Stone Knives and Bear Skins

[alsih2o]

First off, there is no way that anyone can genetically prove that different DNA in a burial site is the result of "stealing" a lady from another camp. Crazz

actually, almost everyone in europe have now been traced back to one "genetic eve" and several transformations and examples of genetic drift have been traced to gender specific genes that show up in such a manner as to "prove" that theses women were stolen. combined with neolithic drawings of just such raids, of course...

i am just citing this from base reading tho, not nearly as confident on this as i am my pottery.

strangely enuf, recent experiments here in the states have shown that a simple campfire 'kiln' can, with base technology available to stone age fellows, be pushed to an excess of 2000 deg f. most modern tableware is only fired to about 1800 f.

i am at work now, but i can post a smallish list at least of books on early art and ottery tomorrow if you are actually interested

 

[alsih2o]

some good neolithic pottery sites to tide the curious over

http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/arheologija/abstract.html#kot

http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeol/franchthi/pot.html excellent pieces from 6k bc, roughly 1000 years pre-farmers

http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/seris/ceramic.htm beautiful!!!

http://www.unm.edu/~jar/v51n2.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeol/franchthi/essays/talalay.html including-"Twenty-two of the Franchthi images are ceramic; the remaining two are carved from stone" and "
Conceivably, potter and figurine-maker were one and the same, or at least worked in concert (most likely on the household level), routinely exchanging ideas and materials. The overlapping production of these objects was probably motivated by several factors, some practical, some social. "

 

[alsih2o]

While our current standards may view such behavior as savage and wrong, you can't give the behavior of Stone Age people equal footing with ours because too many factors make each unique.
Crazz

you can also note that i never stated these behaviors were savage or wrong, only that they were commonplace. and i must say that i believe any time a person is stolen from their community and kept by another, i have to consider that slavery. every society that could get away with this has...even to the modern day

 

[Prince Atom]

I like the idea of adventuring in the stone age. Do you have any plot ideas? What would a typical adventure consist of? You may want to consider having a more advanced race, that died out, precede the arrival of man. That way you can still have megolithic structures to adventure in and advanced technology to find.

Well... there's always the "There's a monster in the woods and now we can't go gathering fruits and nuts or hunting in there because it'll kill us, what are we going to do?" chestnut. I figure a few adventures in defense of the tribe ought to be sufficient at low levels. Maybe the PCs can discover a few secrets on these adventures that lead to further adventures. F'rinstance, they could track some beast back to its cave (say, a dire bear) and discover cave paintings in an unfamiliar style. Then, later, they discover more of the same in another cave, and the paintings eventually serve as a trail back to some ancestral stomping grounds that can give them an advantage, like fertile ground or some ancient bronze artifacts.

Plenty of unknown structures, sure. No one knows how Stonehenge was made, or why; likely no one ever did .

I'll keep posts current as I develop my ideas, but since I'm not currently playing this is really in the manner of a mental exercise.

TWK
"Og! Where'd you get that burning stick?"

"Oh, I don't know, some shifty-looking guy in a toga and halo gave it to me. What d'you do with it, I wonder?"

 

[alsih2o]

whiner, your campaign idea sounds great, my aplogies if i helped in the hijack!

 

[Tonguez]

1. Do a Search the topic of Stoneage adventures has been discussed about 3 times on Enworld (try the general board)

2. GURPS Stoneage (or was it Iceage) gave a GURPS treatment of the era

3. The Stoneage is a wonderful period but you will need to decide which era your dealing with -

Paleolithic - nomadic hunter-gatherers, making of stonetools, shelters made from mammoth tusks/bones and hides (as well as the famous caves), neanderthals still living 'classic caveman stereotype'

Mesolithic - more settled communities (semi-nomadic farmers ie travelled to different crop areas), animal domestication (dog, horse) development of pottery, use of the bow

Neolithic - settled agrarian communities raising crops and livestock, full use of ceramics and complex tools (loom, plow) - 'Barbarian Culture' *This period is very modern (for instance Papua New Guinea still had neolithic cultures in the 1960s) Polynesia was neolithic until Captain Cook et al made contact in the 1700s.

