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Primitive campaign setting

Vigilant Fiend

First Post
I will shortly be undergoing a campaign in a primitive world where savage humanoid tribes and dinosaurs reign. The list of usable weapons will be limited and wizardry is not developed yet. I have several different human tribes in the world and more humanoid tribes. The playable classes will be; barbarian, bard(more of a skald type), druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, shaman, sorcerer. What I would like to ask you guys for is some possible weapon lists and tips, ideas, and comments. Thanks!
 

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Well, stone, bone and wooden weapons such as clubs, knives, staves etc. Arnor should be hide, bone, possibly wooden. Too tired to think of anything else right now.
 

If you have a few bucks to spare, you may want to head over to rpgnow.com and look at Primal Codex. It's almost all "crunch".
 

Primitive Weapons:

Shortbows, not crossbows or longbows or anything composite.

Simple Weapons: Daggers, Clubs, Quarterstaves.

Axes. Lots of axes.

Spears. There ought to be PrCs dedicated to using spears. Primitive tribes fighting larger-than-human prey really like spears.

Nets should be a Martial Weapon, as should be the Blowpipe/Needle, Bola and Boomerang (if you have those in your setting).

No caltrops, tanglefoot bags, alchemist's fire or acid flasks.

Spells really ought to focus on getting prey and keeping the tribe alive... this isn't a time when magic can be wasted on conveniences. Fire is VERY dangerous, since we must live in the same forrest / savanah / jungle / etc. as everyone else. Druids who can put out fires and otherwise shape the weather are valued highly.

Most tribes are lead by a Barbarian backed by a Shaman.

Flavourful Magic Items:
- Magical Masks: as Bracers or Rings, but use Helmet slot. -2 Spot and Listen while worn. Made of wood.
- Magical Hide Leggings: must be from some exotic beast. Function as Boots, and use Boot slot.
- Necklace of Teeth: gain ability based on foe's spirit. More teeth => more gain.

Rangers are very popular, and most pick tasty prey as Favored Enemy.

-- Nifft
 

Weapons wooden or bone shafts with wood, stone, bone, shell, obsidian (glass), tooth (shark,dragon) and horn blades/points/edges (add manticore spikes, wyvern stingers, etc etc in a fantasy world) *in polynesia the barb of the stingray was used by assasins

Weapon types - Short clubs and long clubs (halberds), spears, club-blades (essentially wooden/stone short swords), knives/daggers, 'spikes' (punching daggers), axes, javelins, harpoons, slings, short bow, boomerang, bolas, machete

Mechanics wise I would leave these as they are in the books since everyone is using them and no better quality metal weapons exist. You might want a breakage chance but...

Armour - padded (most common), hide, wood slates, dragon skin?
 

weapons wise: spears are one of your -best- friends. In a campaign where your healing is druid or bard based, being able to hit your opponent without them hitting you back is really important.


Oh, oh. And what were the names of those Aztec weapons. Basically a sword but the blade was chips of obsidian inset like the teeth in a chainsaw along a wooden handle?

Those would be good too.
 

You might be able to plunder some ideas from the "Lost World" campaign created in DRAGON Magazine's Dungeoncraft between Issues 280 and 290 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dragon/dungeoncraft).

If you have or can access the 2E book Player's Option: Combat & Tactics, look for the Stone Age Weapons list there. If you don't and can't, try this to start, pruning and grafting to taste:

Shortspear
Club (Cudgel, Knobkerrie)
Bolas
Net
Sling
Boomerang/Discus
Javelin (with Atlatl; also Harpoon)
Blowgun
Hand Axe (Tomahawk, Adze, Hatchet)
Quarterstaff/Staff Sling
Dagger
Shortbow

A fantasy Stone Age might also include stone/bone/wood/sinew equivalents of the following (some of these items may have existed in Earth's Stone Age):

Warhammer
Maul
Greataxe
Shuriken
Darts
Shortsword (Macuahuitl :) )
Composite Shortbow
Longbow
Composite Longbow

Armor in the Stone Age is probably most logically limited to studded leather or lighter (perhaps some primitive genius sews flat river rocks into his leather coat). A bone shirt would probably provide equivalent protection.

