
  at each other.”
  “‘I keep hearing things, güey. I keep hearing that 
  there’s a mole. Is it you?’”
  I jump in. “That sounds like you’re trying 
  to get the truth out of Luna. Roll with 
  Hustle, and don’t forget your +1 for 
  showing her dominance!”
  
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  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  50
  Sooner or later, cabrón, there is no surer solution 
  than a bullet: either for a problem you have or for 
  the problem you’ve become. And when you—or 
  those who hunt you—pull the trigger, turn to 
  violence covers the costs and consequences.
  Of course, you don’t have to be using a gun 
  to turn to violence. A fist. A bat. A crowbar. 
  A vehicle. Anything can be a weapon if you 
  point it in the right direction with the intent 
  to harm the person on the receiving end. Many 
  situations in Cartel may require you to defend 
  yourself with less than optimal tools.
  Trading harm as established means that both 
  parties do harm to each other as makes sense in 
  the fiction. If you’re fighting with nothing but 
  your empty fists, you do a lot less damage than 
  if you are wielding a sharp cuchillo. Just remem-
  ber that playing with guns means that getting 
  fucking shot (page 52) is on the table, by far 
  the quickest way for you to slip this mortal coil.
  Options for Turn to Violence
  Inflicting terrible harm means your attack is truly 
  deadly, even if you’re not using a lethal weapon. 
  If you’re a sicario who beats people to death with 
  a metal baseball bat, this option is for you.  Inflict-
  ing terrible harm means cabrones stay dead. 
  Suffering little harm works similarly; you avoid 
  the harm you would usually receive. Picking this 
  option means you usually can’t get fucking shot, 
  but it doesn’t always mean you get away cleanly. 
  See page 70 for more on suffering harm.
  Resist marking stress allows you to avoid the 
  normal stress that comes with inflicting harm on 
  another character. Read more about this option 
  in the section on stress and harm on page 70.
  Avoiding collateral damage keeps the chaos to a 
  minimum: your bullets strike your target and not 
  much else. Not all collateral damage is physical; 
  the MC might decide your violence inflicts emo-
  tional harm or exposes your true nature to others.
   Turn to Violence 
  When you turn to violence, roll with Savagery. On a hit, mark stress and trade harm as 
  established. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2.
   
  ĵ you inflict terrible harm
   
  ĵ you suffer little harm
   
  ĵ you resist marking stress
   
  ĵ you avoid collateral damage
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  51
  Examples for Turn to Violence
  On the run, Yolanda heads to Luna’s apartment, 
  hoping that Luna can hide her from El Narco:
  “The hallway of the apartment complex is 
  dimly lit,” I say, “but you see two of Santiago’s en-
  forcers outside Luna’s door: looks like you’re not 
  the only one interested in her. What do you do?”
  “Is there a janitor’s closet? I want to use my 
  playbook move, Ciencia, Cabrón, to make a smoke 
  bomb.” I nod, and Sarah, Yolanda’s player, hits a 7. 
  “Awesome! You mix a few chemicals you find in 
  a water bottle. It’s messy, so mark a stress.”
  “Okay. The move lets me create an opportunity. 
  I throw the bottle down the hall at the enforcers and 
  charge them! Is there a weapon in the closet?”
  “Nothing like a gun, but there is a metal pipe.”
  “Cool,” Sarah says, “I’ll turn to violence with 
  that.” She rolls with Savagery +1, hitting an 11! 
  I say, “The smoke gives you plenty of cover, 
  spilling up out of the bottle into the air. What three 
  options do you choose for turn to violence?”
  “Inflict terrible harm, suffer little harm, and 
  avoid collateral damage. I don’t want them to 
  shoot someone through a door or something.”
  “You emerge from the smoke already swinging 
  the pipe. You hit the first guy in the head, spray-
  ing blood all over the wall. The second guy gets 
  his gun up, but he’s not sure where you are in the 
  smoke; you hit him in the arm before he gets off a 
  shot. He drops the gun, and you smash him in the 
  face with the pipe. He’s down too. Mark a stress!”
  Gustavo, El Polizeta, is trying to catch Pepe, a 
  narco who escaped his custody...after Pepe heard 
  Gustavo betraying the federales to El Narco:
  “Pepe is running across the parking lot for the 
  nearby neighborhood. What do you do?”
  Justin, Gustavo’s player, says, “I shoot him.” 
  Justin rolls and gets a 7. Barely enough. “I’ll 
  take inflict terrible harm and resist marking 
  stress. I only have one stress box open!”
  I nod and say, “Your first bullet catches him in 
  the back and he stumbles, falling to his knees. Your 
  second shot hits him in the head. You don’t suffer 
  any harm—he wasn’t shooting back—but you see 
  that you attracted an audience. There are a few 
  kids who were riding bikes nearby that stopped at 
  the sound of gunfire. They definitely saw you...”
  you shoT Me!
  Turning to violence is one of the main ways 
  that PCs get fucking shot (page 52). Many 
  of the options for this move directly address 
  harm—covered in depth on page 70—but 
  they apply to PCs and NPCs equally. If you 
  shoot at a PC and inflict terrible harm, your 
  target is almost certainly getting fucking 
  shot; if someone is shooting back and you 
  suffer little harm, you avoid their bullets.
  
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  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
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  Sticks and stones might break your bones, but 
  bullets end narcos. Anytime someone—PC or 
  NPC—actually shoots you, make this move. 
  But don’t roll with a stat. Instead, you get bo-
  nuses to this roll if the shooter is using a small 
  weapon or you have cover. You can also get a +1 
  if the shooter is an amateur or isn’t trying to kill 
  you. These bonuses are cumulative, so you can 
  get a +3 if some pinche halcón takes a shot at you 
  with a handgun while you’re wearing a vest. 
  A miss here means you’re finished, though. 
  When the guns come out and bullets start flying, 
  know that one wrong choice could mean that 
  you’ve come to the end of your story, no matter 
  what business you still have left to finish.
  Options for Get Fucking Shot
  You’ll die without immediate aid means that 
  you’ve got to stop the bleeding within the next 
  scene or two. There’s no hard and fast rule for 
  how long you’ve got, but...it’s not long.
  The wound will leave an impressive, ugly scar 
  means that your character is forever changed 
  by this injury. You might lose a hand or an arm 
  or you might struggle with physical activity you 
  once considered easy. Bullets leave their mark. 
  -1 ongoing until you get medical attention means 
  you take a -1 to all moves regardless of type, 
  until you get real medical attention from some-
  one who actually knows how to treat gunshot 
  wounds. Until then, you’re hurting, cabrón.
   Get Fucking Shot 
  When you get fucking shot, roll. Add +1 for each:
   
  ĵ it’s a handgun or other small weapon.
   
  ĵ the shooter is an amateur or isn’t trying to kill you.
   
  ĵ you have cover, body armor, or a bodyguard.
  On a hit, you’ll live. On 10+, it’s a minor but heroic wound. On a 7-9, you choose one and 
  the shooter chooses one:
   
  ĵ it’s bloody; you’ll die without immediate aid.
   
  ĵ it’s messy; the wound will leave an impressive, ugly scar.
   
  ĵ it’s painful; -1 ongoing until you get medical attention.
  On a miss, you’re pretty much finished, pendejo. The MC will tell you when you go and how 
  it happens.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
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  Example for Get Fucking Shot
  After leaving Santiago’s estate, Luna—La Rata—
  realizes she’s being followed by one of his sicarios, 
  Gabriel. Katherine, Luna’s player, decides she’s got 
  to get away before Gabriel kills her:
  “Can I try to get on the freeway and lose him 
  there?” she says. “He’s not that bright.”
  “Go for it! Maybe you can push your luck and 
  ditch him before Gabriel realizes you’re gone.”
  Katherine rolls and gets a 4. No luck. She’s not 
  getting away from this sicario so easily.
  “He keeps pace with you. Within a few minutes, 
  he’s not even pretending to keep his distance.”
  “Uh... I think I’ll try to call Mina.”
  “Hold on. As you start looking for your phone, 
  Gabriel puts on the gas and slams into the back of 
  your car. You lose control as the car starts spinning...
  and you slam into a post. You live! Take two stress.”
  Katherine marks down two stress. She’s got a 
  few boxes left open, but things look grim. 
  “You’re dazed and stunned,” I say, “But you’re 
  aware enough to see that Gabriel brought his car 
  to a halt a little ways ahead of you. He’s getting 
  out now, 9mm in hand, walking toward you.”
  “Fuck. I don’t have a gun. Uh... I guess I’m going 
  to try to play dead and wait for him to get close.”
  “Okay, but he might just open fire into the car 
  rather than check to see if you’re dead first.” I turn to 
  Jahmal—he plays Santiago, Gabriel’s boss—and ask, 
  “Is Gabriel the kind of guy who will just open fire 
  into a car to ‘make sure’ someone is dead?”
  Jahmal smiles: “Oh, yeah. That’s why I sent him!”
  “I think playing dead is my best shot. I’ll just 
  leave my head slumped down on the wheel and 
  push my luck.” I nod, and she rolls. Total of 7! 
  “Okay, you see him coming up to the side of 
  the car. He stops about 10 feet away and raises his 
  gun. You can tell he thinks you’re already dead. 
  He just wants to tell Santiago that he shot you.”
  “So I’m getting fucking shot?”
  “You can try to move out of the way, but he’ll 
  know you’re still alive. You gotta tough this one 
  out. Good news: it’s a small weapon and you’re 
  in the car that acts as cover, so you get a +2.”
  “Maybe he isn’t trying to kill me?” she asks.
  “Yeah, that’s fair. He thinks you’re already dead. 
  Take a +3 to your roll!”
  “Okay...I’ll tough it out.” Katherine rolls and 
  gets a total of 7. Whew! She’ll live!
  “Pick off the list! You won’t die, but this is ugly.”
  “I’ll take it’s painful. I take -1 ongoing.”
  “Great. He’ll take it’s bloody. You’ll die 
  without immediate aid,” I say. “The shots ring 
  out loud. He empties the magazine, sending a 
  half-dozen bullets into the car. Most miss or get 
  stopped by the door, but you feel a sharp pain in 
  your side: one must have caught you in your ribs. 
  Satisfied, Gabriel leaves. You’re in a lot of pain, 
  and you’re bleeding heavily from your side. You 
  need help bad, chica. What do you do?”
  
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  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
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  Each move in Cartel is an event that needs to 
  resolve before the story can move forward. Only 
  one character can have that spotlight at a time, 
  so resolve each move before moving on to the 
  next. If you turn to violence against some chico, 
  we need to see how that resolves before you can 
  push your luck to get away from his amigos.
  After a player rolls, however, other play-
  ers can jump in to help or interfere, provided 
  they are fictionally capable of intervening. It’s 
  hard to help someone turn to violence over 
  the phone, but you can probably help pressure 
  someone or make an offer using text messages.
  In order to help or interfere, you must wager at 
  least one stress. The number you add to your roll 
  is the amount of stress you’ve wagered. If you get 
  a 7-9 or a miss, mark the stress you wagered; if 
  you get a 10+, you don’t have to pay anything! 
  The amount of stress you wager should in-
  dicate the riskiness of the action you’re taking. 
  Wagering three stress to help is a huge deal. 
  Always say what your interjection looks like  
  given the amount you’re putting on the line.
  Sometimes the actions that help or interfere 
  would normally trigger a basic move, but since 
  the spotlight is still on the original character, 
  help or interfere triggers instead, allowing the 
  interjecting character to affect the outcome 
  before the instigating move is resolved.
  The outcomes available for help or interfere 
  tell you when they’re useful—you can’t help 
  when someone has rolled a 4, and you can’t 
  interfere when someone has rolled a 12. Your 
  modifier won’t change the result of the roll!
  If you can’t affect the roll with this move, 
  your character can still take whatever action 
  they deem appropriate, like providing cover 
  fire or talking down an angry sicario. But help 
  or interfere only triggers when it can have me-
  chanical meaning. Whatever you want to do is 
  just the next move you make in the fiction.
  Finally, you can’t help or interfere with stress 
  moves (page 58) or Heat moves (page 64). 
  Those moves are made solely by the charac-
  ter making the move, and no one—ni siquiera 
  Dios—can help them when they trigger.  
   Help or Interfere 
  When you help or interfere after a PC has rolled, wager stress (max+3) and roll with stress 
  wagered. On a hit, give them a +1 or -2 to their roll, your choice. On a 7-9, you mark however 
  much stress you wagered. On a miss, mark the stress you wagered and prepare for the worst.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  55
  Examples for Help or Interfere
  Gustavo, El Polizeta, once believed Yolanda, La 
  Cocinera, to be an old friend, but he saw her 
  leaving Santiago’s place...and now wants to know 
  what her relationship is with the drug lord. He 
  invites her to a dinner party, unaware that she 
  has grown suspicious of him as well:
  “While we’re eating,” says Justin, Gustavo’s play-
  er, “I want to ask Yolanda a few questions: ‘How’s 
  your new job? Are they treating you well?’”
  Sarah, Yolanda’s player, smiles. “Are you trying to 
  get the truth out of me or just making small talk?”
  “I want the truth!” Justin rolls and gets an 8.
  “Can I interfere with that?” asks Sarah.
  “Sure,” I say, “What does that look like?”
  “I’m going to try to shift the conversation toward 
  all the hours that Gustavo is working. I know his 
  wife hates his job with the task force, so hopefully 
  that keeps the pressure off of me.”
  “That makes sense,” I say. “How much stress are 
  you going to wager? Maybe just one?”
  “Yeah,” says Sarah. “Just one for now.” She rolls 
  with a +1 and gets a 7. She has to mark a stress, but 
  she brings Justin’s roll down to by 2 to a 6, a miss! 
  “Can I interfere with her interfering?” asks Justin.
  “Um... no.” I say. “Someone else could help you, 
  but it doesn’t look like anyone wants to assist: you 
  rolled a miss, my friend. If you want, Sarah, you 
  can get the truth out of Gustavo as if you rolled 
  a 10+ on the move...”
  Injured and exposed, Luna, La Rata, goes to her 
  sister, Sofía, for help. Sofía, La Esposa, bandages 
  Luna’s gunshot wound, but it’s not long before 
  Santiago calls looking for Luna:
  Jahmal says, “‘Sofía, mi amor, I need to speak 
  to your sister. We have business to discuss.’”
  “‘Luna?’” Brendan says, “‘I’m taking Ana to 
  school, but I’ll keep an eye out for her.’” He rolls 
  with Face to justify Sofía’s behavior, but hits a 9.
  “I can help!” says Katherine, Luna’s player. “I 
  whisper, ‘Tell Santiago I was supposed to come for 
  lunch and didn’t show up!’” Katherine wagers 2 
  stress and rolls: 12! She adds +1 to bring Brendan’s 
  total to a 10. But Jahmal could decide to interfere as 
  well; a -2 would bring Brendan’s roll down to an 8!
  Too Many Cooks
  Only one character can successfully help 
  on a given roll,  and only one character can 
  successfully interfere. Any character can try to 
  interject, but you can’t rack up more than one 
  +1 and one -2 when someone helps or inter-
  feres on a single roll. If a player misses while 
  helping or interfering, other players can jump 
  in and try to help or interfere as well, provided 
  the interjecting players are wagering stress.
  
  56
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  56
  Your character’s lifestyle (page 72) is mostly 
  relevant when it comes time to strain your 
  finances to get what you want. Your lifestyle 
  sets the parameters for your purchases, telling 
  the MC what’s obviously affordable to you and 
  what requires you to make this move.
  An impoverished sicaria strains her finances 
  when she covers an unexpected car repair or 
  bails su vieja amiga out of jail. El jefe—living a 
  life of luxury—only strains his finances when he 
  reaches for something grand: $1,000,000 in cash, 
  a brand-new sports car, an exotic animal or two. 
  You might secure a loan, steal some cash, or 
  look for friends with connections as you try 
  to ensure your success. Don’t make this move 
  until the moment you are ready to put cash 
  on the barrel and actually make the purchase. 
  That’s the moment that matters, güey.
  Options for Strain Your Finances
  A large sum of money is always dependent on 
  your lifestyle. A destitute halcón has come into a 
  large sum when they find a few large bills, but a 
  stable cocinero needs a briefcase of cash.
  Accepting something counterfeit or stolen means 
  you don’t care if your purchase is exactly what 
  you want or if the person you’re buying it from 
  got it illegally. This option is only available if it 
  makes sense; you can’t get something counterfeit 
  if you’re trying to take your chico out to dinner.
  Going to an amigo with useful connections 
  means you’ve got a specific character in mind 
  who can help you out—a narco who deals in 
  stolen goods, a bank manager who can fast 
  track a loan, etc. It’s fine to introduce someone 
  new when you make the move, but expect the 
  MC to remember that you called in a favor.
   Strain Your Finances 
  When you strain your finances to get what you want, roll. Add +1 for each:
   
  ĵ you’ve recently come into a large sum of money 
   
  ĵ you will accept something counterfeit/stolen
   
  ĵ you have an amigo with useful connections
  On a 10+, you have enough cash on hand to make your purchase. On a 7-9, you scrape 
  together enough dinero...but someone notices your largesse. On a miss, your purchase re-
  mains frustratingly out of reach. The GM will tell you why you find yourself unexpectedly 
  short at the last moment.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  57
  Example for Strain Your Finances
  After selling a kilo of meth to Osita, Beto, El Halcón, 
  asks her to get him a meeting with a shadowy jefe 
  known as Z-32. Osita agrees, but tells Beto that he 
  better come to the meeting wearing something nicer 
  than his usual jeans and futbol jersey.
  “Me and Azul are going to go clothes shopping,” 
  Derrick says. “I want a cool suit or something.” 
  “What’s your lifestyle again?” I ask. “Destitute? A 
  nice suit is tough when you’re virtually penniless.” 
  “Nah, I’m impoverished. My pandilla is rich, 
  remember? We work at that taquería...sometimes! 
  We’ve got a little bit of money.”
  “Right. Okay, then straining your finances to 
  get the suit makes sense. You also have a large sum 
  of money from the sale you made to Osita. Are you 
  willing to accept a counterfeit or stolen suit? Do you 
  have an amigo with useful connections?”
  “Fuck yeah! I probably have a friend or two who 
  sells stolen stuff. I don’t care where the suit is from.”
  I laugh. “Yeah, that checks out. How about 
  we name this friend...Lola.” Derrick nods. “What 
  does it look like when you go to buy the suit?”
  “I’ll just meet her in an alley. I like the idea that 
  she sells stuff out of the back of her truck.”
  “Cool. You drop her a text, and she agrees to 
  meet you behind the taquería. You and Azul are 
  waiting when she pulls up in her truck, loud ran-
  chero music blasting out of the speakers.”
  “I say, ‘Hola, Lola. You got what I’m looking 
  for? I hope you’re not wasting my time!”
  “Lola is a little older than the two of you, maybe 
  twenty-six or twenty-seven. She smiles and gets 
  out of the truck. The bed has a tarp over it, but she 
  pulls it back to reveal a whole bunch of clothes and 
  shoes. She says, ‘I’ve got what you want, chamaco. 
  Pick one before I get tired of the way you smell.’”
  “With all my bonuses, I think I’m at a +3, right?” 
  I nod. Derrick rolls and gets a 9. “Damn. Can I get 
  someone to help me? Maybe Mina or Yolanda?”
   “They would have to be here to help you, right? 
  You could try to call someone, but it feels like 
  that’s interrupting this move. We’ve got to resolve 
  this immediate situation before we can move on.”
  “That’s fair. Okay, it looks like I get the money 
  together, but someone notices. I bet that’s Lola?”
  “Yeah, I think that makes sense. You pull a few 
  bills off the stack Osita gave you, and you see her 
  eyes widen. Lola says, ‘Where did you get that, 
  cabrón? You in with some real narcos?’”
  “I really don’t want Lola in my business,” says 
  Derrick. “I tell her, ‘If I am in with los carteles, 
  then you shouldn’t be asking questions. Right?’”
  “Nice! Sounds like you’re trying to pressure 
  her into leaving you alone with a subtle threat of 
  violence or cartel trouble. Is that right?”
  Derrick nods and picks up the dice...
  
  58
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  58
  stress Moves
  Stress is the lifeblood of the drug trade. It’s the 
  reason drugs get made, the reason drugs get 
  used, and the reason most druglords don’t live 
  long enough to enjoy the spoils of their empires.  
  In Cartel, all sorts of situations cause stress—
  getting shot, doing something horrific, fighting 
  with a spouse—but the best way to keep stress 
  in check is through stress moves. Stress moves 
  trigger like any other move, but their primary 
  purpose is to clear your stress track and keep you 
  from being overwhelmed by stress, i.e. having all 
  five of your stress boxes marked at once.
  While overwhelmed, you can’t choose to 
  mark stress (or be forced to mark it). The MC 
  can also ask you to make a stress move at any 
  time; they can’t request a particular move, but 
  you’ve got to trigger one quickly or the MC will 
  escalate the situation further. See page 69 for 
  more on stress and getting overwhelmed!
  Triggering Stress Moves
  Unfortunately, stress moves in Cartel aren’t 
  triggered by spa days. Your life is too chaotic 
  for that kind of restoration. Instead, you’ve got 
  to seek relief through one of these moves:
   
  ► Verbally Abuse or Shame Someone (Face)
   
  ► Lose Yourself in a Substance (Grit)
   
  ► Confess Your Sins to a Priest (Hustle)
   
  ► Dish out a Beatdown (Savagery)
  No one can help or interfere with a stress move; 
  the outcome is between you, the dice, and God.
  Safety Tools and Stress Moves
  The ugliness that lies at the heart of cyclical 
  trauma in which hurt people hurt people means 
  you have to pay special attention to your safety 
  tools when invoking stress moves. It might 
  make fictional sense for a PC to dish out a beat-
  down to a spouse, but everyone at the table may 
  not be comfortable with that kind of content. 
  If you need to rewind and revise or x-card 
  content like domestic abuse, try to avoid pe-
  nalizing the player who invoked a stress move 
  in good faith that made other players uncom-
  fortable. Find a way to trigger the move with 
  a different context using your chosen safety 
  tools (page 13) and group consensus.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  59
   Verbally Abuse or Shame 
  When you verbally abuse or shame someone you care about, roll with Face. On a hit, your 
  words hit hard: tell them to mark stress. On a 10+, clear your stress track. On a 7-9, clear one 
  stress. On a miss, your cowardice is clear: take -1 ongoing to Face until you make amends.
  The most obvious way to clear your stress is to 
  let it out at someone close. Verbally abusing or 
  shaming another character means that you ex-
  plode at them, berating them for their failures or 
  cruelly highlighting their flaws. ¡No chingues!
  You must care about the people you verbally 
  shame or abuse for the verbally abuse or shame 
  to trigger. You can yell at the waitress at the 
  taquería or some random güey on the street all 
  day, but you only get to clear stress when you 
  yell at someone you actually care about.
  Avoid triggering this move by saying “And 
  then I say something shitty.” The specifics of 
  what you say, how you say it...these are the 
  elements of drama that haunt future scenes. If 
  you miss, for example, you need to know what 
  you said that requires you to make amends.
  If you miss, you suffer the -1 ongoing to 
  Face for all moves until you find some way to 
  apologize. The person you hurt gets to judge 
  your atonement, but an apology is usually the 
  minimum step. You might have to go further, 
  cabrón, and actually do something nice!
   When Gustavo’s schemes come to light, Sofía is 
  furious. He put their family in danger, lied to her 
  about his plans for returning to Durango, and 
  betrayed—even killed!—his fellow federales.
  I say, “I think this revelation is enough to make 
  you mark a stress, Sofía. Sound right?”
  “Yeah,” says Brendan, Sofía’s player. “This is 
  pretty shocking. I’ve got four stress marked, so I 
  think I’d like to verbally shame Gustavo.”
  Brendan reaches for the dice, but I stop him: 
  “What do you say? Before you roll, I want to make 
  sure we’re clear on how you’re shaming him.”
  “Hmm. Maybe something like ‘You’re an idiot!’”
  I look at Justin, Gustavo’s player. He doesn’t look 
  particularly shamed. I gesture for Brendan to keep 
  going, urging him to commit to the fiction.
  “Okay. ‘Mi madre was right: I was a fool for 
  marrying you. Ana and I deserve better. Get out.’”
  “Perfect! Roll with Face!”
  Brendan gets a 10 with his roll, but Justin can’t 
  interfere with a stress move. Sofía clears her stress 
  track, and Gustavo has to mark a stress himself.
  
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  60
  The easiest way to take the edge off the drug 
  trade is to sample some of the product and 
  lose yourself in a substance. All of the usual 
  suspects trigger this move: alcohol, cocaine, 
  crystal meth, heroin. If you’re wondering why 
  marijuana isn’t on the list...pot isn’t nearly 
  hard enough to make you lose yourself, cabrón. 
  You must use to excess to trigger lose your-
  self in a substance. You can’t have a few drinks 
  with dinner and claim to be losing yourself. 
  You’ve got to really go on a bender, putting 
  down enough cervezas to make your esposa 
  wonder why you’re drinking. Only then will 
  the move trigger and your stress clear.
  And it will almost certainly clear. Any hit 
  when you lose yourself in a substance clears 
  your entire track. Sometimes a generous MC 
  might even let you clear your track on a miss!
  But losing yourself in a substance is danger-
  ous. When you roll a 7-9; you’ve got to pick 
  from the list of moves appropriate for your 
  drug of choice.  The drugs get a hold of you, 
  amigo, and you might not like who you are 
  when you’re high or drunk. 
  Here’s the list of drug moves:
   Lose Yourself 
  When you lose yourself in a substance, roll with Grit. On a hit, clear your stress track. On a 7-9, the 
  drugs take a toll: make a drug move off the list. On a miss, you’re in deep. Buena suerte, cabrón.
  Cocaine Moves
   
  ►start a fight with a mouthy pendejo or puta
   
  ►throw yourself at someone you shouldn’t
   
  ►spend your money stupidly or carelessly
  Heroin Moves
   
  ►push away someone who cares about you
   
  ►overlook a crucial deadline or event
   
  ►steal funds in preparation for your next fix
  Crystal Meth Moves
   
  ►accuse a loved one of theft or betrayal
   
  ►push a place you keep toward squalor
   
  ►hurt yourself to keep your diablos at bay
  Alcohol Moves
   
  ►make a scene about how you were wronged
   
  ►let slip something to the wrong person
   
  ►wreck something meaningful, carelessly
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  61
  Example for Lose Yourself
  After spending some time on the run, Yolanda is 
  eventually captured by Santiago’s enforcers. He 
  drags her back to her workshop, demanding that she 
  return to cooking and stop making trouble...or else. 
  “You look around your workshop, Yolanda, 
  and you realize that this prison is all you have. I 
  think you’re full up on stress?” Sarah, Yolanda’s 
  player nods. I say, “It’s time for a stress move.”
  “Since Santiago is already gone, I think I’m just 
  going to get really drunk. I’ve got some wine in 
  the back, so I get that out and start drinking. I’m 
  not going to stop until I lose myself in the wine.”
  “Yeah, sounds legit. Roll with Grit.”
  Sarah gets a 7, barely enough for a hit, but 
  enough to clear her entire stress track.
  “Okay, so a 7-9 means you’ve still got to make 
  a drug move,” I say. “You’ve got a few options for 
  alcohol. What do you pick?”
  “I think I’m going to wreck something. I’ve 
  got all this art I’ve made here, right? Sculptures 
  and paintings? I just want to throw it all in the 
  fire pit out back and watch it burn.”
  “Do you do it carelessly?” I ask. 
  “Oh, yeah. I just drag stuff out there, pour 
  lighter fluid on it, and light it. I don’t sort through 
  stuff or pick things. I just let it all burn...”
  Más Que Demasiado
  Anyone who works for los carteles has access to 
  more drugs than can be consumed in a lifetime, 
  white or brown bricks stacked like construction 
  materials in warehouses all over Mexico. Coca 
  leaves bought for pennies in South America are 
  worth thousands in the Midwest, but they are 
  first stored in vast quantities where narcos work.
  Thus, the true value of a kilo is not what it 
  can do for someone, not what it offers in terms 
  of kindness or comfort. No one in America pays 
  what drugs are worth; they pay what it costs to 
  secretly ship them from Colombia to Chicago, 
  to keep them away from watchful eyes.
  But that’s the way of things, güey. Everything 
  south of the border is cheap...until it heads north. 
  Once it crosses the line that cuts the desert like 
  a knife—separating land Los Estados Unidos took 
  from México from the dirt the gringos deemed too 
  worthless to seize—the thing becomes valuable. 
  Cars, drugs, Mexicanos. All suddenly worth more  to 
  America than they were before crossing.
  The cartels love borders more than anyone 
  else; they are eager to ship drugs—and people—
  to satisfy the insatiable American demand for 
  more. What would they do if Mexicanos could go 
  north to work and return home to sleep? What 
  would they do if Americans stopped pretending 
  they didn’t want the drugs?
  Mexico is como burro de aguador, cargado de 
  agua y muerto de sed. Everything you need is right 
  here, ready for the taking, but marked for some-
  one else because it fetches a higher price a world 
  away. None of this is yours, cabrón. It never was.
  
