Has anyone tried a primordial D&D setting?

[ProtoClone]

I was wondering if anyone has ever ran a primodial D&D campaign? My old DM and I are considering it and I want to know other exp you have had with it.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I have considered running a primordial, Ice Age, or Stone Age campaign.

GURPS Ice Age is available from Steve Jackson Games at their E23 PDF store, and might be a good source for that kind of game.

 

[Heathansson]

I did a loooooong time ago, but it never got too far. It was in 1e. days, and there was a Dragon article I was using.
I think with ideas like that that are kinda off the beaten path, you gotta make sure the dungeonmaster isn't the only one really into it.

 

[ProtoClone]

I did a loooooong time ago, but it never got too far. It was in 1e. days, and there was a Dragon article I was using.
I think with ideas like that that are kinda off the beaten path, you gotta make sure the dungeonmaster isn't the only one really into it.

Right, we are checking to see if we have interest outside of our own to do this setting. One of the ideas we were tossing around was world creation. We wanted the PC's to have a hand in creating a world by what races they wanted. So each player gets to pick a race they want in the world, write a history for them and play.
We then decided that maybe allowing them to play out their race of choices history would be more fun. So basically they are developing their races history along wit the world...but it seems to be a little more difficult to make something like this work when we started to sit down and think about it.
So much for lose and easy.

 

[Dykstrav]

I have run what I consider to be an 'ancient' campaign, far in the prehistory of my main homebrew. The single biggest gripe I got was on the equipment.

First of all, I imagined the setting as a sparsely populated wilderness just struggling out of the stone age and into the bronze age. For simplicity's sake, I assumed that weapons were made of stone, bone, or wood; and "masterwork" weapons were made of bronze. I know this isn't accurate to the rules but I wanted to avoid the weirdness of penalizing every weapon in the game. I also ruled that there were no wizards, clerics, paladins or bards: these classes were too 'advanced' for what I had in mind. Sorcerers and druids were the big spellcasters and rogues couldn't take Disable Device (as nothing was that complicated yet). I used the defense rules from Unearthed Arcana as hide was the most advanced armor.

The setting itself I presented as a blend of Howard's Hyborea (the Conan setting), the pre-flood Earth as presented in the Bible, and some of the mythic age from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Golden Age from Greek Mythology. "Cities" were usually walled houses with their attendant servants, although several true villages also dotted the wilderness. Writing had not yet been invented and most everyone was only concerned with getting food and shelter and avoiding monsters. The most advanced sciences were clay brick buildings and simple agriculture. Bronze was the newly emerging discipline that held the world in awe.

The players said that it was very scary, as I presented a world still reeling from the creation with primordial elementals, jinn, and demons wandering the earth. With no kingdoms, no maps, and no trade the characters were truly on their own.

 

[tadk]

i have wanted to play or run in a campaign like this for a while. I wish the best and would like to read anything you get together it.

 

[Graf]

The players said that it was very scary, as I presented a world still reeling from the creation with primordial elementals, jinn, and demons wandering the earth. With no kingdoms, no maps, and no trade the characters were truly on their own.

Other than the equipment gripes did people say anything else?
How long did it last?

 

[DMH]

I guess you meant prehistoric. As for a primordial setting, I worked on one with protodragon PCs living among the earliest dinosaurs, primitive aberrations, giant vermin and aboleth nations before I gave up. I doubt anyone around here would want to play it.

 

[Dykstrav]

Other than the equipment gripes did people say anything else?
How long did it last?

The equipment was an ongoing thing. Not only because certain pieces of gear just hadn't been invented yet, but also because there weren't scads of coins and magic items lying around in monster lairs. The idea of not paying X amount of gold for Y magic item in the nearest town just didn't sit well with some of the players. The magicians felt shafted in having to create magic items for the warrior-types.

For some reason... For a long time, it didn't occur to them to loot the outsiders they fought for their manufactured weapons...

One of the favorite moments of the campaign that everyone was talking about was the first undead of the setting, a sorcerer that had crafted a cavern into a crypt/temple and was working towards becoming a lich. He eventually succeeded and attracted a cabal of sorcerers that were working to bridge the gap between the material plane and one of the outer planes... The players still wonder whether this lich was eventually the first cleric or the first wizard.

The campaign lasted seven months (with 5th level characters), although I had enough material planned out to get to at least 12th level.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I once ran a campaign where the PC's were created by the gods themselves and told to lead the world in its first age.

Does that count?