Most if not all of character classes ought to have Wilderness Lore as a class skill. In a typical Stone Age, Wilderness Lore includes the skill to salvage all the usable bits from animals (bones, skins, sinews, fatty tissues, meat, entrails, etc.) and the skill to harvest edible bits from naturally occurring plants. Musical instruments have limited variety, so Perform choices will be limited. You will need a new list of Craft and Knowledge skills as well, and you might consider making Craft a class skill for everyone as well. Look over the other skills and omit the ones that depend on unavailable societal norms and/or technological progress.

Decide how sophisticated you want religion to be. Many of Earth's early religions were very sophisticated indeed, though despite this we modern folk tend to think of Stone Age people as fearfully worshipping natural forces and observable phenomena as divine manifestations.

What magic there is in the world should be very subtle. Consider making the "special effects" of any "flashy" spell more low-key: instead of a column of flame, flame strike simply creates an invisible area of intense heat. Consider "throwing the bones," or something similar, as an added Divine Focus for any Divination spell (increases 1 action casting times to 1 round). Do people think magic is a good thing or a bad thing? Do people trust spellcasters?

Strictly enforce the rules for environmental exposure, starvation, and thirst. Are resources plentiful or scarce? Do people fight over food or do they trade delicacies? What are villages like? Will you do without inns, taverns, and shops? (You might consider it, unless there is an uncharacteristically large city in the world.) How do the PCs acquire things they can't make themselves?

Note that the most playable period of the Stone Age may very well be the Neolithic or New Stone Age (c. 8000 to c. 3000 BC). The wheel has been invented, farming and pottery are established, a number of animals are domesticated, and some tools and weapons are polished and ground into shape instead of being chipped. People live in fairly sturdy buildings, having abandoned caves millenia ago. Neanderthal Man is long gone. Writing may have been invented and the first metal tools may be available.

Why do the PCs adventure? What's their shared background? Are they a group of tribal hunters? Are they all that's left of a once-thriving tribe, seeking revenge on whomever or whatever wiped out their families? How does society view what the PCs spend their time doing?

The more I think about it, a Neolithic Age where dinosaurs still roam (perhaps replacing herd mammals as a food source?) would be a cool place to adventure. Most of the things that D&D players take for granted will be unknown and absent!

Finally, a quick list of URLs:

http://ragz-international.com/stone_age.htm (general historical progression)
http://www.primitiveways.com/ (Stone Age crafts)
http://www.delanet.com/~ftise/stoneage/stoneagelinks.html (Paleolithic or Old Stone Age)
http://www.nba.fi/NATMUS/Julkais/Prehist/text.htm (historical periods in Finland)
http://www.visitdunkeld.com/stone-age.htm (Neolithic Scotland)
http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/flint/menu.html (hunter/gatherers)
http://www.bulgaria.com/photos/web/culture.pdf (a Neolithic excavation)

HTH. HAND.
 
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Sejs said:
Oh, oh. And what were the names of those Aztec weapons. Basically a sword but the blade was chips of obsidian inset like the teeth in a chainsaw along a wooden handle?

Macuahuitl. Pronounced, near as I can tell, MA-koo-a-HWEE-tul. Sweet little weapons, aren't they? There are reliable reports from the records of the conquest of Mexico of Aztec warriors armed with macuahuitls regularly dismembering folks in seconds with those babies. See, properly knapped obsidian blades are sharper that just about anything on earth. Also, saw blades cut much better than straight blades. The main reason that very few metal swords were ever made with saw blades is that they're a pain to make in a forge.

Of course, obsidian tends to shatter against metal armor. Brittle, you know. Nothing's perfect.
 

In my campaign (mythical Polynesia ie a high neolithic culture) I allow a 'Paladin-type' Prc (Spirit Warrior - the chosen 'vehicle' of the Tribal War God) and a Whalerider PrC

I also suggested a Cave Wizard PrC to some other person who wanted a stoneage setting (ie Cave paintings = Wizards spell book) Cave-Wizards must meditate in their caves to gain spells

These caves a fiecely contested over and pretty much act as 'Wizard towers'. The Lost Cave of of Burning Azak was lost in a earthquake and is now a combined dungeon-artifact inhabited by fire elementals

also did you know that certain varieties of nephrite jade have a greater 'hardness' than iron and make very shape blades

also check out the shark-tooth edges 'swords' from Kiribati...
 

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