My campaign world is Neolithic so I will get my notes and add comments later

 

[Tonguez]

4. Races :
Cromagnon (Humans), Neanderthal (Half-Orc stats), Austopithecus (Apemen -Halfling stats?), Lizardmen, Gnomes (because I like them)

5. Classes
Fighter classes'
Hunter (modified Warrior with Track and sneak attack) thanks to Gez
Cannibal Savage (Barbarian)
Rogue (Scout)
Warrior (rare fighter types)


'Magical Classes'
Shaman (Druid)
Bard (Storyteller)
Scorcerer
Ranger (greatly modified but sombody had to guide their nomadic wanderings*maybe a PrC)
Expert (modified to PC status eg Skill focus feat, masterwork ability etc)

Prestige Classes
Spirit Champion think Paladin: The Champion is the chosen vehicle of a Beast spirit (Shark, Crocodile, Boar, Giant Eagle, Tanifa Dinosaur, Smilodon etc -often the clan war god) who imbues their Champion with a part of their power

Wizard: think Cave Paintings as gigantic non-portable Wizard Tomes in which the Wizard must meditate each night in order to learn spells

Priest (non-combat): As society become more settled it starts to develop gods (as opposed to Spirits) and the Clergy emerge

6. Plot seeds
My current homebrew is set in Mythic Polynesia and its peoples are neolithic mariners.

IMC the PCs are the 'champions' of their community which is a group of settlers newly arrived on a new island.
The campaign started with the PCs being sent from their homeland (which was sinking into the waves - something that has happened irl Polynesia) to discover a new land.

They found Paumako a large island whose native inhabitants include clans of gnomes, a family of ogres, clans of goblins and a Sahuagin lair a short distance off the coast.

First Adventure - Explore Island, meet gnomes (and avoid tresspassing on their burial ground), explore (ogre dominated)mountains and recover the 'Heart of the Land' (an artifact) from the Spider Caves (thanks WOTC)

Second Adventure - Establish a settlement - Fetch settlers, build village, harvest food, use diplomacy to keep everyone happy

Third Adventure - Villagers have tresspassed on gnome burial ground!, the gnomes are going to sacrifice them to the Feindish dire eel that inhabits the Sacred Pool. - Save Villagers, restore relations with Gnomes, respect Eel god

Other adventure hooks could include fighting off enemy raids, killing the monster which is attacking hunters, making a raid on a neighbouring village to steal women

PS Slavery
The practice of Wife-kidnapping is NOT slavery. It was practiced in my culture (as recently as the 1940s) and the captured wives were thereafter well treated members of society. Remember there was something of a cultural expectation that wife capture might occur and so low status people were socialised into accepting it. Of course when it happened to a chiefs daughter - that was a whole different story!!!

 

[Darraketh]

Spirit Champion think Paladin: The Champion is the chosen vehicle of a Beast spirit (Shark, Crocodile, Boar, Giant Eagle, Tanifa Dinosaur, Smilodon etc -often the clan war god) who imbues their Champion with a part of their power

This I like. The plot seeds are good also. I like the stranger in a strange land idea. The characters as champions of the people.

 

[Agback]

G'day

Anybody contemplating a stone age campaign: let me plant a strong, strong plug for the novel The Animal Wife by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, ISBN 0-00-617915-0.

Regards,


Agback

 

[alsih2o]

4. Races : PS Slavery
The practice of Wife-kidnapping is NOT slavery. It was practiced in my culture (as recently as the 1940s) and the captured wives were thereafter well treated members of society. Remember there was something of a cultural expectation that wife capture might occur and so low status people were socialised into accepting it. Of course when it happened to a chiefs daughter - that was a whole different story!!!

actually, it still happens to this day.