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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormrunner" data-source="post: 1144165" data-attributes="member: 13471">Remember the old archaeology saying, "Primitive does not equal stupid."Just because it's Ice Age doesn't mean you can't have masterwork items - they'll just be masterwork bone or stone items rather than steel.  I've seen stone spear- and arrow-heads that were works of art, and bone needles as tiny and sharp as modern steel ones.  Against unarmored opponents, stone is as damaging as steel, the relative heaviness and fragility of the stone axe or spear made up for by the fact that it is sharper.  The main difference is you can't make long thin blades, such as swords.  Small knives are possible with a wood or bone back support, like on a hacksaw, but anything over 6 inches long is impractical.  The Aztecs made a weapon called a macquehuitl, essentially a wooden sword with a series of stone arrowheads set into it like sawteeth.  Various Pacific island cultures did the same with shark teeth, sometimes adding stingray spines as well (which break off in the wound like a howler's quills).Check out the Nyambe setting - though it's tropical rather than icy, there are quite a few parallels: little or no armor, tribal cultures, shamanic magic ... I could definitely see a Nyambe Mask Maker in an Ice Age setting - have you ever seen Inuit ritual masks? Scary and very weird...</blockquote>