  62
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  62
   Confess Your Sins 
  When you confess your sins to a priest, roll with Hustle. On a hit, you find forgiveness; 
  clear your stress track. On a 7-9, you must perform your penance before you return to 
  confession. On a miss, the priest sees through your false contrition; take a -1 ongoing to 
  Hustle until you truly repent.
  Narcos may not seem like religious types, but 
  in Mexico...everyone is Catholic. And unless 
  you’ve got some special arrangement with a 
  priest, confessing your sins involves a church 
  and a confessional, a booth in which the priest 
  sits on one side of a screen and the penitent 
  petitioner sits on the other. Judgement, mijo.
  Confessing your sins triggers even if you 
  aren’t particularly guilty about what you’ve 
  done. The act of petitioning an actual priest for 
  forgiveness is what clears your stress, although 
  you might have to perform the penance the 
  priest requires—a dozen Hail Marys, reading 
  the Bible, abstaining from vice—before you can 
  return to the confessional booth in the future.
  On a miss, however, the weight of your sin 
  comes to bear on your soul. The priest isn’t 
  fooled by your confession, and you take a -1 
  ongoing to Hustle for all moves until you find 
  a way to truly find absolution in the eyes of the 
  Lord; the MC is the final judge of your efforts. 
  No one said forgiveness was easy, amigo!
  Haunted by her double life as an undercover federal, 
  Luna goes to confess her sins on Sunday morning:
  I say, “The priest draws back the screen and 
  waits for you to speak. What do you do?”
  “I say, ‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I 
  have hurt people, committed crimes. I have lied to 
  my family about who I am, and I can’t keep going.’”
  “Sounds like a confession! Roll with Hustle!”
  Katherine, Luna’s player, rolls and gets an 8. 
  She clears her entire stress track, but she’s got to 
  listen closely to the penance required; she needs to 
  atone before she can clear stress this way again.
  “The priest nods in silence. He says, ‘Mija, do 
  you truly repent for these sins?’” Katherine nods. 
  “He says, ‘Then stop bearing false witness, mija. 
  Tell your familia the truth. Find a new path with 
  the Lord, and leave the lies behind. Go in peace.’”
  “So what do I have to do?”
  “You’ve got to tell Sofía the truth,” I say. “You 
  can’t imagine coming back to this confessional 
  with all the lies you have on your conscience...”
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  63
   Dish Out a Beatdown 
  When you dish out a beatdown, roll with Savagery. On a 10+, you assert your dominance: 
  clear your stress track. On a 7-9, you hurt them, but it’s not enough: clear one stress. On a 
  miss, the violence gets out of hand. Enjoy the consequences, pendejo.
  Some narcos work out their stress with their 
  fists, seeking joy in dominance and relief in the 
  pain of others. Dishing out a beatdown isn’t 
  about getting information from a witness or 
  teaching someone a lesson; it’s about inflicting 
  your ugly will upon the bodies of other people, 
  destroying them in the hopes that violence 
  makes you feel powerful and in control. 
  Getting into a fistfight isn’t the same as 
  dishing out a beatdown. For a beatdown, the 
  target of violence must be somehow vulnerable; 
  perhaps weaker than you, tied up, or generally 
  not expecting the attack. It might be necessary 
  for you to turn to violence first to disable your 
  opponent before you can trigger this move, in-
  juring them so that they can’t really fight back.
  A miss when you’re dishing out a beatdown 
  can be catastrophic. You might find yourself 
  seriously injuring—or even killing—the target 
  of your violent outburst. The MC chooses how 
  things go when you miss; once you commit to 
  this kind of violence, it’s easy for tragedy to fol-
  low in the wake of your callous decisions. 
  Beto, Derrick’s Halcón, accompanies Mina on a 
  mission to secure a signed contract from a local 
  businessman—Ignacio—who owes money to El 
  Narco. When the two of them arrive at Ignacio’s 
  factory, the businessman tries to run. Beto and Mina 
  split up, but Beto is the one who tackles him.
  “You’re not sure where Mina is, ” I say, “but Igna-
  cio is struggling to get away, his suit filthy from the 
  dirt and grime on the floor. What do you do?”
  “Fuck this guy,” says Derrick. “I’m going to dish 
  out a beatdown and clear some stress. If I rough 
  him up, he’s unlikely to keep running away, right?”
  “Yeah, he’s not getting far once you’ve beaten him 
  up. What does this look like? Why is it a beatdown?”
  “I flip the gun Mina gave me around and hit him 
  with the handle in the head,” Derrick says. He rolls 
  with Savagery, but it’s a clean miss: snake eyes!
  “Whoops. Looks like things get out of hand. You 
  start hitting him...and just keep hitting him. You’re 
  still a little high, right?” Derrick nods. “Yeah, you 
  look down at him and there’s just blood everywhere. 
  There’s no way he’s still alive...or signing anything.”
  
  64
  HeAT Moves
  City police know better than to tangle with a real narco, espe-
  cially when so many policías are already on El Narco’s payroll. 
  But President Calderón’s anti-cartel directives have increased 
  attention on Durango’s plaza to the point that even the most 
  hardened narcos keep one eye open for federales.
  In Cartel, such efforts are represented by heat moves that 
  trigger when the PCs attempt to conceal their criminal activity 
  or avoid tangling with los federales. When you roll with Heat, the 
  usual results are reversed: you want to roll low to avoid the cops. 
  A miss is the best outcome, and a 10+ puts you in hot water with 
  the authorities. Here’s the full list of heat moves:
   
  ► Avoid Suspicion (Heat+Questions)
   
  ► Leave a Messy Crime Scene (Heat)
   
  ► Flee from Los Federales (Heat)
  Each playbook has a Heat stat that represents the in-
  terest los federales have in the character. El Narco (Heat 
  +2) and La Sicaria (Heat +1) have positive stats that 
  make it difficult for them to do business in public, but 
  La Esposa (Heat -2) or La Polizeta (Heat -1) are almost 
  invisible. If two characters make a heat move togeth-
  er—like leaving a messy crime scene—the one with the 
  higher Heat makes the move and bears the immediate 
  consequences. No helping or interfering!
  Heat moves tend to be moves the MC requires you 
  to make in response to the fiction at the table, even if 
  you’d rather not make the move at all. After all, no one 
  starts the day eager to flee from los federales!
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  65
   Avoid Suspicion 
  When you avoid suspicion while handling business in public, roll with Heat. Add +1 for each:
   
  ĵ you’re carrying a lot of drugs or money
   
  ĵ you’re transporting at least one body, dead or alive
   
  ĵ you’re equipped with military weaponry
  On a miss, you don’t attract any attention; most civilians know better than to get in your way. 
  On a 7-9, only the local policía take an interest; make a threat or flash some dinero to smooth 
  things over. On a 10+, someone dangerous has been looking for you. And here you are.
  Most narco business is conducted in private, 
  but sometimes you need to avoid suspicion and 
  get something illegal done in a public place.
  Carrying a lot of drugs or money means that 
  you’ve got enough on you that it’s noticeable: 
  a large amount of cash, multiple kilos of drugs. 
  Less than a duffel bag of cash or guns is too little.
  Transporting a body, dead or alive is fairly 
  straightforward. If you’ve got a body in your 
  trunk, that counts! People tend to notice when 
  human bodies are moved from place to place.
  Equipped with military weaponry means that 
  you’re carrying an assault rifle, grenade launcher, 
  or something equally obvious and scary. 
  If you roll a 7-9, you won’t have to deal with  
  real authorities, but a 10+ means someone—
  perhaps another narco, perhaps los federales or 
  the CIA—catches you in the middle of whatever 
  illegal thing you’re doing. Buena suerte, cabrón.
  Santiago’s offer to Los Zetas—nearly a million in 
  cash—is enough to bring them to the table, but 
  neither side is interested in walking into a trap: 
  they all agree a public handoff is the “safe” option:
  “Santiago, you see Guillermo waiting for you in 
  the parking lot of the market, his face still bruised 
  from where you beat him. What do you do?”
  “I tell my people to load the money into his 
  truck. It’s gotta be several bags?” asks Jahmal.
  “It’s a lot. Are you even avoiding suspicion?”
  “We put the money in bags! The whole transfer 
  is going to happen fast! I’m definitely avoiding.” 
  I laugh and nod, and Jahmal rolls with Heat +2, 
  adding +1 for the bags of money. He gets a 10.
  “Ooof. Tough roll. As your thugs load the last 
  bag into Guillermo’s truck, you see an SUV parked 
  across the street, window rolled down. Someone is 
  taking pictures of you! What do you do?”
  
  66
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  66
   Leave a Messy Crime Scene 
  When you try to leave a messy crime scene before the authorities arrive, roll with Heat. On 
  a miss, you exit the scene; tell the MC what potentially incriminating evidence you’ve left 
  behind. On a 7-9, the authorities respond before you can get away completely, but they are 
  isolated or unprepared for what they find when they arrive. On a 10+, la policía arrives in 
  force…with los federales or an American in tow.
  Sometimes the work gets dirty. You might plan 
  for trouble, but pretty soon you’ve got bodies on 
  your hands and los federales on their way. 
  Leaving a messy crime scene triggers when 
  you try to exit a scene that’s definitely going to 
  get attention from the authorities. If you knife 
  a narco in an alley, there might be blood, but 
  you can casually walk away before anyone is the 
  wiser. Leaving a messy crime scene is for when 
  there are gunshots, bodies, or property damage 
  on a noteworthy scale that can’t be ignored. 
  Leaving a messy crime scene is never with-
  out cost. Even on a miss, you leave something 
  behind: shell casings, fingerprints, your own 
  blood. But on a 7-9 and 10+, you have to con-
  tend with la policía before you can exit the 
  scene. You might still be able to keep your head 
  down—or shoot your way out—but don’t ex-
  pect to walk away without doing something like  
  pushing your luck, proposing a deal, pressuring 
  someone, or turning to violence. 
  After Beto foolishly killed a businessman who 
  owed El Narco money, Mina does her best to try 
  to get them both out of danger:
  “Okay, I grab Beto and start to march him 
  out the back. ‘We need to leave. Right now,’” says 
  Marissa, Mina’s player. “‘Goddammit, Beto!’”
  “Yeah,” I say, “since Beto beat him to death 
  with a gun in the middle of the factory, it sounds 
  like you’re trying to leave a messy crime scene. 
  Beto’s Heat is +0, but it sounds like you’re really 
  dragging him out of here, Mina?”
  “Yeah. I guess I’m rolling with my Heat, since 
  it’s a +1?” I nod. Marissa rolls, landing a total of 6!
  “Nice! It looks like you’re going to get out of 
  here before any cops arrive. That makes sense: 
  everyone here is too afraid to stop you or get in 
  your way. What incriminating evidence do you 
  and Beto leave behind, Mina?”
  “Oh, all the blood and fingerprints and shit. 
  We don’t have time to clean anything...”
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  67
   Flee from Los Federales 
  When you flee from los federales, roll with Heat. On a miss, you get away clean. On a 7-9, 
  you can escape the authorities by sacrificing something; the MC will tell you what your 
  freedom will cost you this time. On a 10+, you’re fucked, güey: mark 3 stress, get caught, or 
  get shot, your choice. Whatever you choose, the chase is over.
  Narcos are famous for fighting the cops, using 
  assault rifles and body armor to go mano-a-ma-
  no with federales y soldados. But you’re probably 
  wiser than that, güey. You know when to run.
  Fleeing from los federales triggers when all else 
  has failed but simply running away. You might 
  be on foot or in a car, sneaking quietly or beating 
  the street, but you’re bound and determined to 
  avoid the consequences los federales bring to bear.
  On a miss, your tactics work, maybe because 
  you’re smart and clever, maybe because the av-
  erage federal isn’t that motivated. On a 7-9, you 
  get away provided you’re willing to give some-
  thing up: a gun, the briefcase full of money, 
  your friend. Pay the price or do the time, cabrón.
  Things get a bit more complicated on a 10+: 
  you’ve got to pick one of three bad options. You 
  can only mark three stress if you’ve got three 
  empty stress boxes to mark, so sometimes it’s a 
  choice between getting caught and getting shot. 
  Everyone knows that sometimes it’s better to 
  take one bullet than fifty years in a cell.
  Sofía, Brendan’s Esposa, and Gustavo, Justin’s 
  Polizeta, tried to get rid of Delgado’s dead body, 
  but things went south when a neighbor saw them 
  loading the federal into the back of their car. 
  “You hear the sirens in the distance. Not far now, 
  maybe a few minutes at most. What do you do?”
  “We gotta split up,” says Brendan. “Run!”
  Brendan rolls first with Heat -2, scoring a 4. 
  “Sofía’s in the clear,” I say, “You walk down the 
  block right past several police cars moving in the 
  opposite direction. They don’t look twice at you.”
  Justin rolls next with Heat -1, but gets boxcars 
  for a total of 11. Gustavo’s in real trouble.
  “Damn. I was hoping my Heat -1 would save me. 
  I don’t have three stress to mark, so I think I’m get-
  ting shot. I can’t get caught and blow my career.”
  I nod. There’s never a good time to take a 
  bullet. “You run, but the federales open fire as they 
  get close. You feel a slug rip into you as you pound 
  the pavement. Looks like you got fucking shot!”
  
  68
  otheR rules
  In addition to moves and playbooks, Cartel relies 
  on four additional systems to manage the fiction:
   
  ĵ Stress, a track that gauges your character’s 
  ability to manage the conflicts of the drug war.
   
  ĵ Harm, a narrative indicator of the effects of 
  violence, especially getting fucking shot.
   
  ĵ Lifestyle, a measure of your character’s 
  relative financial position in Mexico.
   
  ĵ Llaves (Keys), narrative triggers that mark 
  your character’s advancement in the story.
  These systems interact with all the moves, sup-
  porting the structure they provide to the fiction. 
  Fleeing from los federales might lead to mark-
  ing stress or suffering harm, while your llaves or 
  lifestyle might motivate you to take actions that 
  trigger basic moves. And, of course, the looming 
  threat of stress leads everyone who plays Cartel 
  to inevitably seek relief in stress moves, no mat-
  ter what they might cost.
  The MC is responsible for many of these 
  tools, so check out Using Stress (page 132) 
  and Managing Advancement (page 141) in 
  Chapter 5 for more info; this section contains 
  all players need to know about these systems.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  69
  Stress
  You begin each session with at least two stress 
  marked, a reflection of the mental cost the drug 
  war imposes upon you. As you play, you mark 
  stress when moves—or the MC—calls for you to 
  mark it, mostly when you are pushing yourself 
  to get something done or trying to keep your 
  cool in a difficult situation. If you somehow end 
  a session with fewer than two stress marked, 
  you start the next session back at two stress.
  Becoming Overwhelmed
  You can never mark more than five stress. If 
  your stress track is ever filled, you become 
  overwhelmed until you get at least one box of 
  your stress track cleared. While overwhelmed, 
  ignore any move that tells you to mark stress. 
  You can’t choose to mark stress either while 
  overwhelmed, even if a move would normally 
  give you the option. If someone pressures you 
  or proposes a deal to you, you’ve got to go along 
  with them and their plans. You’re too stressed 
  out to dismiss their influence, cabrón!
  While you’re overwhelmed, the MC can call 
  for you to make a stress move at any time. It’s still 
  up to you which stress move you make—you’re 
  free to make a playbook move like Perderse or 
  Amante—but you have to immediately address 
  your stress track or suffer the consequences. Of 
  course, the best way to avoid the MC demanding 
  a stress move at a difficult time is to never let 
  your stress get that high in the first place...
  Luna, Katherine’s La Rata, has found safety at 
  Sofía’s house, but she’s been shot. And she’s certain 
  that Santiago knows she’s the mole! Luna has four 
  boxes of her stress track marked when Sofía tries 
  to pressure her to call Sofía’s husband, Gustavo.
  Brendan, Sofía’s player, rolls and gets a 12. 
  Katherine can’t interfere, so she’s got to mark a 
  stress or agree to Sofía’s plan to call for help...but 
  Luna knows Gustavo works for Santiago! 
  “No way I’m calling Gustavo. I’ll mark the stress.”
  I’ve been keeping track, but I ask to be sure: 
  “That’s five stress, right? You’re overwhelmed?”
  Katherine looks down. “Shit, yeah. I’m full up.”
  “Great. Time for a stress move, I think. You’ve 
  got to do something about this stress. Maybe you 
  verbally abuse or shame Sofía?”
  “No! She’s my sister! Can’t I get just drunk and 
  lose myself in a substance?”
  I turn to Brendan and ask, “Are you going to 
  give her alcohol when she’s still bleeding from a 
  bullet wound?” He shakes his head.
  “Fuck this,” says Katherine, “I’ll get the alcohol 
  myself. I stand up and go to their liquor cabinet.”
  “What are you...?” Brendan says. “Estás loca!”
  I jump in. “Since this looks like a new conflict, 
  Luna, I think you’ve missed your window to deal 
  with your stress. You take two steps toward the 
  kitchen, and...pass out from the pain. Sofía, you 
  can see that something must have aggravated her 
  wound. She’s bleeding badly. What do you do?” 
  
  70
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  70
  Violence y Harm
  Unlike stress, harm in Cartel isn’t marked on 
  a track or represented numerically. Instead, 
  physical injury shows up in three ways:
   
  ĵ Stress as injury, when the MC inflicts stress 
  upon your character to represent harm.
   
  ĵ Narrative injury, changes to your character’s 
  fictional position resulting from violence.
   
  ĵ Getting Fucking Shot, a distinct move that 
  handles harm when someone shoots you.
  If there is ever any doubt about what kind of 
  injury your character suffers, the MC decides.
  Stress as Injury
  The MC can inflict stress on characters when 
  they suffer harm, especially when the injury is 
  non-lethal. A punch to the nose is likely 1-stress, 
  while a car crash might be 2-stress or more. 
  Yolanda gets into a scrap with a sicario waiting 
  in her apartment. She rolls a miss while turning 
  to violence; I say, “He punches you in the head, 
  knocking you to the ground. Mark a stress!”
  If a PC can’t mark any more stress because they 
  are overwhelmed, the MC is free to knock them 
  unconscious or force them to make a stress 
  move, depending on the situation at hand.
  Un Pistola Pero No Balas
  Joaquín Guzmán —El Chapo—perhaps the most 
  infamous narco of the Sinaloa Cartel once said, “I 
  know one day I will die. I hope it’s of natural caus-
  es.” Of course, El Chapo didn’t die when he was 
  captured in Guatemala in 1993 or when he escaped 
  from a high-security facility in 2001. Nor did he 
  perish while on the run for more than a decade 
  from both Mexican and United States authorities.
  Instead, the Sinaloa Cartel thrived during his 
  time on the run. He would show up at restau-
  rants in Sinaloa, confiscating cell phones from 
  the patrons and staff, then paying for every-
  one’s meals after dining with his friends. No 
  one is as bold as a narco in his home state. 
  The violence of the drug war has always been 
  unevenly distributed. Murder is often a constant 
  in illegal trades, but the line between the civilian 
  world and the drug war held steady until 2007. 
  Only when Calderón brought in the military and 
  ordered the narcos shot instead of caught did 
  everything spiral out of control.
  But even Calderón’s orders were always about 
  politics. The government usually works with the 
  narcos; El Chapo’s escapes from prison are more 
  about corruption than ingenuity, more about how 
  poor the guards who staff the cells are than how 
  loyal El Chapo’s own men are to his cause.
  Even those who would oppose los carteles know 
  the cause is foolish: most cops in Mexico carry 
  guns, but they are only issued a handful of bullets. 
  How would you fight the narcos, when there are 
  so many of them and so few of you? Mejor no 
  meterse con Sansón a las patadas. 
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  71
  Narrative Injury
  The MC can inflict narrative injury when some-
  one suffers harm, instead of (or in addition to) 
  inflicting stress. Narrative injury mostly imposes 
  limits on what the character can do in the fiction, 
  but it can kill characters if the harm is serious.
  Struggling to escape from Zeta sicarios, Gustavo 
  decides to push his luck and jump out of the 
  third story window. He rolls a 9, and I say, “You 
  can make it, but you will break something when 
  you hit the ground. You still want to jump?”
  Justin, Gustavo’s player, nods. He doesn’t want to 
  try to fight, and they’ve already blocked the exits.
  “You jump out into the darkness. The impact is 
  quicker than you imagined, and you feel a sharp 
  pain in your left ankle. Mark 2-stress.”
  “Ugh. How bad is it? Can I walk?”
  “Yeah, you can walk. But you hear them yelling 
  and shouting above you. They are still looking.”
  “Okay, I’m going to try to hobble to my car. It’s 
  still parked in the lot here?”
  “Totally. But with a broken ankle, I think you’re 
  pushing your luck to make it there unseen...” 
  If PC suffers fatal harm—a car bomb, repeated 
  stabbings, drowning—the MC might inflict 
  death as narrative injury. Death is an unlikely 
  outcome, but see Killing PCs (page 140) for 
  more on how characters, especially other PCs, 
  might kill a PC without using guns. When guns 
  are involved, of course, things are different...
  Getting Fucking Shot
  When a character—NPC or PC—shoots a PC, 
  they are triggering a move: get fucking shot. 
  When a PC gets fucking shot, that move covers 
  the entirety of the consequences; the MC can’t 
  also inflict stress or narrative injury when you 
  get fucking shot. The move tells us what hap-
  pens, including all the costs and consequences.
  Getting fucking shot is the primary way 
  Cartel characters die. Once this move triggers, 
  rolling a miss means you’ve reached the end. 
  Everything is on the line, cabrón, when guns 
  are in play. See page 52 for more on using 
  getting fucking shot during a session. 
  suffer litTLE HarM 
  PCs who suffer harm when turning to 
  violence can choose to “suffer little harm,” 
  minimizing the consequences. The MC might 
  decide that the PC marks less stress or takes 
  a less serious narrative injury, but they might 
  also decide the PC avoided the harm entirely. 
  If you tackle a shooter and choose suffer little 
  harm, you might avoid getting fucking shot 
  even if the shooter gets off a round or two 
  that leads to collateral damage around you.
  
  72
  Lifestyle y Money
  Each playbook has a lifestyle—assigned to the 
  playbook or from a relationship (La Esposa) or 
  an extra (El Narco)—a rough approximation of 
  a character’s wealth and income, a measure of 
  how much financial sway and monetary force a 
  character can bring to bear on problems. 
  There are five lifestyles, ranging from painfully 
  destitute to shamelessly extravagant:
   
  ĵ Destitute: nearly homeless, often unable to 
  afford even basic staples, desperate
   
  ĵ Impoverished: cash on hand for lodging 
  and food, but little else, “cash poor”
   
  ĵ Stable: relative comfort, regular lodging, 
  enough resources to support a family
   
  ĵ Luxury: wealth beyond most, able to put 
  ten thousand dollars towards a problem
   
  ĵ Extravagant: rich beyond measure, any-
  thing is accessible with enough patience
  Brendan’s La Esposa, Sofía, is married to Gustavo,  
  El Polizeta. Her playbook says she shares his lifestyle, 
  so they are stable: they have a home and a family, 
  but money is still sometimes tight. Moving up to 
  luxury would radically change their lives.
  You can roughly judge lifestyle by how much 
  cash—in USD—someone can scrounge up 
  quickly: a destitute halcón has maybe $10 to his 
  name, but a stable cocinero can get access to 
  $1,000 or $2,000 in an hour and an extravagant 
  narca has $100,000 in easy reach at all times. 
  Using Lifestyle in Play
  Lifestyle is a strong indicator of your fictional 
  position. Do you have enough cash on hand to 
  bribe someone? Can you get the bullet holes 
  in your wall repaired before your esposo comes 
  home? The MC will look to your lifestyle 
  to answer these questions. And if what you 
  want—or need—falls outside your means, 
  you may need to propose a deal to someone 
  wealthier than you or strain your finances.
  Worried that Luna’s gunshot wound might turn 
  out to be fatal, Sofía rushes her to the hospital:
  “There’s a crush of people at the front desk,” I 
  say, “It looks like there may have been some sort 
  of car accident. What do you do?”
  “I push my way to the front and demand that 
  Luna be seen by someone right away. I’ll offer the 
  receptionist money if it would help us.”
  “What’s your lifestyle? Stable? Yeah, between 
  your clothes and the money you flash, you have the 
  receptionist’s attention. What do you say?”
  It’s possible that something might be out of 
  reach for your character. An impoverished sicaria 
  simply can’t come up with a million dollars by 
  straining her finances. She’ll have to steal it or kill 
  someone for it, provided she figures out who has 
  that kind of money. In general, you can strain 
  your finances to get stuff from one lifestyle above 
  yours; everything else is probably too expensive.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  73
  Llaves y Advancement
  Llaves (keys) are how you earn experience 
  points (xp) and gain advances—new moves, 
  stat increases, or other fictional benefits. Keys 
  are simple: you mark experience any time you 
  fulfill the trigger listed in the key. For exam-
  ple, La Sicaria might choose Mercy as her key, 
  marking xp whenever she’s able to avoid a fight 
  instead of murdering everyone in the room.
  Mercy: Mark xp when you try to head off a violent 
  encounter with negotiation or persuasion. 
  The trigger for each key is intentionally broad 
  and open to interpretation. If La Sicaria convinc-
  es a friend not to start a fight, she marks an xp. 
  She also marks an xp if she threatens someone 
  into backing down when they come to kill her. 
  Clearing Keys
  You can also clear a key when you aren’t invested 
  in it anymore. Clearing a key means you work 
  against the key’s established narrative, earning 
  yourself an immediate advance and a new key. 
  The aforementioned Sicaria with Mercy, for 
  example, would clear her key when she hurts 
  someone who is vulnerable or unaware. 
  Mercy: Clear this key and advance when you greatly 
  injure or kill someone who is defenseless or unaware.
  After you clear a key, choose a new one. Always.
  Earning an Advance
  Once you’ve marked xp three times or cleared 
  a key, advance. You can select any option off the 
  first list on your playbook when you advance, 
  but you gain access to a new list of improved 
  advances once you’ve advanced five times. 
  You might want options off the first list for 
  advances beyond your fifth, but trust me, güey, 
  those improved advances are muy buenos. They 
  resolve problemas, allow you to change play-
  books, and maybe even get you a ticket out of 
  the drug war when you retire to safety!
  After trying to avoid using violence for several 
  sessions, Marissa—playing La Sicaria with a 
  Mercy key—decides that she’s tired of pulling her 
  punches. She murders an unsuspecting federal 
  with a sniper rifle, clearing the key.
  Marissa has earned five advances previously, so 
  she’s got access to the list of improved advances. 
  She selects “gain 2 new pieces of gear” and says, “I 
  think it would be cool if I could get tracking and 
  surveillance gear from the federal’s car.” I nod, 
  and she adds both pieces of gear to her sheet.
  Advances aren’t the only way to get new gear 
  or resolve problems, but each advance is 
  defined and absolute. If you mark an advance, 
  you gain the benefit described in full. Work 
  with the MC to figure out how to best modify 
  the story to explain your good fortune.
  
  74
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  74
  La Lista de Llaves
  Each playbook has one unique key alongside two 
  keys that are shared with other playbooks. Here’s 
  a full list of keys presented in the original set of 
  playbooks, including El Güero (CIA supplement). 
  When you clear a key, pick from any on this list.
   
   Ambition: Mark xp when you get someone 
  important to let you handle some business 
  on their behalf. Clear this key and advance 
  when you seize the day and ask for forgive-
  ness instead of permission.
   
   Arrogance: Mark xp when you use your su-
  perior knowledge or experience to verbally 
  shame or abuse someone you care about. 
  Clear this key and advance when you admit 
  to a loved one that you’re in over your head 
  and urgently need help.
   
   Clean: Mark xp when you try to convince 
  someone else to do your dirty work. Clear 
  this key and advance when you cross a line 
  that exposes you to retribution. 
   
   Daring: Mark xp when you willingly enter 
  a perilous situation without precautions or 
  deception. Clear this key and advance when 
  you retreat from a messy situation instead 
  of risking further failure. 
   
   Debt: Mark xp when you take on a new loan 
  or strain your finances to meet your family’s 
  needs. Clear this key and advance when you 
  find a way—legal or illegal—out from under 
  your obligations.
   
   Dirty Hands: Mark xp when you personally 
  tackle a messy problem instead of sending 
  goons. Clear this key and advance when you 
  send someone to deal with a problem you 
  should have attended to directly. 
   
   Duty: Mark xp when you complete a task or 
  assignment for your superiors or colleagues. 
  Clear this key and advance when you inten-
  tionally thwart the goals of your organiza-
  tion or employer.
   
   Family: Mark xp when you violate your 
  family members’ boundaries to protect 
  them. Clear this key and advance when you 
  allow one of them to be harmed when you 
  could have intervened.
   
   Guilt: Mark xp when you confess a recent 
  betrayal or deception to someone you 
  shouldn’t trust. Clear this key and advance 
  when you use a moment of intimacy to trick 
  someone into advancing your schemes.
  
  Chapter 3: Mecánicas y Jugadas
  75
   
   Indomitable: Mark xp when you go into 
  battle significantly outgunned or out-
  manned. Clear this key and advance when 
  you surrender to your enemies instead of 
  fighting your way out of a messy situation.
   
   Loyalty: Mark xp when you accept the lies 
  or half-truths of a trusted friend or lov-
  er. Clear this key and advance when you 
  confront a loved one with evidence of their 
  betrayals and deceptions. 
   
   Mercy: Mark xp when you try to head off a 
  violent encounter with negotiation or per-
  suasion. Clear this key and advance when 
  you greatly injure or kill someone who is 
  defenseless or unaware.
   
   Paranoia: Mark xp when you try to get the 
  truth out of someone about their true loy-
  alties. Clear this key and advance when you 
  expose someone’s betrayal to their family 
  or employer.
   
   Pride: Mark xp when you claim an asset 
  on the grounds that you or your family de-
  serves it. Clear this key and advance when 
  you give up something to keep yourself or 
  a loved one safe from harm.
   
   Schemes: Mark xp when you take advantage 
  of someone who believes you’re working 
  on their behalf. Clear this key and advance 
  when you openly choose one of your loyal-
  ties over the other.
   
   Secrets: Mark xp when you lie to someone 
  close to you about your illicit activities. 
  Clear this key and advance when you finally 
  come clean to someone who trusts you 
  about your lies and deceptions.
  CREating lLAVes
  The list of keys presented here isn’t the final 
  word on llaves. You might find your charac-
  ter has a story arc that requires a specific 
  llave to capture, like Revenge. Keys are a 
  powerful way to establish a direction for 
  your character, so don’t be afraid to work 
  with your MC to design a new, custom llave 
  if the story calls for a new arc.
  You can read more about creating new 
  llaves in Designing Llaves in Sin Fronteras, but 
  the process is simple: find a main xp trigger for 
  the key you expect to hit often and pair it with 
  a way to clear the key that ends the arc.
  
