humble minion
Legend
There's two other arms that aren't visible cos he's using them to scratch his backside...They appear to have 4 left arms and 2 right arms.
There's two other arms that aren't visible cos he's using them to scratch his backside...They appear to have 4 left arms and 2 right arms.
Yes, Im assuming these primal gods dont follow standard biological symmetry, and may well have a transdimensional existence (theres actually 13 limbs in the image but only 8 are physical - which complies with the Number Taboo (I like that))They appear to have 4 left arms and 2 right arms.
I'm kinda waffling about the Black Taboos. I get why they're there (to keep the setting in stasis), and it's nice to finally have some reason (even if it's unexplained) why the setting is stagnant in regards to technology level...but these seem a bit...ham-fisted to me. The Bogeyman will eat you if you write anything down (which implies the knowledge of writing exists and that without the Hounds the people could simply just start writing), or count in numbers higher than 9 (which again implies that knowledge of counting higher than nine exists and that without the Hounds the people could simply start counting things higher than 9). Same with wheels and money. If bartering is the main source of exchange / commerce...and since salt is used as a common stand-in for other goods...which means salt is currency...so the Hounds should come and eat you for exchanging salt for goods or services. Some of the Taboos just don't make any sense.Yes, Im assuming these primal gods dont follow standard biological symmetry, and may well have a transdimensional existence (theres actually 13 limbs in the image but only 8 are physical - which complies with the Number Taboo (I like that))
True, but having them wear bikinis instead of being even more naked like would be historically accurate is probably a necessary concession to the modern sensibilities.I’m guess you are neither a woman, nor do you have children. I think you might think a bit differently if you had both.
That being said, I don’t feel the previews here cross the line. However, Stone Age fantasy doesn’t need woman in hide bikinis.
Many generations. Anything more than nine is "many".All I know about the setting is what I've read from the preview on the kickstarter page, but just from that i kinda like the Black Taboos. Firstly they really add a nice cosmic horror element to the setting. It's not just that the world is stone age because it's stone age, and if you just wait long enough then agriculture and metal and Aristotle and YouTube will come along. The world is stone age because the blindly malicious universe hates you and everything like you, and will mercilessly crush any attempts to rise out of the hardscrabble hand-to-mouth state that your ancestors have lived in for generations uncounted and in which you now find yourselves.
What would be a better way of handling it? Besides the DM just saying no.Second, i can see its in-game utility when dealing with smartarse groups. A PC group who, for instance, developed a written code they could use to leave messages etc, or a PC group who constructed some sort of sled that ran on log rollers to carry heavy loads when there's no snow - they'd have a non-trivial advantage in the world, and that sort of thing isn't beyond the realms of plausibility for clever stone-agers. It's a suboptimal metagaming way of dealing with things, but an effective one nonetheless.
You can just have no armor better than hide. Or you could go the Dark Sun route and replace metal with chitin, thicker hide, bone, and other materials. It might not be "realistic" even for D&D, but it's a simple shorthand that works.The salt thing - yeah, I'm a bit more skeptical about that. But I'll wait and see how it's implemented. Same with the equipment list - they didn't talk about armour much in the preview, but the impression i got was that everything was available, just handwaved as being made out of available materials. I'm pretty leery about the verisimilitude of full plate made out of giant sea shells and chunks of dinosaur osteoderm personally, but I guess the alternative is major surgery to the D&D engine. If you don't have high dex or Barkskin etc, then armour is the only way to raise your AC to functional levels in basic 5e. Fixing that system issue without breaking too much else would be a pretty major undertaking.
Many generations. Anything more than nine is "many".
What would be a better way of handling it? Besides the DM just saying no.
Well, you could just count time closer to how our ancestors did. Or keep things broken down into smaller parts. One week is seven days. One month or moon is four weeks. One season is three months or moons. One year is four seasons. A child growing up could be broken down into four or seven year chunks. However many to reach adulthood.True! Man, that'd take some SERIOUS mental readjustment when you're playing in the setting. Mentally editing out any reference to numbers above nine. Timekeeping in particulay would be tricky. There's a big gap between 'many days' and one month/moon-cycle.
In my experience that doesn't work. Unfortunately.Having a good session zero discussion about it, and the players buying into the premise of the setting and agreeing not to push the envelope.
Good luck with discussing distances in-character! And as they actually seem to use salt as currency, how they communicate prices?True! Man, that'd take some SERIOUS mental readjustment when you're playing in the setting. Mentally editing out any reference to numbers above nine. Timekeeping in particular would be tricky. There's a big gap between 'many days' and one month/moon-cycle.
Good luck with discussing distances in-character! And as they actually seem to use salt as currency, how they communicate prices?
It is rather silly, and actually comes across as kinda insulting towards actual prehistoric people. I'm sure they could count.