'Primitive' campaign adventure seeds?

[Theo R Cwithin]

Could any kind enworlders provide some brainstorming help for adventure seeds, scenarios, puzzles, and/or intrigues suitable for a "primitive" setting? By that I mean:

- World is young (so no ancient ruins, etc)
- World is feral (dinosaurs, giant apes, cavemen, carnivorous plants, etc).
- The environment generally ranges from plains to jungle to lush mountains, with a few volcanoes and occasional storms of fire or ice (comet or meteor strikes!).
- Magic is mostly rare and subtle, mainly "spirit magic"
- Most adversaries are wild beasts and humanoids; and occasional Uniques.
- There's no pantheon, just a vast array of spirits and "small gods" (which typically are just relatively very powerful creatures, some mortal, some more or less immortal)
- practically no civilization other than nomads and tiny, widely scattered villages. (These are where PCs are likely to come from.)

The game system is not determined, but will be rules lite. Playstyle will probably be somewhat "cinematic". Since that's not settled, tough, metagame considerations like PC level, class, even races, etc aren't terribly important. Ideas can be adapted.

Thanks for any suggestions for seeds, references, or anything else you might have!

 

[RangerWickett]

I ran a game where the PCs were all from different tribes, each with their own schtick (which mostly meant that "everyone is a fighter or rogue, but your tribe also has [insert class here]"). They all spoke the same language.

And then God decided they were sinners and tried to flood the place. It started raining. And never stopped. The party had 40 days to stop God from killing everyone.

The tribes united and sent about 400 people on the mission, and I had a really fun time grinding away at their ranks by having them be attacked by other savages, or wild animals controlled by God's angels, or just through starvation and betrayal.

They eventually found a renegade angel, convinced her to help them, and tracked down the valley where God's "designated survivors" had built a flotilla of arks, each guarded by a different 'mini-boss' angel. The party fought their way to the main ark, and killed the high priest. The killer was pulled bodily up to Heaven, where he had a chance to plead his case.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Quest for:

1. Fire
2. Food
3. Precious stones, seashells
4. Tools
5. Brides
6. Water
7. Slaves
8. Enslaved fellow tribesmen

Fighting off a Dire predator that is stalking their people would be good- see The Lions of Tsavo...or "Grumpy" from Land of the Lost.

In addition, encounters with fledgling civilizations could be interesting. The party gets initial exposure to things like writing, agriculture, architecture and, most importantly, MËTÄL...errr...metal.

 

[ahayford]

Campaign setting lore is frequently filled with backstory about how this race and that were the chosen races of fledgling gods. It might be interested to explore the type of scenario where a "paradise" is being ruined by an upstart god's new creation. Perhaps the players are the first men....or maybe they are the invaders.

 

[Corathon]

- World is young (so no ancient ruins, etc)

The real world was already very old when humanity was young. So, in a fantasy world where humanity is just beginning, there could be ancient ruins, but they wouldn't have been built by human beings.

 

[Loonook]

What exactly are you going for?

I mean, I'll accept dinoriders for the sheer majesty of the image. I'll accept no ruins... But I want to know where we're starting. Are the spirits the precursors to divine magic? Do tribes carry their spirits with them, and when they feed they grow stronger and become gods? Or are we talking situational animism where every place the poor spiritualist goes he is going to need to beg, borrow, and steal?

Are there any other races? Are your tribes their own separate races? How much healing is being performed in a society that may not even understand that bones can be bound, create beyond a lean-to, etc?

Have your cultures evolved beyond the stone age tools? Have they developed those tools? What are they doing with magic? I mean, just saying 'primitive society RPG go!' is a rough sketch, and your list isn't necessarily covering everything.

Primitive cultures are going to need food, water, shelter, etc. covered first. Then it is a matter of growing beyond that need and figuring out what is needed beyond it.... And how these creatures are going to go with the 'small gods'. If you go with Belief = Power your party may gain patrons among the tribe's small gods, and becoming cultural heroes themselves. But there's no true 'flavor' of where you're going with your lists... I want to help, but there are so many ways to go that throwing it out is just going to screw with your setting more. I'd rather see what you have so far and go from there; your conceits don't scream one way or another to me.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Dioltach]

Whatever you do, at least you have a valid excuse for rewatching When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and One Million Years B.C.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

AND 10,000 BC as well!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Adventures of self discovery- walkabout, vision quests, following your ancestor/spirit/totem guide- are also good ones to try.

You might want to read Hiawatha...or even some genuine Native American legends. The ones about corn, thunderbirds, Coyote or Raven were always entertaining to me.

 

[Impeesa]

I ran a game where the PCs were all from different tribes, each with their own schtick (which mostly meant that "everyone is a fighter or rogue, but your tribe also has [insert class here]"). They all spoke the same language.

And then God decided they were sinners and tried to flood the place. It started raining. And never stopped. The party had 40 days to stop God from killing everyone.

The tribes united and sent about 400 people on the mission, and I had a really fun time grinding away at their ranks by having them be attacked by other savages, or wild animals controlled by God's angels, or just through starvation and betrayal.

They eventually found a renegade angel, convinced her to help them, and tracked down the valley where God's "designated survivors" had built a flotilla of arks, each guarded by a different 'mini-boss' angel. The party fought their way to the main ark, and killed the high priest. The killer was pulled bodily up to Heaven, where he had a chance to plead his case.

This immediately reminded me of this comic. Somehow, I did not sense the plot hook nature of the strip when I first read it - clearly, I am rusty as a DM.


And to the OP: Caves. Lots of caves.