  76
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  76
  Chapter Four 
  Los Narcos de Durango 
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  77
  fiErRo ParienTe
  In Cartel, you create characters using playbooks, templates for each major 
  character type found in narcofiction. It might sound restrictive to limit 
  characters to the specific archetypes described by the playbooks, but each 
  playbook is a tool to help you bring Cartel characters—sicarias, esposas, 
  and halcones—to life without needing to be an expert in the drug war. 
  But make no mistake, güey: each story in Cartel is unique. Your sicaria 
  might be a vengeful killer, returning to Durango to end the man who left 
  her for dead...or she might be a reluctant enforcer who must kill to keep 
  her loved ones safe from the very people who employ her. A playbook is a 
  tool to help you build characters with real stakes in the setting, but your 
  job is to make each character you create a real person at your table.
  This chapter contains everything you need to know to build your 
  character for the first session of Cartel, including:
   
  ĵ Playbook Instructions: This chapter begins (page 78) with an 
  explanation of the choices you make to fill out a Cartel playbook, 
  including Name, Look, Gear, Lifestyle, Stats, Moves, Extras, y Enlaces. 
   
  ĵ Relationship Maps: Since the drama in Cartel relies on social 
  structures, I’ve included a section on relationship maps (page 84) 
  to help you track the complex social environment of Durango.
   
  ĵ Lista de Narcos: You can check out the full list of playbooks on 
  page 87—including a short description of each—followed by the 
  playbooks themselves and tips on playing each playbook.
  If you’re looking for rules explanations for moves, stress, harm, or oth-
  er mechanical systems, go back to Chapter 3 (page 31). You’ll find all 
  that information there, cabrón. This chapter is about personajes!
  
  78
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  78
  CREating narCos
  Creating your Cartel character is best done 
  with the other players and MC. There are parts 
  of the process that rely on crosstalk and col-
  laboration, but it’s also fun to see the setting 
  taking shape in front of you as your fellow 
  players make choices. No two players can pick 
  the same playbook, so grab a stack of narcos 
  and have everyone pick their favorite...
  Choosing a Playbook
  When it’s time to pick a playbook, think about 
  the stories you want to tell. It’s fine to pick 
  something you’re used to playing—the heavy, 
  the boss, the face—but you might want to play 
  against type. Cartel playbooks throw you into 
  the deep end of narrative drama: there are no 
  wrong choices to be made here, amigo.
  I’m running Cartel for Jahmal, Marissa, and 
  Derrick. Jahmal jumps on El Narco right away.
  “This cool with you all?” he asks. Derrick and 
  Marissa both laugh and nod. They’ve played Cartel 
  before, and they know el jefe is always in trouble.
  I want to make sure Jahmal knows what he’s 
  getting himself into with this playbook. “You take El 
  Narco, you gotta be the boss. You good with that?” 
  Jahmal nods and laughs. “I can be the boss! 
  You all better watch out. I’m in charge now!”
  Names Y Look
  After you select a playbook, start building your 
  character by selecting a name. The names pro-
  vided—masculine and feminine—are designed 
  to get across the archetypal feel of each playbook, 
  but choose something different if you’re inspired. 
  Don’t worry about surnames for now. You don’t 
  know which characters are familia yet!
  The playbook titles are gendered—La Esposa 
  is feminine, El Narco is masculine—but that 
  doesn’t mean the playbooks limit your character 
  to the single gender described by their names. 
  La Narca or El Esposo makes as much sense in 
  Cartel as El Narco and La Esposa, ¿entendiste?
  Once you’ve chosen a name, move on to 
  look. Your choices here inform how others see 
  you. Are you worn down, muchacho? Or do 
  you love the thrill of the conflicts at hand? 
  Jahmal likes the sound of one of the names on the 
  masculine list: Santiago. He decides on a tradi-
  tional look: a man with luxury clothes, the kind 
  of polished attire that signals power. He decides 
  that Santiago is always in a crisp, white suit, one 
  that matches his warm eyes and broad smile. 
  Jahmal also notes that Don Santiago is rarely 
  without a cigarro. He is extremely dangerous, but 
  always polite. No malice here, güey. Just business.
  
  79
  Stats y Dice
  Each playbook has four stats: Face, Grit, Hustle, 
  and Savagery. You usually roll moves with a stat, 
  so each determines your sway in a given sphere.
   
  ĵ Face measures social power, especially when 
  you offer people money to do what you want 
  or try to justify your behavior to others.
   
  ĵ Grit represents your tenacity and good for-
  tune; whenever you have to take a raw risk, 
  you’ll rely on Grit to get you through.
   
  ĵ Hustle establishes how good you are at 
  drawing people in and convincing them to go 
  along with you or tell you what they know.
   
  ĵ Savagery describes your capacity for vio-
  lence, including your intuitive sense of the 
  strengths and weaknesses of other people.
  Each playbook comes with a custom stat line: one 
  stat rated at -1, one stat at +0, and two stats at +1. 
  Add +1 to any one of these stats before you play. 
  You can raise stats via advancement (page 73), 
  but your playbook’s general strengths and critical 
  weaknesses usually persist through the story.
  Jahmal chooses to double down on a ferocious 
  reputation for Santiago. He adds his +1 to Savagery, 
  bringing his total to +2 for that stat. Santiago’s other 
  stats stay the same: Face +1, Grit +0, and Hustle -1, 
  leaving Santiago in a tough spot when it comes to 
  getting the truth or pressuring someone. San-
  tiago will have to focus on making offers (Face) or 
  direct violence (Savagery) when he faces opposition.
  
  80
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  80
  Gear y Lifestyle
  All the characters in Cartel start with gear, at 
  least some sort of phone and maybe even a 
  vehicle if not a pandilla (crew) or a whole plaza. 
  Most playbooks also have pistolas, but both El 
  Cocinero and La Esposa start the game without a 
  weapon of any kind. ¡Pobrecitos!
  You get everything on the list, including a 
  lifestyle, a measure of your playbook’s financial 
  security that ranges from destitute to extravagant.  
  You can read more about lifestyle on page 72.
  Some gear has a few tags to explain how it 
  works within the fiction, but each tag is self-ex-
  planatory. Loud means a gun is loud, attracting 
  attention from bystanders; hi-tech means an ex-
  pensive device needs specialized repairs if it ever 
  breaks. See page 158 at the end of the book for 
  a full list of tags and special rules that apply. 
  Your playbook also includes a section where 
  you make substantial decisions about your 
  character’s holdings or circumstances—like El 
  Narco’s plaza—called extras. See page 82 for 
  more information on detailing extras.
  Santiago gets a sidearm, a car, and a cell phone 
  by default, but his lifestyle is based on his extra, 
  la plaza. Jahmal needs to detail the plaza in full, 
  choosing which elements of the drug trade matter 
  most. He decides to deal with the plaza a bit later, 
  making a few notes to describe Santiago’s weapon—
  an old-fashioned revolver—and a fancy sports car.
  LlaveS (keys)
  Once you’ve finished with name, stats, and gear, 
  select two llaves (keys) from the list on your play-
  book. Choosing a llave establishes which themes 
  matter to your character, earning you experience 
  (xp) each time you act in a particular way. 
  Don’t choose a llave that doesn’t fit your con-
  cept! If you select Mercy—you mark experience 
  when you choose negotiation over violence—
  you’re telling the MC you want to encounter 
  situations that both give you that option and 
  create conflict when you act on it. 
  Each playbook has a list of three llaves, but you 
  are free to choose any two out of the three. For 
  more on llaves, including how marking experi-
  ence leads to advancement and how to get new 
  keys, see page 73 in the previous chapter.
  Jahmal has three options for El Narco’s keys: 
  Dirty Hands, Family, and Paranoia. He decides 
  on Dirty Hands right away; Jahmal is eager to 
  see Santiago handle problems himself instead of 
  sending goons. Jahmal also picks Family, since he 
  wants to see how far Santiago will go to protect 
  his family, plaza, and reputation; Paranoia 
  doesn’t feel like an interesting theme for Santiago 
  at this point in his story. Choosing these llaves 
  means Santiago’s story revolves around these 
  themes; Jahmal gets to mark an experience when 
  they come up, and I know—as the MC—to create 
  situations that invoke and challenge them.
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  81
  Picking Moves
  All player characters have access to all the basic 
  moves (page 36), as well as all the stress moves 
  (page 58) and Heat moves (page 64). These 
  moves trigger when the character takes an action 
  in the fiction that match the move.
  In addition to all those moves, each playbook 
  also gets access to playbook moves that grant 
  them new abilities or expand on other moves. 
  Some of these moves require a roll, but others 
  resolve without any dice. For example, La Esposa 
  can choose Reina del Drama to take a 10+ instead 
  of rolling when she pushes her luck while putting 
  on a dramatic, upsetting performance.
  Each playbook has instructions for how 
  many playbook moves you get to start, includ-
  ing any additional moves you select at the start 
  of play. You might want to revisit your stats 
  once you get a sense of what stat you roll for 
  the moves you have chosen for your character.
  Jahmal takes a look at his moves: he gets two—La 
  Plaza and Mandamás—and that’s it. The first 
  relies upon Control, a feature of his plaza, but 
  Mandamás relies on one of his core stats, Face.
  He reads Mandamás, which gives him the 
  ability to send his enforcers and agents out to solve 
  problems; Jahmal decides that he’s pretty happy 
  with the +1 he added to Savagery. He would rather 
  deal with problems himself than send out sicarios!
  A Pinche Grenade Launcher? 
  During early playtests of Cartel, I got a lot of 
  questions about the gear lists, especially for a 
  character like La Sicaria. No one could believe 
  that the narcos had access to stuff like police 
  uniforms and explosives, let alone military-grade 
  sniper rifles or pinches grenade launchers. Some 
  just assumed I had forgotten to update the gear 
  from Apocalypse World!
  Unfortunately, the cartels have used all the 
  gear included on the playbooks...and more. In 
  2015, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel shot 
  down a police helicopter with a rocket launcher 
  to protect a convoy moving El Mencho, the cartel 
  jefe who eventually rose to the top of America’s 
  Most Wanted list after the fall of El Chapo. They 
  followed up that attack by terrorizing the entire 
  city of Jalisco, forcing the military to call in over 
  10,000 troops to regain control of the area. 
  El Mencho himself—Nemesio Oseguera 
  Cervantes —is also a reminder that some of the 
  most infamous narcos once served on the other 
  side of the law. Notoriously violent, El Mencho 
  is a former cop who served time in an American 
  prison on drug charges, the kind of man who 
  absolutely used a police uniform and scanner for 
  nefarious deeds at some point in his career.
   It’s a war, pendejo. It’s not a “drug enforcement 
  opportunity” or a slow-moving legal case. ¡No le 
  jales la cola al tigre! Presidente Calderón sent in 
  los militares against the cartels, and the narcos are 
  happy to meet force with force. ¡A ver de qué cuero 
  salen más correas! 
  
  82
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  82
  Detailing Extras
  Every Cartel playbook has a special part of the 
  playbook designated as an extra. La Sicaria, 
  for example, gets to choose from a list of more 
  advanced custom weapons and gear, while La 
  Polizeta must detail the anti-cartel task force 
  that brought her back to Durango. 
  When a playbook asks you to detail an extra, 
  look for the section dedicated to that extra on 
  the back of the playbook. Complete that section 
  before you introduce your character. 
  Many of the extras—La Esposa’s familia, El 
  Narco’s plaza—are fundamental aspects of the 
  playbooks relation to the setting and the other 
  characters. You want to have all that figured 
  out before you start making connections be-
  tween your character and everyone else.
  As El Narco, Jahmal has a ton of choices to 
  make, probably more than any other playbook. 
  His extra—la plaza—not only sets the stage for 
  Santiago’s conflicts, but also for everyone else. 
  Jahmal starts by picking Selena as his cartel 
  contact, and notes that he’s got a staff (trouble: 
  los federales), a stable lifestyle, some loyal 
  enforcers and crooked cops, and Control +1. 
  Jahmal’s already worried about that Control stat, 
  but he also thinks that stable is way too low a 
  lifestyle for a wealthy narco like Santiago.
  Jahmal decides to start picking his four fea-
  tures by bumping his lifestyle: he selects both a 
  profitable plaza and kidnappings to raise stable 
  to extravagant. Both those options also add new 
  troubles, robberies and vigilantes respectively. 
  Santiago is rich, but he’s got cops, thieves, and “lo-
  cal heroes” all over his plaza, making life difficult!
  But Jahmal has a plan to hold on to Durango! 
  He chooses halcones and local recruitment as 
  his final two features, bringing his Control to +2 
  and ensuring that he’s got enough sicarios to deal 
  with problems if they crop up. ¡No hay pedo!
   He’s got to pick two more troubles for the pla-
  za, though. Two trouble options mess with his life-
  style and control, so Jahmal opts for the others: he’s 
  got a mole in his organization and a gang war 
  against a rival cartel—Los Zetas?—moving into 
  Durango. Sharks on all sides, cabrón, but Santiago 
  isn’t exactly a guppy. He’s got plenty of teeth.
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  83
  Introductions
  Once everyone has finished filling out playbooks, 
  it’s time to introduce your characters, sharing 
  their name, look, gear, and the extras they’ve 
  detailed. If your character has an important 
  reputation or notable habits, now is a good 
  time to share that with the group.
  Since every playbook’s extra tends to have 
  a serious effect on the setting of Durango as a 
  whole—El Halcón’s pandilla tends to show up 
  all over the place, El Cocinero’s lab drives the 
  drug trade for the whole Sinaloa cartel—give 
  each player enough time to talk through all 
  the details everyone else needs to know. After 
  all, it matters a lot to El Narco exactly how the 
  anti-cartel task force is set up in Durango.
  Other players, especially the MC, might ask 
  some questions about your character to build 
  on what you’ve already decided. Answer these 
  questions as if your character had a rich and 
  full life beyond what you’ve already planned. 
  It’s fine to make stuff up—”Ah, good question! 
  I think I met my husband while I was in col-
  lege”—or to defer a bit to the group if nothing 
  immediately comes to mind. 
  It’s also okay to leave some answers for 
  later or to say you don’t know how something 
  works for now. Maybe you’re not sure exactly 
  why you work for the cartel yet. You might be 
  waiting to figure that out during the game!
  “I’m El Narco, and my name is Don Santiago,” 
  Jahmal says, “Everyone in Durango knows me. I 
  wear crisp, white suits, I’ve got warm eyes, and I 
  usually have a cigar and a smile. ¡Órale!”
  “My lifestyle is extravagant, mostly because the 
  plaza is profitable and we kidnap wealthy tour-
  ists. My halcones are everywhere. And yet... I’ve 
  got all these troubles! Robberies, vigilantes, the 
  feds, a mole, and a gang war.” Everyone laughs. 
  I take the opportunity to ask a question: “How 
  did you end up with so much wealth and power?”
  Jahmal thinks for a bit. “I think my mother used 
  to run this plaza...but she died. And now I run it.”
  “Oh!” I think this mysterious death is fascinat-
  ing. “What happened to your mother?”
  Jahmal smiles. “I don’t talk about that much...”
  UsE tHe spoTLight
  Your introduction sets the stage for your 
  interactions with the other characters. Use 
  that spotlight! Convince them your polizeta is 
  a good ally in a tough spot or your rata is going 
  to blow up in interesting ways. Don’t be shy 
  about sharing your assets and drama. In fact, 
  those are the reasons that other people might 
  want to interact with your character!
  
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  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  84
  Enlaces (Ties)
  Once each character has been introduced, fill out 
  all your enlaces, the ties that force the characters 
  into regular conflict and engagement with each 
  other amidst the secrecy and lies of the drug war. 
  Begin with the person to the left of the MC 
  and go around in a circle, each player filling in 
  one enlace at a time. Each enlace is a meaningful 
  relationship between the two characters, so try 
  to focus them on other PCs. You might find, 
  however, that it gets difficult to make every-
  thing fit—especially for your last few enlaces—
  so it’s fine to point a few at important NPCs.
  Jahmal decides to fill in the second enlace on his 
  sheet to start: “I think Marissa’s Sicaria, Mina, is 
  familia. She’s my daughter.” He looks over at Ma-
  rissa to see what she thinks about that relationship.
  She’s excited. “Yeah, that’s great.” She looks at 
  her first enlace and says, “I think you got me back 
  into the business, Santiago. I had left, but when my 
  abuela died, you convinced me to come home.”
  “That’s perfect,” I say. “Did he tell you what 
  happened to your abuela when you got back?”
  Marissa shakes her head. “He told me that 
  she was murdered, but he won’t tell me anything 
  more. He doesn’t like my questions.”
  Jahmal and Marissa continue filling in enlaces 
  with Derrick and a few NPCs, but I can tell this 
  enlace is going to drive a lot of play right away!
  Hermanos por Siempre
  Starting relationships in Cartel aren’t like the 
  ties characters start with in most roleplaying 
  games; you aren’t a gang of adventurers who 
  have previously explored dungeons or runners 
  who regularly hack megacorp mainframes. You 
  don’t have a formal oath to stand by each other 
  in times of crisis or some sort of heroic quest 
  you’ve pledged to complete. You’re not friends.
  No, cabrón. In this game, you’re stuck with 
  each other in far worse ways. You’re ex-lovers, 
  old enemigos, or...familia. You grew up together 
  in Durango or got married as kids. You lie for 
  each other. You’ve killed for each other. And 
  those are ties that you can’t ever walk away 
  from, no matter how hard you try to leave the 
  past in the past, no matter how hard life gets.
  México is built on a history it cannot escape, 
  a land that was once the center of indigenous 
  empires stretching thousands of kilometers in 
  every direction, smashed to pieces by the terrible 
  Conquista that left millions dead.  From calaveras 
  to Santa Muerte, death haunts México, a grim 
  reminder that narcostates are the inevitable end 
  point of centuries of brutal colonialism.
  The past and the familias built upon that past 
  are inescapable in Cartel. The ties that bind are 
  steel nooses dragged around the neck of every 
  narco who hopes to make it out alive. You think 
  la muerte te pela los dientes? Worry less about 
  what Death has planned for you, amigo. It’s the 
  living who will do you in for good.
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  85
  Father/Daughter
  Santiago 
  doesn’t 
  trust Beto
  Beto
  Mina
  Santiago
  Beto convinced 
  Mina to let 
  him help
  Relationship Maps
  The relationships spawned by enlaces are vital, 
  but groups can lose track of the whole situa-
  tion. Use a relationship map (r-map) to keep 
  everything in one place, a tool that records 
  the social setting including notes that can be 
  referenced in later sessions! Here are a few tips 
  for making an r-map work for your group:
   
  ĵ Get a big sheet of paper, large enough to 
  clearly write the names of all the PCs (and 
  most NPCs) with a pen.
   
  ĵ Create a circle for each character 
  with a name and any other details 
  you want to include. Group them 
  toward the center of the sheet.
   
  ĵ Connect lines for each enlace, draw-
  ing an arrow and labeling it with 
  information about the relationship.
   
  ĵ Add NPCs as rectangles, drawing 
  lines to and from them as necessary 
  to explain their relationships as well. 
  Look for opportunities to connect 
  PCs and NPCs on the map.
   
  ĵ Go over the whole r-map again, look-
  ing for implied relationships that are 
  revealed by the map. Keep adding to 
  the map during play!
  After Jahmal, Marissa, and Derrick finish going 
  through all their enlaces, I put everything on the 
  r-map as we go over it a second time. Mina is 
  Santiago’s daughter, and Beto, Derrick’s Halcón, 
  has convinced Mina to let him drive her around 
  while she handles things for her father. I add both 
  those relationships to the r-map, drawing arrows.
  “Santiago, you said that you don’t trust Beto. 
  How do you feel about him helping Mina?”
  “I don’t like it,” Jahmal says. “He’s trouble.”
  I add that relationship to the r-map as well.
  
  86
  ThE PLAybooks
  The basic moves, stress moves, and heat moves 
  work together to create tragic tales of Mexican 
  narcofiction, but the playbooks are a crucial 
  component for staying true to this setting. 
  Cartel wouldn’t be Cartel without these spe-
  cific playbooks, aligned both with each other 
  and with the broader fiction of the drug war. 
  These playbooks give you the tools you need 
  to set up your characters in a way that aligns 
  with Mexican narcofiction, even if you know 
  nothing about it. Everything from the name you 
  pick to the moves you choose to the enlaces you 
  affix to the other characters, all of it is designed 
  to ground you in this time and place: Durango.
  The magic of Cartel is in the combinations, 
  the way these archetypes—the paranoid jefe, 
  the murderous sicaria, the innocent esposa, the 
  clumsy halcón —interact in the specific arrange-
  ment your group chooses. What if La Rata is 
  sleeping with El Polizeta this time? What if La 
  Cocinera is the sister of La Narca, but doesn’t 
  know that her hermana is her employer, a mur-
  derous drug lord? ¡No mames!
  Each playbook is an opportunity to explore 
  a different facet of the setting, a different arena 
  of conflict within the broader drug war. Your 
  choice of playbook sets the stage for the con-
  flicts to come, amigo. Choose wisely.
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  87
  La Lista de Narcos
  Below is a roster of the available playbooks, 
  complete with descriptions and some notes on 
  their primary and weak stats. The complete 
  playbooks—including information on playing 
  each character and advice on specific playbook 
  moves—can be found on the following pages.
  El Cocinero
  Clever, resourceful, and lucky. El Cocinero is a vital 
  part of the cartel’s operation: he cooks the drugs.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Grit, Hustle 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Face
  La Esposa
  Responsible, protective, and vulnerable. La 
  Esposa is an innocent tangled in a web of lies.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Face, Hustle 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Savagery
  El Halcón
  Eager, naïve, and tenacious. El Halcón is “the 
  hawk,” the little bird that reports to his handlers.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Face, Hustle 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Grit
  El Narco
  Beleaguered, wealthy, and dangerous. El Narco 
  is el jefe, put in charge to oversee la plaza.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Face, Savagery 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Hustle
  La Polizeta
  Greedy, two-faced, and corrupt. La Polizeta is 
  an agent for the cartel that’s playing both sides.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Grit, Hustle 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Savagery
  La Rata
  Resilient, brave, and compromised. La Rata is a 
  mole in the cartel whose only way out is through.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Face, Grit 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Hustle
  La Sicaria
  Deadly, veteran, and cold. La Sicaria is a trained 
  cartel enforcer who has survived…so far.
   
  ► Primary Stats: Grit, Savagery 
   
  ► Weak Stat: Face
  More PLAybooks 
  You want more playbooks, cabrón? La 
  Abogángster or La Mariachi? Maybe even a 
  “hero” like La Esperanzada? You have to wait 
  for the Cartel expansion—Sin Fronteras—
  which features those additional archetypes. 
  In the meantime, you can find El Güero in El 
  Águila y La Serpiente, as a digital download or 
  an appendix in the special edition of Cartel.
  
  88
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  88
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  el cocinero
  Clever, resourceful, and lucky. El Cocinero 
  is a vital part of the cartel’s operation: he 
  cooks the drugs. But unlike everyone else 
  involved in this pinche mess, he’s got skills 
  that might be useful to a wealthy pharmacy 
  or even a legitimate universidad. Why risk 
  so much for los carteles? 
  Your Name
  • Consuelo, Isabel, Lourdes, Magda, 
  Rosario, Soledad, or Yolanda
  • Armando, Ignacio, Joaquín, Juan, 
  Miguel, Pedro, Ramon, or Rodrigo
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Clear eyes, cunning eyes, sad eyes, 
  wicked eyes
  • Casual clothes, filthy clothes, 
  professional clothes, work clothes
  Your Gear
  • a stable lifestyle
  • a decent car, two cell phones
  Your Stats
  +0
  +0
  +1
  +1
  -1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  89
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Secrets: Mark xp when you lie to someone 
  close to you about your illicit activities. Clear 
  this key and advance when you finally come 
  clean to someone who trusts you about your 
  lies and deceptions.
   
   Debt: Mark xp when you take on a new loan or 
  strain your finances to meet your family’s needs. 
  Clear this key and advance when you find a way—
  legal or illegal—out from under your obligations.
   
   Arrogance: Mark xp when you use your superior 
  knowledge or experience to verbally shame or 
  abuse someone you care about. Clear this key 
  and advance when you admit to a loved one that 
  you’re in over your head and urgently need help.
  Los Enlaces
  ______________________________ is familia. Close 
  family. They don’t know what you do para el cartel, 
  and you’re not sure you can keep your secrets for long.
  ______________________________ got you into 
  this business to help you with your financial trou-
  bles but didn’t tell you the whole story. Now you’re 
  both stuck.
  You and ______________________________ have 
  an understanding. You need each other for now, but 
  both of you know the current situation won’t last.
  Your Moves
  You get this one and two more:
   
  ■ Cocinar: If you’re stocked and cooking, at the 
  start of session, roll with Grit. On a hit, you make 
  enough to meet your commitments. On a 10+, you 
  also make a little surplus for yourself. On a 7-9,  
  your investment in the operation causes someone 
  close to you to grow suspicious. On a miss, one of 
  your lab’s problems comes to bear con todo.
   
   Ciencia, Cabrón: When you try to juryrig some-
  thing with science, roll with Grit. On a hit, you 
  create an opportunity or buy yourself some time. 
  On a 7-9, your efforts are messy: mark stress. On a 
  miss, you’re missing something rare and illegal or 
  your work fills your stress track, MC’s choice.
   
   Chillón: When you justify yourself with an upsetting 
  emotional outburst, roll with Grit instead of Face.
   
   De Calidad: When you propose a deal that relies 
  on the quality of your product or your special 
  training and skills, roll with Grit instead of Face.
   
   Afortunado: You get +1 Grit (max+3).
   
   Pozolero: When you get rid of a body using chemicals 
  in your lab, roll with Grit. On a 10+, all 3. On a 7-9, pick 1.
  • you aren’t forced to mark stress.
  • you aren’t missing any supplies or equipment.
  • you aren’t interrupted getting it done.
  On a miss, you dispose of the body, but it 
  haunts you. You can’t clear any stress until you 
  find a way to atone for what you’ve done.
  
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  Tu Laboratorio
  By default, your lab (small fixed unstable indebted) is 
  in a basement or warehouse, set up to make cocaine, 
  heroin, or meth, your choice. 
  Choose 2 features:
   
  
  your lab is a food truck or recreational vehicle. 
  Replace fixed with mobile.
   
  
  your lab has professional equipment, capable of larg-
  er cooks. Raise lifestyle; change small to medium.
   
  
  your lab has equipment designed to dispose of 
  dangerous chemicals. Remove unstable.
   
  
  you have an assistant who prepares the chemicals 
  in advance for your cooks. Take +1 ongoing to 
  Cocinar; add payroll.
  Choose 2 troubles:
   
  
  your lab is sometimes inaccessible. Add inconvenient.
   
  
  your lab gives off a byproduct or odor that makes 
  it easy to uncover and report. Add detectable.
   
  
  your lab is poorly secured or locked down against 
  intruders and thieves. Add exposed.
   
  
  your lab relies on uncommon or illegal chemicals. 
  Add shortages.
  Tus Misterios 
  You’ve fallen on hard times. Now you must keep 
  your work secret from the people closest to you. 
  Choose 3:
   
  
  an esposa or novio who asks too many questions.
   
  
  a niño who thinks you’re beyond reproach.
   
  
  an elderly madre or tío who relies on you financially.
   
  
  a prima who works in federal law enforcement.
   
  
  an old coworker who feels badly about your troubles.
   
  
  a community leader who feels responsible for you.
  Advancement 
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Savagery (max+3)
   
  
  choose a new laboratorio feature
   
  
  get a new cocinero move
   
  
  get a new cocinero move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  resolve a laboratorio trouble
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  91
  Playing El Cocinero
  Beyond every other character in Cartel, you 
  defy the logic of the drug war. While others are 
  born to poverty (El Halcón), defined by their 
  ambition (El Narco), or dragged into this mess 
  by a loved one (La Esposa), you are the one narco 
  whose skills are in high demand outside of los 
  carteles. But you’ve rejected a professional career 
  in favor of an illegal, dangerous hustle...
  Your value to the cartels is thus a strength and 
  a weakness. El jefe pays you well—a stable life-
  style!—but you must keep your secrets. A drug 
  cook is worth his weight in meth: other cartels, 
  los federales, and jealous cocineros all want a piece 
  of you, even if they don’t yet know who you are. 
  Loose lips will get you kidnapped…or killed.
  But your high Grit means you’re at your best 
  when times are tough. If you’re in over your 
  head, lean into the chaos and push your luck; 
  you’re far more likely to walk out unscathed 
  when you throw caution to the wind than 
  when you try to justify your lies or pressure 
  someone to go along with your wild plans. 
  And things will get tough, cabrón. You’ve got 
  too many secrets, told too many lies, to walk 
  through this minefield without compromise. 
  But how far will you go? Are you prepared to 
  match the brutality of los narcos to get what 
  you want from the drug war? Or do you need 
  to find a way out before someone you care 
  about gets killed by your naiveté?
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ In order to be fully stocked and cooking with 
  Cocinar, you need access to your lab and 
  enough supplies. If you’re unable to get your 
  hands on either, things fall apart pretty fast: 
  consider your efforts a miss without rolling.
  If you end up with a surplus for yourself, it’s 
  an industrial quantity—at least a kilo of the 
  main drug you’ve decided to produce.
   
  ĵ You don’t need a special set of chemicals to 
  juryrig something with Ciencia, Cabrón. A 
  janitorial supply closet in any office building is 
  enough químicos for you to work your magic.
   
  ĵ There’s no blueprint for atonement if you 
  miss on Pozolero. You just have to find a 
  way to make it right, muchacho. Some way.
   
