Prehistoric D20

[Ed_Laprade]

I second "frost and fur" as a must have. Also, if you want an ice age feel you might look into Frostfell from WotC.

As for the skills you are considering nixing:
Appraise: keep, paleolithic/neolithic man had a variety of tools, and different tribes would use different things. in an economy that will be based on barter appraise is vital.
Decipher Script: probablly safe to drop
Diplomacy: keep. Those other tribes will need talking to, village elders will need appeasing, stone age doesn't mean their society isn't complex
Disable Device: keep, or roll into the craft trap skill
Disguise: probablly little used but i would keep it
Escape Artist: keep
Forgery: drop
Gather Information: keep, people still know stuff and keep secrets
Knowledge (arcana, nobility and royalty, the planes and religion): keep religion and roll arcana into it, drop the rest. Remember that the Shaman is going to be one of the most important people in the culture.
Open Lock: drop
Perform: vitally neccesary, keep
Profession: drop
Sense Motive: keep, see Diplomacy and Gather Info
Sleight of Hand: hiding objects on your person would still be useful
Spellcraft, Use Magic Device: it all depends on magic in the campaign. If magic is possible then keep.

Of course,you might want to look into Iron Heroes as a useful system for a more primative and brutal world. I would recast Orcs as Neanderthal "Beast Men", and maybe use Dwarves as "stone tribe men" who are slightly more technologically advanced. If you want easy DnD classes I would stick to Barbarian, Savage Bard, Fighter, Ranger, Druid, and Sorcerer - possibly adding in Scout to take the place of Rogue.

I agree with almost all of this. The thing I disagree with is dropping profession.
Flintnappers (VERY important skill!)
Spear makers (also very important)
Tanners
Clothing makers (mostly hide: women only?)
Brewers (yes, they had booze too!)
Footwear makers (mocassins and hide boots)
Bead makers
Artists of various sorts

And probably a lot lot more than I can think of at the moment. I would highly recommend reading Jean Auel's 'Earth's Children' series. (Clan of the Cave Bear, etc. Especially the ones after that. She does some wonky stuff, especially with the Neandertals, but she's spent years researching this stuff and puts a lot of it into the stories.)

 

[Stormborn]

I think in the case of neo-/paleolithing cultures Profession (which represents the ability to get paid/handle commerce/find work) is unlikely to be used. Instead all of the tasks you mention would fall under the various "Craft" skills, with a few of the social ones to cover the interactive aspects. But then I have never found Profession to be much use outside of a modern game, so that may be my own prejudice.

One further thought about races: I would have all the PCs be a single race (possibly a half breed who was the result of some unfortunate events) and play up the xenophobia and wonder of the unknown. On the other hand humans in such a culture are likely to see both humans from the next valley and dwarves the same way -"Not of the People." I think you would need something big to get characters from different races working together, and that may be to constraining for your campaign.

 

[Pinotage]

Here are a few other products you might be interested in taking a look at that cover prehistoric-type material:

Lost Creatures - Contains prehistoric critters.
From Stone to Steel - Wonderful resource for weapons and armor through the ages.

Others have also mentioned Dark Quest Games' Lost Prehistorica, but there's also Inner Circle's Broken Isles that has a very prehistoric feel to it, and Betabunny Publishing's The Bestiary: Predators that contains I think some prehistoric mammals.

Pinotage

 

[Xyanthon]

I've been interested in a late stone age/early bronze age setting myself. Although what I had in mind was something a little more serious and probably pretty low magic. I like the idea of shamanistic magic, totem magic and ritual magic along with herbal lore in this type of setting. I think it would be really cool to have the actual act of making a cave painting while in a trance induced by some herbal concoction be some form of ritual magic, perhaps either to channel spirit totems or summon something. Wow, ok, now I've got an idea rush that I must go attend to.

 

[Zander]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has mentioned that there's already an official neanderthal race in 3.5. It's detailed in WotC's Frostburn. So you could have two human sub-races: neanderthal from Frostburn and cro-magnon using ordinary human stats from the PHB.

If you register at Amazon, you can even read the neanderthal entry in Frostburn for free. It may also be on WotC's site - I'm not sure.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I wrote up a setting exactly like this some 21 years ago. Of all my players (I had umm, 8 at the time), only one was interested. It's a great idea, but it needs the right audience. Check out GURPS Fantasy II, by Robin Laws, for a truly scary "prehistoric" world wherein the great and terrifying gods are actually Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.

So shop around for a group of players. You might get more luck doing it as a message board game or on Fantasy Grounds to draw from the vast ENWorld population.

Good luck! Hope it's fun.

 

[Tonguez]

Barbarian, Savage Bard (Story-Teller), Cleric, Druid,

Rogue - Sneaking into enemy camp is still viable as is kidnapping women, rustling stock and stealing religious artifacts
Sorcerer - keep. Personally I think ALL MAGIC should be Divine, so a Divine Scorcerer?
Fighter - personally I'd make Fighter a PrC and have Warrior be the main fighting class
Ranger - replace with a Hunter class
Also Aristocrat needs to be included as a PC class

Also need a Shaman (although Druid could work especially using the Aspects of Nature variant).

PrC Cave Wizard - the Cave Wizard stores their magic as pictographs on the walls of 'Painted Caves' in which they must meditate (ie enter a trance) each morning. The Caves are greatly prized and fiercely defended
*Perhaps this could be the only Arcane Magic class
** Painted Caves can serve as the Dungeons of the Prehistoric World and as valuable treasures in their own right (Adventure: The Return to the Lost Cave of Og)

PrC Spirit Champion (Savage Paladin) - The Spirit Champion is the chosen vessel of a beast spirit (Wolf, Lion, Boar, Shark, Velociraptor) whom the Champion carries into battle against others. The spirit endows their champion with power to benefit their allies and in return the Spirit is able to feed on the souls of the enemy (ie smite)
*Spirit Champions must be Lawful in order to control the (usually chaotic) Spirit possessing them without going insane
** Replace Pokemount with PokeAnimal Companion (Wolf, Lion, Boar, Shark, Velociraptor etc)
*** Spirit Champions are usally War Leaders

 

[Voadam]

Check out GURPS Fantasy II, by Robin Laws, for a truly scary "prehistoric" world wherein the great and terrifying gods are actually Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.

.

I need to reread that book, I don't remember winnie the pooh and tigger in their at all. I remember thinking it was perfect for the nightmare lands in Ravenloft though and really enjoying many of the cursed people monsters.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I need to reread that book, I don't remember winnie the pooh and tigger in their at all. I remember thinking it was perfect for the nightmare lands in Ravenloft though and really enjoying many of the cursed people monsters.

Soon you see the subtlety and terror of "The Mule".

No seriously, it's there. They changed one name to make it less obvious. But look at the deities of Icfrom. It's the cast of characters from Winnie the Pooh.

 

[Alzrius]

I think magic is the hardest part of adjudicate for such a setting. The only arcane spellcasters will most likely be sorcerers. Likewise, it'd be fair to have only adepts and druids for divine spellcasters. Similarly, many spells probably won't even have been invented yet, offering a seriously reduced spell list for all casters.

Also, as other people have stated, there are likely to only be a few gods to choose from, and they'd be savage and feral, and quite possibly literally walking the world. You may even decide that this ancient world predates any gods at all.