Prehistoric Adventures?
- Thread starter mmadsen
- Start date
Moulin Rogue
First Post
I've thought about it but I would find it too hard to run one as an exciting ongoing campaign.
The list of classes and equipment available would be pretty small, and instead of aspirations to become rich and powerful in a kingdom full of political intrigue, the PCs would be mostly trying to survive in the wild without a whole lot to look forward to in life. A prehistoric game would make a good brief adventure but a long campaign could get stale, I'd need a good sourcebook with lots of storyline ideas in it.
The list of classes and equipment available would be pretty small, and instead of aspirations to become rich and powerful in a kingdom full of political intrigue, the PCs would be mostly trying to survive in the wild without a whole lot to look forward to in life. A prehistoric game would make a good brief adventure but a long campaign could get stale, I'd need a good sourcebook with lots of storyline ideas in it.
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SHARK
First Post
Greetings!
Well, it just so happens that in my campaign-world of Thandor, I do have such an area. Thandor is generally the size of Jupiter, and is an enormous world, with vast seas and many huge continents.
One such enormous continent, Rhanndar, is a primordial continent ringed on the northern coast by vast mountains that rise to over 30,000 feet. many of the peaks are glaciarized year-round. Meanwhile, further down the forbidding slopes, there are a series of mountain ranges that branch off from this vast chain, further dividing regions from each other. An enormous, 1200-mile long escarpment that is 580' feet high, elevates and separates for all practical purposes one entire region of the continent from the rest of the land.
On the continent of Rhanndar, there are primordial rain-forests, where there are a host of Dinosaurs, and strange creatures. Along the great plains area, up the escarpment and into the highlands, there are vast herds of Mammoths, Woolly Rhinosceros', and other huge herd animals. There also lurk great sabre-toothed tigers, and many wondrous beasts.
In the lowlands, where the warmer jungles are, there are great herds of herbivorous dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and the rivers, lakes, and coastal areas are resplendant with strange marine reptiles, and unusual fish. On land, great Tyrannosauraus Rex's hunt all lesser creatures, and in some areas, there are Allosaurs that prowl the cooler regions of the forest. Flying reptiles nest in great canyons, and have vast nests along cliffside canyons and sheer mountainsides.
These regions are mineral rich, and also incredibly magical. There are strange magical, "curtains"--which distort direction, weather, and even time while travelling into the area. There have only been a few explorers who have ever located this continent, and most of them have died. Rumours persist of what some where to beleived to have found, and the conjectures go on, for no one has the whole picture. Clear, certain knowledge of how to even find this strange continent is rumour-plagued, and guess-work at best.
There are rumours of all kinds of strange races and creatures that supposedly live on this wild continent. The monsters are, of course, like living nightmares given form. Still, it remains a place of wonder and mystery.
____________________________________________________
I really like prehistoric environments! They allow for one to start from scratch, and players can really explore different ideas. I shouldn't forget the DM either, because such an environment is an unusual opportunity for the DM to integrate unusual plot elements into the campaign, with different themes, and entirely different assumptions. The DM also has the opportunity to explore with different concpets for societies and cultures, and the roughness and remoteness of the environment allows the DM to easily integrate unusual rules features, strange mechanics, unusual spells, or bizarre magic items, all within a closed environment. This means that the DM can freely experiment, and if there is something drastically or even significantly wrong, then the problem can more easily be entirely fixed, replaced, or gotten rid of en masse, as desired, without extensive, problematic effects upon the larger campaign.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Well, it just so happens that in my campaign-world of Thandor, I do have such an area. Thandor is generally the size of Jupiter, and is an enormous world, with vast seas and many huge continents.
One such enormous continent, Rhanndar, is a primordial continent ringed on the northern coast by vast mountains that rise to over 30,000 feet. many of the peaks are glaciarized year-round. Meanwhile, further down the forbidding slopes, there are a series of mountain ranges that branch off from this vast chain, further dividing regions from each other. An enormous, 1200-mile long escarpment that is 580' feet high, elevates and separates for all practical purposes one entire region of the continent from the rest of the land.
On the continent of Rhanndar, there are primordial rain-forests, where there are a host of Dinosaurs, and strange creatures. Along the great plains area, up the escarpment and into the highlands, there are vast herds of Mammoths, Woolly Rhinosceros', and other huge herd animals. There also lurk great sabre-toothed tigers, and many wondrous beasts.
In the lowlands, where the warmer jungles are, there are great herds of herbivorous dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and the rivers, lakes, and coastal areas are resplendant with strange marine reptiles, and unusual fish. On land, great Tyrannosauraus Rex's hunt all lesser creatures, and in some areas, there are Allosaurs that prowl the cooler regions of the forest. Flying reptiles nest in great canyons, and have vast nests along cliffside canyons and sheer mountainsides.