  ĵ Your laboratorio starts out as a small, immo-
  bile, dangerous location under the cartel’s 
  control. Your features might change that—
  making it mobile or removing troubles—but 
  your lab is part of the broader fiction. If it’s 
  hard to access, that’s always an issue, even if 
  you don’t miss when you roll Cocinar.
  Inspirations for El Cocinero
   
  ► Lance & Jody, Pulp Fiction
   
  ► Nancy Price Botwin, Weeds
   
  ► Walter White, Breaking Bad
  
  92
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  92
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  la esposA
  Responsible, protective, and vulnerable. La 
  Esposa is an innocent tangled in a web of 
  lies, the spouse of another character who 
  has become enmeshed in a conflict she 
  might not even know exists. But the drug 
  war infects everything, and the thin veneer 
  cannot last. What will she do when it falls?
  Your Name
  • Andrea, Carolina, Dolores, Esperanza, 
  Gloria, Paula, Sofía, or Victoria
  • Alberto, Antonio, Carlos, Francisco, 
  Manny, Martín, Pablo, or Rolando
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Bright eyes, cold eyes, focused eyes, 
  wide eyes
  • Casual clothes, hi-femme clothes, 
  luxury clothes, professional clothes
  Your Gear
  • your spouse’s lifestyle 
  • a reasonable car, a cell phone, and a 
  cheap laptop
  Your Stats
  -2
  -1
  +1
  +0
  +1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  93
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Loyalty: Mark xp when you accept the lies or 
  half-truths of a trusted friend or lover. Clear this 
  key and advance when you confront a loved one 
  with evidence of their betrayals and deceptions.
   
   Family: Mark xp when you violate your family 
  members’ boundaries to protect them. Clear this 
  key and advance when you allow one of them to 
  be harmed when you could have intervened.
   
   Pride: Mark xp when you claim an asset on the 
  grounds that you or your family deserves it. Clear 
  this key and advance when you give up something 
  to keep yourself or a loved one safe from harm.
  Los Enlaces
  ______________________________ and your 
  spouse spend time together, but you’d prefer it if they 
  weren’t involved in your life. Tell them what they did 
  to anger you.
  ______________________________ es familia. A 
  sibling, maybe, or a cousin. Someone close. They mean 
  well, but you worry about them. Tell them your fears.
  ______________________________ and you were 
  a thing back in the day, but it never went anywhere. 
  Most people don’t know about it; you were young 
  once también.
  Your Moves
  You get this one and two more:
   
  ■ Amor y Matrimonio: You are the only one who can 
  be trusted to protect la familia. Take +1 ongoing when 
  you try to get one of them to do the right thing.
   
   Me Lo Chingué: When you reveal that you be-
  trayed a lover or friend, tell them to fill their stress 
  track; you clear one stress for each stress they mark. 
  If their stress track is already full, they must imme-
  diately make a stress move; you clear one stress.
   
   Reina del Drama: When you put on a dramatic 
  performance to get out of a sticky situation, 
  you can mark stress instead of rolling to push 
  your luck as if you rolled a 10+.
   
   Perderse: When you lose yourself in anoth-
  er person, roll with Face. On a hit, you find 
  solace in their embrace; clear your stress track. 
  On a 7-9, they see you truly; they can ask one 
  question and you must answer it honestly. On 
  a miss, your dalliance leads you to neglect a key 
  obligation to disastrous effect.
   
   Comer Algo: When you share a meal with 
  someone, roll with Face. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 
  7-9, hold 1. You can spend your hold while you’re 
  eating together to ask their player questions:
  • What do you want from me / my family?
  • What threat do you pose to us / our life?
  • Who are you protecting / hunting?
  On a miss, hold 1, but you let slip your secret 
  fears about your family or spouse to your guest.
  
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  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  94
  La Familia
  Ask everyone else “Who is willing to be my spouse?” Pick 
  whomever you like. If no one volunteers,  choose an NPC.
  Choose 5 obligations you perform for la familia: 
  pregnant/finalizing adoption, new baby, preschool child, 
  high school student, stepchild, corporate job, established 
  home business, new business, real estate license, social 
  service job, managing family finances, elderly grandpar-
  ent, troubled sibling, school association, nonprofit board, 
  parish volunteer, dinner parties, gossip and rumors
  And choose 2 secrets you keep from la familia:
   
  
  +nest egg: you put away some serious cash in a 
  secret stash ($20,000!) for a rainy day.
   
  
  +addiction: some nasty drug has a hold on you.
   
  
  +affair: you have another love…or at least another 
  lover you spend time with.
   
  
  +debt: your spending has put you in a tough 
  place, beyond what your family currently knows.
   
  
  +lovechild: you have a secret child that requires 
  attention…and money.
  Whenever there is a stretch of downtime in play (or 
  between sessions), roll with Hustle. On a 10+, you juggle 
  your responsibilities with grace; clear your stress track. 
  On a 7-9, one of your obligations (your choice) becomes 
  unmanageable; the MC will tell you who might be able 
  to assist. On a miss, your secrets and obligations clash 
  with disastrous results; tell the MC what went wrong.
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Face (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  change 2 obligations de la familia
   
  
  get a new esposa move
   
  
  get a new esposa move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  permanently resolve a secret
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your spouse’s lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  95
  Playing La Esposa
  At first, La Esposa seems like a strange playbook 
  to place alongside La Sicaria or El Halcón. How 
  engaging can scenes about parent-teacher meet-
  ings or household finances be when your hus-
  band is about to be tortured by Los Zetas?
  But your normalcy is exactly what makes the 
  playbook interesting! You’re tied to these foolish 
  narcos—caught up in their dangerous struggle—
  but you have your own hopes and dreams, your 
  own thoughts about what matters. The contrast 
  between your mundane obligations and the cha-
  os of the drug war makes both feel more real.
  You don’t have to be completely ignorant 
  of your spouse’s true role, not even at the 
  start. You might have a fairly strong sense of 
  what your spouse is doing, but you know that 
  specifics come with costs. Eventually, you may 
  find you need to seize the reins of power for 
  yourself to chart a course for la familia; some 
  Esposas end up as narcos, after all. 
  To that end, you have a number of tools to 
  manipulate the stress of other PCs, pressuring 
  them to meet your demands when they would 
  otherwise ignore your influence. Your words are 
  as dangerous as any pistola when used correctly.
  That said, it’s inevitable that all the secrets—
  yours and your spouse’s—will come to light. 
  When they do, will you find it in your heart to 
  forgive and forget? Or will such honesty trigger 
  a cascade of betrayal that ends with your familia 
  shattered against the rocks of the drug war?
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ Amor y Matrimonio gives you a +1 ongoing to 
  all moves you might use to convince a family 
  member to take action—justify your behavior, 
  pressure someone, push your luck, etc.
   
  ĵ The performance required for Reina del 
  Drama has to be con todos: crying, wailing, 
  fainting. You’ve got to sell it, chica!
   
  ĵ Perderse only triggers if you lose yourself in 
  physical intimacy with another person. You 
  might connect with your spouse through 
  this move, but other lovers also suffice. 
   
  ĵ You can choose any obligations or secrets 
  for La Familia, even if they seem to con-
  tradict each other: you might be seriously 
  in debt and have $20,000 hidden behind a 
  painting in your basement.
   
  ĵ If you get a 10+ on your downtime roll with 
  Hustle, you clear all the stress you have 
  marked, including the two stress you would 
  normally mark at the start of the session.
  Inspiration for La Esposa
   
  ► Brianna Barksdale, The Wire
   
  ► Stanley Hill, Good Girls
   
  ► Carmela Soprano, The Sopranos
   
  ► Skyler White, Breaking Bad
  
  96
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  96
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  Eager, naïve, and tenacious. El Halcón 
  is “the hawk,” the little bird that reports 
  to his handlers and ensures that no one 
  important is ever too close to the drugs or 
  money. But his reach exceeds his grasp. 
  What will los jefes do when they realize 
  that he’s in over his head...again?
  Your Name
  • Ale, Britany, Carolina, Cecilia, Juanita, 
  Lupita, Malena, or Paty
  • Beto, Brayan, Diego, Enrique, Felipe, 
  José, Mateo, Pepe, or Toño
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Lazy eyes, sharp eyes, tired eyes, 
  quick eyes
  • Casual clothes, gang clothes, 
  street clothes, work clothes
  Your Gear
  • a destitute lifestyle 
  • a 9mm (close loud), a shit car or truck, 
  burner phones from your handlers
  eL HalCon
  Your Stats
  +0
  +1
  +0
  -1
  +1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  97
  Tus Llaves (choose 2)
   
   Ambition: Mark xp when you get someone 
  important to let you handle some business 
  on their behalf. Clear this key and advance 
  when you seize the day and ask for forgiveness 
  instead of permission.
   
   Duty: Mark xp when you complete a task or 
  assignment for your superiors or colleagues. Clear 
  this key and advance when you intentionally 
  thwart the goals of your organization or employer.
   
   Daring: Mark xp when you willingly enter a per-
  ilous situation without precautions or deception. 
  Clear this key and advance when you retreat from 
  a messy situation instead of risking further failure. 
  Los Enlaces
  ______________________________ gave you 
  some new responsibilities lately, at your request. 
  They have their doubts, but you’ll prove them 
  wrong soon.
  ______________________________ disapproves 
  of your cartel work, and wants to get you out. You’re 
  not a chamaco; you can handle your own business.
  You and ______________________________ have 
  a plan to make some real money. They worry it’s not 
  going to work, but you know it’s a sure thing, cabrón.
  Your Moves
  You get this one and two more:
   
  ■ Hermanos: When you try to get your pandilla 
  to follow your lead on something dangerous, 
  costly, or out of the ordinary, roll with Hustle. 
  On a 10+, all 3. On a 7-9, choose 1:
  • they all go along with the plan
  • they follow your instructions precisely
  • they don’t demand drugs, cash, or answers
  On a miss, your pandilla fights amongst itself 
  about mierda you thought was settled, screwing 
  up your plans before you even start.
   
   Mercado: When you sell product on the street, 
  roll with Hustle. On a 10+, sales are brisk; clear 
  your stress track. On a 7-9, you make some 
  money, but someone takes issue with your 
  crew; clear one stress. On a miss, someone 
  takes a run at you, and it probably isn’t the cops.
   
   Bendito: When you’re completely focused on 
  escaping, push your luck with Hustle instead of 
  Grit. Add +1 to your roll if you get fucking shot 
  while trying to flee.
   
   Vendedor: When you propose a deal to someone 
  and they pick an option off the 7-9 list you don’t 
  like, mark stress to make them pick a different 
  option off the list. You can do this multiple 
  times, provided you can keep marking stress.
   
   Matador: Fill your stress track—marking at 
  least one stress—to turn to violence against an 
  unsuspecting target as if you rolled a 10+.
  
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  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  98
  Tu Pandilla
  By default, your pandilla has three loyal amigos 
  you’ve known a while. Give them names: 
  Azul, Blanco, Calaca, Charo, Chino, Flaco, Gordo, 
  Lola, Moco, Nacho, Paco, Raki, Torpe, Zanahoria
  • Who is there to cheer you up when mierda 
  gets tough?
  • Who is a real pendejo, but you just can’t cut 
  them loose?
  • Who is truly solid, ready to entrarle and get 
  things done when you need them?
  Choose 2 features:
   
  
  your crew has crews that work for you, cabrón. Your 
  crew becomes a gang (small untrained unequipped).
   
  
  your crew is down for a fiesta. Roll with Hustle instead 
  of Grit when you all get lost in a substance together.
   
  
  your crew is down for a fight. Roll with Hustle instead 
  of Savagery when you dish out a beatdown as a crew.
   
  
  your crew is in touch with high-level smugglers and 
  producers from other cartels. It gets +connected.
   
  
  your crew is employed outside the cartel, officially or 
  unofficially. Take +1 when you strain your finances.
  Choose 2 vulnerabilities:
   
  
  your crew is on la policía’s radar: +known.
   
  
  your crew is into heavy stuff: +addiction.
   
  
  your crew owes favors to someone: +obligation.
   
  
  your crew has enemies, cabrón: +turf war.
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Face (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  choose a new pandilla feature
   
  
  get a new halcón move
   
  
  get a new halcón move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  remove a pandilla vulnerability
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  99
  Playing El Halcón
  El Halcón is always in the mix, running from task 
  to task while trying to make the best of the mess-
  es he tends to make. If you’re looking for a Cartel 
  playbook that never gets boring, look no further!
  As a halcón, you’re the errand boy for the 
  narcos, the first person they call when a dirty 
  job they don’t want to do needs doing. They 
  don’t trust you so much as know you probably 
  aren’t stupid enough to intentionally cause 
  trouble. And they accept that you and your 
  crew might cause them trouble anyway.
  Your pandilla is a useful asset, even if those 
  pinches pendejos sometimes fall to fighting 
  with each other instead of following your lead. 
  But if you get them on the same page, you can 
  easily outnumber someone or catch a target in 
  a vulnerable position. There’s four of you!
  At the same time, your pandilla is also one 
  of your greatest vulnerabilities. You’re a mem-
  ber of the cartel, a trusted agent—to some!—
  but your crew is made up of folks who think 
  you’re one of the toughest cabrones they 
  know.  They have no idea of the violence La 
  Sicaria or El Narco is truly capable of unleash-
  ing. But you do, güey. You absolutely do.
  And that’s the real question: whose side are 
  you on in this war? You have a chance to move 
  up in los carteles, to prove yourself to los jefes 
  when things get messy. Are you prepared to do 
  what it takes to meet their expectations, even 
  if it means leaving your amigos behind?
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ Hermanos triggers when you try to pressure 
  or convince your crew to follow your lead. 
  Use it instead of making moves individually 
  targeting each member of the pandilla. 
   
  ĵ If you generate cash with Mercado, it’s likely 
  that you have come into a (relatively) large 
  sum of money if you strain your finances. 
  But first you’ve got to get the drugs to sell!
   
  ĵ You are only completely focused on escaping if 
  that’s your sole goal in the scene. If you want 
  to knock down a sicario to protect someone 
  first, then you aren’t completely focused on 
  getting out of the situation quite yet.
   
  ĵ You can’t fill your stress track to trigger 
  Matador if your stress track is already full. 
  You need to be able to mark at least one 
  stress to claim the benefit of the move.
   
  ĵ If your pandilla is down for a fiesta or a 
  fight, they must all be present for you to roll 
  with Hustle instead of the normal stat.
  Inspirations for El Halcón
   
  ► Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad
   
  ► Melanie Ralston, Jackie Brown
   
  ► Belini, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
   
  ► Bodie Broadus, The Wire
  
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  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  100
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  Beleaguered, wealthy, and dangerous. 
  El Narco is el jefe, put in charge by los 
  carteles to oversee la plaza. He is nearly 
  untouchable by most, but he is beset by 
  threats large and small. Can he hold his 
  throne in spite of the sword that looms 
  above his crowned head? 
  Your Name
  • Alejandra, Beatriz, Guadalupe, María 
  Elena, María Luisa, or Raquel
  • Alfonso, Damián, Fernando, Guillermo, 
  Isidro, Juan Carlos, or Santiago
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Angry eyes, focused eyes, skeptical eyes, 
  warm eyes
  • Junta clothes, luxury clothes,  
  buchón clothes, ranchero clothes
  Your Gear
  • a lifestyle based on your plaza
  • an expensive sidearm (close loud), a 
  luxury car, and a burner phone
  eL narCo
  Your Stats
  +2
  +1
  -1
  +0
  +1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  101
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Dirty Hands: Mark xp when you personal-
  ly tackle a messy problem instead of sending 
  goons. Clear this key and advance when you send 
  someone to deal with a problem you should have 
  attended to directly. 
   
   Family: Mark xp when you violate your family 
  members’ boundaries to protect them. Clear this 
  key and advance when you allow one of them to 
  be harmed when you could have intervened.
   
   Paranoia: Mark xp when you try to get the 
  truth out of someone about their true loyalties. 
  Clear this key and advance when you expose 
  someone’s betrayal to their family or employer.
  Los Enlaces
  ______________________________ is familia, but 
  you’ve tried to shield them from the worst of the car-
  tel. Tell them what they know about your dealings.
  You’re sure ______________________________ is 
  up to something, maybe with another cartel or los 
  federales. Keep your eyes open, cabrón. Trust no one.
  You’ve taken ______________________________ 
  under your wing. You respect their skills and talents, 
  and you want to see them thrive. ¡Qué generoso!
  Your Moves
  You get these two moves:
   
  ■ La Plaza: At the beginning of the session, roll 
  with Control. On a hit, you get an opportunity 
  to engage one of your troubles (your choice) on 
  your terms. On a 7-9, the opportunity is short-
  lived and risky: act quickly or you may find 
  that you miss your moment. On a miss, one (or 
  more) of your troubles catches you in a vulnera-
  ble spot, jefe, before you can adjust.
   
  ■ Mandamás: When you order your enforcers or 
  agents to solve a problem on your behalf, roll 
  with Face. On a 10+, all 3. On a 7-9, choose 1.
  • they keep their wits and focus.
  • they minimize incriminating evidence.
  • they avoid collateral damage.
  On a miss, everything goes to shit, but it wasn’t 
  your people’s fault. You know how it is, jefe: no 
  plan survives contact with the enemy.
  El Jefe de Jefes
  You run la plaza, a pathway for narcos hoping to 
  move product across the border. The city of Duran-
  go is yours as long as you hold it, jefe.
  When you took control, the cartel gave you a contact 
  who collects what you owe. You only know their 
  nickname, so you can’t sell them out (pick one): 
  Barbie, Basura, Bruja, Chuke, Chuy, Chata, Lancha, 
  Luchi, Mochomo, Osito, Puerca, Roco, Selena, Z-36
  
  102
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  102
  La Plaza
  By default, you’ve got:
  • a staff of unsophisticated narcos, coor-
  dinated via a network of burner phones 
  (trouble: +los federales)
  • a mix of protection rackets and smuggling 
  operations (lifestyle: stable)
  • 5-10 loyal enforcers (gang small untrained hard) 
  and a few corrupt federales (greedy informed)
  • a few halcones to keep you informed about 
  what goes on in your city (Control = +1)
  Plaza Features (Choose 4)
   
  
  your plaza is profitable, bringing in substantial, obvious 
  sums. Lifestyle: +1 level & trouble: +robberies.
   
  
  for income, add kidnapping. Lifestyle: +1 level  
  & trouble: +vigilantes.
   
  
  your enforcers have access to military weaponry and 
  body armor. Add armored and armed to your gang.
   
  
  you have a reputation for violence. Roll with Face 
  instead of Hustle when you pressure someone by 
  threatening their life, limbs, or loved ones. 
   
  
  your enforcers have extensive military training. Drop 
  untrained and add savage. Take +1 when you order 
  kidnappings or ambushes.
   
  
  your enforcers recruit heavily from the local population, 
  making them a medium gang (10-20) instead of small.
   
  
  you have halcones at all chokepoints and smuggling 
  roads. +1 Control.
   
  
  only a few know your real name and appearance. -2 heat; 
  describe the business you use as a cover for your activities.
  Plaza Troubles (Choose 2)
   
  
  you are in the middle of a violent dispute with another 
  cartel, probably Los Zetas. Trouble: +gang war.
   
  
  your plaza has been recently infiltrated by someone working 
  for los federales or the CIA/DEA. Trouble: +mole.
   
  
  the narcos you displaced to take control of  la plaza 
  remain at large. - 1 Control. Trouble: +rivals.
   
  
  greedy agents of the Mexican tax authority (SHCP) are 
  bleeding you dry with increasingly expensive demands 
  for bribes and mordidas. -1 lifestyle.
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Face (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Savagery (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Control (max +3)
   
  
  choose a new plaza feature
   
  
  choose a new plaza feature
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat except Control (max+3)
   
  
  permanently resolve a plaza trouble
   
  
  permanently resolve a plaza trouble
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  103
  Playing El Narco
  Heavy is the head that wears the crown, jefe. And 
  your crown is especially weighty: a plaza filled 
  with opportunity and opposition in equal mea-
  sure, a golden goose that lays deadly eggs that 
  belong to you. Or rather, that belong to the jefes 
  de jefes who hide in the mountains of Sinaloa.
  Make no mistake: you’re as trapped in all this 
  as anyone else, caught between the top of the 
  Sinaloa Cartel and everyone who works for you. 
  You cannot show weakness. You cannot stum-
  ble. You may be the largest shark in these wa-
  ters, but you are not the only thing with teeth. 
  In fact, there’s nothing in your playbook that 
  says you’re a villain! You might be someone truly 
  forced into this position, a fool who thinks he 
  can domesticate the drug war or a visionary who 
  wants to see things run differently. You don’t 
  have to be a monster to rule la plaza.
  However you came to power, you must 
  learn to wield it to keep it. Don’t fall into the 
  habit of sitting back and waiting for things to 
  unfold. Find reasons to put your own boots on 
  the ground, demand scenes with other charac-
  ters to get what you want, and never be afraid 
  to make a personal appearance. The streets 
  remember the faces they see most of all.
  Will your name ring out? Or will your reign 
  as El Narco be a fleeting footnote next to the 
  stories of men and women who held Durango 
  for far longer than you?
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ Your plaza’s troubles aren’t directly affected by 
  La Plaza. No matter your roll, your enemigos 
  y problemas plague your operation. If you hit 
  on La Plaza, however, you get a chance to 
  approach your troubles on your terms; if you 
  miss, they catch you in a bad spot instead.
   
  ĵ Mandamás only triggers when you send out 
  your sicarios y matones to deal with a problem 
  on their own. If you or another player charac-
  ter goes with them, the move doesn’t trigger. 
   
  ĵ Your features and troubles for your plaza 
  are cumulative: if you choose +robberies 
  and +mole, then your plaza is beset by both 
  thieves and snitches. 
   
  ĵ You must directly pressure someone with vio-
  lent threats if you wish to use Face instead of 
  Hustle. Your reputation alone isn’t enough. 
  Inspirations for El Narco
   
  ► Frank Costello, The Departed
   
  ► Ma-Ma, Judge Dredd
   
  ► Don Barillo, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
   
  ► Helena Ayala, Traffic
   
  ► Avon Barksdale, The Wire
  
  104
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  104
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  Greedy, two-faced, and corrupt. La Polizeta 
  is an agent for the cartel that’s playing both 
  sides, reporting on the work of Durango’s 
  anti-cartel task force to the very people 
  los federales are hunting. It’s a dangerous 
  game, but she knows the truth of the drug 
  war: no one can win, no matter the side. 
  Your Name
  • Coco, Isabel, Luz, Marisol, Mercedes, 
  Silvia, Tilde, or Yoli
  • Bimbo, Eduardo, Gustavo, Javi, Lacho, 
  Luis, Teto, or Vicente
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Clever eyes, dead eyes, watchful eyes, 
  young eyes
  • Business clothes, plain clothes, 
  street clothes, uniform clothes
  Your Gear
  • a stable lifestyle
  • a government vehicle, a 9mm service 
  weapon (close loud)
  • a work cellphone and two SIM cards
  la PolizETa
  Your Stats
  -1
  -1
  +1
  +1
  +0
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  105
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Schemes: Mark xp when you take advantage of 
  someone who believes you’re working on their be-
  half. Clear this key and advance when you openly 
  choose one of your loyalties over the other.
   
   Debt: Mark xp when you take on a new loan or 
  strain your finances to meet your family’s needs. 
  Clear this key and advance when you find a way—
  legal or illegal—out from under your obligations.
   
   Pride: Mark xp when you claim an asset on the 
  grounds that you or your family deserves it. Clear 
  this key and advance when you give up something 
  to keep yourself or a loved one safe from harm.
  Los Enlaces
  You grew up with ____________________________ 
  on the streets of Durango. You still have a beer after 
  work if you’re both free; it’s nice to know someone 
  who isn’t involved with either side of your double life.
  ______________________________ is the target 
  of an active investigation. You’re not the lead inves-
  tigator, but you’re regularly briefed on the case.
  ______________________________ is your main 
  contact in the cartel. Tell them where you two go to 
  speak directly when you need a face-to-face meeting.
  Your Moves
  You get this one and two more:
   
  ■ Infiltrado: At the start of session, roll with Grit. 
  On a hit, you get wind of a development in the 
  anti-cartel case before things get messy. On a 10+, 
  you can take advantage of the situation: you have 
  access to vital evidence or witnesses, your choice. 
  On a miss, the department catches a hot lead 
  before you can intervene. A la verga.
   
   Seguir: When you follow someone through the 
  streets, roll with Grit. On a hit, where they go, 
  you follow. On a 7-9, you overstep; mark a stress 
  to avoid being spotted. On a miss, you end up 
  exposed without backup or cover. ¡Mierda!
   
   Verdadero: When you get the truth from some-
  one during an official interrogation, pick an 
  extra option, even on a miss. 
   
   Siempre Listo: Mark stress to show up in a scene 
  alongside la policía or los federales, assuming that 
  you aren’t unavailable. Mark three stress to show 
  up instead of the authorities; you’ll have a few min-
  utes solo in the scene before anybody else arrives.
   
   Escolta: When you draw attention away from 
  someone, they can roll with your Heat instead of 
  their own. On a 10+, they suffer the consequenc-
  es...but you attract demasiada attention: raise 
  your Heat by 1 until the end of the next session.
   
   Entrenamiento: When you turn to violence after 
  declaring yourself as a federal, roll with Grit in-
  stead of Savagery. If you get shot, take +1 forward.
  
  106
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  106
  Anti-Cartel Task Force
  You work for los federales on an anti-cartel task-
  force assigned to Durango. You’ve been a federal 
  for a while, but you were recently assigned to this 
  region and city. Tell the MC why you’ve returned 
  to your hometown.
  You work closely with 5 NPCs (at least) in the unit: 
  Delgado, Moreno, Ortiz, Reyes, Zamora
  Who is your new partner? ____________________
  Who is suspicious of you? ____________________
  You also work with a few NPCs from the cartel: 
  Elisa, Esteban, Gata, Tomás, Zola
  Who almost gave you away? __________________
  Who offered to scam el narco? _________________
  Equipo Federal
  The anti-cartel task force has acquired some new 
  toys—¡gracias, Calderón!—you can use, provided 
  you have some “official” business (pick 2):
   
  
  military-grade body armor (resilient bulky)
   
  
  full-scale surveillance van (hi-tech expensive)
   
  
  tracking devices or bugs (hi-tech concealable)
   
  
  court-approved wiretap (hi-tech persistent)
   
  
  network of criminal informants (informed costly)
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Face (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  choose a new department toy
   
  
  get a new polizeta move
   
  
  get a new polizeta move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  get promoted to lieutenant
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  107
  Playing La Polizeta
  In some ways, La Polizeta is the most familiar 
  character in Cartel: roleplaying games often 
  focus on the work of law enforcement, brave 
  men and women fighting for la comunidad 
  amidst crime, chaos, and corruption. But the 
  truth of the drug war is never so simple.
  You grew up in Durango, but you’ve returned 
  with new eyes. You see the inevitability of all 
  of this, the way the drug war turns hermano 
  against hermano, madre against hija. You know 
  that nothing will change until everything 
  changes, until it all comes crashing down.
  But your reasons for turning against your 
  fellow federales are your own. Perhaps you 
  convinced yourself earning El Narco’s trust is the 
  best way to strike a blow against him; maybe you 
  like the lifestyle that comes with briefcases full 
  of cash. No matter your logic, you’ve committed. 
  No going back, cabrón. Not outside of a coffin.
  Your only hope is to stay ahead of both sides 
  long enough to get what you want, justifying 
  yourself when things get messy. You know 
  everything they know, and you see what they 
  cannot see. You can offer just enough to los 
  federales and los carteles to make sure they both 
  think of you as a vital to their operation.
  Can you live with what you have to do—who 
  you have to kill—to fill the void in the hearts of 
  both sides? Or will you come up short at the last 
  moment with a sudden burst of conscience?
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ When you follow someone using Seguir, a 7-9 
  result means that you’ve drawn too close to 
  your target or otherwise alerted them. If you 
  don’t mark a stress, they both know you’re 
  there and have an opportunity to react.
   
  ĵ You need to get your target into a formal 
  interrogation to use Verdadero. It doesn’t 
  count as an interrogation unless it’s on the 
  record, at a station, in front of cops, etc.
   
  ĵ You can use Siempre Listo any time the MC 
  declares that la policía or los federales are 
  entering the scene. If you mark three stress,  
  you enter instead of the authorities; the 
  MC has to wait for a bit before any other 
  cops can arrive in the scene. 
   
  ĵ You must openly (and loudly) declare that 
  you’re a federal to get all the benefits of En-
  trenamiento. If things go to shit before you 
  get out your badge, you’re out of luck.
  Inspirations for La Polizeta
   
  ► Colin Sullivan, The Departed
   
  ► Capitán Ramírez, El Infierno
   
  ► Norman Stansfield, The Professional
   
  ► Alonzo Harris, Training Day
   
  ► Ajedrez Barillo, Once Upon a Time  
  in Mexico
  
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  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  108
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  Resilient, brave, and compromised. La 
  Rata is a mole in the cartel whose only 
  way out is through. Los federales—maybe 
  the Americans too—have made promises, 
  offers to help her escape from los carteles 
  with life and limb intact in exchange for 
  her help. Can she collect what she’s owed 
  before el narco discovers her betrayal?
  Your Name
  • Adriana, Fiona, Laura, Luna, Maite, 
  Micaela,  Teresa, or Verónica
  • Álvaro, Arturo, César, Jorge, Marco, 
  Oscar, Rafael, or Ricardo
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Clear eyes, pained eyes, sad eyes, 
  worn-out eyes
  • Casual clothes, gang clothes, 
  street clothes, uniform clothes
  Your Gear
  • an impoverished lifestyle
  • a reliable car, an old revolver (close 
  loud), and a burner phone
  la rata
  Your Stats
  +1
  +0
  -1
  +1
  +1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  109
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Guilt: Mark xp when you confess a recent 
  betrayal or deception to someone you shouldn’t 
  trust. Clear this key and advance when you use 
  a moment of intimacy to trick someone into 
  advancing your schemes.
   
