Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Rules for a Stone-Age campaign
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 4809605" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>I've been thinking about this campaign setting for a while, and while I'm planning on writing an article (or even a series of articles) about it, there's a LOT to consider, both for fluff and crunch. In a nutshell:</p><p></p><p><strong>Races:</strong> Are all the various D&D races here? Are some of them "cavemen" while others are not? Or do they all exist in a state of savagery?</p><p></p><p><strong>Classes:</strong> Most modern classes won't be appropriate in a primitive setting. A few others will need to be tweaked.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills and Feats:</strong> Like classes, a significant number of these will need to be dropped, with others possibly tweaked depending on if you think they'd be used or not.</p><p></p><p><strong>Religion:</strong> Are the gods absolutes that created/predate the races that worship them? If so, why are they allowing their people to exist in a state of savagery (e.g. compare the contemporary - supposedly timeless - view of Corellon Larethian with the idea of cave-elves)? Or do people ultimately create the gods, meaning that likely none of them exist at this point? If that's the case, what gods are there now?</p><p></p><p><strong>Equipment and Magic Items:</strong> A staple of the stone age is that there's no real manufacturing, beyond simple weapons/tools of wood, stone, and bone (and maybe harnessing fire) - how will your characters reliably defend themselves (e.g. what about armor)? Since most magic items won't exist yet (because items themselves don't exist yet) how will the PCs remain mechanically viable?</p><p></p><p><strong>Monsters:</strong> What monsters don't exist in the setting? This is important, since some monsters just "feel" more modern - the vampire, for example, seems like a Romantic monster, and not one you'd meet in the stone age; ditto for the lich, with its phylactery and attentive magical focus. Do you have monsters that have some sort of organized civilization? If so, be careful for your players trying to utilize the benefits of their technological/magical advances (e.g. "Hey, I pick up the lizard-man's metal weapon, discarding my club in favor of it!"); this also holds true for planar monsters, as the planes are considered to be timeless. Dinosaurs and other powerful animals should have greater prominence to reinforce the feel of the stone age.</p><p></p><p><strong>Magic:</strong> Is magic thought of as advancing like a science? If so, it may seem inappropriate for the strongest level of spells to be available in the stone age. Are certain spells, particularly ones with names in them, banned on the idea that they haven't been invented yet?</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventures:</strong> Given all of the above, how do you craft adventures that feel appropriate for the stone age? What sorts of villainous plots need to be foiled in a world where most people are just concerned with hunting and gathering? What are the rewards for adventuring when there's no valuable material possessions? </p><p></p><p>Hope that helps!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 4809605, member: 8461"] I've been thinking about this campaign setting for a while, and while I'm planning on writing an article (or even a series of articles) about it, there's a LOT to consider, both for fluff and crunch. In a nutshell: [b]Races:[/b] Are all the various D&D races here? Are some of them "cavemen" while others are not? Or do they all exist in a state of savagery? [b]Classes:[/b] Most modern classes won't be appropriate in a primitive setting. A few others will need to be tweaked. [b]Skills and Feats:[/b] Like classes, a significant number of these will need to be dropped, with others possibly tweaked depending on if you think they'd be used or not. [b]Religion:[/b] Are the gods absolutes that created/predate the races that worship them? If so, why are they allowing their people to exist in a state of savagery (e.g. compare the contemporary - supposedly timeless - view of Corellon Larethian with the idea of cave-elves)? Or do people ultimately create the gods, meaning that likely none of them exist at this point? If that's the case, what gods are there now? [b]Equipment and Magic Items:[/b] A staple of the stone age is that there's no real manufacturing, beyond simple weapons/tools of wood, stone, and bone (and maybe harnessing fire) - how will your characters reliably defend themselves (e.g. what about armor)? Since most magic items won't exist yet (because items themselves don't exist yet) how will the PCs remain mechanically viable? [b]Monsters:[/b] What monsters don't exist in the setting? This is important, since some monsters just "feel" more modern - the vampire, for example, seems like a Romantic monster, and not one you'd meet in the stone age; ditto for the lich, with its phylactery and attentive magical focus. Do you have monsters that have some sort of organized civilization? If so, be careful for your players trying to utilize the benefits of their technological/magical advances (e.g. "Hey, I pick up the lizard-man's metal weapon, discarding my club in favor of it!"); this also holds true for planar monsters, as the planes are considered to be timeless. Dinosaurs and other powerful animals should have greater prominence to reinforce the feel of the stone age. [b]Magic:[/b] Is magic thought of as advancing like a science? If so, it may seem inappropriate for the strongest level of spells to be available in the stone age. Are certain spells, particularly ones with names in them, banned on the idea that they haven't been invented yet? [b]Adventures:[/b] Given all of the above, how do you craft adventures that feel appropriate for the stone age? What sorts of villainous plots need to be foiled in a world where most people are just concerned with hunting and gathering? What are the rewards for adventuring when there's no valuable material possessions? Hope that helps! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Rules for a Stone-Age campaign
Top