These regions are mineral rich, and also incredibly magical. There are strange magical, "curtains"--which distort direction, weather, and even time while travelling into the area. There have only been a few explorers who have ever located this continent, and most of them have died. Rumours persist of what some where to beleived to have found, and the conjectures go on, for no one has the whole picture. Clear, certain knowledge of how to even find this strange continent is rumour-plagued, and guess-work at best.
There are rumours of all kinds of strange races and creatures that supposedly live on this wild continent. The monsters are, of course, like living nightmares given form. Still, it remains a place of wonder and mystery.
____________________________________________________
I really like prehistoric environments! They allow for one to start from scratch, and players can really explore different ideas. I shouldn't forget the DM either, because such an environment is an unusual opportunity for the DM to integrate unusual plot elements into the campaign, with different themes, and entirely different assumptions. The DM also has the opportunity to explore with different concpets for societies and cultures, and the roughness and remoteness of the environment allows the DM to easily integrate unusual rules features, strange mechanics, unusual spells, or bizarre magic items, all within a closed environment. This means that the DM can freely experiment, and if there is something drastically or even significantly wrong, then the problem can more easily be entirely fixed, replaced, or gotten rid of en masse, as desired, without extensive, problematic effects upon the larger campaign.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Maldur
First Post
You can have very different prehistoric games:
The more fantasy version with dinosaurs, dense jungles etc
and
The more Jean M. Auel version with giant mammels (mammouth, Sable tooth tiger etc), snow and ice.
Both have a different feel and focus.
The first more combat like and the second more survival like.
Both could be equally fun, but hard to run.
btw remember Og the prehistoric RPG with the limited list of words, pc's could use( big teeth nasty- T-rex, fast teeth nasty- velociraptor)
The more fantasy version with dinosaurs, dense jungles etc
and
The more Jean M. Auel version with giant mammels (mammouth, Sable tooth tiger etc), snow and ice.
Both have a different feel and focus.
The first more combat like and the second more survival like.
Both could be equally fun, but hard to run.
btw remember Og the prehistoric RPG with the limited list of words, pc's could use( big teeth nasty- T-rex, fast teeth nasty- velociraptor)
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Moulin Rogue said:
Are you joking!!! You've not only got a enire world to explore your also (literally) creating history and inventing culture.
PC Og "Hey guys I've just invented this circular disc thingy"
PC Bik "cool so what happens if you throw it?
PC Og - throws it "wow I think I'll call it the Frisbee"
(sadly noone ever thinks of rolling it across the ground and calling it a wheel
)PS SHARK is there anything your world hasn't got?
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
I have done several conversions of the Pleistocene animals from the original Monster Manual, and posted them. 
I wouldn't mind the short list of equipment, but it would certainly be a different world -- no easily stored wealth beyond a few bits of (magical) jewelry fashioned from bones, teeth, etc. I would think that glory and reputation within the tribe would be the greatest rewards. If you bring down the mammoth, you get the largest share, others owe you a large share of future mammoths they bring down, other males defer to you, females...defer as well, etc.
I have done several conversions of the Pleistocene animals from the original Monster Manual, and posted them.
Nice work, BOZ. Every campaign needs a Smilodon (Sabre-Tooth).
Moulin Rogue
First Post
Tonguez said:
Are you joking!!! You've not only got a enire world to explore your also (literally) creating history and inventing culture.
PC Og "Hey guys I've just invented this circular disc thingy"
PC Bik "cool so what happens if you throw it?
PC Og - throws it "wow I think I'll call it the Frisbee"
(sadly noone ever thinks of rolling it across the ground and calling it a wheel
But you need a really good reason to explore in a survivalist campaign. If the huntin' is good right here, there's no reason to move. If you think of prehistoric humanoids as just a little more advanced than the smartest animals, one doesn't think of animals as all that motivated to explore. I'm talking about campaigns where "Me get food, me get shelter, me procreate" is as high as things go on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for now (edit: yes, as mmasden said, you could also have personal fulfillment by gaining a high position in the tribe once those three are taken care of). You could get a tribe to explore by forcing a move due to the the food source drying up or a natural disaster/Ice Age, but it's all tied to basic survival.
Inventing wheels, frisbees and fire within one lifetime is fun in a light-hearted "Ringo Starr Caveman" campaign, but could frustrate a DM in a more serious campaign. It could get like PCs using Earth meta-knowledge to always try to invent gunpowder in a standard D&D campaign when the DM doesn't want gunpowder and has to put his foot down. In that standard campaign, there's still lots for the PCs to go and do instead.
another edit: mmasden captured my earlier edit two posts down, my original text is in it. This edit was no attempt to mislead on my part. *rubs forehead*
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