   Mercy: Mark xp when you try to head off a violent 
  encounter with negotiation or persuasion. Clear 
  this key and advance when you greatly injure or 
  kill someone who is defenseless or unaware.
   
   Paranoia: Mark xp when you try to get the 
  truth out of someone about their true loyalties. 
  Clear this key and advance when you expose 
  someone’s betrayal to their family or employer.
  Los Enlaces
  ______________________________ knows you’re 
  an informant. They haven’t told anyone, but they’ve 
  started to blackmail you to get what they want.
  ______________________________ works with you 
  regularly on cartel business. You don’t trust them, but 
  you’re confident they don’t know your secrets…yet.
  You and ______________________________ started 
  sleeping together a few weeks ago. Tell them why you 
  haven’t been able to end things, despite the dangers. 
  Your Moves
  You get this one and two more:
   
  ■ Conectada: When you go looking for a cartel 
  güey in la plaza to help with a problem, name 
  them and roll with Face. On a hit, you track 
  them down and they’ve got what you need. On 
  a 7-9, pick 1. On a 10+, both.
  • They aren’t caught up in their own problems.
  • You don’t owe them a favor or apology.
  On a miss, something has made them suspicious. 
  Tell the MC what you did to make them nervioso. 
   
   Escapar: When you try to exit a tense situation, roll 
  with Face. On a 10+, you’re gone! On a 7-9, you leave 
  something behind or take something with you, your 
  choice. On a miss, you’re exposed por completo...
   
   Amante: When you share a night of intimacy 
  with a lover, roll with Face. On a hit, clear your 
  stress track. On a 10+, ask 2. On a 7-9, ask 1.
  • What do you know about _________?
  • What do you want from _________?
  • What is _________ planning to do?
  On a miss, you let them get too close: they uncov-
  er a secret you were hiding before you intervene.
   
   Chismosa: When you betray a friend or ally to the 
  authorities, roll with Face. On a 10+, your treason 
  is useful and valued: clear your stress track. On a 
  7-9, your handler is pleased...and demands more: 
  clear one stress. On a miss, the authorities act on 
  your info in a way that puts you in the crosshairs. 
   
   Mentirosa: You get +1 Face (max+3).
  
  110
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  110
  El Trabajo Sucio
  You are one of el narco’s trusted lieutenants…but 
  you’ve decided to betray the cartel. 
  Choose a reason:
   
  
  you’re tired of all the killing and death.
   
  
  you lost family or a loved one to el narco.
   
  
  you want to move up in the organization.
   
  
  you were arrested and flipped to avoid jail.
   
  
  you’re an undercover cop on assignment.
  You work regularly with 5 narco NPCs (at least):
  Elisa, Esteban, Gata, Tomás, Zola
  Who is always asking for help? ______________
  Who suspects your treachery? ______________
  You go wherever they send you, but your crew tends to a 
  few parts of el narco’s business in la plaza on the regular.
  Choose 2 sets of duties:
   
  
  cutting, packaging, y preparing drug shipments
   
  
  counting money, tracking payments, y accounting
   
  
  organizing el narco’s enforcers, sicarios, y halcones
   
  
  collecting protection money from businesses, los 
  ricos,  y los políticos
   
  
  protecting el narco’s esposa, niños, y padres
  Supervivencia
  You are a survivor, a rata who will not be drowned 
  just because this sinking ship of a plaza is finally 
  dragged beneath the surface of the drug war.
  You can mark stress to:
  • take a 10+ instead of rolling when you interfere 
  with someone trying to get the truth out of you. 
  • offer a PC an xp to accept your reasoning when 
  you justify your behavior, even on a miss.
  • take +1 when you get fucking shot by another 
  narco who suspects your treachery.
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Face (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Savagery (max+3)
   
  
  get an NPC ally (detail with MC)
   
  
  get a new rata move
   
  
  get a new rata move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  get 4 weapons y 4 gear (La Sicaria)
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  111
  Playing La Rata
  Every playbook in Cartel is caught in a bad 
  spot, trapped between irreconcilable interests 
  and motivations, but few are as lonely as you. 
  You’ve abandoned one side of the war for the 
  other, but you haven’t yet crossed enemy lines. 
  You awaken each day surrounded by death.
  But you chose this path. It was not thrust 
  upon you without reason. Whether you have 
  simply tired of the game or have an ideological 
  reason to undermine el narco, your betrayal 
  has a purpose. You are meant to accomplish 
  something and you cannot rest until it’s done.
  Your only saving grace is that you slid your 
  knife into the ribs of people who still trust you. 
  You count their money, protect their children, 
  handle their drugs, recruit their sicarios. As long 
  as you keep up appearances (and keep marking 
  stress), you can maintain the illusion of loyalty. 
  You’re a survivor. ¡No hay pedo!
  But los federales might screw it all up. They’re 
  lurking in the background, asking questions, 
  demanding more information. They are allies, 
  in a sense, but you have to hold them to their 
  promises; they are no more trustworthy than 
  you are, and you’re a rat on a sinking ship.
  Before you drown, you must answer the 
  toughest questions of all: who do you trust? 
  Is it los federales, the people who say they can 
  help you escape? Or is it some narco you’ve 
  known for decades, an amigo who might save 
  you from all this? The clock is ticking…
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ You don’t need a previously established 
  NPC narco to go looking for help with 
  Conectada. Just tell the MC whom you’re 
  looking for and what they do for los carteles. 
  From that point, the MC will make the NPC 
  a part of the plaza.
   
  ĵ You have to give los federales or the Americans 
  useful dirt to trigger Chismosa. Even then, 
  they might still fuck it up or demand more.
   
  ĵ You must mark the stress before rolling to 
  get a 10+ on interfering with someone try-
  ing to get the truth out of you. You can’t roll 
  and then decide you would have marked 
  the stress for the 10+ instead of rolling. You 
  must likewise mark the stress before rolling 
  to get a +1 when you get fucking shot.
   
  ĵ On the other hand, you can mark stress to 
  offer a PC an xp to accept your reasoning any-
  time after your roll to justify your behavior. 
  Inspirations for La Rata
   
  ► Billy Costigan, The Departed
   
  ► Jackie Brown, Jackie Brown
   
  ► Ava Crowder, Justified
   
  ► Stringer Bell, The Wire
   
  ► Billy Chambers, Once Upon a Time  
  in Mexico
  
  112
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  112
  FACE
  GRIT
  HUSTLE
  HEAT
  SAVAGERY
  Add +1 to one of these stats: 
  Face, Grit, Hustle, Savagery
  Deadly, veteran, and cold. La Sicaria is a 
  trained cartel enforcer who has seen the 
  worst of the drug war and survived…so 
  far. She’s retired before, but it’s hard to find 
  peace if you’ve developed a particular set of 
  skills. Is there a future for her in Durango 
  or just a violent death that’s long overdue? 
  Your Name
  • Alma, Alicia, Josefina, Leticia, Mina, 
  Pera, Raquel, or Rocio
  • Ángel, Gabriel, Héctor, Jesús, Lorenzo, 
  Ruy, Tiburón, or Vibora
  Your Look
  • Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing
  • Blank eyes, somber eyes, quiet eyes, 
  wild eyes
  • Casual clothes, luxury clothes, military 
  clothes, street clothes
  Your Gear
  • an impoverished lifestyle
  • a reliable car or truck, and a few burners
  • specialized weapons and gear (extra)
  la sicaRia
  Your Stats
  +1
  +1
  +0
  +1
  -1
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  113
  Tus Llaves (Choose 2)
   
   Indomitable: Mark xp when you go into battle 
  significantly outgunned or outmanned. Clear 
  this key and advance when you surrender to 
  your enemies instead of fighting your way out 
  of a messy situation.
   
   Mercy: Mark xp when you try to head off a violent 
  encounter with negotiation or persuasion. Clear 
  this key and advance when you greatly injure or 
  kill someone who is defenseless or unaware.
   
   Duty: Mark xp when you complete a task or 
  assignment for your superiors or colleagues. Clear 
  this key and advance when you intentionally 
  thwart the goals of your organization or employer.
  Los Enlaces
  You owe ______________________________ for 
  getting you out of a tight spot. You won’t die for 
  them, but you both know you need to settle up soon.
  ______________________________ got you back 
  in the business, after you had retired. Tell them 
  how you feel about your return to the game, and 
  don’t be shy.
  ______________________________ fucked up 
  something crucial; you had to clean up the mess before 
  things got messy with los federales or a rival drug cartel.
  Your Moves
  Choose three moves:
   
   Mirar: When you read a charged situation, roll 
  with Savagery. On a hit, ask the MC questions; take 
  +1 when you act on the answers. On a 10+, ask 2. 
  On a 7–9, ask 1:
  • where’s my escape route / way in / way past?
  • which enemy is most vulnerable to me?
  • what should I be on the lookout for?
  • what’s my enemy’s true position?
  On a miss, ask one...but you reveal your position. 
   
   Narcocorrido: When you meet someone impor-
  tante (your call), roll with Savagery. On a hit, they’ve 
  heard of you. Say what they’ve heard, and they will 
  act accordingly. On a 10+, you also take +1 forward 
  to dealing with them. On a miss, your reputation 
  convinces them that you’re something you’re not. 
   
   Levantón: When you track down an NPC, roll 
  with Savagery. On a hit, you catch them exposed or 
  vulnerable. On a 7-9, they have backup or it’s public. 
  On a miss, someone you’re avoiding finds you first.
   
   Rematar: You get +1 Savagery (max +3).
   
   Encobijado: When you ditch a body somewhere, 
  roll with Savagery. On a hit, you lose the corpse, and 
  it stays lost; clear one stress. On a 10+, dust to dust; 
  clear your stress track. On a miss, the body surfaces, 
  but without any obvious ties to you or your crew.
   
   Duro: When you get fucking shot, add +1 to your 
  roll. On a miss, you have time for an act of ven-
  geance or kindness before you fall to your wounds.
  
  114
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  114
  Weapons (Choose 4)
   
  
  sniper rifle (far hi-tech loud)
   
  
  assault rifle (close loud autofire)
   
  
  grenade launcher (close area messy)
   
  
  shotgun (close messy)
   
  
  submachine gun (close area loud)
   
  
  magnum (close reload loud)
   
  
  9mm (close loud)
   
  
  stun gun (close reload)
   
  
  fireman’s axe (close messy)
   
  
  machete (hand messy)
   
  
  garrote (hand grapple)
   
  
  knives (hand infinite)
  Gear (Choose 4)
   
  
  Armor Piercing Ammo (+ap to all weapons): 
  Sometimes putos wear vests. Gotta be ready.
   
  
  Body Armor (+armored): You want to live, right? 
  Put on the fucking vest, pendeja.
   
  
  Explosives Kit (close loud area reload): You can cre-
  ate improvised explosive devices if you’ve got time.
   
  
  Tracking Device (hi-tech far concealable): They 
  can’t hide if you plant this somewhere on them.
   
  
  Secure Police Scanner (hi-tech hand): You can 
  listen in even when they try to keep you out.
   
  
  Silencer (remove +loud from any weapon): Quiet 
  as a mouse. Dead as a doornail. Eh, cabrona?
   
  
  Surveillance Gear (hi-tech close concealable): You can 
  install cameras somewhere and watch all you want.
   
  
  Police Uniform (official wearable stolen): Who is who 
  anymore? You look like them and they look like you.
  Advancement
  When you fill your xp track, select an advance:
   
  
  get +1 Grit (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Hustle (max+3)
   
  
  get +1 Savagery (max+3
   
  
  choose 2 new weapons
   
  
  get a new sicaria move
   
  
  get a new sicaria move
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
   
  
  get a move from another playbook
  After 5 advances, you can choose from this list:
   
  
  get +1 to any stat (max+3)
   
  
  choose 2 new pieces of gear or 2 new weapons
   
  
  retire your character (to safety)
   
  
  change your character to a new type
   
  
  raise your lifestyle one level
  
  Chapter 4: Los Narcos de Durango
  115
  Playing La Sicaria
  You left the drug trade once before, chica: may-
  be for your own safety, maybe for love. Maybe 
  you got tired of all the killing, no matter how 
  good you are at taking a life. But Durango 
  makes fools of us all, and now you’re back. 
  Honestly? You’re sure many narcos are 
  happy to have you return. You’re one of the 
  best that’s ever lived, a sicaria whose legend 
  is matched only by her ability, an ángel de la 
  muerte who offers certainty in these troubled 
  times. You kill. The world turns. All is right.
  But you’re back in Durango for your own 
  reasons. Perhaps you think el narco isn’t really 
  capable of running la plaza or that you have 
  an opportunity to right an old wrong. Perhaps 
  you missed the work, bloody as it is. Perhaps 
  you don’t work for los carteles at all anymore 
  and spend your time robbing them blind. Your 
  playbook leaves all those details up to you.
  Whatever has prompted your return, know 
  that your special weapons and gear are not a 
  plan. They are fancy toys, sí, but you didn’t live 
  this long relying on a silenced pistola or official 
  uniforme. You can get fucking shot like anyone 
  else, cabrona, and you bleed the same sangre.
  What will you bleed for? What cause is worth 
  your return? You got yourself out once. Are you 
  strong enough to drag yourself out of the drug 
  war a second time? Or did you come back to 
  die? Killing is easy. It’s the living that’s hard.
  Notes on Your Moves
   
  ĵ The situation must be charged to use Mirar, 
  but your penchant for violence is reason to 
  declare any situation tense and difficult. Re-
  member that the max bonus for a roll is +4, 
  including bonuses from other PCs helping 
  you or you sizing someone up.  
   
  ĵ If you take Narcocorrido, tell the MC what 
  your corrido is about. See page 9 for 
  more on narcocorridos if you need ideas!
   
  ĵ Duro gives you time for “an act of kindness 
  or vengeance” if you miss while getting fuck-
  ing shot, but you don’t have all day, cabrona. 
  The MC will give you a scene or two to get 
  things done, but you’re living on borrowed 
  time. If you get shot again, you don’t have 
  to roll; you’re already a dead woman walk-
  ing. What can mere bullets do to you?
   
  ĵ Much of your special weapons or gear 
  comes with specific tags. See page 158 
  for the full list of tags, including specific 
  rules for area, reload, infinite, and official.
  Inspirations for La Sicaria
   
  ► Mike Ehrmantraut, Breaking Bad
   
  ► El Mariachi, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
   
  ► Alejandro Gillick, Sicario
   
  ► Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, The Wire
  
  116
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  116
  Chapter Five 
  El Maestro de Ceremonias 
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  117
  esta Es la neta
  Cartel works in a fairly traditional way, cabrón; your players tell you who 
  they are and what they do, what goals they pursue and what they feel. As 
  the Maestro de Ceremonias (MC), you tell them everything else. How will 
  Los Zetas react when Santiago kills one of their sicarios? Who is going to 
  betray Luna to los narcos at the worst moment? It’s up to you!
  For me, the best part of Cartel is watching my players grapple with the 
  consequencias of their decisions, blank looks on their faces as something 
  shocking and inevitable takes hold in the story. Or the moment they 
  realize that they have to turn against each other just to stay alive. I have a 
  ringside seat to the drama either way, my bloody fingerprints all over the 
  mess, pushing and pulling and tweaking to create the perfect disaster.
  This chapter explains todo lo que necesitas to know in order to run 
  that kind of session—or even a full campaign—of Cartel, including:
   
  ĵ Core Tools: This chapter covers the core tools you use in a session of 
  Cartel, including your agendas (page 118), principles (page 120), 
  moves (page 123), and other systems (page 130) like Heat and stress. 
   
  ĵ PCs y NPCs: Cartel is a melodrama of human tragedy; I cover how 
  to help your players get the most from their characters (page 134) 
  and how to use NPCs to the fullest as antagonists (page 142).
   
  ĵ First Session y Examples: I offer advice for the first session of your 
  Cartel game (page 146) and a long example of play (page 150) 
  that showcases all the tools the MC uses in one place. 
  If you want to review a particular move or specific rule, head back to 
  Chapter 3 (page 31). And if you need a primer on the drug war, you 
  can find a full summary of Cartel’s setting in Chapter 2 (page 15). 
  
  118
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  118
  your agEndAs
  As the MC, you must balance three broad 
  goals—agendas—when you run Cartel:
   
  ► Make the drug war seem real.
   
  ► Keep the player characters’ lives exciting.
   
  ► Play to find out what happens.
  Everything in this chapter—the principles that 
  help focus your engagement with the fiction, 
  the moves you make in response to the charac-
  ters’ actions, etc.—is designed to help support 
  these goals.  When you evaluate your success as 
  an MC, look first at your work in each session 
  through the lenses of your agendas. 
  Was Your Drug War “Real”?
  It’s your job to bring the drug war to life around 
  the player characters, to portray a convincing 
  world of money and power filled with duplici-
  tous allies and constant uncertainty. Your players 
  need to feel the danger around them, the deadly 
  threat that lurks in every conversation. Siempre.
  But you can’t make the drug war “seem real” 
  by bombarding your players with history. Create 
  an atmosphere of dread and paranoia through 
  your descriptions of the world...and the actions 
  your characters—the NPCs—take within that 
  world. Your players need to understand how (and 
  why) their characters are in danger right now.
  Were Their Lives Exciting?
  The drug war is dangerous, but the day-to-day of 
  narcos is often quite boring—drugs are shipped 
  to el norte and everyone makes money. Cartel 
  isn’t about the economics of the drug trade, 
  though; it’s about the tumultuous lives of the 
  player characters and their amigos y familia!
  Focus your story by keeping the characters’ 
  lives on edge, pushing on their secrets and ad-
  justing the temperature to keep them on their 
  toes. Don’t worry about creating an adventure 
  or plot for them to work through. Push on 
  their weak points, and the inherent chaos of 
  the drug war will keep things exciting.
  Did You Play to Find Out?
  The discipline required to focus on the player 
  characters has to continue all the way to the end 
  of their narrative. There will be times in which 
  you might think you know how the story should 
  go. Cut that shit. Let the story breathe. Trust that 
  the narrative is going somewhere meaningful.
  In those moments—when the dice hit the 
  table and everything is on the line—you will 
  find the beating heart of Cartel, the tragic 
  breaking point in the lives of these doomed 
  people who tried to defy the odds of the 
  bloody drug war that haunts México. But you 
  can’t get there if you try to control the story!
  
  119
  Always Say
  When you MC Cartel, you might find yourself 
  without a clear path forward, caught between 
  multiple agendas with competing priorities. 
  ¡Lo siento, mi amigo! I know that pain. When 
  you find yourself in such a spot, always say:
   
  ► ...what the rules demand.
   
  ► ...what the drug war demands.
   
  ► ...what honesty demands.
  The rules of Cartel are the backbone of your 
  story. If a move says to shoot someone, shoot 
  them; if a roll comes up short, accept it. Say what 
  the rules demand, no matter how it breaks your 
  heart. The players need your discipline, cabrón!  
  But la guerra antidrogas has its own rules. 
  Drugs must flow norte, and los jefes must be 
  paid in respeto y sangre; kindness is no different 
  from weakness to most narcos. If the PCs fail to 
  deliver on their promises, let those they failed 
  respond in kind. Stay true to the logic of los 
  carteles, no matter how it breaks your heart. The 
  players crave your ruthlessness, cabrón!  
  But be generous with the truth. The players 
  only know what you tell them, so make things 
  obvious. If an NPC is in love with a PC, an-
  nounce it often; if an NPC is going to betray a 
  PC, let the PC know. The world has to be claro y 
  directo, no matter how it breaks your heart. The 
  players deserve your honesty, cabrón! 
  
  120
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  120
  your PRinciPLEs
  The agendas are your goals, but los principios 
  show you how to move from the ideal to the 
  actual. How do you make the drug war seem 
  real and keep the player characters’ lives ex-
  citing? Cartel’s principles show you the way.
  These principles are rules for you as the MC, 
  guardrails that keep you on the right path as you 
  work with your players to create an exciting, 
  tragic tale of Mexican narcofiction in Durango:
   
  ĵ Ground the story in Durango, Mexico
   
  ĵ Speak to the characters, not the players 
   
  ĵ Make your move, but never speak its name
   
  ĵ Name everyone, give them drives and instincts
   
  ĵ Treat everyone as expendable and suspicious
   
  ĵ Fill the characters’ lives with secrets
   
  ĵ Make the authorities a persistent presence
   
  ĵ Be a fan of the PCs and their schemes
   
  ĵ Embrace the language of la guerra antidrogas
   
  ĵ Sometimes, declaim decision making
  Follow these principles, and you’ll find that 
  Cartel runs itself, each move you make arising 
  naturally from the core themes of the game 
  and the fiction your players present to you. Ig-
  nore these principios, muchacho, and the mess 
  that results is on your hands alone...
  Ground the story in 
  Durango, Mexico
  Cartel is set in Durango—not Mexico City or 
  Baltimore or any other place. Fill the story with 
  local cantinas and catedrales, taquerías and talleres, 
  the stuff that makes this a narcofiction story set 
  in Durango instead of a gringo fantasy about 
  heroic law enforcement south of the border. 
  Durango isn’t that grande, either. PCs can 
  run into each other at the bank or end up at 
  the same store without straining credulity. 
  See page 28 for more on using Durango as 
  a backdrop for situations that demand action.
  Speak to the characters, 
  not the players 
  Your players aren’t hiding from sicarios in an 
  auto shop or lying to a spouse. The player 
  characters are the ones in trouble, cabrón, so 
  talk directly to them. Say “Beto, where do you 
  hide the gun?” instead of “Derrick, where do 
  you think Beto would hide the gun?” Speaking 
  directly to the characters pushes the players 
  into thinking and talking as those characters. 
  And don’t be tacaño with what they see or 
  hear: “Beto, the guy you were avoiding is here in 
  the bar; he clearly saw you when you entered.” 
  Give the players the info as if you were both in 
  the room, looking at the same scene together.
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  121
  Make your move, but never 
  speak its name
  When you make a move—we’ll talk about moves 
  soon, güey—don’t call out its name. Don’t be a 
  pendejo who says, “I guess I’ll disrupt someone’s 
  routine.” You’ve got to make things seem real! 
  Your moves need to look like they come from 
  the fiction, like there’s a fictional cause for the 
  fictional effect. When you disrupt someone’s 
  routine, say something like “¡Chingale, Yolanda! 
  Diego, the guy who usually picks up drugs from 
  the lab, just rolled up with four mafiosos you’ve 
  never seen before.” Make it look like the fiction 
  is choosing the move—not you—and you’re just 
  relaying the terrible news to the players.
  Name everyone, give them 
  drives and Instincts
  “Making the drug war seem real” can be tough, 
  but a good first step is giving everyone actual 
  names. I’ve given you a list of names on the MC 
  worksheet, and you can pull more names from 
  any unused playbook. Names are crucial for 
  earning player engagement; the players usually 
  can’t care about characters they can’t name!
  But a name isn’t enough. You also want to give 
  your NPCs drives—motives that offer them a 
  path in the fiction, like “serve El Narco” or “stay 
  out of trouble”—and instincts—reactions they 
  turn to when under pressure, like “shoot first” or 
  “call a superior officer.” See page 142 for more 
  on using drives and instincts in your game.
  Treat everyone as 
  expendable and suspicious
  Obviously, naming a pendejo halcón doesn’t 
  mean he matters more to the cartel. Everyone, 
  even El Narco, is expendable in the context of 
  the Sinaloa Cartel’s broader business plan. No 
  one is beyond la guerra itself, not even los jefes.
  Constantly reinforce this truth: everyone is 
  replaceable, and no one is truly an ally. Portray 
  most NPCs as keenly aware of their position 
  and deeply suspicious of the activities of the 
  PCs, taking any opportunity they can to be on 
  the better end of a deal or bad situation. Make it 
  memorable when some cabrón is too trusting or 
  foolish to see the doom that awaits him ahead.
  Fill the characters’ lives 
  with secrets
  Many characters in Cartel are already lying to 
  loved ones, concealing cruel murders and simple 
  affairs in equal measure. Don’t treat the secrets 
  PCs get at character creation as a limit; give them 
  new reasons to keep things from their family, al-
  lies, and each other: “Your brother looks sad and 
  desperate, Luna. He says, ‘Please hide me, herma-
  na. Don Santiago is looking for me. Please.’”
  And don’t feel like cartel or drug secrets are 
  the only ones that matter! La Esposa’s secrets—
  secret lovers, hidden money, drug addiction—
  are peligrosos in their own way; when you can’t 
  trust anyone, evidence of any betrayal is a 
  frightening twist that demands investigation.
  
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  Make the authorities a 
  persistent presence
  The law has a complicated relationship with 
  los narcos (page 24)—they are partners often 
  and enemies always. Make your players roll with 
  Heat (page 64) when their characters conduct  
  business in public; show them la polícia and los 
  federales are always just around the corner.
  But the law isn’t the only authority. El Narco’s 
  reach is just as long and considerably more dan-
  gerous: “As you try on the necklace, Sofia, you 
  see Alma, one of Santiago’s sicarias, behind you 
  in the mirror. She’s clearly following you.”
  Be a fan of the PCs and 
  their schemes
  No one—not you, not the players—wants to see 
  the characters suffer at every turn. It’s aburrido 
  and dull, amigo, to watch failure upon failure. 
  Being a fan means introducing problemas that 
  challenge the characters in meaningful ways...
  and hoping the characters occasionally win.
   You control the whole world that isn’t them. 
  You have to create real opposition, sí, but honor 
  their clever plots and bold gambits; don’t thwart 
  them with stray obstacles they could not have 
  foreseen. Encourage them to take risks and re-
  ward them when—sometimes—everything goes 
  their way. There will always be más problemas.
  Remember that a miss is not a failure, amigo. 
  It’s an opportunity for you to make your move, as 
  hard (or as soft) as the situation demands.
  Embrace the language of La 
  Guerra Antidrogas
  The logic of la guerra contra el narco may be 
  money, but the language is violence. There are 
  no peaceful resolutions to territory disputes, no 
  way but the gun to settle arguments between 
  former friends or associates. In a world without 
  rules, only the strongest cabrones survive.
  Remind your players that the business of las 
  drogas isn’t really a business at all. It’s a death 
  sentence that arrives when you least expect it. 
  They must never feel safe, never feel beyond 
  reach—even when they rule a plaza—until they 
  retire to safety (page 141) somewhere else.
  Sometimes, declaim decision 
  making
  “Playing to find out what happens” means you 
  have to declaim your choices, turning them 
  over to the dice or fate—or even the players—
  instead of trying to control the story. Getting 
  fucking shot is a perfect example; once you go to 
  that move, the PC’s destiny is out of your hands.
  Handing control to players is a powerful tool. 
  Ask them what normal looks like and build on 
  their answers, disrupting or supporting their 
  routine as appropriate: “Mina, does your father 
  post guards around his estate? Are they obvious 
  when you drive up?” Whatever answer she gives 
  informs the world and consolidates the fiction. 
  Use that fiction in scenes to convey normalcy...or 
  signal danger for PCs by suddenly removing it. 
  
  123
  your Moves
  Principles are guidelines for your work; your moves are 
  the direct actions you take to add new fiction to the story. 
  The players hit the ball to you by making moves, and your 
  job is to hit the ball back to them in ways that reinforce 
  the setting and the system, offering opportunities to make 
  more moves based on the fiction you create together.
  Often, the players (and their moves) directly drive that 
  fiction forward all by themselves. The players make moves, 
  they hit (rolling 7+) on those moves, and you interpret what 
  happens in the fiction according to whatever their moves 
  tell you to do, following your agendas and principles. 
  But sometimes  you need to step in to keep things 
  moving. Perhaps the player’s actions haven’t yet triggered a 
  move or they’ve rolled a miss on a move they’ve made. Or 
  maybe things are just fucking slow! Regardless, muchacho, 
  when you’re needed you make an MC move to push the 
  story forward! You’ve got to keep their lives exciting. ¡Órale!
  Gustavo, El Polizeta, is trying to get to his car after jumping out 
  of a window to evade some Zeta sicarios. He’s hurt; he nearly 
  broke his leg falling several stories to the ground! He pushes his 
  luck to run to his car, but misses. It’s time for me to make a move!
  I could choose to shoot someone (page 127)—probably 
  Gustavo—but I want to be a fan of the character. I decide I’m 
  going to lean on a secret (page 129) instead: “As you get close 
  to the car, you can see your partner, Ruiz, standing next to it. 
  You told him that you were taking the night off to watch your 
  kids, but maybe he followed you here? What do you do?” 
  
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  Softer vs Harder Moves
  Not all moves have the same impact on the 
  fiction: when the game calls for you to make a 
  move, you have to decide how hard a move to 
  make. Softer moves focus on setting characters 
  up for future moves—threats, opportunities, and 
  foreshadowing—while harder moves focus on 
  changes in the fiction that force the characters to 
  react right now to keep disaster at bay.
  There is no rule for how hard a move to 
  make in any given situation, but you aren’t a 
  fan of the player characters and their schemes 
  if you make disastrously hard moves every time 
  someone rolls a miss. There’s got to be a bal-
  ance, muchacho, one that you strike scene by 
  scene, move by move, each time you run Cartel.
  Softer Move Examples
  “As you attempt to drag the body into the car, you 
  hear a low whistle from across the street. It’s a 
  kid—maybe ten years old—eyes wide at the trail 
  of blood you’ve left behind you. What do you do?”
  “As you lie to him, El Tiburón smiles. He says, ‘Lo 
  siento, cabrona. You know how it is. I can’t trust 
  anyone these days. Money goes missing? I have 
  to ask.’ You can tell he’s still suspicious, but he’s 
  going to let it go for now. What do you do?”
  Harder Move Examples
  “As you attempt to drag the body into the car, you 
  hear a low whistle. You pivot just in time to see 
  a woman bring the butt of a gun into your face, 
  knocking you flat. Mark a stress! What do you do?”
  “As you lie to him, El Tiburón smiles. He laughs 
  loudly, and says, ‘Lo siento, cabrona. I was testing 
  you. I already know it was your pendeja amiga, 
  Ana, who took the money. I just needed to know if 
  you were in on it. I’ll send my guys to get her, and 
  we can kill her together.’ What do you do?”
  no “HarD” Moves?
  Dividing moves into two categories—“hard” 
  moves vs “soft” moves—can confuse you 
  about your role. A miss means that it’s your 
  turn to talk; you make as hard (or as soft) a 
  move as is needed for the story. MCing is 
  like cooking, güey. You’ve got to keep it all 
  at the right temperature instead of blindly 
  following someone else’s recipe...
  
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  Make Your Move!
  The players have it easy. You tell them what’s 
  happening and they get to make whatever 
  move they like. You make your moves—as hard 
  or soft as you like—only when:
   
  ĵ ...there’s a lull in the action.
   
  ĵ ...a player misses a roll.
   
  ĵ ...a player hands you a golden opportunity.
  Lulls in the Action
  It’s your job to keep the story moving. If the 
  fiction ever stalls out, gets boring, or drags, it’s 
  time for you to make a move. Generally, moves 
  you make when there’s a lull in the action are 
  softer moves, designed to get the characters 
  moving and push the story forward, but you 
  might need harder moves to get the characters 
  to stand up and take meaningful action.
  Santiago knows Luna is the mole, so he’s sent Alma 
  to pick up Sofia—Luna’s sister—in the hopes that he 
  can get her to tell him where Luna went.
  But there’s a bit of a lull; Santiago’s waiting to talk 
  to Sofia! I decide to make a move, something hard 
  enough to divide his attention and keep his life ex-
  citing. I decide to disrupt his routine (page 127):
  “Santiago, you’re waiting to hear from your 
  sicarios when you get a text from Bruja, your 
  Sinaloa handler: ‘Coming to town today, cabrón. 
  We need to talk. Make time.’ What do you do?”
  Acting on Misses
  If a player misses a roll, it’s time for you to make 
  a move. The moves you make should always flow 
  from the fiction—a fictional result rooted in a 
  fictional cause—so the player can understand the 
  fictional source of the fictional outcome.
  Santiago tries to pressure Bruja into waiting, but 
  misses his roll. The situation is already complicated; 
  I tell him to mark a stress (page 126)—a fairly 
  soft move—as Bruja berates him for his insolence. 
  If the move tells you what to do on a miss, fol-
  low through on that promise; otherwise you’re 
  set to make a move, as hard or soft as you like.
  Golden Opportunities
  If a player gives you a golden opportunity—
  blowing off an immediate problem, opening 
  up to a dangerous foe, or acting without regard 
  to their social or emotional security—it’s time 
  for you to make a move. Golden opportunities 
  usually demand harder moves: if the characters 
  ignore obvious dangers, one of their enemies 
  gets to act against them with impunity.
  Santiago tells Bruja to fuck off. He’s got problemas 
  right now. I smile and take note. Bruja is happy to 
  escalate this situation to violence (page 126) 
  offscreen to remind Santiago who is in charge...
  
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  Basic Moves for the MC
  Here is the list of  basic moves for the MC, 
  followed by some information, advice, and 
  examples for using the moves in play:
   
  ► Inflict stress (as established) 
   
  ► Escalate a situation to violence 
   
  ► Shoot someone
   
  ► Award an advantage
   
  ► Threaten someone’s interests
   
  ► Disrupt someone’s routine
   
  ► Offer a difficult compromise
   
  ► Turn their move back on them
   
  ► Lean on a secret
   
  ► Announce future danger
   
  ► Demand someone play their part
   
  ► Always ask, “what do you do?”
  Inflict stress (as established) 
  Stress is your main tool for escalating tension. 
  You can inflict it against people (NPCs) close to 
  the characters—amigos, familia, enemigos—or 
  directly against the PCs themselves. Start by 
  inflicting one stress, but sometimes require 
  characters to mark stress multiple times as the 
  situation unfurls. See Using Stress (page 132)
  for more on inflicting stress during play.
  “You hear the crackle of a submachine gun as you 
  push the car into gear. Paco tries to return fire 
  through the passenger side window, but you can 
  tell he’s terrified. He can’t turn the safety off…”
  Escalate a situation to violence 
  A throbbing pulse of violence underlies nearly 
  every messy situation in the drug war, a seduc-
  tive promise that there is no better solution to 
  problems than dead enemies. When will your 
  NPCs decide to strike out and end a situation in 
  their favor?  What will the consequences of such 
  violence look like? What if it already happened?
  “Your criminal informant, Jesús, said to meet at the 
  rundown hotel, but you know something is wrong 
  when you arrive. There’s blood oozing from under 
  the door of his room, and the smell of gunpowder. 
  You already know what occurred here, cabrón...”
  
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  Shoot someone
  Knives, fists, and explosions are all dangerous 
  to narcos, but bullets are the real killers. Shoot 
  someone—a PC or an NPC—when it’s time to 
  drop the hammer and bring real consequences 
  to bear. But don’t shoot a PC if you aren’t ready 
  for their story to come to a close, cabrón. If 
  someone gets fucking shot, the outcome of their 
  injury is no longer in your hands as the MC.
  “‘How about I just kill you, güey? Then no one 
  knows what happened here.’ Zola raises her gun…
  and pulls the trigger. The flash of light blinds you 
  for a moment, but you feel the bullet hit. Mierda.”
  Award an advantage
  Many conflicts in Cartel pit two characters 
  against each other. Sometimes it’s enough to 
  simply award an advantage to one side, allow-
  ing them to press forward with new resources. 
  In a conflict between two player characters, 
  this move is powerful; give either a free 10+ to 
  get the truth or justify their behavior and you 
  put a lot of pressure on their opposition.
  “You’ve got your hands around Beto’s throat, but 
  he knees you in the chest—knocking the wind out 
  of you—and rolls to the left. He looms over you as 
  you try to catch your breath. Beto, take a 10+ to 
  turn to violence instead of rolling if you’d like...” 
  Threaten someone’s interests
  Above all others, this is your best move for 
  raising the tension in a scene. You can put the 
  player characters in a tough spot directly or 
  threaten the NPCs they care about onscreen 
  and offscreen. The drug war is a dangerous, 
  sprawling mess; bring danger to bear and give 
  the player characters a chance to respond. 
  “Your phone buzzes. It’s your wife: ‘Two men with 
  guns are outside the apartment! They are yelling 
  for you. ¿Qué pasa, Héctor? What did you do?’”
  Disrupt someone’s routine
  The drug trade is built on regularity: ideally, ev-
  erything goes smoothly and everyone gets paid. 
  Interfere with any part of the system, and things 
  start crashing down. Look for opportunities to 
  push the player characters to action by messing 
  with whatever normal looks like for them. Make 
  this stuff obvious; the players ought to be the 
  first to know when things have gone a la mierda. 
  “You can tell by the look on Flaco’s face that 
  something went wrong with the drop. He starts 
  babbling before you can even ask: ‘Someone knew 
  we were coming. They took everything. All the 
  drugs we were supposed to drop off, the money, 
  our car...all gone. What are we gonna do, man? 
  Don Santiago is going to kill us! ¡Puta madre!’”
  
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  Offer a difficult compromise
  Everyone in Durango is trying to get ahead, and 
  often willing to come to a deal. Be direct with 
  what NPCs want; don’t wait for the players to ex-
  haust themselves guessing what a halcón might 
  want in order to switch sides and betray his jefe. 
  Same goes for messy or difficult situations—tell 
  players directly what compromises are possible.
  “The sicario at the other side of the bar opened 
  fire too early; the bullets ripped through your two 
  friends instead of you. You might be able to sneak 
  out the back door, but it means that one or both 
  of your amigas is likely to die. No one’s jumping 
  up to provide medical care for them...”
  Turn their move back on them
  Sometimes the best move is to give a player 
  everything they want...and more. Mucho más. 
  A miss isn’t a failure; show the players how 
  their actions lead to consequences they may 
  not expect, and make it clear to them that they 
  are the ones driving the fiction forward. Even 
  when they miss, their actions truly matter.
  “Don Carlos is impressed with your product. It’s 
  clearly superior. But when he nods at his goons, 
  they don’t step forward with dinero. All they have 
  is a set of restraints; it looks like they want you 
  more than they want the drugs you had for sale...”
  Coincidencias y Casualidades
  In the Mexican novel Pedro Páramo, Juan travels 
  to his mother’s hometown in the hopes of finding 
  his father, Pedro. Seeking to fulfill the promise 
  he made on his mother’s deathbed, Juan realizes 
  too late that her hometown is now populated 
  by ghosts, a literal ghost town; he dies halfway 
  through the story—terrified of the ghosts he walks 
  among—leaving the dead to carry the tale. 
  Fragmented and tragic, Pedro Páramo is 
  a novel that many claim as one of the earliest 
  works of magical realism, a genre that mixes 
  mundane and fantastic elements without clear 
  delineations or boundaries. In stories like Pedro 
  Páramo, magic is a strange constant, an everyday 
  occurrence that requires no special remarks.
  But for most Mexicans, there has never been a 
  line that necessarily separates the fantastic from 
  the mundane. It doesn’t matter if you believe in 
  ghosts; everyone in Mexico has a story about see-
  ing a ghost whether you believe in them or not. 
  Narcofiction tends not to deal in magical real-
  ism explicitly, but there are themes and situations 
  that call upon the genre. Coincidences and acci-
  dents are common—moments in which someone 
  is in just the right place at just the right time—as 
  are fantastical twists of fate that leave someone 
  alive when they would have otherwise died.
  You can’t expect something as surreal as the 
  drug war to be bound by gringo attempts to cat-
  egorize everything. Mal que no tiene cura, quererlo 
  curar es locura. The truly crazy are those who see 
  the world as sane; the rest of us have to get by 
  within the surreality of day-to-day life in México.
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  129
  Lean on a secret
  The player characters’ lives are riddled with 
  lies, all hiding truths they don’t want to come 
  to light. Push, even just a little, and the player 
  characters have no choice but to try to protect 
  themselves. Lean harder, and they might even 
  kill to keep themselves safe from their own 
  previous mistakes and betrayals. 
  “Mónica, the head of the nonprofit, is furious: 
  ‘You don’t know anything about the money 
  that’s missing? You mean to tell me you don’t 
  have any records?’ She glares at you, unwilling 
  to let it go and waiting for you to respond...”
  Announce future danger
  Be clear, early and often, about the dangers 
  the player characters face. Talk about the 
  larger threats and the small details—El Narco’s 
  fearsome reputation and the type of gun a 
  sicario is carrying—long before you deliver on 
  the promise of such warnings. By the time the 
  hammer falls, your players will know exactly 
  where and how it will land upon them.
  “You overhear Erica talking on the phone about 
  you before she realizes you’re there to meet her: 
  ‘Yeah, I don’t know why el jefe keeps her around. 
  People say she’s been talking to los federales and 
  shit.’ You thought you could trust her, cabrona!”
  Demand someone play their part
  Sometimes the hardest move is merely asking 
  the player characters (or NPCs) to do what is 
  expected of them, no matter how painful. The 
  drug war is built on shared, horrific compliance.
  El jefe opens the door to reveal Lupita’s body laying 
  on a table. ‘I assume,’ he says, ‘that you won’t have 
  any problems cleaning up the mess you made?’”
  Always ask, “what do you do?”
  Each time you make a move, put the focus 
  back on a player by asking, “What do you do?” 
  Make it clear who gets to act next and what 
  conditions they face. Do this enough times, 
  and the players will be ready to run with the 
  narrative as soon as you hand it back to them.
  ¡DivieRtetE!
  Cartel is a serious game, but...it’s supposed to 
  be fun. Your moves must create pressure, but 
  don’t confuse the fiction the game creates—
  heartbreaking tragedy—for what the game 
  should feel like to play. Embrace moments of 
  black humor or shocking twists of fate. If the 
  players can’t laugh, then all they can do is cry. 
  
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  Moves Upon Moves
  The moves in Cartel are designed to snowball, 
  the outcomes of each move leading into the next 
  set of moves. You don’t need to plan out each 
  session as the MC because the moves give you all 
  the narrative momentum you need. All you have 
  to do is push a little, and the players will make 
  moves that carry the narrative forward.
  This is especially true when players roll a 
  7-9; their opposition gets to act on them or 
  they must pay some cost to get what they 
  want. It may not always be obvious—what 
  does it cost to mark a single stress?—but these 
  small sacrifices tighten the noose and give you 
  new opportunities to turn up the heat.
  Diego—one of Santiago’s couriers—has decided 
  to kidnap Yolanda for Los Zetas, embracing the 
  language of la guerra. She tries to pressure him:
  “This is suicide, Diego. We both know Santiago 
  will kill you if you do this. Don’t be stupid.” Sarah, 
  Yolanda’s player, rolls and gets an 8. Her pressure 
  lands, but she’s got to let something slip. “I think 
  I’ll let it slip that I hate Santiago. Is that enough?” 
  I nod. Diego will be stunned to hear that Yolan-
  da, Santiago’s favorite cook, hates him. Yolanda’s 
  pressure also means Diego has to make a choice—
  mark a stress or back off—but his decision will be 
  informed by the information he just got...
  Pacing Your Moves
  Ultimately, it’s your job to modulate the chain 
  reaction. Early in scenes, create drama —answer 
  players’ questions in ways that prompt more 
  questions or put characters into danger in ways 
  that encourage the players to take action. As 
  scenes reach their peak...change it up! Focus 
  instead on bringing threats to bear quickly in 
  order to force the players to make hard choices.
  The key to running Cartel is to keep the dra-
  ma at a constant boil...without ruining the pot. 
  There must always be a chance for these pendejos 
  narcos to come out ahead. Push hard, but ease up 
  when things are about to turn too hopeless for 
  the player characters to bother fighting back.
  Seeing that Diego is distracted by her confession, 
  Sarah decides to seize the moment: “Can I use 
  Ciencia, Cabrón to juryrig a smoke bomb?”
  I love the idea. Diego was dumb enough to try to 
  kidnap Yolanda at her workshop! I get to be a fan 
  of Sarah’s character by saying yes. “Of course!”
  Sarah rolls a 3. ¡Chingale! Ciencia, Cabrón gives 
  me two options on a miss: I can tell Sarah she’s 
  missing something or fill her stress track. I choose 
  the stress track: there’s no need to put her in a tight 
  spot when things are already this interesting. Let’s 
  see what she does with more stress and a bomb!
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
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  Using Heat Moves
  Heat (page 64) is one tool you have to set 
  the pace of the game and remind the players 
  that their actions have consequences. La ley 
  may prioritize cash over any sort of legal duty, 
  but los federales are around every corner, wait-
  ing to put narcos who slip up into a tough spot.
  But it’s your job to remember Heat moves, 
  cabrón! The players rarely want to make such 
  moves, since the outcomes are almost entirely 
  negative. If you let them, the players will gladly 
  conduct narco business in public or leave a 
  messy crime scene without rolling any dice. If 
  the player characters get in a spot that calls for 
  a Heat move, don’t let them blow it off. 
  After a shootout at the autoshop, Mina considers 
  her options. The pendejos that attacked her are 
  dead, but she doesn’t know if more are coming.
  “What’s your plan, Mina? You’re pretty sure the 
  kid in the office is already calling the police,” I say, 
  making the authorities a persistent presence.
  “Fuck it. I’m out of here,” says Marissa, Mina’s 
  player. “I don’t need any more trouble. I get in my 
  truck and take off.”
  “Sounds like you’re trying to leave a messy 
  crime scene before the cops get here?”
  “Uh...dammit. Yeah, I am.” Marissa rolls with her 
  Heat +1 and gets a 7. Looks like she’s not going to be 
  able to flee so easily; the cops are going to show up, 
  but they won’t be prepared for what they find.
  Using Lifestyle
  Lifestyle (page 72) helps you define the limits 
  of a PC’s financial resources. If they reach a bit 
  beyond what they can usually afford, they are 
  probably straining their finances (page 56). 
  But PCs can’t strain their finances to buy 
  expensive things way beyond their means. The 
  move covers them extending themselves; it 
  doesn’t mean they get to roll to buy anything!
  Luna, La Rata, tries to purchase some new tracking 
  equipment to follow Santiago around. I say, “I don’t 
  think you can just buy that kind of gear with your 
  impoverished lifestyle. Maybe you can see if your 
  contacts within los federales can get it for you?”
  Improving Lifestyle
  Players might choose to raise their lifestyle as one 
  of their advances. Work with them to explain 
  how their financial situation has improved:
  Katherine, Luna’s player, decides to raise her lifestyle 
  with her sixth advancement. We agree that she’s 
  now receiving a regular stipend from los federales for 
  bribes and gear they can’t provide to her directly. 
  It’s possible events in the fiction—or changing 
  playbooks—might also improve a PC’s lifestyle. 
  In both cases, make sure that the fiction is in line 
  with the new financial position. See Managing 
  Advancement on page 141 for more details.
  
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  Using Stress
  Stress (page 69) is the lifeblood of Cartel, 
  the main hook you set in your players to drag 
  them further into the drama of the drug war. 
  Inflicting Stress
  Players only mark stress when the moves tell 
  them to mark stress or when you inflict stress 
  upon them as one of your moves. Don’t be shy 
  about piling the stress on to the PCs! It’s their 
  job to find a way to manage the chaos of the 
  drug war, so inflict stress whenever appropriate. 
  Remember to misdirect from the move itself; 
  always give a fictional reason for the stress first.
  As Luna collapses to the floor in Sofia’s living 
  room (page 69), I decide to announce future 
  danger. “Luna’s still breathing, but you see she’s 
  bleeding from her side. It looks like she’s been 
  shot, and you’re not sure how much time she has. 
  I think you probably need to mark a stress, Sofia.”
  Brendan nods and marks the stress: “Sofia is 
  going to have a lot of questions for Luna later,” he 
  says, “but she’s terrified her sister is going to die.”
  Stress is subtle, but it’s one of the core engines 
  of the game, the main reason that things spiral 
  out of control in the third act of narcofiction 
  stories. If all the players have to do to survive 
  is keep their cool and avoid trouble, then you 
  aren’t making the player characters’ lives ex-
  citing or making the drug war seem real.
  Forcing Stress Moves
  When PCs become overwhelmed (page 69), 
  you may force them to make a stress move at 
  any time. It’s up to the PC to select the stress 
  move when you call for one, but try to avoid 
  cutting them off from multiple options by 
  forcing a move on them at the wrong time.
  As Brendan considers options, I ask about his stress 
  track: “Sofia, are you overwhelmed right now?”
  “Yeah, that was my last stress. You want me to 
  make a stress move before I deal with Luna?”
  I consider the stress moves; Sofia can’t verbally 
  abuse or shame someone or dish out a beatdown—
  there’s no one else in the scene—and she’s unlikely to 
  try to confess her sins or lose herself in a substance 
  when her sister’s life is at stake. If I force a stress 
  move, I’m not following my agendas or principles at 
  all. I’ll have to wait for a different moment!
  “No,” I say, “not yet. What do you do for Luna?”
  PCs are already extremely vulnerable when they 
  are overwhelmed: they can’t refuse an offer when  
  another PC proposes a deal or avoid concessions 
  when another PC pressures them, nor can they 
  lie when they justify their behavior and hit a 7-9. 
  All of their options that rely on stress are gone! 
  Pace yourself when a PC is overwhelmed. 
  Wait for the right movement to push them 
  over the edge into chaos; you don’t have to 
  rush them into a stress move right away!
  
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  133
  Stress y Golden Opportunities 
  If you call for a stress move and the PC balks, 
  however, hit them hard. It’s the ultimate golden 
  opportunity; the PC is refusing to address an 
  immediate danger, and that failure should have 
  serious and immediate fictional consequences.
  The PCs might overlook things, overextend 
  themselves, pass out, or make some other 
  crucial error. On occasion, you might even 
  temporarily seize control of a PC, driving them 
  forward like a stolen car in search of some 
  solace or relief. You can’t make them make a 
  stress move, but anything else is fair game!
  After Sofia calls for help, I decide to push on her 
  stress: “Sofia, you’re still overwhelmed with 
  anxiety and grief. It’s time for a stress move!”
  Brendan grimaces. “What can I even do here? 
  I’m not going to dish out a beatdown to Luna.”
  “Obviously! Maybe you could lose yourself in 
  a substance while you wait...or call your lousy 
  husband and verbally shame him on the phone?”
  “No, I need to be here for her. No distractions.”
  Brendan’s handing me a golden opportunity! I’m 
  a fan of Sofia, so I need to incorporate her focus on 
  Luna in my move, acting with my principles.
  I decide to lean on Sofia’s secrets: “All you can 
  think of is Luna. You move her to the front room; 
  better to have her there when help arrives. But you 
  forgot that your daughter is home... ‘¡Mamá,’ Ana 
  shouts, ‘what happened to Tía Luna?!’ Is she okay?’”
  Adicciones y Tratos
  Surprisingly, the rate of drug addiction and 
  abuse in México is far below that of Los Estados 
  Unidos. The cartels sell drugs domestically, but 
  the lower demand (and poorer clients) means 
  that there is always more money to be found 
  shipping drugs across the border and selling 
  them there. Las drogas son para los gringos.
  Cities like Tijuana—ciudades fronterizas flooded 
  daily with meth, heroin, and cocaine bound for El 
  Norte—are the places hardest hit by drug abuse. 
  As the Americans tighten the border, the drugs 
  pool on the Mexican side, their persistent pres-
  ence a temptation for the young people working 
  the drug trade or other low-paying jobs.
  México’s public services for the poor have 
  always been insufficient, but the vast majority of 
  rehab facilities are privately owned, putting them 
  well beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest 
  Mexicans. The government promised to expand 
  treatment in 2009, but a lack of funding has kept 
  them from delivering on that plan.
  Like so many aspects of México, drug abuse is 
  a paradox: the problem is manageable, but there 
  are too few resources to manage it. Los carteles 
  aren’t going to fund such programs, and no one 
  believes the government’s empty promises.
  Thus, most narcofiction leaves addiction at 
  the margins of the story. Al vivo la hogaza y al 
  muerto, la mortaja. People who are grappling 
  with addiction need treatment—a slow pro-
  cess that lies outside the pace of a narcofiction 
  narrative—while los carteles wrestle with each 
  other for the right to profit from such tragedy.
  
  134
  engaging ThE Pcs
  The difference between a boring session and 
  a great session for most players is whether or 
  not they felt like their choices mattered. At 
  some level, that’s why we are playing to find 
  out what happens: if you aren’t pushing players 
  down a scripted adventure, then every choice 
  they make takes the story in a new direction.
  But all the work you do behind the scenes is 
  designed to make a session of Cartel feel like a 
  natural story. It’s actually easy to accidentally 
  convince a group of players that everything all 
  happened exactly as you planned, even though 
  you simply followed your agendas and principles!
  Engaging your players means incorporating 
  their contributions to the story, but you must 
  also play to the PCs’ strengths (and weaknesses) 
  in order to make them feel central. Create situa-
  tions that demand they make real decisions that 
  have fictional weight, then follow those decisions 
  with consequences that reflect their choices.
  Pay close attention, for example, to the moves 
  the players choose. Can you push toward a situa-
  tion in which La Esposa eats a meal with an NPC? 
  Is there a reason that La Sicaria might need to 
  use that sniper rifle? Play to the characters they 
  create, cabrón; your players will love the drama!
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  135
  Behind Each Playbook
  Players telegraph their interests when they 
  choose a playbook, and it’s your job as the MC 
  to give each player a chance to shine. Here are 
  some tips for engaging each playbook, along 
  with some playbook-focused questions you 
  can ask each player during character creation.
  El Cocinero
  The cook has many tools for dealing with 
  problemas—and a high Grit for when he pushes 
  his luck—but he can get isolated if there isn’t 
  enough for him to do. Come after El Cocinero 
  with direct conflicts, familial and financial, and 
  push on his misterios to put him in tough spots.
  Lean into the clever plans and desperate 
  gambles that El Cocinero proposes. He’s got 
  one foot in the world of los narcos and the 
  other in a normal life; no matter how he spins 
  things, the two realities will eventually collide.
  Be generous with the presence of chemicals 
  and tools in a scene if El Cocinero takes Ciencia, 
  Cabrón; as long as he can find a janitor’s closet 
  or home cleaning supplies, he can whip up 
  something to cause a distraction or explosion.
  Questions for El Cocinero:
   
  ► Why did you start cooking for the cartels?
   
  ► How did you learn to cook drugs at scale?
   
  ► Where do you tell people you work now?
  La Esposa
  Try to ensure La Esposa ends up married to one 
  of the PCs; the drama will take care of itself. If 
  an NPC is needed, make it someone important 
  and vulnerable. A major kingpin is good, but so 
  is a crooked cop or deadly sicario. Whoever she is 
  married to needs to have secrets. Many secrets.
  Only rarely will you able to bring all five of 
  the elements of La Familia to bear in a session. 
  Try to focus on two to three—a job, one of the 
  kids, etc.—and leave the rest as background.
  Questions for La Esposa:
   
  ► How did you end up with your familia?
   
  ► How do you manage to hide your secrets?
   
  ► Where do you think your spouse works?
  El Halcón
  El Halcón usually has lots to do, but bring 
  his pandilla to bear early and often: the crew 
  is a double-edged sword, useful in the right 
  situations and trouble when they are out of 
  their element. They can push El Halcón toward 
  conflicts or reveal that he’s in over his head 
  when they don’t take things seriously.
  Questions for El Halcón:
   
  ► Why do you work for the cartel?
   
  ► What are your regular tasks and duties?
   
  ► What do people think of your pandilla?
  
  136
  El Narco
  El Narco will often try to resolve problems 
  through his NPC agents; encourage him to rely 
  on the other PCs instead. Provide a few issues 
  that require direct attention, especially when he 
  has to take some risks to come out on top and 
  in control. Don’t let him get too comfortable!
  Use his decisions for la plaza to inform the 
  entire setting. In many ways, El Narco has de-
  cided—in and out of character—on the tenor 
  of everyday life for los narcos in Durango...
  Questions for El Narco:
   
  ► How did you acquire your plaza?
   
  ► What happened to the previous El Narco?
   
  ► What have you promised to your jefes?
  La Polizeta
  La Polizeta’s start of session move gets her mixed 
  up with trouble every session, but remember to 
  threaten her secrets too. As a dirty federal, she 
  needs to feel pressure from both the cartels and 
  the cops. She doesn’t have a side she can trust.
  Aggressively reincorporate everything La 
  Polizeta includes through the Anti-Cartel Task 
  Force. Those NPCs are primed to be opportuni-
  ties and liabilities for all the PCs, not just her.
  Questions for La Polizeta:
   
  ► Why did you return to Durango?
   
  ► When did you start working for los carteles?
   
  ► What happened to your last partner?
  La Rata
  La Rata has plenty of moves and abilities to stay 
  out of the immediate crosshairs: make sure to 
  point one or more of the PCs at her betrayal 
  early in the game. She’ll have more fun thwart-
  ing their investigation than being ignored.
  Use the authorities to put pressure on La Rata 
  as well, and offer meaningful help if she complies 
  with what los federales want from her. If she drags 
  her feet, make their demands more acute.
  Questions for La Rata:
   
  ► Why did you decide to become a mole?
   
  ► How do you contact your handler?
   
  ► What do los federales need from you?
  La Sicaria
  Put La Sicaria directly in harm’s way. Always. It 
  doesn’t always have to be directed at her—she 
  might be dropping off a package to El Halcón or 
  protecting La Esposa—but give her opportunities 
  to use her weapons to create mayhem and chaos.
  At the same time, lean into her reputation as 
  a ruthless killer. Sometimes people won’t want 
  to fight her; will she let them live or coldly take 
  advantage of their cowardly weakness?
  Questions for La Sicaria:
   
  ► How have you lived so long as a sicaria?
   
  ► Why did you retire from the business?
   
  ► Where did you go when you left?
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  137
  Creating Conflicts
  In many roleplaying games, PCs work to 
  solve problems together. Let me be clear, 
  cabrón: Cartel isn’t like that! In Cartel, con-
  flicts between player characters are a main 
  way you can keep the PCs’ lives exciting!
  But creating these kinds of productive conflicts 
  can be difficult. The moves do a lot of the heavy 
  lifting, but here are some tips for ensuring the 
  drama between PCs is fun and interesting for all:
  Explore Their Enlaces
  Many of the ties between the PCs are painfully 
  complicated relationships, tense arrangements 
  just waiting to explode. Press on those enlaces, 
  pushing the player characters into conflicts that 
  draw upon their previous history together.
  Divide Their Loyalties
  Even characters that start as allies can’t trust 
  each other in la guerra contra el narco. Sow 
  doubt whenever possible by spreading rumors, 
  leaning on secrets, and exposing weaknesses. 
  PCs naturally push on each other, if they think 
  there is something to be gained by pushing...
  Place NPCs Between Them
  Your NPCs are the best tool for ensuring the 
  players’ characters are constantly in conflict; 
  they can get in the way, take sides in an argu-
  ment, or merely show up at the wrong time. 
  Read more about using NPCs on page 142.
  While filling out enlaces, Katherine decided her 
  Rata, Luna, started sleeping with La Cocinera, 
  Yolanda, a few weeks ago. In the second session, 
  I frame a scene around that relationship; it gives 
  me a chance to lean on all their deadly secrets!
  “Luna, what does it look like when you two meet 
  up? Does Yolanda come over to your apartment?”
  “No,” Katherine says, “I’m trying to keep this 
  from getting serious. I think I’d want to meet at her 
  place.” I look to Sarah, Yolanda’s player; she nods. 
  “Okay, let’s cut to you two having a drink?” I 
  want to keep the PCs’ lives exciting here; no 
  need to bore everyone with Luna arriving, saying 
  hello to Yolanda, etc. “What does that look like?”
  “I have some shitty beer,” says Sarah, “So I think 
  we’re awkwardly sitting on the couch drinking?” 
  Katherine laughs and agrees. Time for an MC move!
  I wanted to lean on a secret, but I’m playing 
  to find out. Exploring their enlaces helps me un-
  derstand what moves will create tension! I decide 
  that it’s best to disrupt their routine instead:
  “As you two are starting to get comfortable, 
  you hear a loud knock on the door. You can see 
  through the window from here, Yolanda; it’s your 
  cousin, Oscar, the one who works for los federales.”
  “Who is that?” Katherine asks. 
  “Are you trying to get the truth out of Yolanda?” 
  “Absolutely. I thought we would be alone!”
  “Great! Roll with Hustle. Let’s see if Yolanda is 
  going to get to keep her secrets to herself!”
  
  138
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  138
  Player vs. Player Moves
  Since the moves are player-facing—the players 
  trigger them and resolve them—some MCs 
  have trouble envisioning how player vs. player 
  fiction works in the game. How can one player 
  character turn to violence against another player 
  character? Aren’t they really turning to violence 
  against each other simultaneously? And what 
  about pressuring each other or getting the truth?
  I’ve worked to ensure that all of the moves in 
  Cartel function when players use them against 
  each other, but here are some tips for making 
  conflicts between PCs work in your game:
  Share the Spotlight
  When two PCs trigger moves against each 
  other, make them share the spotlight. One 
  PC may start a conflict—pressuring the other 
  or turning to violence—but the action must 
  pass between them so everyone gets time in 
  the spotlight. Remember to be a fan—no one 
  character should dominate the conversation.
  Focus on Help or Interfere
  Helping and interfering (page 54) are crucial 
  tools during such conflicts. If one player attacks 
  the other, the target can respond by interfering. 
  They can distract their attacker, take cover, fight 
  back: all attempts to reduce the strength of the 
  attack are rolled up in interfering. Only once the 
  original move is resolved does the target finally 
  get a chance to act via their own moves!
  Beto, played by Derrick, got caught in a window 
  screen breaking into Sofia’s house, alerting her to 
  his presence instead of sneaking up on her.
  Brendan—Sofia’s player—says, “I hit him with 
  a lamp. I don’t really want to kill him, but I need 
  to defend myself!” He smirks and rolls to turn to 
  violence with Savagery, getting a total of 11. 
  “Can I interfere?” Derrick asks
  “Sure,” I say, “What does that look like?”
  “I roll out of the way, trying to avoid her blow.”
  “Sounds like one or two stress to me,” I say. 
   “I’ll wager two stress; I really don’t want to get 
  hurt here.” Derrick rolls with a +2 for the stress he 
  wagered and gets an 8! He marks the two stress, 
  but he also lowers Brendan’s roll to a 7-9 from 10+.
  “I’ll take suffer little harm and avoid collat-
  eral damage for my two options,” Brendan says.
   “Great. Beto, you see Sofia come at you with the 
  lamp; you roll out of the way a bit...but she clubs you 
  hard. Mark one more stress! What do you do?”
  I’m turning the spotlight back to Beto. Sofia got 
  to make her move, so now it’s his turn to respond. 
  Will he attack? Try to protect himself? Run? Cower?
  Derrick says, “I yell, ‘What the fuck, mujer?! I 
  came here to protect you! Santiago is looking for 
  you, and I didn’t want to tip off anyone watching.’”
  “You trying to justify your behavior?” I ask.
  “Yeah, I definitely want her to think I’m on her 
  side.” He rolls with Face, but only gets a 7. I can 
  already tell Brendan is going to interfere...
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  139
  Info y Investigation
  Cartel is primarily a melodrama of social 
  conflict, but players sometimes have questions 
  about what information they have at hand. 
  Here are some tips for how to handle questions 
  your players may have about what they know:
  Give Them What They Need
  There’s no need to be stingy when there is 
  little to no uncertainty. Tell players what they 
  see, what they hear, what they know, without 
  holding anything back. If you’re not sure what 
  information to include, then make a move:  
  announcing future danger is always an option. 
  Make them Push Their Luck
  If someone is determined to get more info in 
  a risky situation, make them push their luck. 
  Sure, they can try to get close enough to a rival 
  sicario to see what kind of gear he’s carrying, but 
  there’s a risk they get spotted snooping around. 
  Maybe it would be best to size them up instead?
  Honor Playbook Moves
  Some playbooks have moves to investigate situa-
  tions or people—Mirar (La Sicaria) or Conectada 
  (La Rata). Give meaningful details when they are 
  rolled, more than you would give to characters 
  who don’t have these moves. Why is La Sicaria so 
  scary? Because she knows where you are...when 
  you are still stumbling around in the dark. Get 
  Mirar, pendejo, if you want such awesome power!
  Gustavo is tracking down a sicaria, Alma, who is 
  blackmailing him. He follows her home using a 
  playbook move—Seguir (page 105)—late at night:
  “Is she alone? Anyone else in the apartment?”
  “Hard to say. There were no lights on when she 
  walked in, but it’s late. You got a move you’re try-
  ing to trigger here, Gustavo? Maybe just pushing 
  your luck by snooping around her place?”
  Justin, Gustavo’s player, nods. “Yeah, let’s try it.” 
  He rolls with Grit +1 and gets a 7. Barely enough.
  “You listen through her window; she’s talking 
  to her cat and probably alone. But before you can 
  know for sure, the door to the apartment next door 
  starts to open. Looks like someone might catch you!”
  DRAMatic iRony
  Players often get info their character doesn’t 
  yet have. If El Narco is trying to kill El Cocinero, 
  the cook’s player is in a strange spot: he knows 
  his life is on the line...but only out of character!
  Encourage players to lean into dramatic 
  irony—El Cocinero can try to get the truth out 
  of El Narco—but enforce boundaries between 
  player and character knowledge; the cook 
  needs to have evidence he’s in danger before 
  he starts acting on the info the player has.
  
  140
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  140
  Killing PCs
  In Chapter 3 (page 70), I discuss three different 
  kinds of injuries PCs can suffer: stress as harm, 
  narrative harm, and getting fucking shot. Stress 
  cannot kill a character, but the other two forms 
  of harm can finish off anyone, muchacho.
  Death from Narrative Harm
  It’s rare, but narrative harm can lead to a PC’s 
  death if it is clear the character cannot survive 
  whatever harm is inflicted upon them. Maybe 
  they got caught in an explosion or thrown off a 
  skyscraper, but it must be obvious to everyone 
  that the character’s story has come to a close.
  PCs almost always get an opportunity to push 
  their luck to escape injuries inflicted by NPCs 
  or the environment, and death only occurs on a 
  miss in the most calamitous circumstances: 
  While Luna recovers in the hospital, Santiago pays a 
  nurse to poison her. I tell Katherine, Luna’s player:
  “You’re eating lunch when you start to get fuzzy. 
  You throw up, and the strange flavor of the gelatin 
  suddenly makes sense: you’ve been poisoned!”
  “I yell for help! Pushing my luck?” She rolls a miss. 
  ¡Órale! I’ve got to threaten her life!“You get out 
  of bed but collapse onto the ground. You’re dying, 
  cabrona, unless someone intervenes to save you...”
  In all my years of running Cartel, I’ve never 
  actually killed a PC through narrative harm. It’s 
  always more fun to leave the PC (barely) alive!
  Death by Getting Fucking Shot
  The most common way for PCs to die is by get-
  ting fucking shot (page 71). If anyone—PC or 
  NPC—shoots a PC, the victim has to make the 
  move; if they miss, you tell them when they die. 
  You don’t have to kill the PC immediately, but 
  don’t leave them hanging for long, güey!
  You must honor the move whenever a PC 
  rolls it, so don’t shoot a player character unless 
  you’re ready for the PC’s story to come to a close 
  right then and there. When NPCs shoot at a PC, 
  feel free to instead inflict stress as the bullets fly, 
  narrowly missing the scrambling PC...for now.
  Gustavo, played by Justin, is trying to kill a sicaria, 
  Alma, by sneaking up on her in her apartment while 
  she’s sleeping. But...he misses while pushing his luck:
  I announce future danger: “A gunshot shatters 
  the silence. You see a smoking hole in the wall next to 
  you. Alma says, ‘You think I can’t see you coming?’”
  Justin decides to double down: “I want to move 
  closer and shoot her! Turning to violence, right?”
  I nod. He rolls another miss. Ouch. The obvious 
  move is to shoot him, but I think about it first. If he 
  dies, the ensuing drama between his boss—Santia-
  go—and his wife—Sofia—would be pretty great...
  Time to shoot someone! “You take two steps 
  closer when you realize you have no idea where 
  Alma is in the dark living room. The second gun-
  shot doesn’t miss, cabrón. You get fucking shot!”
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  141
  Managing Advancement
  Cartel characters advance when they fill their 
  xp track or clear one of their keys (page 73). 
  Usually players advance about once per ses-
  sion, giving them a few options to describe 
  their characters’ growth and development.
  Changes in the Fiction
  Advancement is just one kind of change that 
  can happen through play. If El Halcón recruits a 
  barrio kid to join his pandilla, his gang gets one 
  more mafioso; if los narcos blow up los federales’ 
  surveillance van, then it’s gone...no matter what’s 
  on La Polizeta’s sheet. Changes that happen in 
  the fiction can affect the playbooks directly!
  At the same time, changes that happen to 
  the playbook through advancement must have 
  a similar effect on the fiction. If La Polizeta 
  takes choose a new department toy, then the MC 
  works with the player to explain why the task 
  force gets new gear; if El Narco resolves a plaza 
  problem, then that problem is gone for good.
  Sofia, played by Brendan, advances and selects 
  change 2 obligations de la familia. He decides 
  to ramp up the family drama: he removes parish 
  volunteer and starting a new business and adds 
  elderly grandparent and pregnant. He suggests 
  that Sofia takes a step back from her work outside 
  the home when she discovers she’s pregnant, just in 
  time to take over caring for her elderly grandmother.
  Retiring to Safety
  A player choosing for their PC to retire to safety 
  has reached the end of that PC’s story. Someone 
  might find a way out in the fiction—perhaps La 
  Rata finally gives los federales enough evidence to 
  get out of Durango—but characters usually retire 
  when a player chooses to advance out of the story.
  Once a PC has retired to safety, they are 
  beyond your reach. Work with the player to 
  determine how (and when) the character escaped 
  the drug war. If the PC is in a bad situation, they 
  find a miraculous escape—even if the odds of 
  survival were extremely low. The character’s exit 
  from the fiction is final. Once someone is out for 
  good, there’s no way to pull them back in...
  Changing Playbooks
  If a player changes playbooks—through the 
  advancement list or the events of play—they 
  leave behind their old conflicts and get a new 
  life. El Cocinero might become El Narco, leav-
  ing behind his lab for la plaza; La Esposa might 
  become La Rata, betraying her familia en todo!
  Tell the player to keep all the basics from their 
  old playbook: moves, stats, gear, etc. Get rid of 
  everything they lose in the fiction—El Cocinero 
  probably gives up his lab to become El Narco, but 
  La Esposa might keep her familia when she turns 
  traitor—then take everything their new playbook 
  gets to start. New moves, new gear, new Heat. 
  Everything a new character gets, they get now.
  
  142
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  142
  Using npcs in play
  While any story in Cartel is fundamentally 
  about the player characters and their messy 
  lives, one of the best ways to enact your agen-
  das is using non-player characters (NPCs) to 
  drive the action forward. Need someone to 
  make a foolish decision that puts the PCs in 
  danger? Or maybe you need a new threat to 
  keep the tension high? NPCs always fit the bill.
  Creating NPCs
  Creating NPCs in Cartel is simple: when you in-
  troduce a new character, give them a name, and 
  describe them to the players. That’s it, cabrón!
  After Luna collapses in her living room, Sofia 
  decides to call a doctor she knows who works at 
  her nonprofit. Since we’ve never seen this character 
  before, I give him a name—Rodrigo—and offer 
  Brendan, Sofia’s player, a few details: “He’s late 50s, 
  very dedicated to the anti-drug work you do. His 
  daughter died of an overdose a few years ago. He’s 
  handsome, but often disheveled and exhausted.” 
  As you create NPCs, think about how they relate 
  to each other, what they might be hiding (and 
  how you can fill their lives with secrets), and 
  what resources they have to deal with problems. 
  But don’t share too much all at once! Give the 
  players time to get to know the characters first. 
  NPC Drives
  When you’ve got a moment to add depth to your 
  NPCs, give them drives, core motives that move 
  them to self-interested action. A rival sicario 
  probably has a drive like avenge my murdered 
  brother; an innocent businesswoman might have 
  a drive like avoid trouble at all costs. Most drives 
  are custom fit to the NPC, but there’s a list of 
  common drives on the MC worksheet as well.
  As Brendan thinks about what he wants from 
  Rodrigo, I consider Rodrigo’s drive. Since he is 
  committed to anti-drug work, I decide Rodrigo’s 
  drive is honor the legacy of my late daughter. 
  He’s trying hard to make up for what he’s lost...
  When NPCs are presented with a challenge 
  or opportunity, think about how their drive 
  impacts their view of the situation. If the drive 
  leads them to take immediate action, they will, 
  but if their drive doesn’t immediately suggest a 
  concrete strategy, they need to be pressured by 
  another character before jumping in to the fray.
  Sofia explains the situation on the phone: “My sis-
  ter collapsed at my house. I think she’s really hurt!” 
  Rodrigo doesn’t need to hear anything else; he can 
  honor his late daughter by saving Luna’s life!
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  143
  NPC Instincts
  Cartel is a rápido game, one in which scenes and 
  situations can turn ugly faster than you think. 
  As you assign drives to NPCs, also give them 
  instincts, gut-level reactions they will take when 
  confronted with danger and uncertainty.
  These instincts are one way you can declaim 
  responsibility for your NPCs, committing them 
  to a particular way of handling trouble, even if it 
  makes life difficult (or easy!) for the PCs.
  I decide Rodrigo’s instinct is simple: contact 
  the authorities. Since he’s not a narco or a cop, 
  Rodrigo is going to default to looking for any 
  authority figure to deal with situations that are 
  out of the ordinary, scary, or dangerous. 
  When Rodrigo arrives at Sofia’s and looks at 
  Luna’s injuries, he is distraught. Sofia didn’t tell 
  Rodrigo that Luna had been shot! His instinct to 
  contact the authorities kicks in, and sets me up 
  to offer Sofia a difficult compromise:
  “He says, ‘Señora, these are serious injuries. I 
  need to call an ambulance—and the police—to 
  take her to the hospital. She will live, but I can’t 
  treat her here.’ He looks frightened, but resolute.”
  As with drives, there is a list of common instincts 
  on the MC worksheet. That said, most civilian 
  NPCs probably default to contact the authorities, 
  and most low-level narcos or cops instinctually 
  know to consult the boss when they encounter 
  strange situations or unexpected trouble.
  PC-NPC-PC Triangles
  NPCs in Cartel live by their drives and follow 
  their instincts when possible, but don’t make 
  them one-dimensional pendejos. They are people, 
  cabrón, often complicated and contradictory. 
  They will seem far more real if you allow them to 
  surprise both you and the player characters.
  One way you can develop your NPCs is to 
  show several PCs a different side of the same 
  NPC, creating a PC-NPC-PC triangle in which 
  two (or more) PCs have fundamentally differ-
  ent relationships with the same NPC. Such 
  relationships can develop in play, but you can 
  also introduce them when you add a new NPC.
  Since Rodrigo is a new NPC, I think about other PCs 
  that might know him. I decide he probably knows 
  Yolanda (La Cocinera) from when she worked at the 
  local hospital, grounding the story in Durango 
  by connecting them through local institutions.
  I declaim responsibility for specifics, though. I say 
  to Sarah, Yolanda’s player, “You know Rodrigo from 
  your work as a pharmacist. Why do you hate him?”
  “Oh...maybe he was the one who got me fired? 
  Yeah, he caught me selling stuff to Beto.”
  ¡Perfecto! Sofia trusts Rodrigo completely, but 
  Yolanda hates him! We’ll see where this goes...
  The tension in a PC-NPC-PC triangle doesn’t 
  need to be immediately explosive; the fact that 
  the NPC is complicating the PCs’ relationships 
  with each other will almost always yield drama. 
  
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  NPCs and Stress
  Like PCs, NPCs can mark stress to turn down 
  a deal that’s been proposed by a PC or avoid 
  going along when a PC pressures them. But 
  NPCs can only mark one or two stress before 
  they fall apart or make terrible decisions:
   
  ĵ 1-stress: visibly shaken, angry, paranoid, 
  afraid of/angry at whatever caused the stress.
   
  ĵ 2-stress: exhausted and forlorn, unwilling to 
  confront opposition, quick to turn to escape.
   
  ĵ 3-stress: complete breakdown, will violate so-
  cial norms to get away or get what they want.
   
  ĵ 4-stress: catatonic, unresponsive, or lost. Will 
  break rules/laws/norms without warning.
  Whenever you mark stress for an NPC, make 
  it clear and obvious to the players. They need 
  to know that the NPC is pushing forward with 
  some effort—or about to turn and flee:
  Yolanda rolled a hit while pressuring Diego to 
  give up on kidnapping her (page 130). I’m going 
  to treat everyone as expendable and suspi-
  cious here: I think Diego is willing to call this 
  bluff, figuring Santiago won’t miss his cook too 
  much. I mark a stress next to Diego’s name on my 
  MC worksheet; he’s going to react poorly...
  “Yolanda, Diego snarls and strikes you across 
  the face. ‘Shut up! I’m in charge here! I’m not 
  scared of you or Santiago.’ He looks furious...”
  No Hay Fronteras
  In 2009, Mexican authorities arrested Santiago 
  Meza Lopez, accusing him of melting down over 
  300 bodies for the Sinaloa Cartel. Lopez was 
  known as “El Pozolero”—The Stewmaker—but 
  he started with los carteles doing construction 
  when he was only nineteen. Two decades later, he 
  begged for forgiveness and defended himself by 
  noting his victims “were already dead.” If he didn’t 
  melt them down, surely someone else would have?
  La guerra contra el narco has a funny way of 
  pushing you past whatever boundaries you may 
  set for yourself. When you start, you think you 
  know your own limits, but the lines get blurry. 
  Would you kill to save your own skin?  Steal from 
  people you know will have you killed? Melt some  
  narco down in an oil barrel with toxic químicos? 
  You don’t know yet. Tú no sabes, muchacho.
  Los carteles, like any organized crime syndi-
  cate, are filled with people trying to live with 
  the compromises they have made. Some are 
  monstruos, but most are futilely struggling to 
  compartmentalize their realities, dividing their 
  lives from the violence of their work. You might 
  believe yourself to be better, but which diablos 
  within you would you let loose on the world to 
  avoid losing everything and everyone?
  None of us can look too long at our own 
  failures; we must let them sit separately from our 
  successes and triumphs. Una cosa es una cosa, y 
  otra cosa es otra cosa. You can’t mix up the two, 
  amigo, or you will find yourself lost in your own 
  selfish regrets, hesitating just when you need to 
  take decisive action to save your own skin.
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
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  When NPCs Attack
  Sooner or later, your NPCs will decide it’s time 
  to hurt (or even kill) one of the PCs. You can 
  escalate a situation to violence whenever it’s 
  appropriate—keeping in mind your agendas 
  and principles—even if that violence is lethal.
  One way to invoke violence is to make a 
  softer move—“Santiago’s enforcers have spotted 
  you!”—and let the PCs respond. If they try to get 
  away or take cover, that’s pushing their luck; if 
  they try to propose a deal or pressure the NPCs 
  with threats of violence, that’s fine too. On a 
  miss, you get to make as hard a move as you like.
  Since Diego has decided he’s still going to kidnap 
  Yolanda, I say, “Diego points at you: ‘You’re com-
  ing with me, chica. One way or the other. Now.’”
  Sarah, Yolanda’s player, doesn’t miss a beat: “I 
  trigger the smoke bomb I made and roll it toward 
  Diego and his goons. Pushing my luck, right?” I 
  nod. She rolls, but the total is only a 5. A miss!
  “The juryrigged device hits the ground and 
  explodes, throwing smoke everywhere.” I’m 
  turning her move against her—but not 
  speaking its name. “You stumble backwards, 
  coughing, as Diego emerges from the smoke. He 
  grabs you and slams you up against the wall...”
  On the other hand, if the PCs turn to violence, 
  they exchange harm as established; the NPCs 
  get to take their shot too. The PCs have to 
  choose suffer little harm to avoid the worst of it.
  NPC Injuries
  When you’re dealing with harm to NPCs, keep 
  in mind how vulnerable humans are to vio-
  lence. Any weapon more dangerous than a knife 
  is going to end someone’s life...and a knife gets 
  the job done anytime a player chooses inflict 
  terrible harm when they turn to violence against 
  an unprepared or exposed target. 
  In short, when an NPC takes enough harm 
  to die, they die. An especially tough sicario 
  wearing a vest might be able to take a bullet or 
  two, but a blast from a rocket launcher ought 
  to finish the job por completo. Cartel is about 
  the consequences of violence, not gun battles. 
  Yolanda isn’t giving up. She says, “I’m close to my 
  workbench. Can I grab a heavy tool and hit him?” 
  “Yeah, sure. You’ve probably got a wrench. Turn 
  to violence against him.” I could make her push her 
  luck to grab the wrench, but I’m awarding her an 
  advantage as a fan of her character. Sarah gets an 8.
  “I want to inflict terrible harm and suffer 
  little harm. I’ll mark the stress; I don’t care 
  about collateral damage right now.”
  “You swing the wrench into the side of his head, 
  catching him right in the temple. Blood sprays all 
  over you, and he falls backward on to the floor.”
  If an NPC survives a serious injury, they need 
  acute medical attention ahora mismo! If they can’t 
  get to a doctor within a scene or two, that’s it. 
  
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  ThE first session
  The first session of any game is tough, güey. 
  Your pinches players only have to pick their 
  playbooks and make characters. You’ve got to 
  create a convincing version of the drug war 
  that keeps the characters’ lives exciting while 
  playing to find out what happens. And you 
  haven’t even met their characters yet!
  Here’s the trick: while the players take the 
  time to start to figure out who they are playing, 
  you’re going to get everything rolling right out 
  the gate—without any planning at all. ¡Órale!
  Materials y Prep
  Before you start actually playing, print out all 
  the playbooks you’re going to offer and review 
  their moves and extras. You don’t have to offer 
  every playbook—maybe you want to avoid 
  dealing with los federales, so you leave out La 
  Polizeta. Regardless, print out enough basic 
  move sheets for the players and a copy of the 
  MC worksheet and basic moves for yourself.
  And read this whole book, cabrón. You can 
  skim Los Narcos (page 77), but the rest of the 
  chapters are vital reading, especially La Guerra 
  Antidrogas (page 15), which covers everything 
  you need to fill your game with solid amigos, 
  enemigos, y los problemas del narco. You’re going 
  to be hard-pressed to create a believable world if 
  you know nothing about the drug war. 
  Getting Started
  Once your players show up to play, explain the 
  setting and introduce the playbooks. Here’s 
  how I like to start things off with new players:
   
  ĵ I open by giving a general content warning 
  for Cartel and explaining the safety tools 
  (page 13) we use while playing the game. 
  I then relay the tres cuentos (page 8) from 
  the beginning of this book, focusing on the 
  drug war’s lies, money, and violence.
   
  ĵ Next, I introduce the playbooks, starting 
  with El Narco—introducing la plaza—and 
  ending with the playbooks further outside 
  the cartel, like La Esposa. For each playbook, 
  I emphasize the play experience that the 
  playbook best facilitates during a session.
   
  ĵ While the players fill out their playbooks, I 
  try to give them space to read and think. I 
  answer questions as needed, but mostly stay 
  out of the way. Once everyone is ready, I ask 
  players to introduce their characters.
   
  ĵ After all the players finish their introduc-
  tions, we review the llaves they chose and 
  build the relationship map by selecting 
  enlaces. Then we’re ready to play!
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  147
  Asking Probing Questions
  As the players introduce their characters, I get 
  started asking probing questions, looking for 
  interesting spots that I can bring into the session. 
  I’ve listed a few of the probing questions I use for 
  each playbook earlier in this chapter (page 135), 
  but those lists are by no means exhaustive. Make 
  up your own questions, muchacho, based on 
  whatever drama your players are giving you!
  Jahmal just finished making his El Narco, Don 
  Santiago (page 78). After Jahmal is finished 
  introducing his character to the other players, I’ve 
  got a few questions about Don Santiago:
  “You said you have lots of problems in your plaza: 
  robberies, a mole, a war with Los Zetas. What kind 
  of precautions do you take to keep yourself safe?”
  Jahmal nods and says, “My enforcers recruit 
  heavily, so I’ve got a medium gang. I probably have 
  someone with me pretty much all the time.”
  “What do they look like? No training, right?”
  “No, no training. I buy them suits, so they look 
  like professionals, even if they are untrained.”
  “And what about your house? Do you display 
  your extravagant wealth there as well?”
  “Absolutely,” says Jahmal. “It’s huge. A mansion.”
  All of this seems banal, but it builds the fiction, 
  creating the bits of the world that make it feel 
  real. Once your players have offered you details, 
  include them—fancy houses, luxury suits, dumb 
  bodyguards—to reinforce a shared narrative.
  Reviewing Llaves
  Players choose keys based on the conflicts they 
  find appealing; I also review everyone’s llaves to 
  flag those situations for myself and other players.
  “Which llaves did you pick for Santiago, Jahmal?”
  “Dirty Hands and Family. I get an xp when 
  I personally take care of problems or violate my 
  family’s boundaries to protect them,” Jahmal says.
  “Everyone knows you’re hands on with business?”
  “Yes! Folks know I like to sort things out myself.”
  Santiago will have plenty of problems—he can 
  decide when to get involved—but I’ll need to plan 
  ahead to include  family members with boundaries... 
  I try to give each player a chance to hit at least 
  one key in the first session. I’m still playing to 
  find out, but I’m thinking through the elements 
  that need to be in play—family? money?—for 
  the player to hit their keys early and often!
  
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  During the First Session
  After character creation is done, I usually call 
  for a break. It usually takes me about an hour 
  to get through the creation process—longer 
  sometimes if I’ve got a lot of new players—and 
  it’s a nice stopping point before we get going.
  During the break, I think about all the ways 
  that the characters are wrapped up in each 
  other, and where I can push on them while 
  following my agendas, principles, and moves. 
  Is there a fragile relationship? Maybe an old 
  grudge? Is someone keeping a secret badly?
  I also think about the length of the story 
  we’re telling. If this is a single session game, I’m 
  going to come out of the gate swinging, hoping 
  to put the PCs in danger right away. But if we’re 
  planning on playing multiple sessions together, 
  I’ll look to build the tension more slowly:
  “Since we’re planning on playing a few sessions of 
  Cartel together, I want to start by reminding you 
  all that we’re playing to find out what happens. 
  I don’t have anything explicitly planned, but I 
  know we’ll have fun because you’re all interesting 
  characters with interesting lives. We’ll start by just 
  following you around on a normal day, and we’ll 
  see what sort of drama comes up for you all...”
  Once things start, I’m going to rely on the 
  principles and moves, pushing toward my 
  agendas as hard as I can. The PCs—with all 
  their problems and lies—have to keep up!
  Creating Starting Scenes
  If you’re stuck trying to think of a starting 
  scene, focus on the enlaces your players chose 
  when creating their characters. Many of them 
  are easy entries into a scene that involves two 
  PCs (or more) and some meaningful tension:
  “Yolanda, I know that you disapprove of Beto’s 
  work with the cartel. How about a scene where 
  you try to get him to leave this work behind?”
  This scene framing won’t limit the focus of the 
  first scene. Yolanda may start out going to Beto’s 
  apartment to try to convince him to quit work-
  ing for the cartel, but new conflicts will arise as I 
  make moves in accordance with my principles.
  Invoking the Moves
  Throughout the first session, call out moves 
  when players make them—“That sounds like 
  you’re trying to pressure him, Yolanda”—and offer 
  help when players get close to making moves but 
  don’t quite get there—“You could verbally shame 
  or abuse Marisol to clear that stress if you want...”
  Even experienced players may not fully grasp 
  the mechanics in the first session! It’s up to you 
  to get the economy of the game going, pushing 
  on players to take interesting actions (the moves!) 
  while also building out your version of Durango 
  with opportunities based on the fiction you all 
  created together at the start of the session.
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  149
  Teaching the Game
  As you go through the session, it’s likely you’ll end 
  up teaching the game, either because your players 
  have never played this kind of roleplaying game 
  before or because Cartel is new to them. Here are 
  some tips for helping folks get up to speed pronto:
  Pace Your Explanations
  Between the basic moves, stress moves, Heat 
  moves, and more...it can feel like you’ve got to 
  cover everything at once. Don’t overwhelm them, 
  cabrón! Give them enough information to make 
  characters, then explain things as you go. 
  For example, you may feel a need to explain 
  all the basic moves before you start playing. That 
  could take thirty or forty minutes! Instead, just 
  go over how things generally work and discuss 
  the moves in detail as players trigger them. By 
  the end of the session, your players will be pros.
  Model Good Behavior
  Your players are all chido y awesome, right? 
  The best folks you can find! But that doesn’t 
  make them awesome players...yet. Be patient 
  and generous. Let them make mistakes, and 
  don’t rush them when they need time to think.
  Above all else, model great play! Talk as the 
  NPCs in a scene; use the X-Card when things 
  are going down a bad path; act as an engaged 
  audience when two PCs are talking to each 
  other in character; happily incorporate and 
  reincorporate the players’ contributions!
  Ending the First Session
  As the first session comes to a close, think hard 
  about what’s coming next:
   
  ĵ If it’s a one session game, it’s time to ramp 
  things up. Push the players to the breaking 
  point by exposing their secrets, wrecking 
  their routines, and placing them in direct 
  danger. Anything that doesn’t appear in the 
  story by the end doesn’t appear at all!
   
  ĵ If you’ve got more sessions in store, make 
  sure there’s enough tension that players can 
  see where the next session might go. Keep 
  some of your powder dry, güey, but give 
  them a taste of the chaos to come...
   
  ĵ Either way, do your best to put the players 
  in conflict with each other instead of just 
  putting them in conflict with NPCs. Look 
  for places where the PCs disagree or have 
  divided loyalties, and highlight that conflict. 
  Everything in Cartel takes on a whole new 
  light when PCs face off against each other.
   
  ĵ Finally, don’t forget to debrief. Take some 
  time after the session to talk about your 
  favorite moments (stars!) and things you’re 
  looking forward to next time you play 
  (wishes). You might even ask what NPCs 
  the players liked the most, just to make sure 
  those same NPCs show up next time...
  
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  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
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  ThE long exAMple
  What follows is an extended example that draws 
  upon all the material in this book, calling out MC 
  moves and principles throughout, as well as notes 
  on how I think about the emerging conflicts.
  The example starts in the third session of an 
  ongoing game of Cartel, featuring four PCs:
   
  ĵ El Halcón: Beto—man, quick eyes, street 
  clothes—a kid who badgered Mina into giving 
  him new responsibilities. Played by Derrick.
   
  ĵ El Narco: Santiago—man, warm eyes, luxury 
  clothes—a ruthless jefe whose plaza is slowly 
  spiraling out of control. Played by Jahmal.
   
  ĵ El Polizeta: Gustavo—man, clever eyes, 
  plain clothes—a corrupt cop trying to play 
  both sides of the law. Played by Justin.
   
  ĵ La Sicaria: Mina—woman, quiet eyes, casual 
  clothes—a deadly cartel assassin...and the 
  daughter of Santiago. Played by Marissa.
  Last session, Gustavo shot and killed one of Don 
  Santiago’s trusted tenientes, Rosario; Santiago re-
  sponded by sending his enforcers out to grab Gus-
  tavo and bring him to Santiago’s casa. I’m happy to 
  let them tangle here; no need to intervene when 
  they are already disrupting each other’s routines.
  I frame the scene, terse and direct:
   “Your enforcers sit Gustavo down in a chair in front 
  of you, Santiago. He’s handcuffed, and you can see 
  they’ve roughed him up a bit. What do you do?”
  “I take a second to look at him,” says Jahmal. “‘I 
  want to know what the hell happened to Rosario.’”
  I jump in: “That sounds like a serious question. 
  You trying to get the truth out of him?”
  Jahmal ’s got a shitty Hustle—no one ever tells 
  el jefe the truth—but he gets lucky on his roll and 
  scores a 9 overall. Gustavo can’t interfere with the 
  roll (a -2 would still leave Santiago with a 7), so I 
  tell Jahmal to pick an option off the list. “I think 
  I’ll take can’t confuse me with falsehoods.”
  “Great. Okay, Gustavo, you can’t outright lie, but 
  you can still stonewall or mislead him by omitting 
  something crucial from your explanation.”
  Justin smiles. “I’ll stonewall: ‘You’ve got a rata 
  in your organization, Santiago. That should be 
  your focus right now. Forget about Rosario.’”
  “Sounds like you’re trying to pressure him into 
  dropping the issue?” I say. Justin nods. He rolls—
  his Hustle is a +2—and gets a 12. Santiago has to 
  mark a stress or go along with Gustavo for now.
  Jahmal says, “Fuck that. I mark the stress.” 
  I notice that Santiago’s just filled in his fifth stress. 
  Now I can force a stress move if there’s a lull in the 
  action. I’m patient, though. No need to rush.
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  151
  Santiago has had enough. Jahmal says, “I get 
  out my gun and shout at Gustavo. ‘Why did you 
  kill Rosario? Was she the mole, pendejo?’” 
  He’s already made his move to get the truth 
  once, so there’s no roll here; Gustavo can’t lie, but 
  he can keep stonewalling or misleading.
  “‘No, not her,’” Justin replies, and Jahmal gri-
  maces. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
  “‘I was hoping you would tell me the mole was 
  the person in my employ you already shot.’” 
  “‘I can’t talk now,’” says Justin. “Gustavo looks 
  around at the guards and staff. ‘Not here.’”
  I jump in again. I want to keep the conversation 
  moving; they might hit a dead end here if Gustavo 
  refuses to give any more information.
  “Gustavo, it sounds to me like you are trying to 
  justify your behavior here. That sound right?”
  “Yes!” Justin rolls...and gets a 6, not enough. No 
  way El Narco is buying the mysterious rata story. 
  I say, “One of Santiago’s goons punches you. 
  Hard. Mark a stress.” The situation is bad, and I’m 
  inflicting stress to keep the pressure on Gustavo.
  But I can’t resist taking advantage of Santiago’s 
  stress track. “Santiago, I think it’s time for a stress 
  move.” I’m speaking to the character here—not 
  the player—reminding him of the building stress.
  Justin frowns. Santiago would usually have to 
  establish some dominance over him before dishing 
  out a beatdown, but Gustavo is already handcuffed.
  Jahmal picks up the dice. “‘I think I’ve heard 
  just about enough out of you, cabrón!’”
  The tension in the scene is so thick I’d need a 
  sledgehammer to break it apart...which means 
  it’s the perfect time to cut away to the other 
  players! I ask Jahmal to hold off on rolling the 
  dice, so we can crosscut to Mina and Beto.
  At the end of last session, Santiago told Mina 
  to deal with the thieves who robbed a cartel 
  processing center. Mina called Beto to come 
  along as her driver. The two of them found the 
  gang and placed an improvised explosive device 
  (IED) in the robbers’ van while the thieves slept 
  off the party they had with El Narco’s money. 
  I frame the second scene, slow and careful:
   “You two spot someone approaching. You’re out of 
  sight, but you hear people opening doors. The van’s 
  engine turns over, and you see the lights come on. 
  Looks like they are headed out. What do you do?”
  “We follow,” Marissa says. “My father wanted 
  us to send a message, so I want people to see what 
  happens to people who steal from us.”
  “Great. If you’re trying to follow them without 
  being seen, I think it sounds like you’re pushing your 
  luck a bit, here. That make sense to you, Beto?”
   “Yeah. I’m keeping my distance, but...” He rolls 
  and misses—snake eyes! Even Mina can’t help. 
  I smile. Time to announce future danger.
  “Things are going smoothly...until you hit a 
  parked car. The car behind you screeches to a halt.
  The thieves get out of the van, looking around. 
  They look alert but haven’t spotted you.” I’m 
  making my move, but not speaking its name.
  
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  152
  Marissa grimaces. “Not perfect, but it will have 
  to do. I hit the trigger on the remote for the IED.”
  Whoa. I hold up my hand. “You sure about 
  that? This is a crowded area. You’re certain there 
  will be civilians caught in the blast.” 
  “Yup. Cost of doing business for my father. I’m 
  turning to violence.” She rolls with Savagery +2 
  and gets a 12. “I’ll take inflict terrible harm, suffer 
  little harm, and resist marking stress.”
  Big moment to be a fan of her character; Mina 
  set up the bomb, and now she’s pulling the trigger. 
  No reason to pull punches here when she’s seizing 
  the spotlight. “The thieves don’t see it coming. At 
  least one of them is consumed by the blast...leaving 
  his buddy stumbling around in the wreckage of their 
  van. The street is filled with debris and screaming.”
  I turn to Derrick. He says, “Wow?” I nod. 
  “Yeah, mark a stress, Beto.” I want to show the 
  difference between these two characters; inflicting 
  stress on Beto helps draw the distinction clearly! 
  “I get my assault rifle out of the trunk,” Marissa 
  says. “I gotta finish them off. I’ll take my body armor 
  too. I start with the guy stumbling around. I still roll 
  to turn to violence, right?” I nod. She gets a 5. Ay.
  I think about just having the thief get away 
  before Mina can shoot him. Maybe that’s a way to 
  threaten Mina’s interests. But it feels like Mina’s 
  just gonna follow him and kill him. He isn’t scary!  
  I’ve got to ramp things up to really threaten her.
  “You cut him down. With all the smoke, you’re 
  not even sure he saw you. But then you hear some-
  one shouting. In English. Behind you.”
  “¡No chingues!” Marissa says. “The thieves are 
  dead, right?” I nod. “I turn around then. Who is it?”
  “It’s an American. She’s holding a cup of coffee 
  and a 9mm...with a badge slung around her neck. 
  She looks stunned. DEA, maybe? You speak English?” 
  Marissa shakes her head. “Cool. You can see the 
  blown-out coffeeshop behind her. She must have 
  been getting her coffee when you set off the bomb.”
  I’m turning Mina’s move back on her, giving her 
  what she wants...and the attention that goes with it. 
  I’m grounding the story in Durango too, pointing 
  out that this agent is an outsider, unable to even 
  communicate with Mina directly in Spanish.
  Marissa says, “‘Drop it, puta.’ I motion at her 
  gun with my assault rifle, still ready to shoot.”
  “Sounds like you’re pressuring her. Make the roll.” 
  npcs in gRoUps
  There are no special rules in Cartel for deal-
  ing with groups of combatants. If La Sicaria 
  gets in a shootout with three NPCs, she has 
  to find a way to deal with all three of them, 
  perhaps turning to violence four or five times. 
  That said, groups of NPCs should rarely 
  stick around if they are losing a fight to a 
  dangerous antagonist. The default instinct 
  (page 143) for most narcos is “consult the 
  boss” not “fight these PCs until I die.”
  
  Chapter 5: El Maestro de Ceremonias
  153
  The dice are cruel: another miss. I wanted Mina to 
  succeed—to humiliate the agent and walk away—
  but I stay true to the fiction. If Mina’s not convincing 
  her, then it’s time to embrace the language of la 
  guerra antidrogas and shoot Mina. “The gringa 
  doesn’t hesitate. She pulls the trigger; you feel the 
  impact of a bullet. Looks like you got fucking shot!”
  Marissa laughs. “Okay! It’s a handgun, and I 
  have armor on, so that’s +2 to getting fucking 
  shot?” She rolls a total of 7. She’ll live! “Whew! I 
  want it to be messy and bloody, I think. I need 
  medical attention and it’s going to leave a scar.”
  “Sounds good.” I turn back to Derrick. “You just 
  saw that gringa shoot your sicaria. Mina drops to 
  the ground. You’re not sure if she’s dead or alive.”
  “Fuck! Is the shooter paying attention to me?”
  I’m gonna award Beto an advantage here. “Not 
  yet. She’s approaching Mina’s body. You gonna bolt?”
  “No! I’m gonna hit her with my fucking car. Turn 
  to violence?” I laugh and nod. Derrick gets an 8 on 
  the roll. “I think I’ll take inflict terrible harm and 
  avoid collateral damage. I suffer whatever harm 
  she throws at me and take the stress from the move.”
  “You gun the engine and race towards her. She 
  turns and opens fire—mark a stress as the bullets 
  shatter your windshield—but your bumper cuts her 
  down before she can get off a clean shot. You see 
  her crumple under the vehicle with a crunch—mark 
  another stress. A la verga. What do you do?”
  “We gotta get out of here before more cops 
  show up. I get out of the car and grab Mina...”
  Whew. That was intense. I call for a break, both 
  to give everyone a chance to process what just 
  happened...and to give me some time to think 
  about how to bring the PCs together. These 
  two competing threads are great, but I’m always 
  looking for opportunities to refocus the story.
  It hits me that Santiago would probably care 
  about his daughter getting shot. Since he and 
  Mina have unresolved conflicts around the death 
  of Santiago’s mother—Mina’s abuela—a scene 
  between the two of them might be awesome. 
  I turn to Derrick before framing the scene:
  “Do you think you might call Santiago for help?”
  Derrick nods. “Yeah, that’s perfect. I’m way in 
  over my head here. I’ll call him while I drive.”
  “No!” Marissa says. “We can’t trust him. I want 
  to pressure Beto to keep him from calling my dad.”
  “Okay, what does that look like?” I say.
  “I say, ‘Take me to the vet. Don’t call anyone.’”
  I nod; Marissa rolls. It’s a 7. Just barely enough.
  Before I say anything, Derrick jumps in. “Can I 
  interfere here? I can wager my last stress.”
  “Sure. What do you say back to her?”
  “‘Fuck that! I’m not keeping el jefe in the dark.’”
  Derrick rolls a 4, not enough to reduce her roll. 
  He marks the stress; I decide to award Mina an 
  advantage as a result of the miss: Beto’s gun.
  “Mina’s resolve is steady. And worse, you can 
  see she got her hands on your gun when you got 
  in the car. Looks like she’s calling the shots...”
  
  154
  I think a scene between Mina and Santiago 
  would be great, but I’m playing to find out what 
  happens. No need to shove a conflict down any-
  one’s throat! We might get there later anyway...
  In the meantime, I turn to Jahmal and Justin:
  “When we left off, you were about to...dish out a 
  beatdown to Gustavo? Is that right, Santiago?”
  “Oh, yes! I’m gonna rough him up while I’ve 
  got him cuffed.” Jahmal rolls, but gets a 6. A miss!
  I remind Justin he can’t help or interfere with a 
  stress move and start to think about my own move. 
  Dish out a beatdown says “the violence gets 
  out of hand” on a miss, so I’ve got a lot of options. 
  If Gustavo was an NPC, I’d probably just have 
  Santiago kill him, leaving El Narco with one fewer 
  informant and one more dead body. But Gustavo 
  is a PC; I’ve got to keep his life exciting too, and 
  I’m acting against that agenda if he dies right here.
  I decide to lean on Santiago’s secrets: “You start 
  hitting El Polizeta, and the next thing you know, 
  one of your sicarias—Alma—is pulling you off of 
  him. You’re still livid with rage; you don’t feel any 
  better at all. All you hear is the slow trickle of blood 
  into the carpet and Gustavo’s ragged breathing.
  “We fade to black here,” I continue. “But before 
  the shot goes dark, we can see Santiago’s wife, An-
  drea, in the shadows around the corner. She’s clutch-
  ing a rosary, and we know she heard everything.” 
  I’m filling the characters’ lives with secrets, 
  including burdening NPCs with terrible knowledge!
  I pivot back to Derrick and Marissa:
  “You’re driving, Beto? Fleeing a messy crime scene?”
  Derrick groans. There’s no question it’s messy: a 
  car bomb, multiple gunshots, and...a hit and run. 
  El Halcón has Heat +0, but he’s gonna have to roll 
  with Heat +1 because he’s fleeing with La Sicaria. 
  He gets lucky: a miss. ¡Órale! I say, “You hear 
  some sirens, but you’re on the road before they 
  know where you are. Should we cut to the vet?”
  They both nod. Fine by me! I have made the 
  authorities a persistent presence, and the miss 
  means we can move on quickly to the next scene.
  “Beto, you pull into a strip mall with the vet 
  Mina told you about: the rundown sign out front 
  says ‘Fido’s’ and signs in the window and on the 
  door advertise vaccine shots. What do you do?”
  “How does Mina look? Can she take it from here?”
  I decide to demand Beto play his part: “She 
  looks bad, cabrón. There’s blood all over her shirt, 
  and her eyes are fluttery. She needs help getting in.”
  “Shit. Okay...I park the car and get her inside.”
  “Cool. The waiting room is empty, just a recep-
  tionist holding a cat; her eyes widen as you enter.”
  “I sit Mina down and say, ‘My friend needs help. 
  Now. We can pay.’ I think I’m proposing a deal.”
  I nod, and Derrick rolls. Only a 6.  Marissa says, 
  “I want to help. I draw my gun and wave it at her.”
  I think about letting Mina help, but we’ve already 
  established that she was badly injured. Gotta say 
  what honesty demands: “Sorry, chica. Beto’s on 
  his own. You’re too fucked up to threaten anyone.”
  
  155
  I think about my move and decide to declaim 
  decision making: “You ever been to this vet before, 
  Mina?” If so, they probably take her in; I’ll offer 
  Beto a difficult compromise. If not, then maybe I 
  turn his move back on him and call the police.  
  “Yeah. They’ve patched me up once before.”
  “Okay, cool. She nods, and heads to the back to 
  get Dr. Ruiz.” I’m naming the doctor, thinking 
  about her drive—“keep the clinic open”—and her 
  instinct—“always give an honest assessment.” 
  “Dr. Ruiz comes out with a technician. She takes 
  one look at Mina and starts barking orders to her 
  staff. She turns to you, Beto: ‘This woman is dying,’ 
  she says. ‘I can stabilize her, but she needs to go to a 
  hospital later or she will die. Got it?’” Derrick nods.
  “I’m calling Santiago,” Derrick says.
  “The fuck?” says Marissa. “I thought we agreed 
  not to call him when I pressured you in the car.  
  “Sure, but you’re fucking dying. What if  this 
  goes bad? I’m not getting blamed for your death!”
  “Sounds like the situation has changed, Mina,” 
  I say. “Santiago, as you’re washing Gustavo’s blood 
  off your hands, your phone rings. It’s Beto.”
  “‘Hola, Beto. Did you find the thieves?’”
  “‘We did,’” says Derrick, “‘but things got out of 
  hand. Mina got shot. It’s pretty bad. Real bad.’”
  I interject: “Sounds like you’re justifying your 
  behavior.” Derrick nods, and rolls. 12! 
  “I’ll take the xp,” says Jahmal. “‘Where are you?’”
  I look to Derrick. Up to him to say or not.
  “Yeah, I tell him. Lying isn’t going to help me!”
  I don’t waste any time. Right to the action:
  “When you arrive at the vet, Santiago, Mina’s in a 
  back room. She’s pale, a bandage over her chest.”
  “‘What happened, hija?’” Jahmal asks.
  “Can I size him up before I answer?” I nod; she’s 
  been worked on by the vet, so she’s awake. She rolls 
  and gets an 8! “I’ll take how could I get you to 
  tell me what happened to Mamá Victoria?”
  Jahmal is quick: “If you told me you can’t trust 
  me until you know what happened, I’d tell you.”
  Marissa smiles. “Got it! I say, ‘I’m not telling you 
  anything. I’ll do your dirty work, but I can’t trust you 
  until you tell me what happened to Mamá Victoria.’” 
  “‘You want to know?’” Jahmal says. “‘Okay, fine! 
  She wanted me dead, so I got her first. And I was 
  hoping that you and I wouldn’t have these kind—”’
  Marissa cuts him off: “I shoot him. I’ve still got 
  Beto’s gun.” Both Jahmal and I are totally stunned! 
  But I can’t stop Mina; I’m playing to find out!
  Marissa rolls...and gets a 7. But Santiago’s stress 
  track is full; he can’t interfere. She says, “I inflict 
  terrible harm and avoid collateral damage.”
  Jahmal rolls with a +1—it’s a handgun—to get 
  fucking shot...but gets snake eyes. End of the line. 
  “The gunshot is deafening. Santiago, you stum-
  ble backward, blood spilling out of the bullet holes. 
  What do you do with these final moments?”
  Jahmal shakes his head. “I look at Mina and 
  say, ‘...these kind of problems, hija. These kind...’ 
  and then I fall to the floor in a heap...”
  
  156
  afteRwoRd
  At long last, cabrones, we have reached the 
  end. This libro is a true labor of love, a genuine 
  obsession that would not let me go until we 
  arrived at this precise moment. ¡Órale, amigos!
  I started working on Cartel when I wrapped 
  up writing Urban Shadows in late 2014. I was 
  proud of the nuance Andrew Medeiros and I 
  brought to that game, but I wanted to try and 
  connect my work in roleplaying games with 
  my experiences as a Mexican-American gamer.
  But when I started working on “my Latino 
  game,” I struggled to connect my perspective 
  to an experience players could love. I couldn’t 
  just set a game in Mexico; I had to find a time 
  and a place that evoked the pain and the prom-
  ise of Mexican culture while giving the players 
  an experience worth having again and again. 
  When I watched Breaking Bad, it clicked for 
  me. Breaking Bad is set in my hometown—Al-
  buquerque, NM—but it’s a story about white 
  people. It explores themes and ideas that are 
  central to my heritage…but with Latinos at 
  the fringes of the narrative. I realized that the 
  game I wanted to write was right in front of 
  me: the drug war, from the perspective of the 
  Mexican people who live in the middle of it.
  Yet, I had no idea that creating a game about 
  México would be quite this kind of journey. 
  Nearly six years have passed since I started 
  working on Cartel. In that time, I’ve wrestled 
  with the ambiguities of the game I’ve created, 
  and I’ve heard feedback from some who believe 
  that no “game” can capture these kinds of expe-
  riences, and that Cartel achieves little but the 
  glorification and perptuation of narcocultura. I’ve 
  thought long and hard about these critiques.
  But—for me—Cartel hasn’t ever been about 
  glorifying los carteles; it’s about finding human 
  moments amidst the sprawling catastrophe of la 
  guerra contra el narco. It’s about exploring what 
  it means to live in the supply chain. It’s about 
  connecting across borders, and seeing the people 
  (and their conflicts) on the other side as real.
  Nicolás Medina Mora wrote—in a recent, 
  scathing review of a terrible novel about 
  drugs and immigration set in Mexico—that 
  “Mexico is an infinite subject to which one 
  must dedicate a lifetime to understand that 
  it is impossible to understand it.” Cartel has 
  taught me I know nothing about the drug war. 
  Nothing except what is here in these pages, 
  truth wrestled from the lies we tell ourselves 
  to avoid seeing la guerra antidrogas clearly. It 
  isn’t nearly enough. It will have to do.
  —Mark Diaz Truman, May 12, 2020
  
  157
  gLossAry
  It is impossible to convey translations for all of the Spanish used by los narcos in Durango, but 
  here are a few words and phrases that regularly appear in Cartel: 
   
  ĵ abuelo/abuela: a grandfather or grandmother
   
  ĵ amigo/amiga: friend
   
  ĵ bienvenidos: welcome, greetings
   
  ĵ cabrón/cabrona: motherfucker, asshole, a 
  badass; all-purpose vulgar epithet
   
  ĵ carteles: the organizations that control 
  drug trafficking throughout Mexico
   
  ĵ ciencia: science!
   
  ĵ cocinero/cocinera: a narco who often makes 
  cocaine, meth, or heroin for los carteles
   
  ĵ con todos: all together, completely
   
  ĵ corrido: a ballad focused on a story, usually 
  with a moral or message at the end
   
  ĵ enlaces: ties or relationships between people
   
  ĵ entrarle: to go, to make it happen
   
  ĵ esposo/esposa: a spouse, husband, or wife
   
  ĵ fiesta: a party or celebration
   
  ĵ güey: dude, guy, buddy, friendly interjection
   
  ĵ halcón: low-level narco, named after a hawk
   
  ĵ hermano/hermana: brother or sister
   
  ĵ jefe/jefa: the boss, a leader
   
  ĵ juntos: together, with one another
   
  ĵ la guerra antidrogas: the war on drugs. 
   
  ĵ la guerra contra el narco: literally, the war 
  against those who traffick in drugs
   
  ĵ llaves: keys, a mechanism of advancement
   
  ĵ matones: violent thugs
   
  ĵ mijo/mija: slang for “my boy” or “my girl”
   
  ĵ mordidas: bribes, favors, payments
   
  ĵ muchacho/muchacha: slang for boy or girl
   
  ĵ narco/narca: anyone involved in the drug 
  trade, even a low-level halcón
   
  ĵ narcocorrido: a corrido about narcos
   
  ĵ niño/niña: a child, a son or daughter
   
  ĵ novio/novia: boyfriend or girlfriend
   
  ĵ órale: a slang term of excitement
   
  ĵ pandilla: a gang, usually amateur thugs
   
  ĵ pendejo/pendeja: idiot, moron, fool
   
  ĵ pinche: goddamn or fucking, as an adjective
   
  ĵ plata o plomo?: silver or lead?; “do you want 
  to get paid or do you want to get shot?”
   
  ĵ plaza: an area of importance to the cartels, 
  a route for smuggling and production
   
  ĵ polizeta: a dirty cop, a pun on the name of 
  Los Zetas, a feared and deadly cartel
   
  ĵ primo/prima: a cousin
   
  ĵ químicos: chemicals, often industrial
   
  ĵ rata: a mole within a crime organization
   
  ĵ sicario/sicaria: a feared cartel enforcer
   
  ĵ tenientes: a lesser boss among the narcos, 
  working for bigger jefes up the chain
   
  ĵ tío/tía: an uncle or aunt
  
  158
  Tags
  Assets and items in Cartel come with tags, descriptive words that alter mechanics, assign constraints, or 
  offer the players cues for how they work in the fiction. Here are a few examples:
   
  ĵ AP (mechanical): armor piercing ammo 
  ignores a target’s armor, including the +1 
  usually granted when a PC gets fucking shot.
   
  ĵ Area (mechanical, cue): consider each tar-
  get within the area to be equally affected.
   
  ĵ Armored (mechanical): armored NPCs suffer 
  little harm when injured, and armored PCs al-
  ways get +1 (cover) when they get fucking shot.
   
  ĵ Autofire (mechanical, cue, constraint): this 
  weapon can be used as an +area weapon but 
  doing so requires the shooter to reload.
   
  ĵ Bulky (constraint): this item is impossible 
  to keep concealed or hidden without effort.
   
  ĵ Close (constraint): this weapon can only be 
  used against someone within close range of 
  you, roughly between 2 and 10 meters away.
   
  ĵ Concealable (cue): this item is easy to keep 
  out of sight, small enough to fit in a pocket.
   
  ĵ Costly (constraint, cue): this item requires 
  regular financial upkeep to function properly.
   
  ĵ Expensive (cue): this item is incredibly valu-
  able and likely to be stolen if left unattended
   
  ĵ Far (constraint): this weapon can only be used 
  to target someone more than 10 meters away.
   
  ĵ Grapple (mechanical, constraint): the target 
  of a successful attack with this weapon must 
  break free to avoid further harm and injury
   
  ĵ Hand (constraint): this weapon can only be 
  used against someone within a meter or so 
  of your reach, i.e. the length of the weapon.
   
  ĵ Hi-tech (constraint, cue): this item or 
  weapon is a valuable piece of technology 
  that requires special care if it breaks down.
   
  ĵ Informed (cue): this asset has regular 
  knowledge of recent events and gossip and 
  can connect PCs to other friendly sources.
   
  ĵ Loud (cue): everyone nearby hears, and can 
  identify the noise. It wakes up sleeping people, 
  startles people who aren’t expecting it, etc.
   
  ĵ Messy (cue): this weapon inflicts severe and 
  bloody wounds and destroys the area around 
  the target. Not suited to precision work.
   
  ĵ Persistent (cue): this item has constant fea-
  tures that allow the item’s use without previ-
  ously stating a plan of attack or use.
   
  ĵ Reload (cue): this weapon has limited ammo 
  and needs to be reloaded often when used.
  
  159
  index
  Agendas (MC) – 118
  Catholic Church – 27, 28, 62
  Durango – 7, 28—29 
  Enlaces – 84 
  Los Estados Unidos – 18, 25, 61
  Guadalajara Cartel – 18, 19 
  Gulf Cartel – 17, 19, 26, 
  Lifestyle – 68, 72, 80, 131
  Llaves – 68, 73—75, 80, 141, 146, 147
  Moves – 34—67, 123—131, 138
  Basic Moves – 38—57
  Heat Moves – 64—67, 131
  MC Moves – 123—129
  Stress Moves – 58—63
  Playbooks
  El Concinero – 23, 87—91, 135
  La Esposa – 87, 92—95, 135
  El Halcon – 23, 87, 96—99, 135
  El Narco – 21, 22—24, 87, 100—103, 136
  La Polizeta – 26, 87, 104—107, 136
  La Rata – 87, 108—111, 136
  La Sicaria – 23, 87, 112—115, 136
  Las Plazas – 20, 21, 22
  Principles – 120—122
  Safety Tools – 13, 58, 146, 149
  Sinaloa Cartel – 6, 7, 17, 19, 21, 25, 26, 
  Stress – 37, 38, 50, 58—63, 68, 69, 132, 133, 144
  Los Zetas – 7, 17, 19, 26 
  Basic Moves
  Get Fucking Shot – 36, 50—53, 71, 140
  Get the Truth – 36, 44, 45
  Help or Interfere – 36, 54, 55, 58, 138
  Justify Your Behavior – 36, 38, 39
  Pressure Someone – 36, 40, 46, 47
  Propose a Deal – 36, 40, 41
  Push Your Luck – 36, 38, 42, 43, 139
  Size Someone Up – 36, 48, 49
  Strain Your Finances – 36, 56, 57, 72
  Turn to Violence – 36, 50, 51
  Heat Moves
  Avoid Suspicion – 64, 65
  Flee from Los Federales – 64, 67
  Leave a Messy Crime Scene – 64, 66
  Stress Moves
  Confess Your Sins to a Priest – 58, 62
  Dish Out a Beatdown – 58, 63
  Lose Yourself in a Substance – 58, 60, 61
  Verbally Abuse or Shame Someone – 58, 59
  
  160
  Appendices
  160
  CARTEL
  
  Players
  3-5
  Time
  3-4 hrs
  Rating
  Adults Only
  ¿Plata o Plomo, Amigos? 
  It is 2007. The Sinaloa Cartel is the largest drug 
  trafficking organization in the world, a vast network 
  of narcos, halcones, y sicarias moving billions of 
  dollars of drugs into Los Estados Unidos.
  Take on the role of someone tied to the Sinaloa 
  Cartel in Durango, Mexico, trying to stay alive in 
  a dangerous game of drugs, money, and power. 
  Navigate shifting alliances and deadly schemes, while 
  desperately struggling to hold on to what’s yours.
  Can you keep your familia safe from the 
  monsters who live in the shadows? 
  Can you stay loyal to your amigos when 
  you know that no one can be trusted?
  Can you hold on to yourself, güey, when 
  the drug war hungers for your very soul? 
  Cartel is a tabletop roleplaying game for three to five 
  players that uses a rules-light engine to create tragic 
  narcofiction in the vein of Narcos, Breaking Bad, 
  The Wire, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
  ¿Le entras o qué, cabrón? 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cartel (PbtA)/Cartel - Corebook.pdf